Is a Puma a Girly Car?

Uuuh Patsy

I'm 30 and being so old and out of touch, I would appreciate some advise on this sensitive subject. The car in question is a 00 1.4 and black, and I'm undecided whether I should ditch my 98 A4 and get the missus something new for use as our recently arrived baby carrier?

copacetic

definitely...

Alfasudcrazy

Nice car for the missus YES - but you should never be seen dead behind the wheel of it.:D

Big Nelly

Womans car!! no man should be seen in it!!

ambro25

Uuuh Patsy wrote:

The car in question is a 00 1.4 and black, and I'm undecided whether I should ditch my 98 A4 and get the missus something new for use as our recently arrived baby carrier?

Let me get this right: you are considering ditching a 4-door family saloon in favour of a 2-door coupe to ferry a baby about? :eek:

[from experience here] Have you considered all the ancillary items you will need to cart about, besides the baby seat? e.g. pram, rain cover, etc. and in that context is the Puma boot big enough? (for reference, I found the boot on an IS200 too small for that).

Next - security features: Has your A4 ABS? Airbags? Sidebars? etc, etc. And now, has the Puma any of those? Another security feature which people don't always think of: how powerful is your A4 vs the Puma (should your missus need the 'oomph' to get out of a bad situation)? etc, etc.

Finally, to answer your query: the Puma is a re-bodied Fiesta, so yep, definitely a girl's blouse of a car (I got my missus an Impreza 2L Sport as a "recently arrived baby carrier" - with Magnex s/s full exhaust line ).

Uuuh Patsy

No, I am considering trading one or other to buy her a new 5 door of some kind. But as my new job is only a couple of miles away, keeping a 1.8 seems a bit like over kill. I could use the Puma. I don't think anybody would see me in it if I sneak out early!

junkyard

You could tint out the glass or change shifts to night.:)

ambro25

Uuuh Patsy wrote:

No, I am considering trading one or other to buy her a new 5 door of some kind. But as my new job is only a couple of miles away, keeping a 1.8 seems a bit like over kill.

Ah-OK, got ya.

Win-Win Solution: trade both, get her a nice 5 door ("with potential" so you get to play too every now and then ) and (couple of miles and you need a car :eek: ), get yourself a bike (of the powered kind or otherwise ).

niall mc

its definitely a womans car. not much space for baby stuff though. sitting in the back is like being enclosed in some sort of egg. boot space isn't the worst though.

it does have the best gear box of any car i have ever driven, really smooth gear changes. great car to drive, careful of the leather steering wheel, it tends to degrade a bit if you have sweaty hands.

love the a4's though

ballooba

I'm driving a 05 TDI Passat today and it's lovely to drive. Lots of room for baby and all associated baby items. Huge car. The one I'm driving is €24,500 but you would pick up a 02 in 6 weeks for a song (€12,000?). I have a 02 petrol but the diesel is way nicer imo.

PlayaFlow

anmbro25 - "(I got my missus an Impreza 2L Sport as a "recently arrived baby carrier" - with Magnex s/s full exhaust line )."


Is your missues named Jacintah and have big hoopy earrings??:D

ambro25

Does your Ma'...

(i) My missus is not Irish, therefore,
(ii) she knows how to drive (and I mean that in the widest possible context, i.e in terms of speeds maintained, road-reading & awareness, consideration to others, etc.),
(iii) *given past record of car ownership* even better, decently handle something sporty, 4WD, FWD or RWD,
(iv) and is pretty much minded as me, where car choice is concerned, in that she cannot suffer mundane, identikit 4-wheeled boxes (insert here in no particular order of preference: Mondeo, Focus, Passat, Corolla, SUV, MPV, etc, etc.).

When you yourself eventually have kids (assuming you have none yet, note), come back here and let me know what family carrier your opted for and -more interestingly- the reasons why you pick such...

johnnyrotten

Yep!

Uuuh Patsy

Now now girls. We're all friends here.

More importantly. Shes just arrived home with a brochure of the latest Kia Rio. Now I'm a bit green when it comes to these jaopy/korean type motors, but this seems a lot of car for 16k.
(06 reg, 3 yrs warranty lots of extras)

Anybody in Ireland got one and any opinions. Maybe a new thread is in order?

Kersh

Yes , its defo a girly car, along with..
Hyundai coupe
Ford Ka
Mx5
206
206cc
307cc
Audi TT
323f
slk
z3
z4

Ps _ dont even contemplae a Kia Rio, go buy a 2 year old yaris. A new Rio will bomb in depreciation, imo buy a 2/3 year old car that has already depreciated.

ando

Kersh wrote:

Audi TT

hmm, not to sure on that

Kersh

Ah it is, pure girly car. Theres a new one on the way though, maybe it will be more masculine.

PlayaFlow

ambro25 wrote:

Does your Ma'...

(i) My missus is not Irish, therefore,
(ii) she knows how to drive (and I mean that in the widest possible context, i.e in terms of speeds maintained, road-reading & awareness, consideration to others, etc.),
(iii) *given past record of car ownership* even better, decently handle something sporty, 4WD, FWD or RWD,
(iv) and is pretty much minded as me, where car choice is concerned, in that she cannot suffer mundane, identikit 4-wheeled boxes (insert here in no particular order of preference: Mondeo, Focus, Passat, Corolla, SUV, MPV, etc, etc.).

