Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Long-Term Ownership Reviews (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/)

-   -   A thin line between genius and insanity - Fiat Grande Punto 90HP - 2,00,000 km up! Edit: Sold (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/119206-thin-line-between-genius-insanity-fiat-grande-punto-90hp-2-00-000-km-up-edit-sold-24.html)

@CrAzY dRiVeR :
How is the NVH on the Punto after 45k kms?
Has it increased significantly since the beginning?
How is it with the windows rolled down vs with the AC on?

Being a petrolhead all my life, am trying to get over the aversion to diesels :)

Issues faced + Service Experience #8 - 45000 kms paid service.
Service Satisfaction - ****-
Service Centre - Vecto Motors, Bangalore.

Routine service with nothing special to report. a/c inefficiency could not be checked since the part they received against my order was damaged, and hence had to be ordered again. Have to expect these things as part FIAT ownership!

Coming to the financials -

1. Service Cost for paid service - Rs 1124/- (Washing & cleaning excluded as per my request)
2. Engine Oil - Rs 1521/-
3. Oil Filter - Rs 411/-
4. Filtering Element - Rs 402/-
5. Fuel Filter - Rs 2059/-
6. Air Filter - Rs 199/-

Total approximate costs came to around 6500/- This was excluding wash, and with additional balancing and alignment included. Service costs are still low IMO - 6k to 7k every 15000 kms.

Cleaning + Detailing work #9.
24 August 2013 - 3M, HSR Bangalore - Foam Wash.

True. Everyone starts with the black roof, but I am doubtful whether it will gel with an otherwise stock car. As you know by now - I am a very confused person when it comes to mods. :D
Tell me about it! And I have Punto, 90 HP & Emotion stickers on the boot, of which the 'Emotion' sticker is of inferior quality compared to the other two and even the angle of lettering doesn't gel with the other two. Still my wife is dead against debadging.

I always remind KarthikK, make hay while the sun shines. Complete all mods before marriage! stupid:

CD, item no 6 is polen filter/AC filter which costs 199 bucks. 1124/- for the labour is reasonable and it should have actually included cost of washing too. Anyways, I wont let the service center guys touch the car for washing :D

NVH is slightly better, specially since the 5k mark. But frankly, those changes are not significant. You need to get used to the diesel drone.

However, it also depends on which car you were using earlier. Some of the smaller ones like WagonR have much higher noise levels compared to Punto, even though its a petrol. And I love the diesel sound in my Punto a lot better than the girlish (4 stroke auto like :D) whine inside my WagonR.
It is around 1.4k for paid service. Cost was reduced and the same was explained by the SA (you know who) when I opted out of the wash.

So item #4 is air filter? Weird naming convention then.

@CrAzY dRiVeR,

Bro, Sorry if I am high jacking your thread here for a post.

We got ourself a new Tuscan Wine 90HP a week back, when I went through your posts it was like Deja-vu.

My better half was of the opinion that Punto's headlamps were ugly compared to Linea's (she is a die hard fan of Linea's lines).
Even though my soul was saying "Punto .. Punto"
I took her to fiat Caffe only after checking out Figo (was my first choice), Maruthi (Swift and Ritz), I20s (Her favourite amongst hatches) , the VW , and etios Liva.

Then the story went exactly like as in yours I was going till MG Road, took a left turn and took her to the fiat Caffe and told her whats wrong in checking the car.
Once the door closed after getting in the car , Voila the Deal was closed. She was all the way punto. She didn't utter even I20 as a suggestion.

That being said, congrats on the car ( I know its a bit late to say now stupid:).
May I ask you which service center do you recommend in Bangalore ?

Most folks go to Vecto. Apart from CD's this check NKP and Karthik's ownership threads.

Congrats on your new car. Initially the response might feel rather tame for a 90hp motor. Wait till around 5k kms for the engine to open up.

I will recommend Vecto Motors, hosur road. They are not perfect, but they have a good customer-centric attitude. We have few BHPians who know the place inside out, so make sure you post in the punto threads before going for 1st service.

