Ford Puma review

Unless you’re exceptionally tall, you’ll fit just fine in the front of the Puma – even though the Volkswagen T-Roc has a few centimetres more head room, along with a slightly broader interior that provides more shoulder room between the driver and front seat passenger.

There’s plenty of stowage space, thanks to decent-sized door bins, a cubby in front of the gearlever, another one below the front armrest and a couple of cupholders between the front seats.

Rear seat space isn’t the Puma strongest suit, and its small windows don’t help to create much of an impression of roominess. A couple of six-footers will fit comfortably enough, but they’ll enjoy less knee room than they would in a T-Roc or the limo-like Skoda Kamiq. 

Head room is worse than in those cars, too, being adequate rather than outstanding. It’s best to avoid the optional panoramic roof if you plan to carry tall people in the back; it lowers the height of the ceiling slightly.

All Pumas have 60/40 split-folding rear seats, although that’s something that almost all small SUVs come with as standard.

It’s a pity there’s no ski hatch (there is in the rival VW T-Roc), but other clever seating tricks are few and far between in this class. The Volkswagen T-Cross, with it’s sliding rear seats, is one notable exemption.

All trim levels get height-adjustable front seats with adjustable lumbar support and a massage function, though.

You can fit six carry-on sized cases in the main boot compartment – one fewer than you’ll squeeze in a Kamiq or T-Roc – but the Puma has a trick up its sleeve. Lift up its boot floor and you’ll find a large well that can take a further two cases.

If you slot the boot floor upright against its rear seats, you can stand two sets of golf clubs, or a couple of pot plants, vertically. There’s even a removable plug at the bottom of the well, so you can hose any mud out afterwards if you’ve chucked dirty boots in there.

There’s also a tailgated-mounted parcel shelf, which lifts up when the boot is open and provides full access to the boot space without faffing around with a removable shelf or a fiddly tonneau cover.  The boot floor is also height-adjustable, and, when set to its highest position, leaves no step in the floor of the extended load bay when the rear seats are folded down, with only a very small lip at the boot entrance.