[sarswift]

Originally Posted by asdon

Personally I will not prefer KHT any more, I got my Punto from them and I had to fight a lot for small things and their service center people are too dumb to solve any problems in Fiat cars, and the sales team is pathetic. I am in touch with Concord & Prerna, though my choice might change to Linea Dynamic anytime as home ministry is not in favour to Punto replaced by Punto. And the New Blue Linea has blown her.

Hey Asdon,

Cant you buy from one dealer and get it serviced at another ??

I have heard this couple of times that you get tied in to the dealer you buy from in case of Fiat. Is it true??

@ghodlur . He should go for the new Punto. The 2011 cars will be atleast 6 month old or may be a TD vehicle being passed on.

Regards
Saurabh

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[asdon]

Originally Posted by sarswift

Hey Asdon,

Cant you buy from one dealer and get it serviced at another ??

I have heard this couple of times that you get tied in to the dealer you buy from in case of Fiat. Is it true??

Regards
Saurabh

Yes, you are free to go to any service center but this is among Tata Dealership's blood that they treat cars from another deal step-motherly, atleast for first few visit. And if you have been promised accesories from one dealership, you have to go to their service station only to fit it and KHT has too many issues with lack of co-ordination between Sales & Service team. KHT is a complete no for me, Concord dealership is friendly and Prerna has a service station near my house.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

One of my colleague in my building had booked a Foxtrot Azure Punto (Diesel) in second week of Dec 2011 for which he had got a huge discount when Fiat was running the offer. He paid 10K as advance and the cost of the buy was 5.5 L for the dynamic variant. Few days later Fiat put in the papers about 2012 models and my friend enquired for the change in the model. The dealer offered the variant minus any discount for which my friend cancelled the booking, now he's running behind the dealer for the booking amt refund.

Any advise what should my friend be ideally doing? Should he live with the 2011 model or skip the discount and go ahead with the 2012 buy. He's smitten with the Punto looks.

Apart from GC, punto 2012 has not many changes.
The GC was more a problem for linea 2011 than for punto 2011.

The 2012 Puntos and Lineas are manufactured from December 2011.
Ask him to check the VIN number before proceeding and it is not older than september 2011 he can go ahead.
Who knows, he might get a november 2011 manufactured vehicle.

Since the exterior looks have remained the same (save for the GC increase), 2011 model will be a good buy considering the discount he is getting.

Don't worry about the resale value because I doubt he will sell this in the near future.
For now he may just be smitten by the looks, but once he owns one...Things will change for life

[ACM]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

One of my colleague in my building had booked a Foxtrot Azure Punto (Diesel) in second week of Dec 2011 for which he had got a huge discount when Fiat was running the offer. He paid 10K as advance and the cost of the buy was 5.5 L for the dynamic variant. Few days later Fiat put in the papers about 2012 models and my friend enquired for the change in the model. The dealer offered the variant minus any discount for which my friend cancelled the booking, now he's running behind the dealer for the booking amt refund.

Any advise what should my friend be ideally doing? Should he live with the 2011 model or skip the discount and go ahead with the 2012 buy. He's smitten with the Punto looks.

Skip the discount and take the 2012 version. There will be a quality improvement (for him to experience) along with mfg year change resulting
in a better resale if he decided to part with it in 3-5 years time.

[maverick145]

Can somebody please confirm if the Punto 2012 will have the 90 HP model or not? I could not find any reliable information about it till now. Thanks.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by maverick145

Can somebody please confirm if the Punto 2012 will have the 90 HP model or not? I could not find any reliable information about it till now. Thanks.

Its mentioned many times on this thread earlier...90 HP will remain same...no changes as of now.

[maverick145]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Its mentioned many times on this thread earlier...90 HP will remain same...no changes as of now.

Ya but someone had also mentioned in this thread that the 90HP model will also be carrying the new changes. I just wanted a confirmation.

[CliffHanger]

Did a Punto Test Drive Yesterday. Drove a distance of approximately 6 km and below are my observations (Comparisons, if any, are with my 2009 Punto and Figo which I TDed Recently)

Interiors

1. I entered inside the car and the first thing I noticed was that it felt a bit more roomier. Reason - Removal of black contours from the seats. The all grey seats + grey roof gives a sense of extra space than what actually is existing. The texture of the seats have changed as well. Personally, I prefer the all black interiors of my erstwhile Punto, but the new theme isn't bad either.

2. The dash is tightly screwed and I couldn't notice any panel gaps. The design remains the same, looks good but something new would have been better. But when it is compared with the competition, it definitely looks better than a lot of other cars.

Exteriors

1. The increase in GC is evident. The car now looks really big now. I did not check the front profile, but the side profile looks good without any aberration.

2. With a slightly bigger looks, I've fallen in love with the car all over again.

NVH & Sound Insulation

1. I cranked the engine and noticed that the feable diesel clatter that used to exist is insulated now. Good! But on hard acceleration you hear the engine growl. Not Bad! The sound is really very sporty. I think it was intentional from Fiat to leave it like that.

2. One thing that I loved in my Punto was the external noise insulation inside the cabin. The 2012 has just gotten better at that. Drive a Punto and then drive a Figo and Swift you will be really surprised to know how well the Punto insulates the outside world's noise.

