Ford Puma - Reliability and safety

The Ford Puma has been a big hit for the brand, and is a vast improvement over the company’s previous effort at a small SUV, the Ford EcoSport. However, while the Puma uses proven engines, an existing platform, and shared technology with other cars, the Puma came 33rd overall in our list of the top 75 cars on sale – down from a high of 14th spot in 2021. The Ford brand also finished a disappointing 28th out of 32 manufacturers in our 2023 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, putting it below VW, Vauxhall, SEAT and Skoda. It was one place above Renault, though.

The Puma has also slipped in terms of its safety ranking, downgraded from a five-star result to four stars after Euro NCAP retested it in 2022. The industry safety body criticised the Puma’s front seat and headrest design, but it isn’t the only small SUV to receive a four-star score; the Hyundai Bayon and Vauxhall Mokka also came up short under the same assessment. If you’re looking for class rivals that offer a five-star rating, then you should take a look at the SEAT Arona or Toyota Yaris Cross.

The Puma does win back some points for offering all the safety technology you’d expect, including cruise control, a lane keeping aid with departure warning, Pre-Collision Assist with Autonomous Emergency Braking, Pedestrian/Cyclist Detection and Post-Collision Braking. Other useful features include auto headlights, rain-sensing wipers and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

Those wishing to upgrade further can opt for the Driver Assistance pack (£950), which adds a blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control and a rear view camera, among other features.

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Warranty

Every new Ford car comes with a three-year/60,000 mile warranty. There’s also the benefit of Ford Assistance for one year, providing roadside cover in the UK and throughout Europe. 

If you plan on keeping your car for longer than three years or are a high mileage driver, you can extend the standard warranty to either four-years/80,000 miles or five-years/100,000 miles – the latter is a level of coverage you get as standard from Hyundai, while Toyota offers up to 10 years/100,000 miles of manufacturer’s cover if you have your Toyota car routinely maintained at an approved main dealer.

Servicing

Ford offers the Ford Protect Service Plan giving you the option of scheduled services and extended Ford Assistance. It covers scheduled servicing including associated parts and labour, and vehicle hire for up to seven days. The Ford Protect Service Plan can be purchased any time before the first service is due.

Both the 123bhp and 153bhp 1.0-litre engines require servicing every 18,000 miles or two-years, while the ST models have shorter intervals of annual servicing or every 12,500 miles. All engines have a timing belt that requires changing every 10 years or 100,000 miles.