Getting it wrong can be easy

 

THE PREMISE WAS simple, turn a successful and well proven hacthback into a stylish and sporty mini-coupe. So how can one company get it right and another get it so very wrong?

The Ford Fiesta and the Vauxhall Corsa were amongst the top selling cars in Britain, so why not make a little more money from them and make stylish and sexy coupe's out of them too?

It's a great idea because there are plenty of people out there who want the low running costs of a small hatchback but don't want the image that comes with it.


Creating

So Vauxhall and Ford got to work turning their hatchbacks into coupes. Vauxhall's small coupe was called the Tigra and Ford's, the Puma.

The Puma was sublime in just about every way and the Tigra was...well to be frank, the Tigra was bloody awful!
 
Now, I should explain, a coupe has two jobs; to look good and to drive well and the Puma has the Tigra beaten in both of those departments. It would be harsh to describe the Tigra as ugly but it's nowhere near as sharp as the Puma.

Driving

However, it's in the driving where the Puma really stretches it's legs over the Tigra because the Ford Puma was truly brilliant to drive as this footage from Top Gear in 1997 of Tiff Needell scaring the bejesus out of Jeremy Clarkson and Quentin Wilson proves:

 

The Tigra was not so blessed when it came to the driving, this was due in part to the fact that the it's Corsa platform was decidedly average. It's dynamic shortcomings teamed with it's dreary styling meant it failed at the two things you need to make a successful coupe and it was therefore rather pointless.

If you happen to own a Vauxhall Tigra then I apologise for criticising it but the fact remains, you've bought the wrong car. If, on the other hand, you own a Puma then I applaud you for owning one of the finest cars ever to wear the blue oval.

The Vauxhall Tigra is a lesson from history about how even with such simple ingredients, you can still get it spectacularly wrong. The Ford Puma however, will forever be a lesson in getting it absolutely spot-on.