[neoonwheels]

Had a first time look at Ritz yesterday. The car looks big from behind at least. But Punto wins hands down !

[NFS2024]

Its not a blanket statement. It was what i felt after test driving both the cars. Why someone thinks only their perception is correct I do not understand. I stand by my statement and people will still buy what they like at the end.

[RP_812]

To be honest IMO , it is really too early to judge the two.

[anurag_p80]

One thing is for sure, all Fiat threads get a lot of attention. There are not that many Fiat owners, wonder how they manage to garner so much attention on the forum. Well, love it or hate it, one can surely not ignore Fiat for sure. Being a Palio owner, from a purely product perspective, I do not think there are too many who can beat the Fiat value proposition. From a service perspective, most other manufacturers would. The comparison between these two IMO (unabashed fan of Fiats):

Looks: Punto, no doubt. Ritz is ugly looking IMO. Maruti seems to be able to produce good looking sedans (except for Dzire) but no good looking hatches (including Swift)
Features: Punto, again. At that price point the choice of features is awesome.
Fit and finish: Tie. Whatever we can call maruti cars, they are well finished most of the time. So are Fiats, Punto is not an exception.
Interiors: Ritz. Punto will not beat it. Period.
Performance in City: This is where I think the Punto is misunderstood. No doubt Maruti has a track record for making great city cars, Fiat has its plusses as well. It is quite 'chuckable' and swallows bad roads for fun. That big contact patch should make it better in the rains as well. Thicker gauge metal, and hardy bumpers help you tackle the kamikaze bikers. U-turns, and parking though are a pain. I would say slightly to the Ritz.
Highway: Punto again. Better handling and ride.

WINNER: PUNTO

[tortoiseNhare]

I have not driven or sat in the Ritz. From outside the Punto looks better. Being a Fiat owner myself I know the problems regarding service. Actually most of the Tata-Fiat service centres are not yet fully equipped to handle Fiat cars with confidence. Lack of numbers is the main factor in this regard. If Linea and Punto can generate good volumes then the service personnel will have more experience and hence better service.

The Palio story is not so promising because hardly any Palio enters the Tata-Fiat service centre (at least the one I have to go to) for the service personnel to remember anything about the car. In case of Maruti cars the service personnel can locate problem areas with both eyes closed, they become so familiar with the model.

Verdict: Looks + Ride quality = Punto
Service = Ritz

Overall: Punto (I am being biased here)

[tj123]

Punto is a more of an enthusiast's car but certainly not a practical street car as Ritz. Especially in a city like Bangalore where roads are narrow & taking U turns in a Punto is a real challenge some time owing to its large turning circle.

I think Ritz is a practical all-round family car where as Punto is more of a highway star.

But my question to enthusiast's is that how much percentage of your time do you drive on highways? At least for me its 20% max rest is city.

I agree to people saying "Mind says Ritz, heart says Punto" For me as a common man mind wins over heart, my vote is to Ritz.

[Seeler_Rebeiro]

@tj123 - Hmmm, agree and disagree with you. For urban, young, nuclear families (most of who drive single or over the weekend with max 1 co-passenger and 1 child), the Punto is quite a practical family car rather than only a highway star.

How many times does a person take U turns? Turning radius is the least important of attributes to declare a car to be a practical street car.

For a slightly larger family or an older demographic, they may value this aspect of the Ritz.

Note: Not questioning your choice of cars but just wondering out aloud.

[RX135]

I fail to understand why we bring in A/S/S, sales number, resale and brand image etc when we are discussing merits of cars.

Going by current logic, not a single FIAT or Ford or GM should sell in this country and in any poll, people should never vote for these brands. I find whole rhetoric about A/S/S and "peace of mind" talk useless, when we are comparing 2 cars as a product.

If that is what matters then why compare Ritz and Punto? Just name it as "X car from Maruti Vs. Y car from Fiat". Who cares what cars they are, since all other factors such as A/S/S, resale, image etc. etc are going to remain the same for them?

More often than not, it's the non-Fiat owners who complain about Fiat A/S/S, brand image than its owners (Not to imply that it is the best under the Sun).

I often find that people judge a city car by looking at turning radius, than driveability or ride of a car (especially knowing that most Indian city roads are 'pothole'd).

