[Akshay1234]

Congrats, personally I think the Electric Blue Punto looks the best out of all colours. And the parking sensors will stick out like a sore thumb. Do look at a parking camera instead, or maybe a set of sensors with only 2 sensors, since that will look much better than 4.

[MihirC]

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

If parking sensors are a must for you then you must accept function over form and be happy. Else you can check aftermarket ones, they do come in different colors.

To be honest, they are not at all a must for me, but its for the missus as shhe has trouble reversing, and Punto's rear view is really really bad.

I wouldnt mind after market but my only concern is the warranty going void?

Any suggestions with respect to brands?

[MihirC]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Congrats, personally I think the Electric Blue Punto looks the best out of all colours. And the parking sensors will stick out like a sore thumb. Do look at a parking camera instead, or maybe a set of sensors with only 2 sensors, since that will look much better than 4.

Thanks dude. Couldnt agree more. Even body coloured ones stick out bad. Black ones are ugly to the bone.

I dont think reverse cameras are an accessory with FIAT but will have to check.

Btw saw you a couple of times coming down the slope which opens out at breach candy around 6ish. Nice alloys :-) thanks again. My only concern with aftermarket alloys is the warranty going void. Any ideas to salvage the situation?

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by MihirC

Thanks dude. Couldnt agree more. Even body coloured ones stick out bad. Black ones are ugly to the bone.

I dont think reverse cameras are an accessory with FIAT but will have to check.

Btw saw you a couple of times coming down the slope which opens out at breach candy around 6ish. Nice alloys :-) thanks again. My only concern with aftermarket alloys is the warranty going void. Any ideas to salvage the situation?

They wont be a Fiat accessory, but if the dealership fits them it should be fine. Will look much better having just one black dot than 4

OT - Really? Which slope? Thanks buddy, I assume your talking of the Accord. I love the Punto alloys, but as long as the pcd is correct, I dont think they can trouble about warranty.

[MihirC]

I meant the aftermarket body coloured sensors or reverse camera. I meant the slope coming down from sophia coll towards breach candy.

[MihirC]

Hi Guys,

Finally our Linea gets her sibling The Punto which will be solely my car and not me dads. We took the delivery on the 15th of this month after a waiting of around 8-10 days.We have christened her Trinity. it sounds silly but me likes.

Had to take the delivery in a bit of rush as me dad had to be operated on the same day for total knee replacement for both his knees. He is home now an recuperating well. I was a bit apprehensive and hence wanted him to have a ride in the car once before he got operated. Took the delivery at 12 got the pooja done by 1 and admitted him by 4 .Super rush I must say.

Well here are the details again,

Its a 1.4 E+, got it for around 5.7L on the road , including freebies like rear camera, anti rust treatment, 2+2 warranty, mudflaps/mattressess, Sunfilms.

The car was in the yard from March 10 and it shows in some places where there are small scratches but thats alright to be honest. I couldnt have got a better deal.

Its awesome to drive around, though I have been restricting the revs to 2500 rpm and intend to do so ateast for the first 1000kms. Then will increase to 3500 rpm till 2000 kms then to 4000 rpm by 3000 kms and then go all the way.

But to be honest seeing what kind of FE Im getting with a light right foot I dont think I ll be going to 3000 rpm many times even after I run in. Although my average FE is 7.5km/ltr with a very light accelerator the instantaneous consumption varies between 13 to 23 kms/ltr( When I bought the car the average FE was 6.3kms/ltr)

Im very happy with the car, the way it drives , the comfort the features the way it looks , the electric blue colour is actually growing on me and now I feel any other colour wouldnt have looked as good. Honestly its all the same as our Linea but I never got to drive the Linea much, so Punto Im enjoying to the hilt.

Next to come, my initial driving observations.

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by MihirC

We took the delivery on the 15th of this month after a waiting of around 8-10 days.

You meant 15th of Last month right, as today its still 14th jan, Anyway Dont worry about FE, you will be surprised that the 1.4 does give around better FE. In BLR traffic and only city driving I have seen figures of 12.3 to 12.9. By the way congrats for the unique color of electric blue, its an amazing color even I own the same color, but bad of Fiat to discontinue it.

[MihirC]

Originally Posted by samsan02

You meant 15th of Last month right, as today its still 14th jan, Anyway Dont worry about FE, you will be surprised that the 1.4 does give around better FE. In BLR traffic and only city driving I have seen figures of 12.3 to 12.9. By the way congrats for the unique color of electric blue, its an amazing color even I own the same color, but bad of Fiat to discontinue it.

I know its just 14th today lol. Well the Fe is a bit concerning. I am really hoping it it improves to the extent of atleast 12kmpl after the first service.You did make me feel better about the FE though Well the colour was not an option for me as it was the only one available in stock yard and to be honest I wanted to settle inn for a red or a grey one but now that the car is with me for a month , the colour looks better every passing day. What model do you own samsan?

