Ford Puma ST Review 2024

By the end of 2023, the Ford Puma ST will be your only option if you want a small fast Ford, as the fabulous Fiesta ST will be killed off. The Puma ST, a rival to the Audi SQ2 and Hyundai Kona N, had better be very good indeed, then, if it’s to replace one of the all-time great hot hatchbacks in peoples’ hearts – and on their driveways.

The Ford Puma ST certainly looks the part. With a sporty bodykit, lowered suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels, it appears purposeful without being in-your-face. It’s a similar story inside, where oh-so-comfortable and supportive Recaro seats are complemented by a flat-bottomed steering wheel, aluminium gear knob and a few flashes of ST branding.

Does it drive the part, though? Well, the Ford Puma ST uses the same 200PS 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine as the Fiesta ST. It delivers a surprisingly rapid turn of speed, and produces a great growl when accelerating, so things certainly look promising. It also has the Fiesta’s six-speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential.

The Ford Puma ST is somewhat compromised in being a longer, taller and heavier car than the Ford Fiesta ST, but it’s still very good to drive. It’s not as eager and playful as the Fiesta, but you can have an extremely good time blatting along a country road.

The Puma is also happy pootling around town, very firm suspension notwithstanding. Fortunately, its ride smoothes out at higher speeds and it makes for a quiet and stable motorway cruiser. It’s certainly much easier and less tiring to drive day-to-day than the rather frantic Hyundai Kona N: the Ford’s main rival amongst the handful of small high-performance SUVs on the market.

As a driving experience, the Ford Puma ST can’t quite match the Ford Fiesta ST for sheer laugh-out-loud fun, but very few cars can. Judged on its own merits, the Ford Puma ST is still fantastic to drive. You will certainly enjoy it.

Now to more practical matters, and it’s good news because the ST is exactly the same as any other Ford Puma – i.e. one of the most practical small SUVs on sale.

There’s enough passenger space for the average family of four, even through the kids’ teenage years. The boot is one of the biggest you’ll find in this type of car, too. It’s roomy enough to cover the needs of the average family, though going on holiday will require careful packing.

The thing that really sets the Ford Puma apart is found beneath the boot floor. Ford’s ‘Megabox’ container can hold 80kg, provides useful extra depth to the boot and is made from plastic that can be hosed clean if you remove the plug from the bottom. It’s the ideal place to store wet and muddy stuff, so you don’t have to mess up the carpet.

Running costs should be pretty low. The Ford Puma ST can average well over 40mpg and servicing costs are reasonable for a high-performance car.

There’s just one model, which costs a smidge over £31,000 at the time of writing. That’s quite a lot more than a Ford Fiesta ST, but considerably less than many other sporty SUVs. Add in generous levels of standard equipment including sat-nav, air conditioning, cruise control and a Bang & Olufsen stereo system, and we reckon the Ford Puma ST offers strong value for money.

Vanishing profit margins mean superminis like the Ford Fiesta are a dying breed, and being replaced by small SUVs such as the Ford Puma. That inevitably means many fast small cars will become SUV-shaped. Some regard that as a grim prospect, but the Ford Puma ST gives them reason to feel positive. The Ford Puma is much more practical than the Ford Fiesta and, in ST form, it’s nearly as good to drive as the Ford Fiesta ST. It can still be an absolute hoot from behind the wheel.

All in all, the Ford Puma ST is a great car that has a lot to offer enthusiasts, along with people who simply want a family-friendly small car that can get a move on.

We lived with a Puma ST for six months - find out how we got on with it in our Ford Puma ST long term test.

The Ford Puma ST doesn’t feel quite as poised and playful as the Fiesta ST, but then it’s a bigger and heavier car. However, it still encourages you to enjoy yourself behind the wheel as much as possible.

The steering is a bit more responsive than a regular Puma’s, and just the slightest movement of the wheel gets the car moving exactly where you point it. Floor the throttle coming out of a corner and the limited-slip differential generates loads of traction to blast down the next straight.

The Ford Puma ST isn’t as boisterous as its main rival, the Hyundai Kona N, but it feels more like it’s working with you. The flow of information you get through the steering wheel and seat is easier to interpret in the Puma, whereas the Kona feels like it’s bombarding you with feedback. That filtering doesn’t make the Puma ST any less involving or rewarding to drive, though. Indeed, it can be an absolute riot on a twisting country road.

There is a compromise to make for the Ford Puma ST’s driving experience in terms of a firm ride. It’s nothing like as unforgiving as the Kona N, and it smooths out at higher speeds. But around town it does thump and bang over bumps and through potholes. It remains as easy to park as a regular Puma, and feels perfectly safe and stable on the motorway.

The Ford Puma ST comes with a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine that is a real bundle of energy. It’s the same motor found in the Ford Fiesta ST and matches that car’s 200PS power output. Yet it has a bit more torque, so it can equal the Ford Fiesta’s 0-62mph time of just 6.7 seconds.

The engine positively zings through the rev range as you accelerate up through the gears (the six-speed manual gearbox is a delight to use). It also pulls really hard when you floor the right pedal at, say, 40mph in fifth gear. It sounds really good, even if what you hear inside the car is artificially enhanced.

