[Carrera555]

A BIG Hello to all the car freaks here. This is the first time ever I am trying to break loose my vocabulary to write anything. So please bear with me for a while, since I’m gonna tell you a story of the Hottest Hatch in the country; oh yes you guessed it right – The Fiat Punto.

(Please note, this review was written in 2012 when the car was 20000 kms old. The car is now at 185,000 kms. Most of the initial parts of this review has observations as per 20000 kms of ownership. I promise to share all the later experiences in the coming posts.)

What you will love:
· The striking design
· Sniper like handling. The car goes exactly where you want it to.
· The talkative Steering wheel
· ‘THUD’ sound when you close the door
· High speed stability
· Little features like Follow me Home HL, & FE Stats on the MID, on the base variant
· Tank like build quality
· Magnificent engine
· The Sturdy Engine Guard

What needs to be improved:
· The overall build quality especially the plastics
· Gear Ratios
· Driving Position
· Vanity Mirror on the passenger side Sun Visor at least
· Interval Speed in the wipers (Badly miss this, since was used to it in the old car)
· HORN!
· Full Wheel Plates Quality, never stays in place
· Availability of spare parts
· Last but not the least – FIAT brand value

THE STORY!

Vital Information:
We bought a Boss Nova White Punto Active MJD on 6 OCT 2011. By the time I am writing the review my baby has already clocked about 20,000 Kilometers on the ODO.

The reason I am writing the review so late is because Punto can floor you with its looks at the very moment you see it, but you seriously need to spend some good quality time with her at different places / terrains to completely fall in love with her. And the moment you complete few thousands of Kilometers in it, you would find yourself so madly-deeply in love with the Italian beauty that you won’t even touch anything from the competitors stable. Literally, I tell you.

O wait a second! Before the love-story of me et my Voiture goes boring lets drool the teaser pic…

[46TheDoctor]

Congrats for the Punto!
I have also bought red Punto 2012 MJD Emotion and have clocked 15k kms in 6 months. But, yet to write the review as i am busy enjoying it!

[Carrera555]

Replaced what:
Tata Indigo LS – 2003. The old Indigo was showing signs of age & the frequency of visiting a mechanic had increased to a considerable extent. Again it had clocked more that 125k kilometers, so it was wise to bid a good bye to the old lady & add something fresh to our garage.

Falling in Love:
JUN 19, 2009 was the date when the GP arrived to the dealers in Ahmedabad & was officially on display. Bunked the college & there I headed to the showroom to get a glitterati glimpse of THE beauty. There, she was, parked right in the centre screaming all the attention from the atmosphere around, like a Rockstar, yeah!

I went closer. I just ogled, like the most did. It was in Electric Blue Color, & was glittering under the spot lights on the ceiling. After a while opened the door & got behind the wheel. And that was it! I badly wanted one, parked right into my garage. Owing to the engine specs I had known from before the launch, I didn’t even feel a need to go for a test drive. But I was a college boy then. A fine presentation was right out on the breakfast table the next morning to be tendered by my financer, which was swiftly given a back seat. But it was just the beginning of a love story.

Fast forward to SEP 2011:
The old workhorse i.e. the 2003 Indigo was bad in shape & needed a replacement. The local garage wala got a good deal for the same which was too mouthwatering to reject. And it was gone in an hour’s time. The old lady had served the family for long time & was a link to lots of memories. I had my eyes wet & saw it going till it finally disappeared. I was sad but at the same time I was glad as the hunt for the new car was about to begin.

We were looking forward for a car which can comfortably sit 4 passengers & is fun to drive at the same time. Our monthly running stays anywhere between 1500 – 2000 kms so an oil burner it was to be for sure. I knew which one is it gonna be, but the family wanted to go the formal way. So the list of cars considered goes as under:

Maruti Swift: There was a lot of heat in the market for the 2011 Swift at that time since it was newly launched. Buying a Swift is considered to be an investment in Gujarat as it gets a very good resale value. My Dad was all behind it due to the same reasons. But for me it was too common. I didn’t want my car to be a Swift o come on, every boy in the neighborhood drives the same. My views were considered & kicked the Swift hard on the back, out from the list. No, that’s not the reason why the Swift looks ugly to many from behind. LOL

Tata Vista & Manza: TATA not again. We wanted a change frankly speaking though we had a good ownership experience with the Indigo & the new vehicles were fantastic in all areas. But, some other day TATA. Sorry.

