[rsidd]

Originally Posted by Rubbertramps

I was thinking of exchanging my 2010 punto for the existing ones. With the discounts hovering around, and i am driving a TN board, thought it is wiser to move to a KA board.

As an owner of a 2010 Punto I would NOT sell, even for a very good price. Reason: the car works. A new car is an unknown quantity. I'd buy the new Punto if I were in the market, because I believe it's a good car, but I'm not fixing what's not broken.

Now you're in the position of needing to change the registration. I guess it depends what the cost of that is -- and if you are going to pay a significant amount, why not go for a new car instead? The answer to that depends on what the resale value of a 2010 Punto is, and I expect it's not very high (would be surprised if it's more than 50% of what you paid, less if you're selling in KA). I expect I would still not do it.

[Vik0728]

Autocar have reviewed the Punto Evo here. Personally, I think Fiat have yet again messed up this golden opportunity.

From the current stats, here is the comparison for Diesel top end (Sport ?):

Old Punto:

Length 3987 mm
Width 1687 mm
Height 1495 mm
Wheelbase 2510 mm
Ground Clearance 185 mm
Kerb Weight 1144 kg

Punto EVO

Length 3989mm
Width 1687mm
Height 1525mm
Wheel base 2510mm
Ground clearance 185-195mm (i guess is for Petrol)
Kerb Weight 1198kg

Punto EVO is taller, heavier, obviously slower and Higher (GC) !!

[Rubbertramps]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Hey Rubbertramps I am not sure if you have been kinda 'Spooked' by the KA RTO folks relentless flagging or just looking for an upgrade onto a better package. Either ways, as others have suggested, it is a good idea to get your docs in place bro.

Regarding safety, Airbags are probably one of the last feature that comes into picture. Better brakes (ABS) and strong outer shell goes a long way in saving occupants, which is so often the case vis-a-vis Airbags.
On that note, you can even look at Dynamic variant, which comes with ABS & probably a driver Air bag.

I am spooked bro ! No doubt about it ! I cant take my car out even to go out to a mall during weekends ! Every kaki clad man raises my BP and bhp lol ! At the same time instead of dropping in 70K as life time tax which goes to the drains and changing registration and driving back home is again a problem. Retaining the number and driving in bangalore is waste of money having paid two state taxes.

And i completely agree that airbag comes last. But thought it would be a good reason for me to upgrade , not only for RTO reason and dynamic doesnt come with airbags since i own the same.

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Autocar have reviewed the Punto Evo here. Personally, I think Fiat have yet again messed up this golden opportunity.

I see it as a very positive review, some cribs about acceleration on highways aside.

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Out of curiosity, why are you advertising yourself as flogging a dead horse?

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Punto EVO is taller, heavier, obviously slower and Higher (GC) !!

And those are problems why? (ie, why the headbanging? Sorry, overdose of these animated gifs makes me cranky.) Most people will welcome higher GC on our roads, the review does not say it is slower, the weight increase is minimal. Solidity of the body is a plus point.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by rsidd

Solidity of the body is a plus point.

Sadly that is not a plus point in India, infact it always backfires for most manufacturers, making a light car has so many advantages - power, fuel efficiency etc and there is just one negative which no one gives a damn about barring few people.

Punto Evo looks good and Fiat have worked hard on the interiors and the shortcomings of poor plastic quality etc have been sorted out, the ground clearance has been jacked up (though a bit too much), i wish Fiat pays a little attention to the performance part as well, a better gearbox with redesigned gear ratios should do wonders to the 90hp Punto.

Have a 5 year old Linea which has now clocked 55k kms, was shown the worst of roads and the tank is still as it was on day 1, drives the same way till today, may replace it next year with a hatchback for city runs and the Punto Evo seems a perfect replacement.

[nakul0888]

In my opinion, the only thing that was seriously wrong with the old Punto was the lethargic engines. Even the so called 90 hp sport was just average.
What the Punto needs is a 1.6 mjd and a 1.4 t-jet in the line-up.
New interiors of this Evo are much better than the old one's but I cannot say the same about the front of the car. A classic case of "Just because it's something's new doesn't mean it's better". (Although compared to other cars it's still gorgeous)
Overall I feel this is a kind of missed opportunity for Fiat. They could have brought in some stonking new engines and upped the hype significantly with their new Evo.
But as of now I just see this as nothing more than an elaborate facelift.

[asdon]

Originally Posted by rsidd

Most people will welcome higher GC on our roads, the review does not say it is slower, the weight increase is minimal. Solidity of the body is a plus point.

The low GC of earlier punto had a great advantage to handle the car on high speeds, I have driven the 185mm GC punto as well, it does not feel the same. And it was not absolute low, 165mm is a decent value.

There are no change in features other than offering 16" wheels for Sports edition.

A high powered diesel with DSG/ Manual(minimum 100bhp), Tjet in petrol version, OEM DRLS with projectors, double din touch screen music system, 15" wheels for all variants, twin exhaust for the sports edition would have made it a killer car and actual EVO..

But I feel sad to see what Fiat has done to the wonderful car in the name of face lift

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by asdon

The low GC of earlier punto had a great advantage to handle the car on high speeds, I have driven the 185mm GC punto as well, it does not feel the same. And it was not absolute low, 165mm is a decent value.

