[Volt]

GTO, 600 km! I am sure it is going to be the mother of all reviews. Please can you show us a small snapshot before the main 'movie'. click *down on knees begging*

OT: I for one would sure be interested in how you rate it against its stablemate, the Vista

[amtak]

Originally Posted by ptiyer78

Why has the Fiat team so irresponsible in not having their website up. Their advertisement in newspaper shows visit website www.fistpunto.in.

And when u visit the website, it shows some stupid game and asks to book a testdrive.
I should say this is just putting off fiat enthusiasts

The website is up now.

[~~VinZ~~]

I went to Concorde motors near to diary circle, bangalore to check out the punto.

I was stunned for a moment when i saw the Exotic red on display. She was super hautt, much better than i saw in pictures. It was 1.3 MJD Emotion on display. Didn't feel like leaving her do was around and checking out for sometime. I did not take the test drive because it was crowded as it was the first day, but the guy promised me a drive of both petrol and diesel tomorrow morning.

Here are some points that i felt personally just by the look of punto.

Pros:
- Superb macho look and a wonderful paint job done.
- Red is seriously a color to look for.
- Build of the car is really good.
- There was nothing disappointing from outside (front, back or rear view)
- Good boot space.
- seats were comfortable.
- The foldable key with fiat logo was too good.

Cons: (As my choice was i20 before i heard about hte punto release, i ould be comparing it with the i20)
- I was lil disappointed when i entered, but as i was already warned by someone here it did not effect me much. Felt crampy too
- I felt the plastics were not up to the mark for a 6.5 lac car.
- The seat adjustment nob felt like it will break soon.
- The seat color is dull.
- Over all i felt the interior of the car is very dull and not matching with the exterior.
- The back legroom was just ok and would have been better in space.
- if i give i20 interiors 9/10 then the punto will get a 7/10 (dont shoot me for this, just my view)


The sales guy i was speaking to was very helpful. When i asked him about the choices of alloys and accessories, he took me to the accessory dept. They said still no information about that but he will call and update me once they have the details on monday. He even said we can fix the linea alloys in punto but will take 3 or 4 months to order new one.

As per him petrol will give 11 - 12 KMPL in city and diesel should be giving 17-18 KMPL in city. But i would like to wait for GTO's review for this one.
And as per him the MultiJet is powerful then the FIRE.

Over all, i felt it is a good buy but i still need a TD to decide. And also after seeing the blue and black punto.

i am unable to attach pictures. I will upload the picures later

[thiyags22]

Originally Posted by Minardi

The Punto ad in today's TOI backpage

Is it the "Punto" or "Grande Punto". The car name reads Punto but most people including the CEO of Fiat-India say Grande Punto. I am confused.

[nkapoor777]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

While its your perogative the variant you want to go for, speaking for myself I think the top end emotion pack is great VFM considering what you get as extra above the normal emotion variant for 55 k's
1) Wider Tyres (5k's?)
2) 15 inch Alloys wheels (20k's)
3) Automatic Climate Control (5k's)
4) ABS + EBD (25k's)
5) Dual Multistage Air Bags (20k's)
6) Blue and Me (10k's)
7) Steering Mounted Controls (2k's)
8) Leather Covered Steering wheel and shift knb.(2k's)

The above things will cost around 90k's approx. Even if they cost 55k's which I am 100% sure they would, it still is great VFM.

Respect your opinion mate! But here are my two cents:

Firstly ABS is there on Emotion as well. Some of the features listed are "good to have" but not "need to have". Like ACC and Blue & Me. Plus I can get my choice of alloys (Linea alloys - trying to get cheap from someone who will be upgrading) and better tyres than the stock GT3's. So all in all, I can deploy the money saved to get my choice of alloys, better tyres, ICE, etc etc. So all in all, as per my calculations, I could get alloys and better tyres and still save about 40k as compared to the E-pack in Delhi OTR prices. Yes I am a little sad to miss out on the airbags, but then you can't get it all. Oh and this 40k + a little bit more goes to ICE, sunfilms, seat covers, etc.

[OEM]

Yeah you read that right! We sold our last car a lil monster of a zen exactly 2 1/2 years back. And then we booked (and cancelled) the Palio petrol and then the MJD. Finally decided to wait it out.

Concorde Chennai must be so bored of us. Perhaps explains why we recieved the call for the first dekho in Chennai this evening. So we dropped everything and rushed to Concorde.

And greeting us was a scorching red Italian beauty. (Damn these Italians, they know how to make us men go weak in the knees!Take a look at what I mean)

No amount of haggling got us a test drive (kuddos to Fiat to keep the tension). Tomorrow morning 9 am is what we have been promised.

And the cheque's ready....

P.s. I dont knwo about the other's. I have followed this thread for the last 3 days a million times. And couldn't help but judge the Punto impassionately. Nevertheless, here goes...