VW Polo: We were quite impressed with the elegant look & the overall build quality.So we went to the showroom to have a look at the three pot engine.” Umm, ok let’s drive & give it a try.” But the lifeless EPS, noway! Steering feedback was very much important to me. It must talk to ME. Bring on the hydraulic VW & I’ll come again.

Ford Fiesta Classic: Always had longed to own one. A close friend owns one & I frequently get an opportunity to drive around. Fabulous engine & drivability made a perfect combo for a FTD & practicality since it had a boot. A very-very close contender. Almost would have bought it for the fabulous pricing & the awesome ride quality. I am still not sure of the exact reason I rejected the car. It’s like the Punto impressed with 51% & the classic lost by 1%, it scored 49%. Had I a chance to bring two vehicles Fiesta would be the one parked beside the Punto.

Fiat Punto: The family was all no-no since a close relative had got a Punto in 2010 & sold off within a month’s time because of the stiff suspension set up, bad ergonomics & low FE. I knew the cons, but the car was much beyond that. The capabilities of the car were like no other car in the segment. Again, the car was unique. It turns heads, it’s not the one every car buyer with the same budget owned. Had a HARD time convincing the family to go ahead with the purchase, but you know ‘where there is a will, there is a way’. I was completely biased.

Ford Figo was not considered because if it was to be a Ford, it was a Classic.

Skoda Fabia & Hyundai i-20 were again not considered. It never clicked in any of our’s minds. I don’t know why. May be the Fabia looked odd to us & Hyundai i-20 was the same as Swift, toooo common. And the critic inside me is always behind the Koreans. So, no Hyundai (no offence meant to Hyundai owners).

A decision was made in 2 days. Punto it is!

The Dealer:
The dealer was fixed Aspi Cars since the owner is a good friend of ours. Again, only because the dealer was known it had an influence in convincing the family to get a Punto. As expected we got some VIP treatments in getting the Punto home & I am really not sure how does it feel like to deal with a SR at a TATA Showroom.
Unlike the Gujarati tradition, I am not fond of negotiating much for anything. I paid what I was asked to, they also run a business just as we do. We got a free Insurance that’s all I know. All I need is a good service & I am happy.

Variant Selection:
Emotion Pack was quite overpriced we thought & we would be buying 1 more car a year later & we can invest the difference amount in a bigger vehicle. Again I am not fond of the gizmos we get in the top-end, my car must have a good engine, a direct steering wheel which can talk & a good Air conditioner to keep the family comfortable. A car is meant to drive, I would rather opt to save the additional cost we pay for the bells & whistles in a car & build an entertainment room at home.

I was cool with the Active variant since it had a Tachometer & front Power windows, unlike most of the competitor’s base variants. It also had MID which showed real-time fuel consumption & FE with Average Speed. How good is it to see all this in the base variant.

The trigger was pulled in a while & we booked a BNW Punto MJD Active, which was not in stock & was supposed to arrive in 10 days from the booking day. And by god, that was the toughest phase while buying the car. The wait begins.

[Carrera555]

Bringing the Baby Home:
The PDI was done the previous day. The car had just 13 kms on the ODO, & the VIN number said it was born on someday in September 2011. It looked fresh from the oven.
After going through a week of almost sleepless nights & anxiety, the D day finally arrives. The time of delivery was fixed at 2 pm & I had never waited so much for the clock to strike 2.

Reached the showroom @ 1355 sharp (BTW I am always late, no matter how important a business meeting is) with younger sister & I couldn’t see anything but a piece of metal ‘crafted for a true fan’ waiting to be taken away by its master at the delivery bay, gleaming in its full glory under the sunshine.

Some paper formalities were done in a jiffy & I was handed over the keys with a chocolate box by the representative. They took a picture for themselves but I was too excited to remember to take one for myself. I was just raring to glide inside the cabin & start a long term relationship with the Italian love. It didn’t take too long & my dream was fulfilled.

Drove the car home for some basic ‘Mummy-made’ pooja & boy, every eye in the neighbourhood was on my car. “Kai gadi che?, Ketli average ape che?, Vajandar(heavy) gadi lage che?, Swift aj levay, Fiat kem lidhi?” are some questions which I got to face for the first time that day & it’s become a routine now.