The ST shares its Euro NCAP safety rating with the rest of the Ford Puma range. When the safety experts originally assessed the Puma in 2019, it was awarded a full five-star rating. However, Euro NCAP’s criteria have changed since then and, when the organisation looked at the Puma again in 2022, it was downgraded to a four-star rating.

The Ford Puma protects occupants well in a crash, although Euro NCAP voiced some concerns about the side airbags only being at head height. It also lacks some of the more advanced driving safety features that Euro NCAP looks for now.

Still, there’s a good array of safety kit, including cruise control with a speed limiter, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist.

A towbar is available as an option on the Ford Puma ST but, with a maximum capacity of 750kg, it’s only capable of towing a small trailer – perhaps carrying a boat or jetski. More pertinently, you can mount a bike rack with a couple of e-bikes on the towbar.

Just occasionally, a car manufacturer comes up with a new idea that makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before. There’s such a feature inside the boot of every Ford Puma, including the ST, hidden away beneath the floor.

It’s called the Megabox and is essentially a large box made from hard-wearing plastic that can hold 80kg. It’s the ideal place to store things you don’t want clogging up the boot, such as maps and shopping bags. It also provides useful extra depth to the boot if you need to carry anything particularly tall. Best of all, you can use it for muddy shoes, wet towels and dog toys, or anything else that is dirty. Then you just remove the drain plug from the bottom of the Megabox and hose it clean.

The rest of the boot is plenty big enough, with a total capacity (including  the Megabox) of 456 litres. For comparison, the Hyundai Kona N can carry 361 litres. The boot is a good square shape and the opening is pretty big, so it’s easy to load. The back seats fold down on those occasions you need to carry anything really bulky, too.

The Ford Puma ST has plenty of space inside for people as well. There’s plentiful headroom and legroom in the front for anyone over six feet tall, but it’s a relatively narrow car – so shoulder room is restricted.

In the back, there’s adequate space for an average-sized adult to sit behind someone of similar height, which makes the Ford Puma ST a viable family car for children of all ages. 

If you’re switching to the Ford Puma ST from a Fiesta, the look and feel of the interior will be immediately familiar. The design of the dashboard isn’t quite identical, but it’s very similar. If you’re getting into a Puma completely cold, you should work out what all the buttons and knobs do in a matter of moments.

The quality of the materials used throughout the cabin is nice enough, if not quite up to the standards of more premium rivals such as the Audi Q2. It’s lacking the ultimate tactility that could make the Puma ST feel properly plush. Still, the fantastic Recaro seats, upholstered in cloth and leatherette, do lift the ambience a bit, while everything feels very well put-together.

An 8.0-inch touchscreen display sits atop the Ford Puma ST’s dashboard and houses the infotainment system. It runs Ford’s SYNC 3 software, with good-looking graphics and a straightforward menu structure. Ford has now released the SYNC 4 system, which is even slicker and easier to use, but the Puma ST still has one of the better setups you’ll find in this type of car.

Features of the infotainment system include sat-nav that is particularly user-friendly, DAB radio and Bluetooth. You can also connect your phone via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. In addition, there’s a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display that shows plenty of useful information and has different graphics in each of the driving modes. The powerful Bang & Olufsen stereo sounds fantastic, too.

At the time of writing, the Ford Puma ST carries a list price of £31,070, which is about £4000 more than a Fiesta ST. Considering the extra space and practicality you get in the Puma versus its smaller sibling, we reckon that makes it pretty good value. Especially when you consider that the Ford Puma ST’s main rival, the Hyundai Kona N, costs nearly £5500 more.

Running costs for the Ford Puma ST look reasonable for a high performance small SUV (even if there aren’t many cars to compare it with).

The official figures show it returns average fuel economy of 42.8mpg and produces CO2 emissions of 148g/km. Interestingly, that miles-per-gallon figure is actually a bit better than a Ford Fiesta ST. Drive the Puma as intended, though, and its economy will drop significantly.

Annual vehicle excise duty (VED, or road tax) costs £190, but the Puma’s CO2 emissions could result in a chunky benefit-in-kind tax bill for company car drivers.

Servicing costs for any Ford are generally low and the Ford Puma ST is covered by a warranty lasting three years or 60,000 miles. 

Ford likes to keep things simple these days, so there’s just one model of Ford Puma ST available. You will easily spot it thanks to 19-inch alloy wheels, unique front and rear bumpers, a large rear spoiler, a black roof, dual exhaust outlets and red brake callipers.

Inside, there is leather and cloth seat upholstery, fabulously comfortable and supportive Recaro front seats, a flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, an aluminium gear knob and alloy sports pedals. Other neat touches include ST-branded floor mats and door sill plates. The ST logo is even projected onto the ground by puddle lights under the door mirrors.

Standard features include an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone connectivity, DAB radio and Bluetooth; a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, a thumping Bang & Olufsen stereo system and a wireless phone charging pad.

Features to enhance comfort include automatic air conditioning, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel.

There are loads of driver assistance systems, too, such as cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist.