Ford Puma Flexifuel test: bioethanol as a savior

1.82 €. This is the price of a liter of unleaded 98 on 27 September 2021 in the Total relay in Morainvilliers on the A13 motorway. what to guess Possible passage of 2 € bars in the near future, what seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. What to do when it’s important to ride? Is it electricity? It is expensive to buy and use on long trips when you need to refuel at expensive fast charging stations. Back to Diesel? It’s risky given the number of cities that will ban it from 2024. Alternative fuels such as LPG, admired by Dacia and Renault, or superethanol (the famous E85), now compatible with six models from Ford, remain the solution.

Let’s talk about the Fiesta EcoBoost 95 (and its auxiliary version, the Fiesta Van), the Focus mHEV 125, the Kuga 2.5 FHEV (which will be the first E85 hybrid model), the Transit Connect, and the SUV of the day, the Ford Puma EcoBoost. 125. Modification of injectors and engine calibration, each model can drink indifferently in the same tank, with lead-free or bioethanol E85. In the latter case, the overconsumption reaches 30% according to the WLTP certification cycle… it is immediately canceled at a price that is more than half the price at the pump: only 0,71 € average per liter against for E85 € 1.59 for 95 E10 lead free!

TO READ. Ethanol: List of compatible models without housing in France

Price Puma Flexifuel

Dubbed the Flexifuel, the Ford Puma “E85” is associated with the five available trim levels. Starting at 23,300 € in titanium and peaking at €29,400 at ST-Line Vignale (see price and equipment tier on the next page). Same price as the classic Puma EcoBoost 125, but equipped here with mild hybridization as standard (but the Focus Flexifuel 125 remains, figure…). Another incompatibility: with the robotic seven-speed gearbox reserved for the 100% petrol version.

Therefore, the Puma Flexifuel is immediately profitable (half the price in Brittany and Center) when powered by superethanol, thanks to the significantly lower fuel price and the gray card, which, like the micro-hybrid version, becomes free in most metropolitan areas. -Val de Loire). Note that for professionals, VAT on this fuel can be recovered at 80% (like petrol and diesel) or even 100% for commercial vehicles (only 80% for pre-existing petrol).^private January 2022). Thanks to 40% reduction in CO emissions_2nd, Puma Flexifuel is far from finally risking a penalty. But for now, the gasoline version does not suffer either.

Drive

The best time behind the wheel of the Puma Flexifuel is when you stop to refuel. We proudly get out of the car, open the fuel cap, pick up the blue gun and pull the trigger, staring at the pump with a small smile. With an average of €0.71 per liter, the euro counter scrolls much slower than the liter counter, such that20 euro bill is enough to get away with 30 liters of fuel. The first few times you leave the station feeling like you’ve dismantled the gas tanker, and if your diesel neighbor has spotted the deception over your shoulder, the satisfaction is better for him.

Then it’s time to hit the road, and in the first kilometers nothing can change our good mood: the semi-high driving position seduces, like the smooth ergonomics or the smoothness of the controls. The suspensions can better absorb the bumps of the road at low speed, but with sports suspensions and highly optional 19-inch wheels, we’re far from the “racquet hits” felt on a previous Puma ST-Line X. for the vertebrae.

Anyway, the 1.0 Ecoboost 125 Flexifuel doesn’t quite invite speed up because it doesn’t show the guts we know it to be. After very accurate accelerations, it lacks the boot effect during upgrades and encourages you to downshift a gear or two when you need power. Especially since there’s no electrical support coming in here to support it. Backwards, the absence of mild hybridization offers driving pleasure during deceleration, Much more is marked in the mHEV version to replenish the small battery.

This does not prevent the braking from being finely tuned, because at the start of the race the misshapen pedal greedily bites the pads of the discs a few millimeters further. Usual question. In town, the Stop & Start system remains rather discreet, and yet the alternator-starter often does not regret the absence of mild hybridization, which fluidizes the three-cylinder rework.

And overconsumption in all this? Reasonable during our testing, as our usual hilly highway journey has come to an end. An appetite of 8.4 l/100 km at 130 km/h. That’s 1.3 liters more or 55% cheaper than the classic Puma EcoBoost 125 with a fuel bill but 20% more consumption. No need to do extra math to see the savings on consumables…

On board

competition

If urban SUVs are colonizing dealer galleries (24 different models on the market, check out our small SUV buying guide), very few are powered by fuels other than unleaded, diesel or electric. The only exception is the Renault Captur TCe 100, which offers a dual-fuel petrol and LPG version. Liquefied petroleum gas is slightly less common (1,550 stations compared to 2,500 for the E85), slightly more expensive (average €0.88/l versus €0.71/l). it doesn’t offer everything and provides the same ease of use: the weapon is a little more difficult to manipulate, and additional storage usually takes up the place of the spare wheel.

However, the savings in use are very real and are supported by free residential parking in certain urban areas. Compared to the Puma Flexifuel, which is exhibited between €23,300 and €29,400, the Renault Captur TCe 100 LPG is slightly lower: €21,950 on the Zen, €24,550 on the Intens. Less standard equipment and more timid reminders on the road (25 hp lower power) are compensated for by a more elegant presentation as well as a more generous and flexible space thanks to the sliding seat. But here the choice will be made mostly on the basis of its proximity to a station distributing one or the other fuel.

You can find the test results, technical sheet and all prices and equipment on the next page..