FIAT-Ferrari In Affordable Trim-My Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion

[hemanth.anand]

My Fair lady reached another landmark.

She reached 16000 kms today afternoon and now the odo is at 16050kms.


This is the slowest 1000 kms for my IB. 15k was 48 days ago(below photo was taken on 28-May-2011).


I calculated the average kms per day for the first 15k kms...It was 63kms/day.
The average kms per day for the last 1K kms is 20kms/day.


I been just pure joy driving all these 16K kms (Ok I have driven around 14K kms out of these 16K).

[UB_007]

Congrats Hemanth... Thats pretty quick. Was the 15K on odo hit during your 3days Mangalore-manipal trip for UB wedding?
A diesel punto would have been a better choice for your driving passion.
By the way how is the AC performance after it has been re-worked by Fiat?
Any updates on the arm rest for your seats? Has the Fiat official got back on this ?
-UB

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by UB_007

Congrats Hemanth... Thats pretty quick. Was the 15K on odo hit during your 3days Mangalore-manipal trip for UB wedding?
A diesel punto would have been a better choice for your driving passion.
By the way how is the AC performance after it has been re-worked by Fiat?
Any updates on the arm rest for your seats? Has the Fiat official got back on this ?
-UB

Nope, I hit the 14k mark during that trip.
One week after that, during my Hampi trip, I touched 15k

The arm rest part sourcing is still underway, The complaint to the fiat customer care, has not been fruitful till now, though they have promised to get it soon.
There has been some fire accident and some warehouse restructuring at fiat it seems.

AC is fantastic now. Its amazingly fast in cooling the cab that I never felt the need to put my fan speed to 2.

[Reinhard]

How did I miss the previous page! Perhaps all the updates came when I was away for a couple of months...Awesome comparo snaps on page 14! You've done a complete makeover of your IB Hemanth! A real Abarth Punto! Great job. Really sorry to see the scratches..Do get them all repaired please. Thats one beautiful car you've got and maintained, keep her that way.

Congrats on the 15k milestone

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

How did I miss the previous page! Perhaps all the updates came when I was away for a couple of months...Awesome comparo snaps on page 14! You've done a complete makeover of your IB Hemanth! A real Abarth Punto! Great job. Really sorry to see the scratches..Do get them all repaired please. Thats one beautiful car you've got and maintained, keep her that way.

Congrats on the 15k milestone

Thank you Reinhard...On Tuesday evening, I had gone to the Concorde A.S.S and the scratches were polished and removed.
Luckily for me the scratches on the door were not too deep and hence just their polishing removed them.
However, the scratch on the mirror cap remains. Since it is not that visible, I have kept it like that for now.

15k service bill which I hadn't uploaded in my service report...

The brake pad replacement cost me approximately Rs3000/-

Clutch slave assembly replaced FOC since I had complained of a hard clutch...

Even now I feel my car's clutch is harder than others' car.


On Tuesday, My punto finally got her armrest. After almost 3 months to get one bracket (logistic problem, fire accident and what not), The armrest was finally fit on my car. It was a half an hour job. though I could have done it easily, I somehow wasn't confident...The job done was neat, but was expensive (Rs 600/- labour)

Below are the photos...







The cup holder was spot welded and If i had them removed, The three clips which lock to fit would have gone.
I didn't want any loose fits, so I had the complete plastic console replaced (approx Rs250/-)



Cost of parts and labour for armrest...




Some of the other bills for the modifications done till date (Black grilles, red mirror caps, spoiler)




Accessories bought till date...



Pillows




Neck rest







Toy car

And finally...The latest key chain(Suits the title of my thread, doesn't it?)

[Reinhard]

Great stuff! Glad to hear that polish took care of the scars. Brake pads replaced That also emphasizes how much you enjoy driving her. Neat arm rest. Finishing on the overall fitment also looks very good.

Nice little die cast Punto there.

Happy Punto-ing!

[Ash_bn]

Great Add-ons to the classy looking punto.
The mileage clocked shows your passion for driving.
I see your punto everyday. Admire it a lot.

[Schoudhury]

Hey Hemanth, that's a awesome set of key chain mate.
Bdw when is the black top coming on you ride, have you checked out any place where to get it done .

Also your signature is one best in TBHP .
Hope we meet up soon .

Cheers.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Great stuff! Glad to hear that polish took care of the scars. Brake pads replaced That also emphasizes how much you enjoy driving her. Neat arm rest. Finishing on the overall fitment also looks very good.

Nice little die cast Punto there.

Happy Punto-ing!

Thanks Reinhard,
Since it was made for Linea, the armrest was a perfect fit for my punto as well.
I would've loved it more if it was available in black though.
I've decided to continue with this till the OE seat covers finish their lifetime.
Afterwards, I'll go for stanley leathers for all the interiors.

the details on the model car is good for this price, but There was no white available, (I could've put the abarth stripes on that as well )

Originally Posted by Ash_bn

Great Add-ons to the classy looking punto.
The mileage clocked shows your passion for driving.
I see your punto everyday. Admire it a lot.

Thanks Ashok,
We stay so close to each other, but I've never spotted your linea.
What time do you pass by everyday? we can catch up some day.

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Hey Hemanth, that's a awesome set of key chain mate.
Bdw when is the black top coming on you ride, have you checked out any place where to get it done .

Also your signature is one best in TBHP .
Hope we meet up soon .

Cheers.

Thanks...

The key chain was my birthday gift from my bro-in-law.
It has come from the ferrari store in London.

The black roof will come up a bit later.
Though I've enquired a few places, I'm waiting for a good time.
Caring for my punto should have some limits or else it is dangerous..there is one more female in my life whom I've to take care you see

[StarrySky]

You've got the rear AC vents too when you got the handrest. Do they work?

