[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

Congrats! White Punto looks very grand. Wishing you many safe miles and peaceful ownership.

Are you going to put a RD Tuning Box on it sometime soon.

Can i suggest that you use the 3M Carbon Fibre Sticker for your Centre Console / Panel. I thought that it was looking a bit dull or maybe its just the photos.

Thanks Raj for the wishes. Hmm RD tuning box, goes immediately into my mods list. Reg 3M carbon fibre sticker - didnt see them when I took the car to 3M Thane for the Nomad mats. Will look out for it.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey, hearty congratulations on the Punto. The real looker on roads even today. Wishing you all unlimited happy & safe miles with the tank.
One of the pictures of delivery make me imagine red racing decals on the car...They'd look wonderful on BNW. Also, Punto is one car that does look hot with racing decals. Its as if the car's face, headlamp & grille are designed with decal stripes in mind!! How about it?

Thanks Reinhard. I havent seen the racing decals on a white Punto but have defintely seen the Red graphics. They too look good on the White car. The SA had made an attempt to sell them to me, I however asked them for free (didnt get it though)

[ghodlur]

3 weeks into the Punto purchase and stumbled upon the first hurdle although a minor one. The front driver side mud flap had got bent and was rubbing against the front tyre whenever the tyre turned. Dropped by Balaji workshop in Thane and it was found there was no holding screw for mudflap. It was delivered with one screw in place. The technician fixed the second screw at both the front mudflaps. Got all the mudflaps checked and with no issues was good to go. The Service advisor even suggested to go for the new plastic mudflaps instead of the rubber ones. Dont understand why Fiat continues to provide the rubber ones on all new cars.

One querry - Is it advisable to use System D with the diesel cars esp Punto? I have been using the System G for the Fiesta earlier and did have noticeable change in the engine performance.

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

3 weeks into the Punto purchase and stumbled upon the first hurdle although a minor one. The front driver side mud flap had got bent and was rubbing against the front tyre whenever the tyre turned. Dropped by Balaji workshop in Thane and it was found there was no holding screw for mudflap. It was delivered with one screw in place. The technician fixed the second screw at both the front mudflaps. Got all the mudflaps checked and with no issues was good to go. The Service advisor even suggested to go for the new plastic mudflaps instead of the rubber ones. Dont understand why Fiat continues to provide the rubber ones on all new cars.

One querry - Is it advisable to use System D with the diesel cars esp Punto? I have been using the System G for the Fiesta earlier and did have noticeable change in the engine performance.

I have been using System D though manual says no additives. I have said this in another forum and am again saying this, this stuff is much better than adulterants from our bunks except Shell. (Kerosene, water, mud)

There are members who have used ABRO and 3M additives as well. Go ahead and use.

[vnabhi]

@ghodlur---congrats for your hot hatch! I somehow missed reading this thread till now.

Wish you many happy miles on it. I however feel you should have gone for the 90bhp rocket instead, so that it will feel close to your ex-car in terms of performance.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

@ghodlur---congrats for your hot hatch! I somehow missed reading this thread till now.

Wish you many happy miles on it. I however feel you should have gone for the 90bhp rocket instead, so that it will feel close to your ex-car in terms of performance.

Venu sir,
Thanks for the wishes.

I had looked at the 90HP option but had to put it in back burners coz it was costing a fortune. 9L OTR was putting me off, hence settled for the 75HP.

[sups]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I had looked at the 90HP option but had to put it in back burners coz it was costing a fortune. 9L OTR was putting me off, hence settled for the 75HP.

Has the price increased so much? Last year in december the cost of 90HP Punto sports was 8.3L OTR in Pune and the non-sports version was little less than 8L.

By the way, is the difference in performance for 90HP and 75HP noticeable in city?

[ghodlur]

A new issue cropped up over the weekend. The USB drive in the slot was not being read by the Blue & Me. Replaced it with a new one and it worked. Wonder what made the USB go bad, tried to read it on the laptop and same issue. Couldnt read the USB drive at all.

Any pointers so that the new USB doesnt got the old way again?

[dar3dev|l]

^^ Guess its to do with the filesystem, Fat32 / NTFS ?? Did you format the old one using a different filesystem ?

