This may look like an ordinary Ford Puma ST at a first glance but it's substantially different than the hot crossover the Blue Oval has been selling since 2020. To diversify the lineup, a lesser version is now available with a smaller 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine. The mild-hybrid three-pot is good for 168 horsepower and 183 pound-feet (248 Newton-meters) of torque. As a refresher, the 1.5-liter variant has 197 hp and 236 lb-ft (320 Nm).
Another major difference between the two is how power is routed to the front wheels. The beefier Puma ST uses a six-speed manual gearbox whereas the new entry-level flavor boasts a Powershift transmission with paddle shifters. It's a dual-clutch, seven-speed automatic unit, enabling the spicy subcompact crossover to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in 7.4 seconds. That makes it 0.7s slower than the more powerful 1.5-liter model.
