[shantyrocks]

nice pics dude!
would appreciate a few more including the interiors

[finneyp]

Nice pics & brief review! Keep enjoying....

The color gels with the Shimla weather

[rupinder]

grey punto in the grey and cloudy weather .if u would have clicked black and white would not have noticed that

[sukrit7]

Thanks guys.
@shanty- Shall upload those asap.
I forgot to update you guys on blue & me,Windows 6.1 phones(htc diamond) for some reason do not copy phonebook automatically.
You have to send contacts from phone via bluetooth.

[gautomobile]

wow... your pictures of your punto are really good.

Me too own a grey multijet diesel punto.

[sukrit7]

The car was sent in for it's first 3k servicing day before.
On sunday I called to inquire if I could send her in, she'd clocked 2970 which I thought was reasonably close. I was told 'sorry sir, we can't service before 3k'. Till here it made some sense.
I told them i'd send it in a few days again, 'Sir it can't cross 3k either'.
I was bewildered, having owned quite a few vehicles i'd never been told something like this.

Anyway sent her with the driver, clocked 3090km. Servicing seems ok, car seems as good as it was before. The cleaning was decent but the touch up job was a major dissapointment. From quite a distance I could make out how shoddy the job was.
Driver complained about how thr was barely any space in the lounge for him, the a/c wasn't working nor was the TV.
Besides this i'd complained about the front seats creaking, well the driver one atleast is back to creaking, haven't tried the passenger seat yet.

Also I was charged Rs 150 for oil top up, is this correct ?
I remember reading someone's first service cost as Rs 0.

Interior pictures tomorrow.

[sukrit7]

4pm
The weather was spectacular, mood brilliant and my co-partner even better.
Took the drive from delhi university north campus to gk2.
First 19km, average speed of 38km/hr, windows down and a mileage of...27km/ltr.
The weather had deteriorated so switched the a/c on for the next 6km, overall mileage came down to 22km/ltr with the average speed down to 31km/hr.

All this in city under pretty extreme traffic conditions, I'm proud of owning a fiat!
Achieving this though requires some tremendous amount of patience, never crossed 50km/hr and took my foot off the gas as soon as possible.
Anyway thought I should let you all know.
Sorry for the very few updates, am 2 busy.
Mods please update title to include mileage test.

[sharma_sanjeevi]

That is fantastic mileage dude, Punto is sure making waves in terms of mileage & looks.

[vijaythacker]

sukrit, those are some good mileage figures which many here are getting from their GP's as well.One complain, you havent posted single picture of your interiors, do share that.Happy driving.
I saw similar colour GP with grille changed to black from silver and looked good, if you want to try.

[sukrit7]

First of all, please accept my apologies for not having updated this thread, it's been on my mind for a long time and i've been feeling rather guilty. The next few days will see many updates including first servicing and many many pictures, that's a promise.

At 14,500 kms everything is the same as it was when the car was absolutely new, no rattles, no parts falling off and everything working, there have been certain problems but they've been taken care off.

1- Handbrake lever button broken- Rama motors changed the entire handbrake column, it took them almost two months and various complaints to solve this problem.
2-squeaky front seats- Oiled and fixed.

More recently, about 1500km's back I found that the seats were squeaking again and that the steering wheel would no longer lock. A little fearful, I headed to Rama Motors. Fortunately, nothing much was wrong, the steering lock pin had displaced itself from its normal position. Others issues attended to were
1- Fixing of mudflaps(don't look great at all)
2-Clutch slave cylinder retrofitting
3-Engine oil top up.

Rama motors took rather long attending to the above mentioned problems, I also wasn't impressed with the way they handle/drive the cars. Overall, a not too impressive service day. All the problems though, were resolved.


After clocking many miles, here's what I feel.
The punto handles very very well, it makes you feel very confident even if you're not a very good driver. Frankly, amongst all the other hatchbacks in the segment, I'm sure nothing dismisses potholes, bumps and irregularities with the ease and grace which the punto displays, just cruise over them and this car will soak em all up.
Now, the problem is, that with a car that handles so well, you expect and quite naturally at that, POWER. No, I don't find the punto underpowered, what will irritate you is the acceleration, specially at certain speeds.
The 1st and the 2nd gear are ridiculous, absolutely and plainly ridiculous, the car doesn't feel comfortable at all till you slot her in 3rd, from there on, I find the drive MAGICAL.
On the highways, I don't have any problems, I've done speeds upto 130 and the car is immensely composed and superbly planted, corner as hard as you like and this car won't let you down.

In the city(Delhi), expect a mileage between 15 to 16.5 km/litre for a full tank which is reasonable. With a light foot and decent speeds, in excess of 20kmpl is easily accomplished.

I will stop here, the car is currently being sun filmed, pictures will be taken following that.
For those of you contemplating whether this car is worth it, yes, there's one thing that I and most other owners will assure you about, as km's go by this car will perform better and better.
I'm looking forward eagerly to my first service, want to see the difference clean engine oil will make, at the moment it's black as black can be.

Sukrit

[SpinWizard]

Better late than never Sukrit, thats a fantastic update. Glad to hear you munching away lots and lots of miles with your Punto.

[sukrit7]

an important thing I missed out.
my boot opener failed and it took fiat two months to replace it.
it's highly embarrassing having to get out each time you need to open the boot. fiat needs to up there game when it comes to these issues.
are we as customers supposed to escalate each and every issue?

anyway,discovered something interesting today,the ORVMS fold both ways,i discovered this when a biker came and smashed straight into it,though the glass cracked a bit,the mirror remained absolutely intact,all I had to do was reach out and pull it back. FANTASTIC!

[arun1100]

Read your Punto review now!

Regarding delay of spares, I had a long discussion with Service CRM and Service head of a TASS in Bangalore.
He said that initially there was delay in spares of Fiat cars, but now they say the spares ordering system by TASS has improved.
They said that Fiat has given orders to local vendors to manufacture parts even for old Fiat cars like the Palio and Adventure etc.

P.S: I too plan to buy a Punto or Linea for sure very soon. So I did lot of research on spares and quality problems. Now I am much satisfied!

[sukrit7]

these incidents date back to a few months only,as far as I see,they don't have all the parts.

you're waiting for the sports?
I wish I could have it too,more power on this handler would be awesome.

[sukrit7]

A very old picture, the best mileage i had ever attained in the city, drove like a saint and let the car roll(without acceleration) as often as possible.

I also have a question for fellow punto owners, is your temp. gauge always just a bit higher than the halfway mark ? Please do respond.


There's also this picture I clicked in GGN, nothing spectacular but I rarely get to see two puntos together.