My Puma ST Line At It's Finest

Hello again and from my previous post about cars, I've decided to participate in the Commodore Club X Commodores & Fords Easter Mega Meet at the Campbellfield Amart car park and also bring in my car which is a 2022 Ford Puma ST Line. But why would I do that? I'll tell you this.

Since I bought my first Ford Puma ST Line last year, I wasn't sure about new cars until I came along with one. I bought a used blue model from Berwick Toyota and they've even mentioned they're in hot demand. New cars are hard to please usually as they're more uniform, a lot are automatics and alright for daily driving with the whole philosophy of buying Japanese cars with their tendency to be appliances on wheels.

But anyway, the blue Ford Puma ST Line was a decent upgrade from the 2 cars I've had especially having one that is a definite colour. It had Ford's latest EcoBoost turbocharged 3 cylinder engine producing adequate power and decent amount of torque and although it was an automatic, it's a dual clutch automatic with 7 gears. Along with it, it had bluetooth phone connectivity, climate control air conditioning, keyless start, auto stop start which I prefer not to use, satellite navigation, automatic lights and wipers and nice interior touches of black cloth seats with red stitching, a sporty steering wheel and some carbon fibre inserts on the dashboard.

It was also when I've had my 2006 Holden Astra which spewed coolant in the engine bay when I got home from work. I was lucky enough to get a new car under finance so I had a working car whilst I'll get the other one fixed and hopefully sold but even after the radiator was replaced, I wasn't able to sell it with a failed ABS module but took it to a wreckers yard back in Pakenham.

I've cherished the new car for 5 months until I was involved in a car crash in Dandenong trying to exit from where I've parked. My car was written off and I've been without a car for 2 months until I went to Coffey Ford and the new car specialist helped me greatly getting me into a new car as efficiently as possible. I ended up with the black Puma ST Line which used to be a demonstrator until I put in my deposit. And with the finance sorted, the car is all mine.

But back to this month. With the mega meet coming up, I got my Linkt pass sorted and cleaned my car up spick and span.

The sharehouse I'm currently living in hasn't been too bad as I can clean my car with a water tap at the front yard. And with my car ceramic coated and black in colour, it's more light work hand washing it.

And with this little bottle of CleanAzFK tyre shine I've bought last month, I've applied it on the tyres of my car and with that, it looks like a brand new car.

So the mega car meet was on Saturday night and I was trying to figure out the best route driving from Berwick to Campbellfield but a room mate of mine suggested I should use my car's satellite navigation system and go from there.

With my car cleaned and I'm ready to go, I've set my satellite navigation system to the address of the Amart store, I set off. Towards Melbourne, the system insisted I should turn off at Toorak Road when I would usually go through the Burnley Tunnel and across the Bolte Bridge. I however decided to turn off at Toorak Road just to be a little more adventurous. Along the way, I've driven along the tram tracks and drive past the North East Link which is currently being built but considering how unfamiliar I was when I got to Campbellfield, I got to the mega meet with one car space where I've parked.

Although this mega meet is mainly full of modified Commodores and Falcons but there are a few other cars that aren't Fords or Holdens. It is nice when people have a look at my car but don't seem to be badly fussed. I've spoken to one person about my car and he said it's nice.

On top of that, my idea of taking my car into some car meets isn't entirely silly apparently but what I'm wanting to do is embrace how they're great little cars and how they're Ford's finest. Unfortunately as I came across news that Ford will kill these off and only sell electric models of the Pumas, it is sad. With that, taking my car out to car meets will honour these cars which we see a few on our roads despite Rangers and Everests being more popular and Kia Picantos.

Earlier, I came across an interesting head scratching statement that Pumas are an apparent successor for the Ford Laser.

Back in 1981, Ford Australia decided to replace their long faithful Ford Escort with the likes of this KA series Laser. They've used the platform from the front wheel drive Mazda 323 with better utilisation of cabin space whist being compact along with it's tailgate for hatchback models making shopping and carrying other goods a breeze with foldable back seats. The sedan models were named Meteors until the KF series came along and both sedan and hatchback models were all Lasers.

Evolution in cars is fascinating but in North America, who remembers the Geo Metro?

For those who don't know what the Geo Metro was, these were small economy cars around the late 1980s to the 1990 time period. There was this little 3 door hatchback along with a sedan and even a cabriolet. They had a humble 3 cylinder engine which is intended to be driven without having a premium to pay for petrol but some ridiculed the cars would go better downhill considering how they're not too powerful but America is best renowned for big cars and that's that.

Compared to the Ford Puma, they get comparable fuel consumption of 5.9 litres per 100 kilometres (39.84 mpg). The Puma beats the Metro in power to weight ratio with 72.8 kw per tonne (55.12 kw per tonne for the Metro).

To close off, my Puma ST Line is a great little car and a great treat. And it's a decent upgrade from my previous cars such as my 1992 Nissan Pintara and my 2006 Holden Astra. And along with my future AU Falcon project, I could go all Ford eventually.

But whilst I'm there, there are some other cars that are worth honouring at the mega meet.

These 2 cars are HSV Granges. Holden Special Vehicles were a high performance branch for Holden making Clubsports from Commodores and the case of the Grange being based on the flagship Statesman. They also resemble our versions of the Jaguar XJ flagship sedan.

There's this AU series Fairmont although this is a V8 model.

There's this Toyota Crown Athlete for those who are JDM car fans.

And finally, there's this upcycled Toyota Starlet. Back when I was young, they were a common site on our roads but nowadays, most have been scrapped apart from this one painted a metallic purple but also fitted with a turbocharger.

See you next time!