So with the home formalities complete, where to head next in a Punto ACTIVE. No temples sorry, but the tyre shop, oh yes! Upgraded the tyres to Michelin 185/70 R14 which got the cars character changed completely. My dad has routine dealings with the tyre dealer so I hadn’t to pay anything at that moment, & tell you what, we still haven’t got the invoice till date, so I am sorry I have no idea how much will my stock tyres fetch.

I was on cloud-9 that day.

[Carrera555]

THE DESIGN!

The Outside story:
The exterior of the Punto consists of some really clean lines mated with some delicious curves. The car is designed by a famous Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who also has his name associated in designing some of the world famous cars by Lamborghini & Alfa Romeo. So that says it all.
Let’s take a look at what the designer himself has to say about the car design.

Giorgetto Giugiaro -
"Safety is an essential factor of the car as object and the new regulations in force today tell us what we need to do during development of a design - explained Giorgetto Giugiaro. The public is not aware of these standards but they dictate certain decisions about the exterior look. The principles of the 'pedestrian impact' regulations that require a certain distance to be maintained between the lighting and the angle of incidence dictated the front lines of the Grande Punto, particularly those of the elongated lights, which are ultimately highly distinctive and led someone to describe the 'face' of the Grande Punto as that of a 'Maserati in miniature'. A solution that therefore arose out of knowledge and observation of these regulations and obviously also out of experience".
Source: www.italdesign.it

Every little particle on the Punto is a state of art. Starting from the clear headlamps upto rear bumper, the oval ORVM’s & the wiper blades. You can’t just stop admiring the design & there are numerous occasions where I am found out in the porch just drooling the beauty for hours. You can’t just get your eyes off it. The huge wheel walls give a fabulous stance to the car & make it stand out. Enough of talking, let’s have a look at some pictures.

Exterior Pictures for Viewing Pleasure

[Carrera555]

The Inside story:

So how you would feel inside the Punto?

Get inside the Punto & you will be greeted with a stylish yet simple looking dash. The analog dials & a fabulous looking steering wheel with a theater dimming cabin lamps are the essence. The Active variant gets all black interiors & IMO that’s the best looking as compared to dual tone in the higher variants.

How the Simple Analog Dials look @ 0436 AM


Starting with the steering its one amongst the most desirable as compared to any hatch in the market. It’s just fabulous to hold. It’s direct. It talks. It’s like a bow & the car is an arrow. It makes you feel every little particle which your tyre has to go through. Though, I must confess the fairer sex may find it a little heavy while maneuvering it in the city at low speeds & parking into the tight spots, but it’s awesome once you gain momentum. The only steering which falls closer/similar to the one in Punto is from the Ford stable. Nothing else can be compared.

The Meaty Steering


Ergonomically I would rate Punto average. The front seats offer a very little lower back support & for those who have back problems would find it difficult to stay on the same for a long time. I know it exactly keeping my Dad’s example in mind.
The rear seats are quite good which offers good back & under thigh support, but I miss an adjustable head rest & 60-40 folding seats like on the higher variants in the Active Punto. The leg room is good for an average sized Indian, but it’s in no league of the Tata Vista.

The steering column is tilt adjustable but even the lowest position can be very high for a driver who is not taller than 160 cms. The basic variant doesn’t offer height adjustable seats which makes it even more difficult.
Again the steering is placed way too much toward the driver, but the clutch has a long play & you need to push it deep into the foot well to complete the gear shift, thus if you are a short driver you need to adjust your seat a little more ahead which will bring the steering wheel very near to your body. Not the best position you would like to drive your car. So I feel Fiat needs to work a little in this area. For tall drivers the car is much better but sometimes I find my knee hitting the lower part of the steering column.

The foot well is cramped if you have a YETI like foot. Mine is the same, almost! It took some time to get used to. The dead pedal is present & it offers adequate rest to the left foot. I seldom use it, but just keeping in mind of its presence makes me happy. Crazy me!

[Carrera555]

The Build:
The car is built like a tank.

The doors close with a solid ‘thud’ & gives you an assured feeling of your safety once you are inside. The doors open & close in a typical 3 stage; a la European style. The car weighs two hundred kilograms over a ton almost. The interior quality just meets the average standard. If you expect your car to have plush interiors with soft touch everywhere, look elsewhere.

The dashboard & all the plastics parts used inside are of a below average quality, though it’s solid, but that’s a different story. You need to polish the black ORVM’s, the door handles & the fiber panel near the wiper stalk every week to make it look black. It just fades off if your car is parked in direct sunlight & you don’t polish it regularly.

A part of full wheel plates keeps on loosing it’s correct place (on all the four wheels) after every short drive & you just need to manually push it to its correct position every now & then. Failing to do so has no harm but if you drive your car & somebody is watching from outside, it just looks like the wheel is wobbling & that leaves a bad impression to such a beautiful car. I love the design of the full wheel plates so I just prefer to stick to it & perform my duty on regular basis, until I save some good money for a set of fabulous 15” alloys. (Got the OE Gun Metal 15" alloys at 100,000 kms)

The attention to details design wise is worth giving a thumbs-up. The car is indeed ‘Crafted’ as they have said it rightly in their tag line.


THE CAR – TECHNICALLY SPEAKING:

Engine:
My Punto is powered by the legendry 1248CC, DOHC, 4 pot ‘oil-burner’ popularly known as the Multijet Diesel. It thumps out 75 Horse Power & 197 NM torque at its strategic point. The engine is a master-piece designed by FIAT & needless to say the same engine is used by many other automobile manufacturers round the globe. The engine checks mostly all the boxes & is reasonably safe to claim that it is a perfect blend of driving pleasure & economy.

The Engine Bay


No doubt it certainly has a considerable amount of turbo-lag but I was used to the same in my previous car-Indigo. The engine felt very harsh & extremely underpowered to many of my friends & relatives initially but it takes its own time to open up. The engine starts with a muscular note & settles down @ a little under a thousand RPM. The clatter is present & would always make you realize of an oil-burner under the hood, unless you are listening to some music. The engine feels sluggish at lower RPM’s but once the turbo kicks in @ around 2000 RPM, the engine suddenly changes its face & becomes a Torque Monster. The rush is sudden & it just leaves everything behind & revs effortlessly till 4000 RPM to glory.

There is a way you must drive a Punto, you got to understand her character & I bet she would never-ever fail to impress you. You can’t drive the Punto like every other cars, you must drive it the Punto way. Trust me once you know that, it’s very easy to see a 150 BHP Cruze struggling to be seen in the RVM during some spirited runs in the city.

I did running in religiously till the ODO showed 5000 kms. The engine speed was not exceeded more than 2.5 k RPM till the first 3000 kilometers & stretched to 3k RPM for the next 2000 kilometers. So 5000 kms in all, and it was worth it. The engine works flawlessly & it has opened up quite well. I see a drastic change in the engine characteristic if I compare it to a new engine with a roused one like it is today at 19k kilometers.


Fuel Efficiency:
The fuel efficiency is a crucial aspect which a buyer takes into account today while buying a car with rapidly increasing fuel prices. On highways if driven sedately my car has shown upto 23 kmpl with AC & 4 people on board. Ahmedabad has pathetic traffic or traffic-sense I should rather say, because of which I haven’t seen anything more than 18 KMPL in the city if driven with a feather-light foot. But I have a tremendously heavy right foot, a friend claims it gets paralytic once it sees an accelerator pedal, it simply doesn’t move & stays floored in most of the occasions, . My usual FE figures range between 10 – 13 KMPL in city & 16 – 18 KMPL on the highways. (All figures as per the MID)

But I am happy, the car leaves no stone unturned to fulfill an enthusiasts thrust. When floored the engine revs effortlessly till 4000 RPM with a strong engine grunt & makes you feel as if you are driving a mini Ferrari. On highways the car is in its best composure till 130 KMPH, after that it gets a tad louder. But the engine doesn’t lose its steam right upto the top speed 170 KMPH.


Playing with the stick:
The gear shift is strictly average. It’s neither as bad as it was in my old car & neither as slick as some German competitor’s have. The gear slots well in place & the position is good. The 1st gear is like a ‘special gear’ as the Truckers claim in their trucks. It’s just meant to gain momentum, you can’t drive with it. The car can easily take up speed if you start from 2nd gear without any throttle inputs. I would still have loved to see some better gear ratio’s mated with such a fabulous engine.

[Carrera555]

THE RIDE:

Suspension Setup:
The stiff suspension setup makes the car a drivers delight. At low speeds you may find a little uncomfortable but it works like a charm once you cross 50 kmph. You can indulge in some aggressive cornering at triple digit speeds without breaking a sweat. Infact, the baby takes the cuts & corners with a YAWN & never make you realize what you really did unless you are a spectator from some other car. The hydraulic steering & stiff suspension setup is a perfect combo. The car goes exactly where you want it to without any under or over steer.