Music System

Just one word - Bad!

Variant and feature distribution

Fiat should have continued the existing active variant with erstwhile features. For extra 40,000Rs I'm just getting a crappy music system and Central Locking. Hike your prices Fiat, Yes! But not when your cars are not selling well.

Performance

1. I was eagerly expecting a change in the gear ratios, especially a better second gear. But I'm dissapointed, there is an improvement but still not in a way I want it to be. One of the reasons is the slight turbo lag and the other being the old gear box + long clutch combination.

2. Once the turbo lag is overcome, the car thrusts forward visciously. The power delivery is not as linear as in a Figo, so if you expect it to behave like a Figo in city, you will be dissapointed.

Ride & Handling

I couldn't test the handling part in my 6km TD, but my mom commented that while travelling in a Figo she felt like travelling in an Auto Rickshaw but only in Punto she felt like travelling in a car. Btw, she is a Punto fan! :o)

External Build

Is there a competition here? The car is built like a vault. Gives an indestructable feeling, especially after driving the Figo and the Swift. I always believe that a sturdy car with good dynamics is a lot safer than a car with 6 air bags, filmsy build and poor dynanics, Punto just takes this belief higher by one more level.

So will I go for a Punto again?

I think overall as a package there is no still competition to Punto even after a sleuth of launches. Here is a short observation on each of the cars.

1. Figo - Priced right and drove really well. But the immense sense of safety that I get in Punto is missing. Money is important but not at the cost of life!

2. Swift - I always believed that a Swift is overpriced by a Lakh. The new Swift makes it even worse. Stonker performance, but with tin can build, I don't want to risk my life especially considering the increasing number of accidents on Indian roads. Being a highway mile muncher doesn't help either.

3. Vista - A Tata product! I think I will take at least 20 more years to even consider a Tata car.

4. Polo - Priced attrociosly for a 3pot engine. But still people are buying it. Still couldn't understand the rationale.

5. i20 - No! Read my comment above on External Build for Punto.

So after a Punto, will I buy a Punto again? Yes, provided my financials permit.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by maverick145

Ya but someone had also mentioned in this thread that the 90HP model will also be carrying the new changes. I just wanted a confirmation.

Yes, the FIAT will announce the changed 2012 90HP model within due course of time. If rumors are to be believed then FIAT can launch it anytime after April 2012. But those are rumors only. Nobody knows the exact date of Punto 90 HP model launch.


Cheers!
Irish

[aks_karthik]

I just checked the Punto 2012 displayed in our IT Park.
with my dismay, The car has same kind of Panel Gaps and Interior Plastics.
Glove Box is not closed properly as the alignment is very bad, same for Fuse Box cover under the steering, Even the Door pads is not good.
My expecation woluld be more after reading a lot posts here.
Steering Leather cover is not Black as My Linea, it's somewhat Dark Grey Color.
Increase in GC is very evident and egress is little tough for me being 6 feet tall. Might be, adapted to my Linea GC.

For me, I don't find any difference with my 2009 Linea especailly interior plastics other than GC.

I'll check Linea 2012 in coming weekend and post my observations.

[wannabe loser]

the 2012 90hp punto has already been launched. Was at prerana on sunday and got the pricelist. The cars shud start getting delivered in the next couple of weeks. 8.65 lakhs OTR bangalore IIRC.

Test drove the FGT punto and Is it me or is the new punto easier to take u turns in?

[Palio_2005]

Diverse observations by cliffhanger and aks_karthik. does this show inconsistency in build?

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by wannabe loser

the 2012 90hp punto has already been launched. Was at prerana on sunday and got the pricelist. The cars shud start getting delivered in the next couple of weeks. 8.65 lakhs OTR bangalore IIRC.

Test drove the FGT punto and Is it me or is the new punto easier to take u turns in?

Dude

Are you sure it was 8.65 lakhs for the 90HP Punto? Did you mean 7.65 lakhs? As per my recent R&D of diesel hatchbacks, i20 is the costliest diesel hatch in the country. Punto 90HP can't be costliest, otherwise its dead.

[wannabe loser]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Dude

Are you sure it was 8.65 lakhs for the 90HP Punto? Did you mean 7.65 lakhs? As per my recent R&D of diesel hatchbacks, i20 is the costliest diesel hatch in the country. Punto 90HP can't be costliest, otherwise its dead.

well, the OTR bangalore of the same was 8.32 lakh earlier and there's been a price hike so......

[asdon]

Originally Posted by Palio_2005

Diverse observations by cliffhanger and aks_karthik. does this show inconsistency in build?

The inconsistency might be due to aks_karthik was comapring Linea with Punto. IMO Linea's fit & finish was better than Punto from early days.

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Dude

Are you sure it was 8.65 lakhs for the 90HP Punto? Did you mean 7.65 lakhs? As per my recent R&D of diesel hatchbacks, i20 is the costliest diesel hatch in the country. Punto 90HP can't be costliest, otherwise its dead.

He is talking about Bangalore my dear, where i20 goes beyond 9 lakh, so its still alive.