Back in the late 90s, Ford brought out a new car, a sporty looking, small two-door coupe called the Puma. It was nippy, it handled brilliantly and looked (and I hate to use this word to describe a car) cute.

I wanted one, but never owned one. I test drove a couple of used models, but never took the plunge. Possibly because of the practicality (in fact, it had a rather large boot for the car, but a tiny back seat) but mainly because when they were older, they had a tendency to shed weight. By rusting. A lot.

Ford have resurrected the Puma name

Fast forward to today and Ford have resurrected the Puma name, if not the ethos behind the original. And to be honest, that didn’t sit well with me. The original: a two door sporty coupe. The modern version: a small mild-hybrid SUV with a 1.0 Ecoboost engine. So why reuse the name? I wasn’t convinced but in fact, when it arrived there were similarities.

Not in the basics – doors, engines, ride height, etc. but there are some similarities in the lines. Remove the bottom 15 inches of the car and, from the front, it looks like a Puma. The lights in particular were reminiscent of the 90s original.

Inside it was quite impressive – Ford’s usual sprinkling of tech and nice materials, albeit with an engine I wasn’t convinced by, but with a gearbox that was willing to give it a go. The cabin was comfortable and big enough for four without any cramped conditions – one up on the original. It handled relatively well – some roll in the corners but, given its height, nothing unacceptable and in general it was nice to drive.

It holds its own against the competition

While you simply can’t compare it to the old Puma, it is, in its own right, a lovely car and I think it holds its own against the competition from the other major manufacturers. But it doesn’t stand out. I’m not sure whether I’d buy one, but I couldn’t say I wouldn’t. There was nothing I didn’t like and everything was perfectly acceptable, but for almost £27k, I think I want a little more.

Onto the engine. It’s slightly at odds with my self-confessed petrol head persona, but I’m interested in finding a hybrid that can win me over. Here’s my issue – there are almost too many options. Petrol, diesel, mild hybrid, self-charging hybrid, plug-in hybrid, full EV – and of all these, I’m most confused by the mild hybrid, of which this Puma was one.

You can’t plug it in and you can’t run it in pure EV mode, so all the mild hybrid system seems to do is recover energy from the brakes to assist when you need to put the power down. But in doing so, the brakes are quite harsh. Lift off the accelerator and you physically start to slow down – not just coast, but actually brake.

The hybrid engineering should have delivered more
My other bug-bear is that personally, I’d expect a 1.0 Ecoboost engine to deliver me somewhere in the mid 40s on mpg, which this one did. But surely the hybrid engineering should have delivered more than what I would expect from the engine anyway? I don’t know. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh – hence the headline.

I don’t really know if this works, but at the same time I really liked the car. I’ll be reviewing the Kuga plug-in hybrid soon. Maybe it will begin to make sense then. Hopefully.