I don’t find any issues with the ground clearance – 171 mm, though a lot of people have complained about it. The long nose of the car does create a problem sometimes but you can get used to it. The engine guard is a sturdy piece of metal. It covers the full lower part of the engine bay & prevents from a lot of beating.

I have scraped the engine guard a couple of times over some Burj Khalifa’ish speed breakers & the sound was like What-the-Hell! Pulled over the car & went below too see what just happened & it questions back, ‘What happened? Go drive!’. The engine guard looked as good as new after some serious impacts it had to take.

The small bumps & rough road patches are some areas where the Punto shows its real capabilities. It just hovers over all of it & the driver barely knows. It’s a treat to drive the Punto on such roads, trust me!
The newer (2012) Punto’s come with a higher ground clearance of about 185 mm, but IMO it just spoils the looks of the car. I love my low slung Punto.

I would highly recommend all those who buy the active & dynamic variant in a Punto which comes with 165 mm wide tyres to upgrade to atleast 185 mm tyres by default. Trust me my reviews would have been different without 185 mm Michelins. It makes a great difference.


Brakes:
The brakes are just good. My car is not equipped with ABS. All it has is discs in the front & drums on the rear. But it gives a perfect feel & stops as per your orders. It certainly lacks strong bite as compared to the Fabia & Polo, but it’s not bad either.
The brake pads gets worn out very easily if you have a heavy right foot, I guess it’s because of the weight of the car & the long nose. May-be. But I am not sure. Looking at the condition of the pads in my car, I guess it won’t last more than 25k kms. Under the the pictures of new vs worn out brake pads.

Brake Pads - Old on the left and new on the right


Overall the car is rock steady on any roads & crunches miles effortlessly.


Living with it & Service Experience:
Living with Italian baby is not as easy as most Japanese / Korean cars.

She is like a ‘Model girlfriend'. You need to take her to the beauty parlor periodically for manicure-pedicure & what not. But if you have it by your side, you can just feel the pride. You get my point, don’t you?

The Punto needs its own space & demands time. If you have trained ears a visit to the service centre is fixed once every month. The rattles come & go from different places. If you loose your cool with such issues Punto is not the car for you.

My car has a rattle from the cabin lamp which the ASS is still not able to resolve, though the sound it makes is barely audible only on rough roads. But I like pin drop silence. You need to spend some time with it & resolve it on your own. You should not expect much from the ASS.

The availability of some parts is really crucial. It took merely 5 months for the Dealer to source an original Radio Antenna for the car. I’ve broken the ORVM on the Right a couple of times (the glass fell off) & a 200 bucks important part which has to be liberally available has to be ordered which takes a week’s time. I just get a cold-wave-in-my-spine by thinking of what would happen if there is any major impact.

Fiat is just screwing up its reputation with such a wonderful car by offering a pathetic ASS. I must agree the Service Representative’s goes out of the way (atleast I have felt so) to try & resolve the issue but sometimes they do not have a complete knowledge or the car has a quality compromise with a particular part. Why is that so?

If you love to be behind the wheel every time, Punto is the one for you. The ghats were never so fun with any other car in the segment or a segment above. Spot a high speed corner & you just can’t stop grinning. Much has been said about it. The Punto gulps everything it has to go through underneath without losing its composure except some really deadly speed breakers.

The Punto needs a visit to in-laws every 15000 kilometers / 1 year whichever is earlier. The long service interval is a boon for those who can’t live without a car on daily basis. The car drinks nothing but pure synthetic oil. The first free service has to be done at 3000 kilometers which is just a basic check up. No oil/filter change is required. As I said, it has to be changed every 15k kilometers. The service experience is average if your car is very dear to you & if you have a terrific eye to the details. Small niggles reported are easily ignored by the ASS & you have to be on their head to make them resolve the same. To cut the story short, I always had to give my car a detailed wash the very next day after it was back from the two free services I am done with.

Features on the inside:
The Active (Base) variant comes with some very basic features which make no great story to talk about. I’ll tell you about some cool features which I feel need’s a mention here.

