Fiat Grande Punto Multijet 1.3 - delivered!

[sukrit7]

Hi guys, I booked the grande punto 1.3 multijet emotion pack yesterday. 27th june.
Rana motors have been spectacular; They arranged multiple long test drives and have been frank about the drawbacks of the car. Special mention has to be made about Mr.Rana, he's been wonderful and i'd recommend him highly.

Am currently waiting for the white color, the car is currently in transit; after it arrives I'll take a call between the white and the minimal grey.
Blue and black are out as my baleno(altura) and swift are the same colors, the others are too flashy for my taste.

The following issues are on my mind
1- Will fiat launch a more powerful version, that'll be heartbreaking.
2-Where's the television commercial ? Why so lethargic fiat ?
3-No discounts, hope the car prices don't come down
4- Should I wait for the i20 diesel, punto's coming to 6.63 onroad and I'm already exceeding my budget, what d'u think will be the price of the i20 ?

That's about it, experience till now has been delightful, no complaints. Fiat has followed up and asked about dealership feedback, any thing i've particulary liked/disliked about the car etc.
It felt good that the company was taking such interest.
More later.
(sorry for the brief note, I wrote a long one but it dissapeared mysteriously

[shineshine]

Congrats on your booking.

Please come up with a detailed review once you get your GP.

Some Good PICS too.

[sukrit7]

yes sir. will do!
I want my questions answered

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by sukrit7

The following issues are on my mind
1- Will fiat launch a more powerful version, that'll be heartbreaking.
2-Where's the television commercial ? Why so lethargic fiat ?
3-No discounts, hope the car prices don't come down
4- Should I wait for the i20 diesel, punto's coming to 6.63 onroad and I'm already exceeding my budget, what d'u think will be the price of the i20 ?

Answers

1. Dont think at all in near future, for Linea also chances are dim and for Punto they are almost nil, both engines are more than adequate for punto so dont expect bigger engines in punto by any chance in near future.

2. TV commercial, they are giving full page ads in newspapers and i want them to save this moolah and use it in increasing fiat mechanics over Tata serv centres.

3. Fiat increased the prices of Linea and same will be done to punto seeing the way people are booking this car. Budget i dont have any idea if it can reduce car prices.

4. i20 diesel its a tough call, still i find Punto better than i20, it will get a 74 bhp diesel so dont expect much. In other areas barring interiors and A.S.S punto is at par or better than i20 for sure. Go ahead and get a punto, dont change your mind, you made a right decision

[theragingbull]

Congrats! You've got yourself the perfect hatch! Punto is better than the i20 in many ways. The i20 diesel will also cost more than the Punto.
So when will you get the delivery of the Italian beauty? IMO go for the white one!

[nurni76]

If your heart beats for Punto, then go ahead and book. But if you are still in a dilemma, then I suggest you wait till i20 Diesel is launched (sometime in the first half of July 09). I also have heard it will come with a 90 BHP engine. I20 is defintely a better car with the 90 BHP diesel.

[manish7]

You may decide to wait for i20 Diesel but I doubt if it would be cheaper than GP. In fact I am 99% sure that it will be more expensive than GP. i20 Asta petrol itself costs 6.40 OTR Pune and GP E+ is 6.83 OTR Pune. Dehli & Calcutta guys are lucky when it comes to Car pricing. But in any case, you can add *at least* 80k to i20 price to get an idea.

I am also considering purchase in next couple of months, but would definitely wait fro i20 launch and GP reports. If finances go well, it coud be Linea as well!

[Bubby]

Congratulations, I think you should stick with PUNTO EP.

I feel i20 ASTA Diesel should not be less then 7.50 OTR.

[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by sukrit7

Hi guys, I booked the grande punto 1.3 multijet emotion pack yesterday. 27th june.

The following issues are on my mind
1- Will fiat launch a more powerful version, that'll be heartbreaking.
2-Where's the television commercial ? Why so lethargic fiat ?
3-No discounts, hope the car prices don't come down
4- Should I wait for the i20 diesel, punto's coming to 6.63 onroad and I'm already exceeding my budget, what d'u think will be the price of the i20 ?

Congratulations and welcome to the club !!!

My Answers :

1. NO !!!
2. Print ads and hoardings are better value for money for auto manufacturers compared to television ads. TV AD will be coming soon though
3. Price definitely won't come down. If anything, it would go up.
4. NO !!! Don't wait for the i-20 diesel. If you decide to wait, invest the 6.63 lacs you have allocated for the punto and earn some interest on it. Even if you wait for the i-20, you are going to end up buying a Punto. i-20 Diesel is DEFINITELY going to be expensive than the Punto

Go ahead !! You have made the right choice

[MAS]

Hi Sukrit,

Unless you are in a big hurry and you don't have any other vehicle, you could go ahead with GP. If i were you, i would wait and see what I20 has to offer and then decide on which car to go with.

It is good news that Fiat is taking interest in people booking / test driving their products. Hope this same interest remains after one buys the car which would make post-buying and ownership experience a good one to write about.

I happened to see some non-so-impressive, "mediocre" tv ads of GP.

[Minardi]

Saw the Punto TV ad several times during the India Vs WI ODI on Sunday night (Ten Sports). It is in Hindi, vis-a-vis the Jazz which is in English. (looks more international than desi).

[sukrit7]

Thank you all. I feel quite reassured now and am continuing with the punto.
I visited the showroom today as the white was available and have finally finalized on that. Here are some pictures...

@Mas- I'm in no hurry, already have enough cars but still am sticking with the punto since the i20 will obviously be priced higher

@amogh- Fiat feels the same way, say prices will go up soon; got some service coupons as incentive though

@nurni- Already booked, I think i'm alright with the power on the punto and prefer the way it looks and handles as compared to the i20; pricing of the i20 is bound to be much higher.

@coolyboy- A.S.S doesn't seem to be a problem, a friend of mine gets his car serviced at rana and is extremely delighted.
Even I feel they're a committed lot of people, I'd asked them to and they called to inform me that the white had arrived and I could take a look.

@theragingbull- Advice accepted sir, it's the white

Can't add pictures currently, don't know why; shall try again in a bit

[sukrit7]

Finally, after quite a few tries I have an image uploaded.
Please note, this is not my car, just the model I got to see.
@mods- Am posting each picture sep. as i'm getting too many errors.

Many tries later...
I'm giving up at the moment, don't know why it's acting up. Do let me know if you guys like the color.

[jesal]

Originally Posted by sukrit7

Finally, after quite a few tries I have an image uploaded.
Please note, this is not my car, just the model I got to see.
@mods- Am posting each picture sep. as i'm getting too many errors.

Many tries later...
I'm giving up at the moment, don't know why it's acting up. Do let me know if you guys like the color.

looks ugly in base model. damn. thin tyres and no fogs and no colored mirrors kill the base look totally. no wonder everyone is buying the emopack since it looks HOTHOTHOT. oh well i bet top line white looks nice as well.

[sukrit7]

The thin tyres make it look pretty bad though in flesh it looks ok. I'm still thinking if I should switch to minimal grey