Hi All

Thought I would do a quick introduction before I dig straight in to asking my questions The names Binnsy and I come from Nottingham, I've always been into my cars and now I'm considering an FRP. I'm 22 and started driving on my 18th birthday, in a P reg corsa with the almighty 1.2i 45bhp engine. 0-60 in 17.5 seconds was certainly an experience I will never forget! And as you can see from the below pics it even looked fast....... *ahem*




Moving swiftly on, after putting up with the Corsa for a good 2 years I saw a Yaris T-sport and instantly fell in love with the thing, yes I know its a girls car, but it was fun to drive, cheap to run and had a decent amount of poke (0-60 in 8.5 seconds was certainly a lot more entertraining ). It started in my hands like the below, at this point it had a Fujitsubo Power getter exhaust fitted, tinted rear windows, and a K&N induction kit located behind the passenger fog light.



By the time I was done with it I had had the wheels refurbished and powerdcoated matte black, and the car loaded 38/35mm on Tein springs which completley transformed the handling.




It may have been a bit silly but I loved it, it was loud, stiff, and stupidly good fun. Unfortunately I had it less than a year before I pulled out in front of a motorbike and both vehicles were written off It was my first crash in my 3.5 years of driving and royally shook me up. Luckily both myself and the guy were fine. I drove around in a god awful 08 plate 1.4 8v Grande Punto for a couple of weeks after that which felt like it couldnt pull the skin of a rice pudding. Before buying my current car. A 2.2 Vauxhall Astra Coupe.

Looking back, it wasnt the best of choices for me, its relatively quick with a 144bhp engine, gets to 60 quicker than my Yaris (just) and generally has much more pulling power across the board thanks to the much bigger engine. Unfortunately its boring as sin. It can actually take corners at a decent speed, probably down to the lotus influence over the suspension, but Vauxhall managed to waste all that effort with the god-awful totally detached power steering. I still think its an alright looking car but I'm bored of it and fancy a change.



Now, I'll be totally honest, the Ford Racing Puma isn't the only car I'm considering by a long way, the list also includes MX-5s, MR-2's, Clio 182's, Civic Type-R's, Fiesta ST's, Twingo 133's, basically any car that you would consider fun in the <£7000 price range. However, I think slowly the FRP is working its way to the top of my list. Its one of the cheapest to insure as far as I can tell (thought it just appears as a 1.7 puma on confused, have any of you had to inform them seperately?) it seems to have respectable running costs and i dont think it will suffer from the problem of having too much power to be fun without breaking the law (like just about any 200+ bhp newer car tends to suffer from now imho).

The one I have found seems to be in good shape and isn't too far away, I was wondering if it used to belong to anyone on here or if any of you know its history? Its number 023, has 9 service stamps in the book, generally seems well looked after. Is there anything in paticular I should be keeping an eye out for if I go to view this?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 9369064038



Thanks all

Yep many insurers get it wrong, at your cost if you do not get the correct insurance for the FRP.
Cheap to run, cough!! depends how cheap you are at running cars, they can cost a bomb to run correctly, and if you prang it big bucks.
You may also depreaciate the price if you modify it.
Given your track record I would suggest you buy a standard 1.7 and then enjoy that and modify it to suit your style and pocket.

Agreed ^^^

I'm also 22 and have owned a 1.2 Corsa (which I loved!! ) and owned 2 standard black Puma's also. Since I saw the FRP I wanted one, I test drove one ( the one I now own) and I wanted one even more!!

After owning a standard Puma for a couple of years and done my research, I can appreciate my car more. I went into the sale with open eyes; my FRP has been well looked after under the bonnet but thats not to say its cheap to run. Petrol wise, personally Id say there isnt much in it although I tend to use my right foot around bends more now lol! When it comes to servicing etc you really need to know your stuff esp for the front Alcon brakes, they are race spec brakes and do require specialist attention to keep them well maintained. Parts for these cars are become extremely rare also = more expensive.
Also not many places (including Ford) even know what and FRP is and as speedline has already said if you bump one of the wider panels.. its .. well ... expensive.

Do abit of research before your certain to consider and FRP. other than that its a brilliant car and I love mine to bits

good luck with the search mate

My track record? That seems a bit harsh. I have only modified one of my 3 cars and only had 1 crash in now 4.5 years and around 35,000 miles of driving, i also have a clean licence so i dont think im doing to bad

modifying the yaris was different, it was already the best of the bunch and i was trying to make it better. I honestly dont see the point of buying the standard and spending 2k on better brakes suspension and power upgrades so that it becomes a poor shadow of a ford racing puma, it would never be as special.

Im aware of the value of these cars and i have no plans to modify the car at all. It already has uprated suspension and I doubt I could uprate the brakes much. I'll also be gobsmacked if there is much to be had in the way of power as a 1.7 making 155bhp is pretty high as it is. Petrol doesnt worry me to much, nor do running costs, as i only do around 7000 miles a year. A full service excluding the brakes is on a par with my astra at the £150 mark. I only get 30mpg at the minute and i cant imagine the frp is much worse, im normally quite a sedate driver so it wouldnt surprise me if i get better mpg out of a puma than i do my current 2.2. The tax is cheaper than my astra and i have no other big outgoings. Like you have mentioned the brakes do make a difference, but I am prepared to shell put the 150 for a brake service and pay the extra 50 for a cleaning of them with earch service. I will admit the 500 for new discs could sting but again its not something thats beyond my means.

Despite me saying it seems cheap to run i have no plans of running it cheaply i like to take care of my cars, even my astra still gets a hand wash and wax at least once a month and i dont like it!

I can assure you that i also have no intentions of crashing again, it was the single worst moment of my life so far and i certianly dont want it to happen again.

in regards to insurance, have you had difficulty explaining that its a ford racing puma? i notice its not a choice of model online? i always declared my mods and have no intention of trying to pass this off as a regular 1.7

*I should probably mention I'm taking my prices from PumaBuild / PumaSpeed. I'm assuming these are roughly accurate?

What part of Nottingham are you mate... your welcome to come and have a browse round mine..

I'm top half of Clifton near crusador pub off Junc 24 M1...

Regards

Chris

Brake discs do last well, 30k+ miles and pads less so, but then don't buy cheap ones that are harsh on the discs as that would cost more
£150 for a service and brake clean, that is under money really. Can cost huge amounts to get the calipers signing first, then annual maintenance should be better on the pocket.

Welcome to the site

With insurance shite like that you generally have to select 99 as the year to get the right model to show up. I.e. don't use the plate if it's a 2000 registered since it doesnt show up for 00.

23 looks ok from the advert but then they all do, i'd definitely have a look at two or more and make you decision based on that experience.

Ahh nice one red, thats a big help. Does look like there a bit more hefty on insurance for me but still just about under the limit I have set myself (The 1.7 puma is 892 compared to 1022 for the racing).

I'd give Bell insruance a try if you haven't already. They were cheapest for me and have been for a number of years on various cars (I'm 26 now). They also have the FRP listed under the 1999 trick!

I'm actually with Bell at the minute I would have to give them a call to get quoted, but Admiral and Elephant (the other 2 in the group) are coming out the cheapest for me as well. Thanks for the suggestion though

No problemo

If you do look at #23, check the alcantara on the front door cards. numbers 1-50 has weak glue, which meant it becomes flappy, most of the affected cars had them replaced, but certainly #14 was flappy when I got in 2008, and sourced new door cards to rectify the problem.