When you yourself eventually have kids (assuming you have none yet, note), come back here and let me know what family carrier your opted for and -more interestingly- the reasons why you pick such...

Yeah , i was only messin wit ya - it is a good choice and much better than most people go for.
I my smelf would go for an Audi S4 - if i could afford one.

and to the other guy naming girly cars - 323F are definitley not girls cars , firs time i ever heard that.

copacetic

PlayaFlow wrote:

323F are definitley not girls cars , firs time i ever heard that.

agreed, they are more of a male hairdressers car really;)

Kersh

HAHA, you are dead right there DaveyM - girly car/hairdresser car = one and the same..:p

ambro25

Kersh wrote:

Yes , its defo a girly car, along with..
(...)
Mx5
(...)

I need to take you out for a spin one of these days, and put the stereotype to rest once and for all - else you should include Lotus Elises as well, since I used to p*ss on those with mine

Kersh wrote:

Ps _ dont even contemplae a Kia Rio, go buy a 2 year old yaris. A new Rio will bomb in depreciation, imo buy a 2/3 year old car that has already depreciated.

Quite correct for this, though.

Alfasudcrazy

What about the Alfa Gt - is it a girly car? I have only seen about 15 on the road (other than my own) and they were all (bar one) being driven by guys.?

I used to get real mad when people used to call my Fiat 128 3P's girly cars.:mad:

I agree that the BMW Z3 was a girly car but don't agree that the Z4 is - all the ones I seen were being driven by guys too.:D

Kersh

ah, but were these guys 'questionable'.
By girly car, i mean driven by stewardesses, hairdressers, general girly types, or above said 'questionable' men...

Alfasudcrazy

Going off topic a small bit but Kersh what's the story with the race car in your sig - is it yours ?? .... go on spill the beans?:)

Funxy

ambro25 wrote:

I need to take you out for a spin one of these days, and put the stereotype to rest once and for all - else you should include Lotus Elises as well, since I used to p*ss on those with mine

Thats pretty amazing id love to know how you pissed on a lotus? :eek:

According to the top gear website:

The slowest lotus elise is the 98 rovered engine one which is 0-60 in 5.8secs. The fastest is the newish 111r with the toyota celica engine and its 0-60 is 4.9secs.

Whereas the Mx5's slowest is the early 1.6 which is 9.7secs and the fastest i could find was the newest 2.0 Sport version at a 0-60 of 7.9secs. More then two seconds slower then the slowest lotus which is quite alot considering the fast time youd be getting into with that kind of sports car. Not to mention the fastest lotus is nearly twice as fast as the most popular on the road irish mx5.

Obviously im comparing with 0-60 times because thats the usual comparison when saying you beat one, but possible your just literally saying you pissed on one, which is a completly different story altogether

ambro25

Funxy wrote:

Thats pretty amazing id love to know how you pissed on a lotus? :eek:

(...)

Obviously im comparing with 0-60 times because thats the usual comparison when saying you beat one

Which is where you're going wrong - I didn't say I beat one, as a matter of fact I've beaten several

0-60 times do not account for road configuration (twisty/straight/gentles curves/A-road/M-oad/etc.), road conditions (dry/damp/busy/empty/etc.), respective driving aptitude of the drivers (good/bad/conservative/out-of-his-head/etc.), weather (clear/sunny/overcast/windy/etc.), etc.

Mine's a 1.8 to start with (count'em, on irish roads... not exactly the "most popular on the road irish mx5" ). No vitamins either, but few road-handling improvements (torsion bars, sports shocks, uprated brakes and directional tyres, mostly).

Next is the fact that, contrary to perhaps a fair proportion of Irish (or UK) drivers, I don't stop pushing @ 80 mph when having "an explanation" - if you gonna take you 'Lise to 120+, you'll find me right there on your bumper, and I'll raise you 15 (speedo, but open-topped, never dared pushing farther as it *really* is buffeting & shaking some then ) - and at least a couple of Elises I've had "explanations" with were having trouble getting past 125 mph for whatever reason (mechanical/driver/whatever).

Finally, short of me videoing such "explanations", which I can't see myself ever doing because (i) I'm too busy driving, (ii) I'd be constituting self-incriminating material and (iii) I have as much respect for the guy in the other car, then.... you'll have to take my word for it

The only good thing about the puma is the fact you can take its bigger engine and plop it in a focus fairly easily, so Ive heard

neacy69

yes

WizZard

ronoc wrote:

The only good thing about the puma is the fact you can take its bigger engine and plop it in a focus fairly easily, so Ive heard

Yeah, the 1.7 Puma engine is, IIRC, a direct drop in for a 1.6 Focus (and maybe the 1.4, but I can't be sure)

Funxy

ambro25 wrote:

Finally, short of me videoing such "explanations", which I can't see myself ever doing because (i) I'm too busy driving, (ii) I'd be constituting self-incriminating material and (iii) I have as much respect for the guy in the other car, then.... you'll have to take my word for it

I say we'll have to meet one day on the track

eljono

Ya, the Puma does look like a bit of a girly car alright but it's a great car to drive. I drove a 1.4 for a weekend before and while it could have done with more power, it more than made up for it through the bends (and roundabouts). Great grip and steering. Gearchange is nice too. I'd recommend it if you're more about driving than image.