Just as there are Fiat fanatics on this forum, there are equal/more number of Anti-Fiat fanatics on the forum. End result is that, entire credibility of any discussion is lost on any neutral reader.

I have no problem with the discussion remaining neutral and unbiased. Its only when it gets biased that I resort to sarcasm.


@RX135
Turning radius is important.
I know, I used a palio 1.2 as my exclusive car for 2years. I experienced the famed FIAT A.S.S too.
I'm not anti fiat- just against spreading of falsehood and propaganda that there is nothing better than fiat.

[pmbabu]

Originally Posted by Seeler_Rebeiro

How many times does a person take U turns? Turning radius is the least important of attributes to declare a car to be a practical street car.

No offence meant to you, but I think you might have never faced this problem for you to acknowledge this. I know the trouble that some of the guys who had Scorpio went through while trying to enter our IT campus just because of the larger turning radius. Holding up the traffic on both the sides of the main road, they would make such a heavy weather of making that tricky turn into the campus - reversing and forwarding (all along playing that stupid reverse horn). People who had longer sedans will breeze into the campus because of the smaller turning radius. Well, those guys had to do those turns twice a day - is that frequent enough?

Of course, many here vote with their heart, thereby throwing practicality out of the window - wonder how many of them would sign the cheque when they make their next purchase.

Ritz might look ugly but that does not make it any difficult to drive.

And high time people stop calling Maruti cars as "tin boxes". If your favorite brand has the best car in the world, no other car should be selling - guess what, thankfully, actual car buyers don't take those irresponsible comments seriously.

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by NFS2024

Purely from a practicality point of view voted for the Ritz. I guess over a period of time people will get used to the looks and it already is selling in large numbers anyways.

Why would you spend hard earned money and buy something that you would have to get used to? It's like getting married to a person thinking that you will get used to their looks eventually

Cars in India are way more expensive (at least compared to the USA). Why should we make compromises?? Shouldn't we demand a better product that looks as good as it performs?

[myavu]

Don't own both, but any day, any time Punto

[RX135]

Originally Posted by rippergeo

Turning radius is important.
I know, I used a palio 1.2 as my exclusive car for 2years. I experienced the famed FIAT A.S.S too.
I'm not anti fiat- just against spreading of falsehood and propaganda that there is nothing better than fiat.

Sorry! My post was not directed at you but few earlier posts and counter-posts. Probably we posted around same time.

Turning radius is of course important but if someone tells me that is more important than low end torque/driveability or ride, I'll be cease to argue any further

Talking of A/S/S, it is largely location dependent. Fiat A/S/S is considered quite good at least in this side of the country (Far better than Honda, Skoda and even Maruti at times). My friend gets his NHC serviced from Kolhapur than from Pune. Just to give an example!

It would be completely immature to claim that there is nothing better than Fiat (or most other brands for that matter, unless it happens to be BMW :P ). There are several areas where Fiat lacks, of course most notable being A/S/S network, resale, image.

BTW, I am surprised to see an ex-Palio owner deriding a Fiat car (not company/network) very well knowing its virtues. To be very honest, I've not personally come across any so far.

[meghan]

Love the Punto's looks as compared to Ritz.
Moreover I feel the Ritz loses out a lot due to a nonexistent boot.
P.S. I have ignored the A.S.S of Fiat as I'm expecting it will improve

So one more vote for the GP

[tortoiseNhare]

Originally Posted by pmbabu

Of course, many here vote with their heart, thereby throwing practicality out of the window - wonder how many of them would sign the cheque when they make their next purchase.

(I may be going OT but please bear with me)
If buying a Fiat means throwing practicality out of the window (I suppose without being explicit you meant it), then you may be incorrect at least in my case. I was really happy with my M800 before buying a Palio Multijet and I have no intention to sell the 800. My wish was to get a decent diesel car with contemporary technology which would nicely fit into the narrow space allotted to me for parking in my apartment. The Vista and the Swift would struggle to fit because of their extra width. Palio is longer but the length was not a problem (I have attached a photo for reference).

Finally, Swift was much costlier. So I decided to get the Palio. You can see it was not a decision made by heart. It is another matter that despite all A** related issues the Palio has almost fully occupied my heart now.