A forbidden fruit in the United States, the Ford Puma ST has had its chassis tested in the moose test over in Europe. The sporty crossover, which is related to the Fiesta ST, was subjected to the challenging maneuver, with very surprising results.
In the first attempt, with a 79 kph (49 mph) entry speed, 2 kph (1 mph) over the minimum standard of Km77, the Spanish YouTube channel behind the test, it did hit a cone.
However, that was just a warmup for the best attempt of the day, which occurred at 81 kph (50 mph), in the Normal driving mode, as engaging the Sport made it quite bouncy. Moreover, the rear inner tire tends to lift from the ground, like in its hot hatch sibling.
This puts the Ford Puma ST ahead of some big names, such as the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, Toyota Supra, and Mercedes-AMG A45 S, which did it at 78 kph (48 mph), 77 kph (48 mph), and 75 kph (47 mph) respectively.
The new-gen Mercedes-Benz S-Class did a disappointing 74 kph (46 mph) without hitting the cones. It also came very close to the Kia Stinger (82 kph / 51 mph), Tesla Model 3 (83 kph / 52 mph), and Ford Focus Mk4 (83 kph / 52 mph).
In the slalom test, the Puma ST proved easier to handle in the Normal rather than the Sport mode, as engaging the latter makes the ESC kick in later, which translates into a more aggressive understeering tendency.
The people responsible for putting the subcompact high-rider through its paces between the cones noted that it handles sharply, has a very responsive steering, and excellent grip provided by the good tires, a set of 225/40R19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, in these exact words.
Kind of makes you wish the Blue Oval would launch it in the U.S., doesn’t it?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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