Ford Puma Gen-E review

A big deal, that’s what. The current Ford Puma has been the best-selling car in the UK for the past two years running (and leads the way in 2025 too), and has long been Top Gear’s favourite small crossover for being better to drive than it has any right to be. It can thank the car it’s based on for that, the much missed Fiesta. RIP.

So, welcome to the Ford Puma Jenny. Sorry, Gen-E. You’ll have guessed it's electric from the name, of course. Either that or the closed-off grille, which to our eyes makes it look a tad... gawky. Disagree?

Other telltale signs include active shutters and air curtains, aero friendly alloys, a larger spoiler, and white Puma lettering at the rear. But otherwise, Ford’s entry-level EV is all very familiar. Just a bit more bulbous.

What’s going on underneath?

Where the Ford Explorer and Capri sit on the VW Group’s MEB architecture and are basically an ID.4 and ID.5 in disguise, Ford has gone in a different direction with the Puma. Instead, it sits on a modified version of the existing Puma’s ICE platform.

Which, let's not forget, was itself based on the seventh-generation Fiesta, something that was never intended to take a sizeable battery and all the electric gubbins that go with it. Sure, it's cheaper and easier than developing an entirely new base from scratch, but fitting a square peg in a round hole comes with compromises. As shall be revealed shortly...

It’s available in one version and one version only, with a single front e-motor generating 166bhp and 214lb ft of torque. The zero to 62mph sprint is seen off in eight seconds, on to a top speed of 99mph. Nothing too outlandish there. But the good news is it steers, corners and handles just as well as its combustion based sibling. The only real let-down is the slightly unsettled ride.

But of more importance is the 233 miles of range courtesy of the 53kWh (43kWh usable) battery. Ford reckons on 4.7 mi/kWh; we saw under 190 miles real world (4.4 mi/kWh) – very good efficiency, but a pants total. Remember that compromise we mentioned?

A 10-80 per cent top up on a fast charger takes 23 minutes.

Does the cabin differ to the combustion version?

Well, the MegaBox (the deep rubber-lined box in the boot complete with plug hole so you can hose out your mess) is present and correct, but it’s now morphed into… a GigaBox. No exhaust to worry about here, see, so bootspace actually climbs to a whopping 523 litres. It’s as good a reason to buy one as any.

Otherwise the Gen-E stays true to the facelifted Puma's recipe, complete with squircle steering wheel (yuck), 12.8-inch digital dials and 12.0-inch SYNC 4 infotainment system, which controls everything from the climate to the drive modes. As ever there’s a severe lack of knobs and buttons for our liking.

How much will it cost me?

Prices start a whisker shy of £30,000, just under three-and-a-half grand more than the combustion version. And it comes in two trim levels. Ford reckons you can recoup that extra outright cost with one of those cheap overnight tariffs (and not the sort being dished out over the Atlantic lately).

Ford has also announced a new ‘Power Promise’, which amounts to a free electric home charger, 10,000 miles of charging credit, plus a five-year service plan that includes towing assistance should you run out of charge. Good to know.

It's a bonus selling point against its main rivals, of which there are many in the compact electric crossover sector. Take your pick from the Kia EV3, Skoda Elroq, Volvo EX30 and VW ID.3, plus (from the Stellantis megacorp) the Jeep Avenger, Peugeot e-2008 and Vauxhall Mokka Electric.

The Ford Puma Gen-E picks up where its combustion engine sibling left off. It’s better to drive than pretty much anything else this size, and its familiarity means Ford will likely sell a fair few to any Fiesta/Puma buyers looking to make the switch to electric. Its Power Promise is a big incentive too.

But three years on from when it was first announced, adapting a platform that was never meant to take a lump of a battery makes the Gen-E feel like an afterthought. And it shows with its limited range. Given how many small EVs easily beat 200 miles in real conditions these days, the fact that the Puma doesn't is telling.