[Desmosedici]

Why do you want to use additives so early. I was reading the additives / OWS thread last week and many suggest not to fiddle around too much with a new car and i would also have the same thinking.

I too am planning / thinking of giving a dose of OWS goodies to my aging Vtec but you hold on to your Italian Horses.

[parimal_g]

The difference between 90 and 75 HP is not much in city but 90 HP feels more refind and quite also on the highways 90 HP is different beast all together. IT revs cleanly till 5 k rpm and awesome mid range.90 HP is the car if budget permits.

My beast Amy















And Girish regarding the fuel additives just stay away from them my car has done 33 k and just feels as good as new infact feels that engine is getting better and better so avoid not required.
And am just wondering how you are digesting such pathetic sound quality from speakers as ford has one of the best stock ICE.
Regarding the USB drive just check for any physical damage on the pen drive.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by parimal_g

And Girish regarding the fuel additives just stay away from them my car has done 33 k and just feels as good as new infact feels that engine is getting better and better so avoid not required.
And am just wondering how you are digesting such pathetic sound quality from speakers as ford has one of the best stock ICE.
Regarding the USB drive just check for any physical damage on the pen drive.

Thanks for the pics of your beast. The graphics highlight the car in a totally different way. Thanks for the suggestions too.

Regarding the HU, well I am not too unhappy with the set up. It plays music, maybe the kind of music I play doesnt require any extra stress on the speakers. No Bass, purely treble music. But yes the HU looks outdated, will have to put the thinking cap on. Also no physical damage (atleast to my eyes) is seen on the USB, maybe the documents in the glove box is rubbing against the USB drive causing it to malfunction.

[sawnilrules]

@ghodlur Congrats on your acquisition!!! Punto is an amazing buy indeed. One of the best handlers in the country today. Also Punto is the car I so wanted to buy ever since I saw her on the roads. But then as your rightly said, one can't ignore wives... I had to upgrade to an Honda City AT. As my wify had two requirements in our new family car, It should have Auto Transmission, so that she can take the car with her when I am on my business trips, and should have the Sunroof for the Wow factor. And hence my drive today is the City AT.

However had I gone my way, or changed my car before our marriage, 90hp Tuscon Wine Punto would have been standing proud in my garage.

Congrats on your car once again, I won't say Drive Safe, but would say Fly safe.

[ghodlur]

@sawnilrules - Thanks for the wishes, hope you too are enjoying your ride.

First refuel done today, the car ran 668 kms for the inital fill of 40 lts giving a mileage of 16+ kmpl which is good, hoping this increases as the engine get more freed. The gears still look stiff after 3 weeks of driving, hope this also loosens a bit coz sometimes its a pain to shift from 3rd to 2nd with extra effort required to move the gear stick.

A long drive coming up this weekend (hopefully).

[ghodlur]

The long drive finally happens. Recently did a 615 kms run to unleash the 75 horses who were on a leash till the odo crossed 1k kms. Completed a Thane-Shirdi-Pune-Thane stretch and got an average of 19.7 kms/ltr.

While entering Pune the Check engine lamp indication glowed on the instrument panel. Was surprised to see this as it says in the manual about injection failure. However I could start the engine even with the indication on. A couple of calls to Balaji Fiat, Thane and the SA advised to get the car for check up and confirmed that I could do the Pune-Thane stretch at moderate speeds. Once I reached Thane the indication was gone just like that. Was baffled by the this strange behaviour. From then I started the car three/four times and the indication never appeared.

Also there was a rattling sound heard from the left side of the AC vent. Surprisingly that too vanished off when I drove to office today morning.

A couple of other issues which I observed - The steering wheel used to vibrate at few stretches which I assumed is mainly because of monsoons and the road being wet. I remember setting the speed limit buzzer at 80 kmph when I took the delivery but didnt hear the buzzer go off when I crossed 80 a few times. Checked and found the limit set at 125 which I promptly got back to 80.

[ghodlur]

One more surprising observation. The driver side 3M Nomad mat was going bald at the spot where the heel rests when the clutch pedal is pressed. Called up the 3M Thane and spoke to Mr Sheshadri who requested for inspection. I drove to the 3M centre and Mr Sheshadri expressed surprise about the issue. He confirmed that he will arrange for an replacement as soon as he gets the stock. Pic attached showing the spot where the bristles had come off.