True on good roads. I have the older low-GC punto, and not just on bad roads, but even due to bad speedbreakers, the undercarriage has been scraped many times. Twice it was so bad it caused noise when driving, and needed to be serviced; one of those times the whole panel needed to be replaced (admittedly that was an invisible stone in a waterlogged road, which may have damaged any car). On the other hand, I did not go in for the GC increase kit, because of (a) the expense (b) I doubted the extra 2cm would make too much difference (c) reports, as you say, of inferior driveability. But the market wants higher GC (and, in fact, likes tall cars -- friendlier for senior citizens, which is why Wagon-R is so successful and Santro too continues to sell).

I did notice that after replacing the OEM tyres (JK Tornado) with a larger and fatter MRF ZLO set, the incidents of bottom-scraping have become much rarer, and the car feels much better when driving.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by rsidd

I see it as a very positive review, some cribs about acceleration on highways aside.

Out of curiosity, why are you advertising yourself as flogging a dead horse?


And those are problems why? (ie, why the headbanging? Sorry, overdose of these animated gifs makes me cranky.) Most people will welcome higher GC on our roads, the review does not say it is slower, the weight increase is minimal. Solidity of the body is a plus point.

Either you did not read the 'Autocar' review correctly to register what I meant or you never really read my earlier post where I was basically referring to the '90 HP Sport' version.

Just so that you don't miss out again, here is a small paragraph out of the Autocar review, just for you:

"However, as the road opens up outside Mumbai, the 75bhp Punto’s mechanical package still lacks punch (especially with four on board) and you have to work the gearbox to constantly keep the engine spinning between 2000 and 3800rpm, where it doesn’t feel completely out of breath. And, it’s more of the same on the 90bhp version as well. There’s not much power to play with below 2500rpm and the lag feels far more pronounced than similar powered motors like the new 1.5-litre Volkswagen Polo’s. And the engine doesn’t do much justice to the ‘Sport’ moniker."

See I was so keen on Punto F/L as my next car and was willing to even let go of GT. But the day I learnt that there will almost be no mechanical changes even on the 'Sport' version, I felt it was not worth the wait. I don't deny the fact that Punto is probably the best hatch dynamically but there is little use of all that when the engine gives you only 50% exploitation ability.

Toyota gave the 1.5 TRD Sportive in Liva, VW gave the GT Twins, Hyundai have plans of Sport versions for I20.
I personally feel, Fiat messed up the first time with the 'Sport' badge and they seem to have failed again.

Where have the Fiat Folks who gave us GTX gone ??

If you remember dude, only 2 of these "Animated Giffs" are allowed per post and I am damn sure it cannot be an "Overdose".
I am a huge fan of Fiat myself, but at this attempt, I am feeling like flogging Fiat which is like a Dead horse.

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by asdon

The low GC of earlier punto had a great advantage to handle the car on high speeds, I have driven the 185mm GC punto as well, it does not feel the same. And it was not absolute low, 165mm is a decent value.

There are far more people looking for better GC than high-speed cornering at 100 kmph. Just look at Ecosport for proof that will topple if cornered hard at 80 kmph.

The real issue with Punto is lack of change in Engine characteristics / gearbox when the same engine is tuned better on Vista & Swift.

Also, Punto 1.4 Petrol is interesting to many like me who want a fun-to-drive petrol hatch, but it is old world compared to Etios Cross, Zest/Bolt Revotron, Polo TSi. Even Brio/Amaze/Grand i10/Xcent 1.2 petrol feels better to drive.

[asdon]

Originally Posted by gsurya

There are far more people looking for better GC than high-speed cornering at 100 kmph. Just look at Ecosport for proof that will topple if cornered hard at 80 kmph.

I guess you are comparing Pineapple & Apple(SUV & Hatch can't be compared).. All Fiat cars are primarily best in the segment for riding and handling, why compromise on that?

And actually how many are bothered about 0-100 figures?

Yes some work in gear ratio is to look out for. And a better petrol engine is need of the hour for sure.

[oxymoron]

I saw the Punto evo version today as I had gone to give my tjet for service. I must say interiors are amazing and exudes class.Very well put together and front fascia is soft touch. Ceiling fabric is also black and looked very sporty.

[fiat_tarun]

I quite like the Punto Evo although the Punto isn't beautiful anymore. It's a more flashy design and will appeal to the general car buying population. The enthusiasts are the only one's buying Fiat's today and Fiat has to broaden their net. The bigger complaints received were for the interiors and that has been addressed. Even the increased GC was based on customer complaints. Fiat did go overboard, but even with the increased GC the car still handles beautifully and that's commendable.

While demands for a bigger engine will never stop, it won't make business sense since volumes will hardly justify the investment. Fiat has already declared a locally made Punto Abarth in 2015, so the 1.4 Turbo is being reserved for that.

What they could and should have done though is get in the Euro spec gearbox.

This facelift does deserve an appreciation, more so considering this Punto face is exclusive to India - so more effort from the local team. Wish them all the best.

[rsidd]

Interview with Nagesh Basavanhalli.

The Linea got recently updated and it comes with world renowned engine technology, exclusive exteriors and interiors and it is a very safe car indeed, what we haven’t done with Linea is that we didn’t discount the brand - Linea, Fiat is a premium brand. I can also sell my products by giving big discounts, but as we are a premium brand and we are quite clear that we don’t give discounts and put incentives on our product.

And I think this is something a lot of Fiat-bashers miss by looking at sales alone. What Fiat cares about is profitability and sustainability.

Also, he confirms (I think this is the first official word) that the Punto Evo will be launched by the second week of August. Avventura before the festive season, Abarth 500 by year-end.

[Naparajito]

Something we all missed maybe? Is this a clue for the T-Jet?