My car is not equipped with central locking system. Though, it has a nice thoughtful feature, you can’t lock the front two doors when you open them. There are only two ways to lock the front doors, one is with the key from the outside & other is when you close the door you can lock it from the inside. So you can never lock you cars key inside while you are out of the car. How cool!

The car comes with speed buzzer & follow me home headlamps programmable upto 280 seconds. The MID displays the total kilometers clocked, trip meter, DTE, Real time fuel consumption & total running hours of the engine after the trip has been reset. There is just one standard cabin lamp which has a Theatre dimming effect, it’s pleasing.

The manual HVAC is basic but effective. It’s in no league of the Ford’s but it has never failed to make the passengers comfortable. The blower makes a lot of noise while working at a full blast, it’s annoying. But if there are no more than 2 occupants in the car, just set the blower speed to 2 & it works like a charm, even in scorching 45* C Ahmedabad heat.

That’s all I can think about to write here.


The Discoveries:

Jack – The stock jack states that the maximum weight should not exceed 900 kilograms. My dear Fiat, you have manufactured a car which weighs 1190 kilograms, then why the puny jack which has to handle load almost 300 kg more than its capacity?

The tail lamp signal indicator is placed on the top, almost as above as the roof line & its orange in color. Looks good, but I have observed a lot of times that the moving vehicle from behind fails to notice if you have given a turn-signal in a broad day light. You just can’t assume that you have given the turn indicator & the vehicle from behind knows, you MUST keep an eye on the RVM’s.

If you forget to switch off the cabin lamp & you lock your car, you needn’t worry of your battery to get drained. After about few minutes of time the car computer cuts off all the powers & wastes no energy. So doesn’t matter how forgetful you are, the Italian baby has a brain of it’s own, unlike the blondes!

Again, unlike the Human tendency to feel full ASA they finish their meals; the Punto doesn’t. Confused? Well, when you refuel the car with the engine running the fuel needle doesn’t rise up to give an accurate reading. You need to switch the engine off & restart it to bring the fuel needle up to give the accurate reading & same with the Distance to empty range, it’s all interrelated.
Okay now, I know you don’t compare machines to a Human body.

Once again if you have locked your car & you enter through the left door the cabin lamp won’t switch on (no central locking remember). You either need to ignite the vehicle or enter through the Right door. I almost fainted one fine day when I walked into the car for something from the left door when it was dark & the cabin lamp won’t glow up, I started breathing as soon as I realized how the system works. It’s cool!
I learnt later that after 20 mins of the engine being turned off the car cuts off all the electric supply of power so that the battery wont drain itself if you left something on.


What makes the Punto so special

The car certainly has got a Heart, no doubts. It’s like a Magnet. It’s special.

She just strikes that emotional chord in your soul & makes its place into your life like a family member. It’s not monotonous like-a-machine, NOO. You can find her happy when she roars with full gusto, you find her sad when she objects to perform, you find her lazy when you drive with light foot, and the baby simply communicates with you. The cars’ certainly got emotions & living with it can make you realize that. It’s such a beautiful piece of engineering that a minor scratch anywhere can make your heart bleed. God, it’s special.

It makes you feel safe, like you do in your house. Sit inside & drive or be driven, a look of those thick pillars & you would feel you are in a Hummer Hatch! Many cars from a segment above cannot match the assured feeling you would get in the Punto. Oh, it’s special.

Mostly, nobody buys a Punto to just rug it for 3 years until the loan tenure gets over & sell it off. Those who buy the car certainly know his cars & the SR at the FIAT-TATA showroom need not to convince a Punto customer. Spot a Punto on the road & most of them would look right out of the showroom, maintained in the best possible manner. Even if you have decided you will not take care of your car, the magnetism in the car will pull you toward itself & won’t let you go. Damn, it’s special.

It takes away boredom from your life. Always fond to kill time by driving around, but heck the expensive fuel & pathetic traffic sets you aback. No worries. You just park your car in front of you & William Shakespeare has got a competition (now I know that was crazy, but I am helpless, it’s parked right in front of me while I write this). Boy, it’s special.

To many, I may sound intensely attached by such talks but I am sure those who have owned/own a Punto has felt what I am talking. You need to live with the car to really understand what the fuss is all about.

My friends, it’s special.