Or is there anything the ASC can do to make the rear AC vents work?

[hemanth.anand]

^^^No it is just cosmetic.

More on this in the link below.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...o-armrest.html (DIY PICS : Fiat Punto Armrest)

[Ash_bn]

Hemanth,

Will surely catch up. I stay in the 5th Cross.

[hemanth.anand]

Though I was pretty happy with my Philips Diamond Vision(DV) headlamps...I'm human, I wanted more
After having driven MCR's punto with the Osram nightbreakers (which previously had philips extreme power), I could easily make out the difference.
Though the DV bluish white light was much better than the OE lamps, it was not as good as the Osram night breaker plus.
Its penetration was lesser.

On saturday, I had gone to JC road for IND number plate for my sister's activa, I picked up two pairs of Osram night breaker plus(one for my colleague).
It cost me 1100/- per pair. I fixed the bulbs myself (10 mins job).
I drove around the city for some 20kms with the new bulbs.
Trust me they are really bright but at the same time they are not hard on the oncoming vehicles.

[hemanth.anand]

Today I gave a small gift with love for my Italian beauty

If only I could gift her the actual turbo...

[hemanth.anand]

Its been a year since I’m having a relationship outside my marriage.
She doesn’t say no to anything I ask from her, and she is so hot that she gets stares wherever we go.
Never did my wife know that she would have to share me with someone else.
Never did she expect me to bring a sexy, beautiful and fair Italian babe into my life and love her equally (or in my wife’s view more than her).
The only problem for my wife is that she can’t sue me for this

For those who haven’t figured it out by now…the babe I’m having an affair with is none other than my own Italian beauty, my fair lady, my Punto. My Abarth.
Its only a coincidence that this affair started from my 1st marriage anniversary

It actually started with a mishap. My first car M800 had an unfortunate death. I was depressed.
Then on 20th September 2010, I met this beauty. She washed away my sorrows and brought life back into my life.
This was the day I test drove a Fiat Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion. One week later I bought her home.
And the rest is as they say…history.

This gal must have taken birth to give me happiness. And today is her 1st Birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU…HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU…HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR PUNTO…HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU…


What am I gifting her??... I have gifted her one covered parking slot in my new apartment.

Now this is the biggest problem I have with my Punto...I’m trying to write a report on a car and I get emotional.

Let me try once again…
…I got my Punto after careful considerations of the fuel type, my usage, its competitors etc., (my second consideration went beyond my calculation though).
Why Petrol? I must have answered this question a million times
Why Punto and why not swift? Again answered this a million times
Now if anybody asks me these questions, my answer...”I liked Punto and that’s why I bought”. Period.

1 year, 365 days, 17200kms…those who were following my thread earlier, would’ve expected 25000kms at least.
But the last 2000km in 4 months made sure that it only crossed 17000 kms.
Even then its high compared to my average usage and calculation of 10000kms/year

I bought the car for Rs. 5,63,000 on-road Bangalore.
Modifications like Alloys, Armrest and the make over to the Abarth look and many small accessories add up to Rs. 6,40,000.
This is apart from the cost of Petrol for 17200 kms at an average of 12kmpl which is around Rs. 1,00,000

The experience so far has been magical. There were of course some moments of irritation during this one year of ownership.
But They all are superseded by the magic moments I have experienced in this beauty of a car.

Let me start with the points that I like:

• B.E.A.UTIFUL (in typical Jim Carrey style). After the makeover to Abarth, my car is getting more stares than before. I’m slowly getting used to it.
• Best balance of features one can get at this cost compared to competitors.
• Sturdy at high speeds. I was able to drive at 170kmph with great confidence.
• Strong build quality…”tank-like” is what they say. The high grade sheet metal used is just one of the things that make me feel very secure.
• Nice quality of plastics (for me it’s the second best after Polo in this segment)
• Cheap spares...this is made possible because I can get individual parts as spares rather than complete assemblies
• Good legroom at the rear compared to Swift
• Great boot space compared to its competitors
• ADDICTION…that’s what made me drive for 17000kms so soon

Points I don’t like and the problems I’ve experienced:

• ADDICTION…the biggest problem IMO
• The 1.2 is underpowered. With AC and steep roads, At times I’ve had to turn off AC to get additional power
• A-pillar hampers visibility...you’ve to be careful while turning, especially if it is a right turn
• Peculiar case to my car, which took some time and some 5 trips to the service centre before being solved…problem with immobilizer. The technicians took some time to understand this problem. It was a Problem with Error code PE 707 on the computer with description “key not recognized intermittent”. They had to replace the immobilizer antenna to have this problem resolved

Some might be thinking that I have left out the service in the negatives…To be frank, I didn’t find it bad compared to the service of its competitors. But I’m not in praise either. Apart from the number of service centers, its equal to any other OEM service centre.

What I miss/Thing that could have been better:

• I really miss a emotion pack variant in the 1.2
• Bottle holders
• Speakers could have been better
• AUX in/USB in the HU of the ICE

Other points that i would like to mention at this point in time:

• Being an engineer in an automotive firm, I’ve enjoyed this car because I’ve learnt that there is no perfect car.
• I was never a fiat enthusiast, but having driven this car, I now understand why there are fan clubs for this brand.
• I recommended this car to people looking for a car in the 5-8lakh bracket. I didn’t mind them calling me a fan boy. None were convinced by my words. I just told them to take a test drive. The result… 3 guys booked it. 4th is about to book. And for one of them, I also got a Map my India GPS from FIAT in a referral scheme.

Overall, I’m totally in love with this beauty and this affair is going to be long one for sure