Went to a ford dealer today to pick up a price list for my girlfriend, she was going to pop in on her own until i spotted something in the window. A lovely ford racing puma. It looks so much better than the standard puma.

So i am going for a test drive tomorrow, something tells me it will be a much better drive than my a3. Yes i know about the build quality and the image and residual values but........

we shall see

I had a normal 1.7 for 3 months until my T sport arrived. It was good fun to drive, gearbox was almost as good as the MX5 I used to have, bit underpowered, and very crappy in terms of build quality. For the 13k it is now, it is good value, but the racing one is way over priced..

The price on the screen was 19,995. It was a year old and an ex-ford exhibition car V4FRP was the plate and I have seen it in many magazines. The first thing that you notice is the exhaust noise, this is what the TS and quattro models should sound like. A nice roar when you idle and pull away but not too noisy on the motorway.

The steering rack is quicker than the standard puma and you really do notice it a nice turn in with a real amount of feed back, yes even better than the A3/S3.

The clutch is a racing spec and bites very early and very quickly but it was easy to get used to.

The suspension and wider track did not make bumps unbareable but the car would follow the camber of the road quite easily.

The car looks totally different and many drivers were looking at the car.

It was a nice car and id I had the money I would buy it as a second car for track use mainly but sadly I dont have that sort of money :( Might try to get a test drive in an elise in the next few weeks.

But it's a FORD!

Granted it is a ford - but I've also driven one of these and have to admit it is far more fun to drive and is probably quicker point to point than the A3 Quattro I have by far.

The gearbox is spot on and you do actually feel in control of your car throughout even when it loses traction.

Test drive one and push it a bit - i guarantee it will make you smile. I would liken it to the old MX5 in terms of handling and gearbox - but with a far better engine.

Next time i change my car im thinking of going for an Alfa 156 2.0 Lusso sport - very nice!

Neil.

As our roads are incredibly bad and the S3 has a rigid chassis and a wide track with wide tires, I have a very hard time trying to keep my S3 on a straight line at high speed. You need constant correction. If I'd let go of the steering wheel the car would change three lanes in both directions in 5 seconds!!!

Have you seen end of term report in EVO mag?
156 bought in June '99 for £22k now worth £9.5k!!!
Plus all the problems,hassle. Not for me.

Peter
A3 quattro

And they also had a loose crankshaft due to bearing failure and reported another car with similar engine problems.

Dynamically and aesthetically the Alfa may be better but quality and reliability are in a different league, and it ain't a better one!!

Cheers