New owner with cheap eBay special :)

[RDS1972]

Great site guys!

I bought a Puma this week having to get a car with a working heater after a few months without (My E36 was slowly falling apart bless it!)
Anyway, with a tiny budget, and still wanting something interesting, I could nt quite believe how cheap the lower end of Puma's can cost. Now 'm under no illusions, you get what you pay for, and there are some crackers on here- genuinely nice show worthy cars.
My eBay punt was a panther black 51 plate 1.7, and with lowish miles 101k.
It needs some TLC, which may bite me in the bum, but if it lasts till the end of the summer I'll be very pleased and may either give it a makeover with bushes and suspension, or replace with a better one.
Having said all that, I can now see why they get such rave reviews, a lovely driving car.
Using ETIC, I found the following, so for someone used to older cars, it's got some toys.

From the advert and before it's been cleaned


Primary Features
Build Date: 30.05.2001
Vehicle Line: Puma 1997-2001
Body Style: 3 Door Coupe
Version: Series 10
Engine: Zetec 1.7 EFI
Transmission: 5 Speed Manual Transaxle - B5/IB5
Drive: RHD FWD
Axle Ratio: 3.82
Emission: 2000 EEC (EEC 7)
Air Conditioning: Manual Air Conditioning
Territory: (+)"GB"
Paint: Panther Black (Metallic)
Interior Colour: Medium Dark Graphite
Interior Fabric: Chrome/Twill





Minor Features


• Cologne Plant Built
• Less Security Lock Group
• Marketing Flex Prep Pack 1
• Less SVO Application/Label
• Marketing Level 1
• (-) SVP
• With Power Front Windows
• With Tinted Glass All Round
• With Heated Windscreen
• With Heated Rear Window
• Drivers Power Heated Convex Mirror
• With Pass Convex Elec/Heated Mirror
• With Door Dead Locks
• With Infra-Red Lock Control
• With Rear Window Wiper/Washer
• With Driver Air Bag
• Less Passenger Air Bag
• 6 X 15" Alloy Wheel - No.2
• 195/50VR x 15 Tyres
• Cold Start -15 Deg C
• 4 Wheel Anti-Lock Braking System
• With Anti-Spin Traction System
• Gear 3.15/1.93/1.41/1.11/0.88
• With Pollen Filter
• With Recirculating Heater
• With Power Steering(Fixed Ratio)
• Sport/Leather Steering Wheel
• With MPH/KMH Speedometer
• Less Reverse Proximity Sensor
• With Anti-Theft Alarm
• With Engine Immobilizer - Integral
• 6006 CD Auto-Changer
• With 4 Speakers
• With High Mounted Stop Lamp

 

[Dal]

There are indeed some right little corkers out there if you look with open eyes and know you might get a bit of a repair bill but budget for that.

Welcome :thumbs:

 

[RDS1972]

Thanks Dal- yes I m expecting some expense but for a takeaway under £400, it goes with the territory. ( a good takeaway too :lol: )

 

[Dal]

[post]346836[/post] • 6006 CD Auto-Changer

That's a rare one on build without it being a Thunder!

 

[red]

Is one of the last built looking at the date so the dealer probably threw it in for good measure :grin:

Welcome to our site, good luck with your car, as far as maintaining them goes they are quite straight forward.

 

[pyperb]

Just bought mine recently.....enjoying it....great fun.

Brian.

 

[dingwells1985]

Yes these are great cars enjoy your puma for now as they can soon become so costly,mine has needed £800 spending on her in the last 4 months since i bought her,but i love the car to bits a future classic my local garage say!

 

[RDS1972]

£800? Blimey, I'll be walking to work if it breaks that badly.

 

[dingwells1985]

The main outlay on my puma has been the welding needed on the floorplan to get her through the mot lots of welding ive been told these cars can rot badly.good luck with your car i hope its not as rotten as mine was.

 

[moondustka]

I also had a rotten floor, however wasn't really noticeable. I got a screwdriver out and started prodding suspect areas and I ended up with several patches in need of repair! Ford's build quality wasn't great back then. As I think Barry said on another thread, if only they'd galvanised the shells. Other manufacturers were starting to do it at the time. Nowadays nearly all car body shells are galvanised. My Leon came with a 12 year corrosion guarantee; they must be confident!

 

[dingwells1985]

my last car was a peugeot 406 coupe and that had a galvanised body shell with no rust at all,the bodywork on the puma is the weak link in the car but hey its a ford and its now getting old!

 

[RDS1972]

Run it for a few days now.
Love the handling and the way the engine revs so smoothly. Brakes are a bit lacking however.
The niggles I've found so far are:
Passenger window doesn't operate from the drivers side (but does from "it's own" switch)
Odd tinny rattle from the back, but no looseness or slop. Not a knock, sounds like stones sitting in the spare wheel sheet or the heat shield being lose. (Done bump tests etc)
It needs tyres, probably a cambelt (still looking into that, and hard to justify £250 on a £370 quid car I've not had a week yet), rust repairs to arches, the passenger window rubber seal along the upper edge is twisted and so the window doesn't seal properly
Headlights crazed
Back lights have condensation in

All that, and I still find myself making excuses to go out for a little spin.
I'm old enough to know better lol :lol: