Ford Puma.. on stilts?

*Written in 2019*

Rant coming up.

What is it that people like about tall/high cars? They have the worst handling characteristics and they roll more than your dog or cat. Especially the crossovers. They aren't long enough to be spacious or stable at high speeds or low enough to be stable in corners. They cannot be a proper hatchback or cannot be a proper SUV. The worst thing that gets on my nerves is when the fun and inexpensive cars made by mainstream passenger car manufacturers are reborn as crossovers.

For example, the Alto or the Zen in India is going to become a compact crossover SUV next year.

You know what the Alto or Zen was known for? They were known for being simple, purely mechanical cars that can also cater to the enthusiast for being light and go-kart like. This was anyway ruined when they tried to make it a European Tall Boy like the WagonR. Then they go and make this a compact SUV? Is this the end of simple and fun cars in the industry? Is this the era of purely functional cars?

The future Alto/Zen is to be based on this Future S Concept for 2020. I don't mind this coming to us. But them using the Zen/Alto nameplate would mean we wouldn't have anything even close to the classic anytime soon.

Another example, the Ford Puma. It used to be this beautiful compact coupe. How often do we see a mainstream passenger car manufacturer making cars like these? Probably Mazda is the only manufacturer that still makes fun inexpensive cars for the enthusiast with the Mazda MX-5.

Ford Puma made sense as a compact coupe. Sporty and agile, thanks to the short wheelbase, it relates to the Puma animal.

But then Ford brings back the Puma nameplate with this, another compact SUV crossover. So what does this relate to? A Puma with heels? How can a compact SUV be named after an animal that belongs to the cat family? Cats are agile, handle corners well, are light and sneaky. This car is everything but that. I like the design by the way. Nothing against that. It ticks all my boxes. Clean, pure, minimal and cheerful. I just wish it was a tad lower and 2 doors less.

I agree, the compact SUV sells. But please stop ruining nameplates that cater to the enthusiast by being fun for that.

Okay, I'm done. Let me know what you think. See you next week!