Thanks Ampere

Thanks Cd, would post before the first service car is at 750Kms now.

Had a brilliant drive over the weekend.

Bangalore - Alleppey - Bangalore.

RD box was sitting at home. I'm surprised with the change in the stock engine response. Its true that FIAT engines do get better with time! The drive involved a lot of high speed cruising due to heavy rains. Have a look at the final FE figures! Wasn't driving to extract FE - may be the effect of all the cruising.





Yes - she's nearing the 48,000 kms milestone - and she will be 1 1/2 years old tomorrow. :Cheering:

Some random pictures taken over the past two weeks -







On the negative side -

I'm absolutely frustrated about the a/c issue. :Frustrati

Cleaning and Detailing work #10 -
3M HSR layout Bangalore.

I managed to get the car so dirty over the past few days - there was only one guy I would trust to restore it back to showroom condition. Brilliant work as usual by Sidhu and his boys @ 3M HSR layout! clap: Will post more details in the 3M HSR layout dedicated thread. Here's a preview-

Here's a small visual mod after a long time -

Inspired by the work done by TBhp'ians KarthikK and nkrishnap on their cars - I decided that my multijet should paint the town red as well.



In other news - the stock GT3s completed 48,300 kilometers and were duly replaced. GT3 was a reliable tyre - but was rock hard to say the least. Every small road irregularity was transferred into the cabin. I was itching to get my hands on a more comfortable set of tyres and Yokahama AVS DB seemed to be the best bet in terms of comfort, noise levels, performance and price.

Some pics of the tyre change -

Stock GT3s after 48,300 kms of usage -


AVS DB (Made in Japan) -


A closer look at the thread pattern -


Mounted -


And here's how it looks compared to the old GT3s -



So, my car was full of dust and dirt collected from the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Almost 2000 kilometers of driving through heavy rains meant layers of dirt and mud on the car. Infact - the original colour was not visible anymore.

There was only one place that I trusted to restore it back to showroom condition. Brilliant work once again by Sidhu and his team @ 3M HSR layout. Let the pictures speak the story of the transformation -

Water wash upfront - Notice how much dirt is being cleared! I was a happy man to see this since it would ensure no swirls would crop up during the foam wash.


Foam wash -


Its snowing in bangalore. My favourite part.



Skipping the rest of the process. Now - for some before/ after pics -

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


And here's a parting shot of the glass like finish on the bonnet. clap:


Just another 1500 kms to go for acheiving a big milestone in her life.

CD,

The car looks much better than the showroom ones. Also 3M might make you their brand ambassador:D

Can you share the cost of the Yoko's? Did you get anything for the old tyres?

Thats nice work of getting the car back to shape. Should have been a pain to see the car dirty. Go going painting the town red.

On teambhp its all praises for this center, on the other forum a few 3M HSR store haters are mudslinging unncessarily.

Yoko AVS DB, should have costed you 5,200 per tyre. Any salvage value on the old tyres? Hows the ride after setting the tyre pressure right.

Thanks ghodlur.

Brand Ambassador? No way, should see the way Karthik maintains both his cars! Plus all the carbon fiber wraps etc makes him the undisputed champion.

Yoko's costed 5200 per tyre. Got complimentary balancing and alignment as well.
Pain? Not really. I was happy to see it dirty rather than me washing the car and giving it swirl marks. There were several layers of dirt on the car, and a lot of tar marks.

About the old tyres- I didn't bother asking about salvage price. I mean, it's 48k run Goodyear GT3s! :D

Ride has become much better now. Small irregularities are dismissed without even an acknowledgement. Noise levels are superb. Might need to put mudflaps though- could see water getting thrown high enough to end up on an Innova's windshield and he was not trailing too close either. Never noticed water getting thrown from the tyres even when the GT3s were new.

But, while correcting the pressure today- front right side showed less than 20ps. Puncture on Day 2 itself, or tyreshop's mistake? Will know in 2 days.

Car is looking pretty good at close to 50k on the odo. The 3M guys have achieved decent shine on a white car.

Any reason you din't opt for the Primacy LC replacement from michelin ?