Some quality niggles & Issues in Fiat Punto

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by JayD

... improving plastics, an overall fit & finish, even with a marginal price increase will do a lot of good for the company.

Well said and fully agree. I don't know how much it would cost extra for good quality plastics but if I were in the market for a new car, i wouldn't mind paying upto 10K more than now for top notch quality plastics.

[.anshuman]

I read in ACI that Fiat is blaming Tata suppliers for poor plastics in Punto.

[JRD]

Well said my friend.! Wait till "how underpowered the punto is" starts.

Originally Posted by faithless_1984

Its not even about the car after sometime.
So relax people....its just not worth it.

On a serious note. Sid, my linea had the glove box issue and its just a internal setting in the lock which will fix it.

And about the plastics , well what can i say buddy, you'll have to live with it. On the bright side fiat will replace it if it breaks.

[AbhiJ]

Originally Posted by somebodystopme

Now a guy with a brain needs guts to still go for i20 and not spend 25K more and go for punto.

I own a i20. I have a brain, and I did not need any "guts" to buy an i20.

In my opinion, it was a better car.

However, I dont go around calling Punto owners names. I respect their choice, and I would greatly appreciate if you do the same.

p.s. I do not think the Punto (MJD) is underpowered.

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Well said and fully agree. I don't know how much it would cost extra for good quality plastics but if I were in the market for a new car, i wouldn't mind paying upto 10K more than now for top notch quality plastics.

Dont know about plastics, but for rubber gaskets, (all door gasket + hatch) the gaskets can be made to "german" quality standards by adding about Rs. 500 to the cost of the vehicle.

[pmbabu]

Originally Posted by JayD

improving plastics, an overall fit & finish, even with a marginal price increase will do a lot of good for the company.

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Well said and fully agree. I don't know how much it would cost extra for good quality plastics but if I were in the market for a new car, i wouldn't mind paying upto 10K more than now for top notch quality plastics.

Right. And there would be more folks who turn away from GP because of this quality issue than those who opt for GP for features like Blue&Me.

[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

I read in ACI that Fiat is blaming Tata suppliers for poor plastics in Punto.

+1 to that.

Unfortunately for us, we do not know what is the legal agreement between Fiat & Tata. Maybe the agreement says that Fiat HAS to use the same suppliers as Tata to keep the logistics and supply chain costs low.

For all we know, Fiat might be really keen on getting good quality plastics inside the Linea & Punto. But the Tata suppliers might not be backing them by providing plastics of those quality.

But yes, I definitely think that Fiat could have done a better job of "fitting" those inferior quality plastics.

I have one question though : If the parts suppliers are Tata suppliers, who does the QC check on those parts ? Fiat or Tata ?

[wildon]

Mr.RatanTata & Mr.Rajeev Kapoor should directly take initiative to resolve this Quality issues. What about those JD Power feed backs. All those FIAT owners should take initiative to give the feedback directly to FIAT rather than depending on dealers or some other agencies.

[wind_rider]

Hi All,

Based on the advice of Roayal Cruiser , we thought it would be great to have a topic on all the little issue & niggles one faces in Punto .

This way the Owner can know what issues are common in the vehicle as well as understand how others fixed them .

this will also allow " Gurus " or " Experts " to give the right advice and thus prevent further damage or minimalize it .

Request all Punto Owners to post their issues / concerns / problems about punto here .

Request to Mods : Kindly move this thread if it is in the wrong forum .

[clevermax]

The handle of the bonnet open lever came off when I pulled, fixed it myself by just sticking it in and clicking into position. That's one niggle I had so far.

[aqualeo2040]

Grouses:
1-10.Horrible plastic quality
11.Would have loved the engine sound insulation of Linea
12.Options to add on amp
13.Would prefer the headlights a bit higher

Will Fiat please care to change the shoddy plastics from our cars!
At least I am ready to shell out for the difference.
Everything else is pure love

[royalcruiser]

Thanks Wind Rider. Ok, so though I do not own a Punto some of the issues that are at the back of my mind:

- loose rear parcel tray
- dont remember, but in the initial batches, the front tie rods had to be replaced for some Puntos?
- rubber door beading not fit well or poor quality?

some of these might even be non-issues in the new batches. Kindly confirm or correct these .. more later!

[roms]

Was at Fortune Powai last week for my S10's periodic service. Asked the service guys a general report on the common niggles, specific failures for the Punto and Linea.

Apart from the regular niggles related to plastics, they said the clutch slave cylinder on quite a few 1.4 FIRE engines have been replaced due to faulty OEM quality clutch slave cylinders. There is no official announcement from Fiat though. I believe Bhpian Amit's Punto had a slave cylinder replacement during first service, but in this case, it was a Multijet and not the 1.4 FIRE engine.

[beejay]

The plastic quality leaves a lot to be desired for on the Punto.

Why cant they make them like they used to?

[wind_rider]

Originally Posted by clevermax

The handle of the bonnet open lever came off when I pulled, fixed it myself by just sticking it in and clicking into position. That's one niggle I had so far.

IMO you should have asked for a replacement of the whole part , that way they would send reports back to the factory that there are a lot of requests for replacement , that will show in Q.A / Q.C reports and thus maybe the product improves .!

Sad isnt it , small parts spoil the good feeling about owning this car .

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

Grouses:
1-10.Horrible plastic quality
11.Would have loved the engine sound insulation of Linea
12.Options to add on amp
13.Would prefer the headlights a bit higher

Will Fiat please care to change the shoddy plastics from our cars!
At least I am ready to shell out for the difference.
Everything else is pure love

1-10 : Agreed , the plastic quality is okay , but i dont think it is horrible , at least in the recent batches [ Post September ] can anybody support / refute this claim .?

11. This i agree , i am personally planning on adding some insulation in the way of rubber sheets cut to appropriate size and shape , inside the engine bay , under the bonnet etc .

12 . that would have been great .

13.Would prefer the headlights a bit higher : A bit higher , sorry i am not able to follow you .

Originally Posted by royalcruiser

Thanks Wind Rider. Ok, so though I do not own a Punto some of the issues that are at the back of my mind:

- loose rear parcel tray
- dont remember, but in the initial batches, the front tie rods had to be replaced for some Puntos?
- rubber door beading not fit well or poor quality?

some of these might even be non-issues in the new batches. Kindly confirm or correct these .. more later!

Loose parcel tray is a concern , i got mine replaced thanks to a thorough PDI , now the issue is fixed .
Rubber beading , yes is one issue i am thinking of getting fixed by adding extra beading and properly gluing them to the door openings .

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

Grouses:
1-10.Horrible plastic quality
11.Would have loved the engine sound insulation of Linea
12.Options to add on amp
13.Would prefer the headlights a bit higher

Will Fiat please care to change the shoddy plastics from our cars!
At least I am ready to shell out for the difference.
Everything else is pure love

Any thread which mentions niggle/issue and FIAT products is bound to attact attention among the sea of threads.

I personally think, we should either have such threads for all the vehicles launched or should not have any threads at all. let them be discussed in the individual ownership threads itself

Hi Aqualeo, I respect your feedback But i have not understood one thing (for academic interest).

If one has bought a car very well knowing what he/she is buying (plastic quality, noise isolation, options, looks etc) then how one can have grouse on these aspects after shelling out the money

I feel, these are design related aspects, comes as a part of total package
when one is buying a package it has both positives as well as negatives.