Fiat Grande Punto : Test Drive & Review

[S.MJet]

Originally Posted by sridharj

Guys I hear a small rattling sound in my AC vent/ Dashboard when the car is in idle. I have left the car for 1st service last saturday, the tata guys are still working on it and couldn't find the cause even after three days.

Yes, even I get to hear some rattling sound from dash, specially during first 5-7 min in morning.
It goes off as it warms up. Mine is 2012 MJD Emotion.

Don't worry, as mentioned by DRIV3R, ignore them & enjoy the drive.

[sridharj]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Yes. This is a minor one though. I feel you are making it worse by asking TASS guys to fiddle with it. Just pump up the music and enjoy the drive. If yours is a 2012 model, am sure you should be having the infamous left front door rattle. The dashboard rattle is nothing when compared to this.

Ok, I thought my car is the only one that had this rattle, I will just check with them tomorrow and if they could not do anything on it then I will take the delivery of the car and live with it.

Yeah, I do have that famous left door rattle and infact I hate to drive without the music system on. Fiat now beats Maruthi on rattling issues.

Regards,
Sridhar

[sammyboy]

So after 7 years of driving the Ford Ikon 1.3, i decided it was time to upgrade. The Ford has been a brilliant companion and I have hardly spent anything in the last 65K kms. But the ride has spoilt us rotten. Wifey drives the ANHC but both of us really love the ride we get from the Ikon. Both of us started thinking and as my daily drive is close to 40 km, we decided to get a diesel. No matter how hard we tried the only cars we could shortlist were the 90bhp Punto, Tjet (ruled out tearfully due to petrol prices) and the TSI (again ruled out due to the petrol prices).

We did think of getting a TD of the Punto a few months back but the lack of response was so ridiculous from Fiat that we just didnt follow up.

So today i opened the Fiat website and tried filling the TD form. 2 tries and it just reset itself :(. Finally decided to just call a dealer randomly and see if I get a response. if I didnt, I decided to just leave it and start the shortlisting from scratch.

First site I opened was Prerna Motors, Lalbagh. Found a number of Mr. Karthik there and called him. He picked the phone and after listening to my request for a TD of a Punto 90 said he will call me back. I was smiling to myself, when he said that. Those are the famous last words from Fiat TD guys :f)

60 mins later my phone rings, its Karthik asking me my address and telling me that the TD car with another person with the same name called K2 now (Karthik Calling Karthik :P) is on the way. I was floored but thanks to my previous experiences wasnt too positive. Was waiting for a, "Car met with accident" or " Car in workshop" kind of calls but I didnt get one. Instead I got a call from K2 asking for my house location.

So in a few mins K2 is there with a 10K driven 2010 model Punto 90. Now I know there are a lot of differences in the 2, especially ground clearance and turning radius (apart from cosmetic differences) but was happy with the response and the fact they got a stickered 90bhp TD car and not a customer car.

Asked him for a long TD and he was more than happy, took a 10km or so TD and he was happy to let me take a longer one if i wanted to.

We loved the car, and even more so the experience with the TD. I was just not expecting things to turn out the way they did for the TD and if this is how things are going, I am sure we can expect better things in the future.

At the end, I am a fan now and will speak to the lease guys to get me a deal next month beginning. By the way, he knew about TBHP as well when I told him that I knew most features etc. because i had been reading threads by fellow members.

White Punto Sport 90 is what I will look at. Lets see how things go from here

[headers]

Originally Posted by S.MJet

Yes, even I get to hear some rattling sound from dash, specially during first 5-7 min in morning.
It goes off as it warms up. Mine is 2012 MJD Emotion.

Originally Posted by sridharj

Yeah, I do have that famous left door rattle and infact I hate to drive without the music system on. Fiat now beats Maruthi on rattling issues.

It must not be the dash, check the front seat rails area

I had once got a rattle and it was the rear seat not sitting proper on its lock. I mean the bench seat. This appeared to be noise coming from the left front area, but was otherwise!

Originally Posted by sammyboy

White Punto Sport 90 is what I will look at. Lets see how things go from here

Congrats on your decision - You will fall in love with the car!

[prashant316]

Here I need some help from the Diesel Punto experts.

I am looking for a used Diesel Punto in Delhi. I came across this 2009 model emotion run 40000 kms.

Looking at the car I noticed a few things:-

• The driver door did not close in 3 stages, but was infact loosely opening
• the right fender was repainted, the owner told me it was hit by another car and it needed to be re painted
• when i pulled the bonet lever, it came out
• the lever to open the glove box was missing
• few scratches here and there
• it had aftermarket alloys and tyres
• servicing was NOT done from fiat
• while turning off the car, it viberated like crazy. Like the old tata 207
• Even the seat height adjustment lever felt clumsy, dint take much rick fearing that would also come off
• I felt the meter was tampered with looking at the condition of the footmats, the way the door opened and closed
• I found the ownership pattern to be a little confusing

now my questions are:-

1. Is there a way to figure out if the meter has been tampered with? Can Fiat service centre run a diagnostics and find out?
2. The vibration while turning off this car normal?
3. Is it possible to replace the drivers seat and the glove box?
4. Any other specifics I should look for in the car before closing the deal?
5. Is it worth 3.5 lacs that the owner is asking for?