[MihirC]

My initial observations-
The first gear can be a bit sluggish but not everytime, its a bit weird . Sometimes it revs freely in the first gear and sometimes it feels super sluggish. I have realised it has something to do with the manner and the degree to which I press the accelerator.

The car is nicely powered, more wouldnt hurt but no complains with the stock one. Overtaking even in the 3rd and 4th is a breeze.

The sheer bulk of the car does not give me an exact idea of my surroundings, Thats something which will only come much later I guess once I clock more than 2k on the odo. But at the moment is hell for me. No idea where the front bumper begins and the rear ends.

I like the shape of the car and the seats, its sloping ahead and the window line rises as it goes behind, a very nice sporty look and very aerodynamic at that.

Irrespective of the chassis potential the sheer stance of the car is very planted. I remember very clearly how my previous car, a 95 zen used to get insanely uncomfortable and speeds of 50-60 at the long Haji Ali curve my heart used to be in my mouth. I mean every passing second I used to feel ok now Im going to lose control or the car will topple which forced me to change the lanes. With the Punto I dont even have to think about reducing my speed or drive with my bp rising. its all so effortless, the same thing can be done in Punto at 80kms/hr without the need to change lanes at all.

Plastics quality-Honestly I dont care as long as the plastics are where they are supposed to be and 99% of the times while driving I prefer to look on the road rather than admire the plastics by feeling them or looking at them.

The cars very spacious, the boot space meets my requirement to the T, and so does the rear and front leg room. Features list is endless and suits all my possible needs.

The features of the car are the best I ve come across till date, speed sensitive music system and wipers(which I ll get to test only in the monsoons now), warnings for every single thing in the car, auto locking doors. Blue n Me is especially very very useful for me. Its such a breeze to receive and make calls (voice commands) without losing focus on the road. The only thing I would have loved to have in this car is a Polo like gear shift, so insanely crisp and precise. Infact I would go out on a limb and say Polo has the best gear shift this side of 10 lakhs.

The bad part is in the first week itself when I had parked my car in my office parking lot, some retard scratched the rear right wheel arch and the alloy while parking his car. Just soo mad right now. First the accessories guy peels off the bumper paint as if he was peeling hot potatoes instead of installing a camera and now this.

Will be sending the car for getting touched up , getting a new rvm fitted as the current one is loose and a bit wobbly during the first servicing.

No mods planned for the car at the moment and if Im not wrong not atleast for the first 10 k kms. Want to relish the beauty in stock condition to the fullest before I change anything and to be honest I like my cars stock, that’s just how I am but keeping options open. Something like a midlife upgrade so to say.

Will post the pics soon.

[MihirC]

Hi guys,

I got a chance to take the Punto(Trinity) out for her first long drive. We had decided to spend the weekend at my friends farm house at pali. We started of at 9 pm from panvel and soon were on the express way. I was trying to convince myself hard to remain below the 2500 to 3000 rpm range but with the big open expressway and the italian engine roaring below the hood , I let down my inhibitions. Saw a nice long stretch of open road and gently accelerated without looking at the tachometer didnt want to feel guilty later. Saw the seepdometer picking up till 100 for the first time and I was like pushed on the pedal further and in no timee I was cruising effortlessly at 140km/hr.

I know most of you must have experienced this before but the car didnt feel as if it was cruising at 140, felt as if it was merely 11 on the speedo. No vibrations in the chassis, no loss of composure, minimal body roll. The only thing was there was some amount of vibrations in the steering. Is that normal?

Glanced on the tacho by mistake to see the needle sitting snugly at 4500 rpm. It was hardly a 2-3 minute stretch but felt insanely awesome. Let go of the accelerator a bit and then cruised comfortably at 120 with no hint of nervousness in the car , the driver and the passengers.

One thing which I observed was even at 140 the engine had enough juice left to go atleast till 160-170. Didnt push my luck so far though. We took the khopoli exit just after the first toll and then started the 20 kms journey of winding roads and trinity held her own perfectly even on those winding roads. I mean I could stick to my lane even at 80-90 on the gently curving roads. Thats something I could never do on my zen. In the Zen every turning meant change of lanes to match the speed of the car and the curve of the road.

Got an I/c of 10km/ltr when cruising at 140 other wise it was somewhere between 18-22km/ltr.


The only drawback which I realised was that the gears were not slotting in smoothly quite a few times. It felt as if I was forcing the gear to shift even when it didnt want to. It felt as if Im moving a stick thru a bed of stones.Happened mostly while starting of from the first gear and observed in the 3rd and 4th gear as well. Although I have driven quite a bit I still made sure that the clutch was completely depresses and I was slotting it properly but it still kept recurring. The other time it slotted with a very smooth click.