The good bits...
Take the Skoda's elegance, the romance of the old zen, the butchness of the ambassador and of aagression of the Jaguar X and this is what you get.

Then to add insult to injury to other car wannabes, put in a body hugging seat, the italian elegance of a luxurious steering wheel, an over indulgent Blue and Me, a very appropriate (for Chennai) ACC, and you realise the wait was worth it.

The not so bad-bits:
I am 5'6". So I can understand your concern about the rear space. But hey, you buy this car to drive. Not to sit in the back seat.
About the plastic bits...when exactly does it begin to look cheap or well built? Perhaps I am myopic. But they looked solid to me.

Enough said...I am not going to sleep tonight. My son, four legged daughter and my wife have earned it.

Chia until tomorrow

[sid_meyer]

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

Ex Shwroom Bangalore :
Petrol Diesel
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Active 471,798 571,219
Dynamic 549,256 612,735
Emotion 601,065 659,419
Emotion Pack 665,254 723,608

Includes Extended Warranty of 5k

Are you sure these are ex-showroom prices? looks more like OTR

[ada]

OEM -- Why could you have not any other car 2 1/2 years ago, esp with a good resale value like Maruti and then sold it to get your dream car? why be without a car?

[aqualeo2040]

@OEM : Congratz sir.Which model and what color will your new baby be?

@NK : Dont want to burst the bubble.:( The ICE upgrade might be a tricky affair (as in Lineas), so you can plan a completely different budget for it.


I'm bit perplexed here. A lot has been said about the plastic quality of a 6.5lac car, but I am still not sure what that means.Is there a benchmark for the plastic quality for a 6.5lac car?
The worst case scenario is that the part might break.
One of the basic properties of plastic is that its brittle.And its cheap.
Anyway, I dint find the quality of the so-cursed seat-levers worse than those found on the grand old M800 and I'm sure not many M800 owners had got their's broken.

I guess the more we get the more we expect and since I hail from the nuts and bolts generation learning to drive on MarkIIs and MarkIVs,I feel that as long a part does its job, its good!

[Mysticeyes]

guys, here are some pics taken during the TD





















Note from the Team-BHP Support : Please note that it is now imperative for you to upload pictures directly to the Team-BHP Server. Click here (Uploading photographs directly to Team-BHP) to view our simple help article on uploading pictures.

[neotraveller]

Not really. Its only the Emotion pack's music system that's tricky (because of the Blue&me and steering controls). You have to upgrade AND make sure that all these work as well.

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

Dont want to burst the bubble.:( The ICE upgrade might be a tricky affair (as in Lineas), so you can plan a completely different budget for it.

[ghost_rider]

@NK : Dont want to burst the bubble.:( The ICE upgrade might be a tricky affair (as in Lineas), so you can plan a completely different budget for it.

Oh, it's not as tricky as u think. Yes, i know about the absence of pre amp outs on the Blaupunkt HU. Will post pics of the install .

cheers

[nkapoor777]

Originally Posted by neotraveller

Not really. Its only the Emotion pack's music system that's tricky (because of the Blue&me and steering controls). You have to upgrade AND make sure that all these work as well.

+1 to that.

Originally Posted by ghost_rider

Oh, it's not as tricky as u think. Yes, i know about the absence of pre amp outs on the Blaupunkt HU. Will post pics of the install .

cheers

Yupp, I am keeping myself free on saturday. Would love to be there to see the install. Cheers!

[Silver Knight]

Excitement all around!!!
This reminds me of the Palio launch. The car was a class apart and rewrote the small car rulebook. But we all know what happened? Despite being a brilliant package it fell prey to drowsy marketing and hopeless service.

Nothing much has changed. Still the same attitude from Fiat.
How many banners/ hoardings/ marketing campaigns did the Fiat host prior to the launch?
Once the novelty factor dries down unless and until they do some thing serious efforts on a warfooting we are gonna miss one more fantastic car.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by Silver Knight

Excitement all around!!!
This reminds me of the Palio launch. The car was a class apart and rewrote the small car rulebook. But we all know what happened? Despite being a brilliant package it fell prey to drowsy marketing and hopeless service.

Nothing much has changed. Still the same attitude from Fiat.
How many banners/ hoardings/ marketing campaigns did the Fiat host prior to the launch?
Once the novelty factor dries down unless and until they do some thing serious efforts on a warfooting we are gonna miss one more fantastic car.

What exactly hasnt changed? The showroom and service centers have been revamped... special teams especially for customer service. longest service interval in its class and chapers spares... what more do you want them to do? Come to your house for a test drive even though you havent even called? Or beg you to buy one? Lets be realistic first. And Lemme tell you my friend, there is nothing like word of mouth publicity, as the good word spreads around you will see more of them on roads.