[Reisender]

Originally Posted by S.MJet

Yes, even I get to hear some rattling sound from dash, specially during first 5-7 min in morning.
It goes off as it warms up. Mine is 2012 MJD Emotion.

Don't worry, as mentioned by DRIV3R, ignore them & enjoy the drive.

Originally Posted by sridharj

Ok, I thought my car is the only one that had this rattle, I will just check with them tomorrow and if they could not do anything on it then I will take the delivery of the car and live with it.

Yeah, I do have that famous left door rattle and infact I hate to drive without the music system on. Fiat now beats Maruthi on rattling issues.

Regards,
Sridhar

Guys,

I too had similar rattling noise in the dashboard area in my 2010 MJD. I left the car for 3rd service (2 yrs completed) and they fixed it.
It looks the the belt holds the dash gone.. the part price is around 2500rs and they replaced it under warranty for free of cost.

Let me know if you need any info on this.
Service done at ECR concorde, chennai

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by prashant316

Here I need some help from the Diesel Punto experts.

I am looking for a used Diesel Punto in Delhi. I came across this 2009 model emotion run 40000 kms.

Dude, just run away from the car as far as possible...

[Irish]

What are the possible causes that a newly purchased Dynamic doesn't get locked using the key remote buttons?
No problem in manually locking using the key from driver side.
All three doors gets unlocked using the remote but the driver side doesn't get unlocked

Cheers!
Irish

[sdp1975]

Bonnet release isn't working, what could be the problem ?

I've faced this once earlier and then playing with the release lever made it work but not now.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Guys, need help.

Had a long drive yesterday. ac was on full time, and it was raining outside as well. The carpet mat on the front passenger side became really really wet, and was dripping water.

1. What could be the possible reason?

2. How do I dry the base mat now? Its really wet, and I'm afraid it'll stink.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Had a long drive yesterday. ac was on full time, and it was raining outside as well. The carpet mat on the front passenger side became really really wet, and was dripping water.

1. What could be the possible reason?

It's probably because the AC drain tube is clogged or out of place.

[prashant316]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Guys, need help.

Had a long drive yesterday. ac was on full time, and it was raining outside as well. The carpet mat on the front passenger side became really really wet, and was dripping water.

1. What could be the possible reason?

2. How do I dry the base mat now? Its really wet, and I'm afraid it'll stink.

I can see 2 reasons of this happening.

1. The ac drain pipe is disconnected and is now dripping its water on ur carpet
2. There is a leakage for rainwater to get in

2nd seems unlikely. 1st is a 2 min job to fix. Just check for any loose pipes under the dashboard. Or take it to a mechanic.

To dry it, take the mat out in the sun and let it dry. If there is no Sun due to rain, keep it whereever you are drying your clothes. Let it dry naturally. It may take 2-3 days though.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Guys, need help.

Had a long drive yesterday. ac was on full time, and it was raining outside as well. The carpet mat on the front passenger side became really really wet, and was dripping water.

1. What could be the possible reason?

2. How do I dry the base mat now? Its really wet, and I'm afraid it'll stink.

Like a couple of others who suggested, the culprit here is the AC drain pipe. Its a quick fix at the Service Center. But do note to get a permanent sort of fix to ensure this does not repeat again.

You the wet/dry type vacuum cleaner to suck any water out first and then take the carpet out for drying.

Do post the pic of the wet carpet if possible.

Thanks,
KRISHNA

[headers]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

The carpet mat on the front passenger side became really really wet, and was dripping water.

1. What could be the possible reason?

2. How do I dry the base mat now? Its really wet, and I'm afraid it'll stink.

A simple effective solution is to park the car under sun with all windows down and door open. If the timing and place is right - 2 to 3 hours would do the job [in Chennai]

[muni]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Guys, need help.

Had a long drive yesterday. ac was on full time, and it was raining outside as well. The carpet mat on the front passenger side became really really wet, and was dripping water.

1. What could be the possible reason?

2. How do I dry the base mat now? Its really wet, and I'm afraid it'll stink.

AC drain pipe is the culprit.

I had the same problem and it happened a week after I bought the car. There is a design flaw and it seems quite a few number of people have faced this issue. Take it to the service center and they will fix it. get them to dry the water thoroughly which they wouldnt do. Make a little bit of noise and get them to attend to it on priority.

It happened to my car on the driver side footwell and went all the way till the rear passenger footwell and there was more than 2 litre of water