Can anyone please tell me why this happens? Am I doing something wrong , will it damage the gear box?

There was this small incident where the car in front shot of a stone from below its tyres which hit the front bumper of the car scratching it , the colour was peeled off in that area. Hopefully it will be taken care of in the first service.

The odo now stands at 1070kms in just 1 month and 10 days. All in all very happy with the car. Cant wait to take her out on a long drive again. A trip to alibag in Feb is scheduled already,along with a small trip to our farmhouse in Uran.

[krish3]

One of the very few Punto 1.4s. Congrats!!

Whats the average that you are getting after this trip? Saw that you had posted only IC figures.

About the gearbox, I have test driven the Punto a lot of times and have not found anything like what you described. Maybe you need to get it checked. Other owners can guide you better on this.

[MihirC]

Last week as I was washing up the car, I opened the hood to fill up the viper wash fluid and was checking on other fluid containers as well when I shockingly noticed the power steering fuel level down to the bare minimum. I was surprised as I hadnt observed any leakage. Called up the concorde motor guys and took the car to the Worli service center.

There was this other problem as well which was that the panel just below the steering wheel with the small pocket to keep stuff had come out , and the 3 pins which hold it in place were loose, 2 of the pins fell off when I tried to remove the panel and fit it back again when I noticed that the 2 pins out of 3 were broken.

So when I went to the service center, this assistant Dominic comes across and I explain the issues to him and he immediately checked for any leakages, when none were observed he instructed one of the helpers to top up the PS oil. Got the pins fixed and was back home in a jiffy.

Let the car rest for the day and decided to wax it on sunday. The next morning, I washed the car properly, let it dry and then started the long tedious job of applying wax. Since it was my first time waxing a car went thru all the instructions all over again and started coating the car with Carnauba pure wax. Took me almost 45 mins for it. Let it dry for 30 mins and then started wiping it of , kind of in the way the shoe polish wala rubs that cloth for that final shine. Initiially as i did the hood but then as the whole car was completed it just looked fantabulous and impressive.

The car was shining as if justout of the showroom, infact better than that. Also refueled the car and for the 1070 kms I ve driven till now with 100% AC got a FE of 10.25km/ltr by tank full to tank full method, the MID shows 8.6km/l After the first service by 3k kms and the second one at 15 k, I assume the FE will go up to atleast 12.5km/l which I think is good enough.

The wax vinyls look good in the side pic atleast thats what I felt like.

[MihirC]

Last week as I was washing up the car, I opened the hood to fill up the viper wash fluid and was checking on other fluid containers as well when I shockingly noticed the power steering fuel level down to the bare minimum. I was surprised as I hadnt observed any leakage. Called up the concorde motor guys and took the car to the Worli service center.

There was this other problem as well which was that the panel just below the steering wheel with the small pocket to keep stuff had come out , and the 3 pins which hold it in place were loose, 2 of the pins fell off when I tried to remove the panel and fit it back again when I noticed that the 2 pins out of 3 were broken.

So when I went to the service center, this assistant Dominic comes across and I explain the issues to him and he immediately checked for any leakages, when none were observed he instructed one of the helpers to top up the PS oil. Got the pins fixed and was back home in a jiffy.

Let the car rest for the day and decided to wax it on sunday. The next morning, I washed the car properly, let it dry and then started the long tedious job of applying wax. Since it was my first time waxing a car went thru all the instructions all over again and started coating the car with Carnauba pure wax. Took me almost 45 mins for it. Let it dry for 30 mins and then started wiping it of , kind of in the way the shoe polish wala rubs that cloth for that final shine. Initiially as i did the hood but then as the whole car was completed it just looked fantabulous and impressive.

The car was shining as if justout of the showroom, infact better than that. Also refueled the car and for the 1070 kms I ve driven till now with 100% AC got a FE of 10.25km/ltr by tank full to tank full method, the MID shows 8.6km/l After the first service by 3k kms and the second one at 15 k, I assume the FE will go up to atleast 12.5km/l which I think is good enough.

The wax vinyls look good in the side pic atleast thats what I felt like.

And finally here are the pics ....

[download2live]

Congratulations.
Must say that you have a very rare Punto.
Punto 1.4 and that too in electric Blue!!!
Rare is the word.

[raghu230506]

Congratulations,

Car looks stunning,

The amount of wax you have applied seem to be more than normal and the pattern (small overlapping circular motion recommended). Is this as per the instruction on the WAX?

But end result is amazing.

One think Fiat should consider is to provide a well moulded mud flaps.

Drive safe and have fun.

Cheers
Raghu