Accessories my car carries:
Well, nothing much. I am fond of clean looking cars right out of the showroom. My car even doesn’t have two of the most practical accessories to have i.e. Seat Covers & Mud Flaps. Mud Flaps just swipes away the beauty of the car & have not tried hard to find a seat cover which clicks in the mind at a glance. If it doesn’t click I don’t convince myself to forcefully like it. It must click. Simple!

I have only installed a SONY CD player with USB & AUX ports with 4 door JBL 300 watts speakers which sound awesome.

Whoa! That was a one liner.


Modifications in pipeline:

Add a ‘Muffler’ to the loud Fan blower pipe. LOL Jokes apart, under goes the little list.

• K&N stock replacement air filter (Not coming now)
• 15” OEM Alloys (got that)
• Door damping & a Bass tube with an amplifier (no bass tube & amplifier)
• Upgrade to better Headlight bulbs (got that)
• Change the front driver seat to a sporty bucket seat (Not sure about possibilities, the research is on)

Thus we come to the end of the story.

To conclude the LONG story I would like to say, “It’s not how big your car is; it’s how big your life is.”

[Carrera555]

Time to Drool

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Long-term Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Carrera555

Please note, this review was written in 2012 when the car was 20000 kms old. The car is now at 185,000 kms.

Yet another biggie. I was happily chugging along at 165k kms with my ownership report - and arun_josie steadily overtook, car_dent all of a sudden announced himself up at the front, and now you come out of nowhere and overtakes me. Time to play catchup.

Seriously though - for a brand that has been a failure in terms of sales, and is generally not considered to be reliable by the public - I have a feeling we constitute a relatively better percentage of high mileage ownership reports on Team-Bhp. Lets see - We have car_dent at 200k, yourself at 185k, arun_josie at 167k, myself at 165k, nkrishnap at 100k - that I can quickly remember. And three members with big ownership reports who have sold the car too - epicenter_rulez at 190k, sukrit7 at 133k, chiranjitp at 100k - a few I can think of.

Btw - you mention about a major engine related work in another thread. What was that about?

[Carrera555]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Yet another biggie. I was happily chugging along at 165k kms with my ownership report - and arun_josie steadily overtook, car_dent all of a sudden announced himself up at the front, and now you come out of nowhere and overtakes me. Time to play catchup.

Well absolutely . But these days my car is running low on mile munching so I am sure I will be easily down to the last runner up in the catchup game in the coming 6 months or so.

Btw - you mention about a major engine related work in another thread. What was that about?

Yes, i blew up the engine at about 125000 kms & had to replace the block & recondition the head & turbo. I was milking the hell out of the MJD on a highway & a hose pipe suddenly gave up which lead to a quick coolent drain. The temperature gauge was at its normal temperature & before it could show the temperature the engine was seized.

Will write in detail about the same in coming posts.

[Reisender]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Yet another biggie. I was happily chugging along at 165k kms with my ownership report - and arun_josie steadily overtook, car_dent all of a sudden announced himself up at the front, and now you come out of nowhere and overtakes me. Time to play catchup.

Seriously though - for a brand that has been a failure in terms of sales, and is generally not considered to be reliable by the public - I have a feeling we constitute a relatively better percentage of high mileage ownership reports on Team-Bhp. Lets see - We have car_dent at 200k, yourself at 185k, arun_josie at 167k, myself at 165k, nkrishnap at 100k - that I can quickly remember. And three members with big ownership reports who have sold the car too - epicenter_rulez at 190k, sukrit7 at 133k, chiranjitp at 100k - a few I can think of.

Btw - you mention about a major engine related work in another thread. What was that about?

@Crazie - Add me in - I completed 115K with my Punto Epack so far and its my daily workhorse without any major complaints

[anand.shankar]

I second @CrAzY dRiVeR, for a car selling such low volumes, the # high mileage reviews are disproportionately high. These are built tough for sure. Or May be most Punto owners are in T-Bhp.

I have a 2015 EVO with 42K on the clock, hoping to keep it for another 1Lac, but given the state of Fiat today, i wonder what will happen to the newer buyers. Thankfully basic Engine spares will still be available, hope the stay afloat.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Lets see - We have car_dent at 200k, yourself at 185k, arun_josie at 167k, myself at 165k, nkrishnap at 100k - that I can quickly remember. And three members with big ownership reports who have sold the car too - epicenter_rulez at 190k, sukrit7 at 133k, chiranjitp at 100k - a few I can think of.

Randhawa's Punto @ 166K, he had updated in my thread few days back,

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post4426555