[epicenter.rulez]

oops praful
typo here but not a huge difference..its 280 inclusive of taxes. atleast the bill says that

[king_julian]

epicenter,

A great write-up. I love reading your posts which are very detailed and balanced, and great to hear that you are enjoying the new Punto. A daily commute of 170km means that you need to choose your ride well, which it appears that you have!

It's especially nice to see the low cost of spare parts. Hope to hear more about the Punto in this and the travelogue section!

Regards,
Amit.

[download2live]

Originally Posted by king_julian

epicenter,

A great write-up. I love reading your posts which are very detailed and balanced, and great to hear that you are enjoying the new Punto. A daily commute of 170km means that you need to choose your ride well, which it appears that you have!

Regards,
Amit.

170 KMS daily commute? And here I am with a rule to always stay within 10kms of my office.

[sukrit7]

in that case,i too will get my car peted soon

thank you so much for writing this enthusiastic review.

[epicenter.rulez]

Originally Posted by king_julian

epicenter,

A great write-up. I love reading your posts which are very detailed and balanced, and great to hear that you are enjoying the new Punto. A daily commute of 170km means that you need to choose your ride well, which it appears that you have!

It's especially nice to see the low cost of spare parts. Hope to hear more about the Punto in this and the travelogue section!

Regards,
Amit.

thank you amit...i'm driving the punto around quite a lot and its a real fun car to drive if you stop expecting the instantaneos acceleration of the lighter swift. spares i suppose will be in this range only and once tata starts looking into more of customer satisfaction and spare parts pricing, there wont be any looking back. they are already notching up on the numbers of cars sold. i feel good to say that a friend booked 2 emotion packs, one for his brother and one for himself and took delivery yesterday

Originally Posted by download2live

170 KMS daily commute? And here I am with a rule to always stay within 10kms of my office.

we motor 40 kms to and back every day just to have a cup of watered down and highly pornographic tea just for the fun of it

Originally Posted by sukrit7

in that case,i too will get my car peted soon

thank you so much for writing this enthusiastic review.

pete it by all means and dont foget to go past the last streetlight....its one hell of a car to drive.

i head to surat tomorrow, where, hopefully, the petes box will be switched over to the stage 1 settings. hoping to get the extra newton meters of torque and the horsepowers along with me when i return tomorrow.
odo reading 23000 kilometers as of today. fuel consumption 19 kmpl.

one thing i have been trying to validate is that extra ordinary fuel efficiency of 24 to 26 kmpl while driving the car at just below the turbo kick in or as people put it "without using the turbo". what i have observed is that the car does not return the phenomenal 24 or whatever kmpl mileage when being driven at low rpms. the mileage becomes significant only when the odo crosses the 80 kph mark, reaches the 90 kph mark and hovers around 100 kph with a very light foot on the accelerator pedal. under 80 kph in top gear and you are lugging your engine and you can literally see the efficiency figures going to hell on highwater.
on good stretches, the inst. fuel consumption figures will also be in the above mentioned range if your car is cruising at 110 kph or so.
so i'd suggest more people to come up with these actual figures instead of just putting numbers on the board.

also one thing to notice is that there have been instances where people talk about the wonders of the low end torque after shifting over to freer flowing air intake systems. what common sense tells me is that there may be a marginal improvement there but the real benefits are in the mid range and the high speed runs only. the throttle response is just a tad better and nothing more.

mid range driveability is ofcourse very nice.
its just me wondering aloud....so all of youout there.... drive safe guys!!!

[ravikn]

Excellent Review there. Surely helps probable Punto buyers from teamBHP. Please do share some pics of the car

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by epicenter.rulez

we motor 40 kms to and back every day just to have a cup of watered down and highly pornographic tea just for the fun of it

Pornographic tea! Now that's a new one.

Thanks mate for sharing the user reviews, not only was it informative, it was great fun to read as well.

[headers]

Originally Posted by epicenter.rulez

one thing i have been trying to validate is that extra ordinary fuel efficiency of 24 to 26 kmpl while driving the car at just below the turbo kick in or as people put it "without using the turbo". what i have observed is that the car does not return the phenomenal 24 or whatever kmpl mileage when being driven at low rpms. the mileage becomes significant only when the odo crosses the 80 kph mark, reaches the 90 kph mark and hovers around 100 kph with a very light foot on the accelerator pedal. under 80 kph in top gear and you are lugging your engine and you can literally see the efficiency figures going to hell on highwater.
on good stretches, the inst. fuel consumption figures will also be in the above mentioned range if your car is cruising at 110 kph or so.
so i'd suggest more people to come up with these actual figures instead of just putting numbers on the board.

also one thing to notice is that there have been instances where people talk about the wonders of the low end torque after shifting over to freer flowing air intake systems. what common sense tells me is that there may be a marginal improvement there but the real benefits are in the mid range and the high speed runs only. the throttle response is just a tad better and nothing more.

mid range driveability is ofcourse very nice.
its just me wondering aloud....so all of youout there.... drive safe guys!!!

HI Mandeep,

Well, you've prompted me to buy 2 Puntos - Both are EPs - 1 E3 and the other E4. [As I too have to drive insane Kms to work everyday!] My Dad uses the E3 and I use the E4!

Coming to the FE part - I drive the E4 more than the E3 and my car is due for 1st service now. I've managed 18 to 19 consistently and I drive at 100 - 130 or 140.

The reason for the fantastic FE of the Fiat - MJD is the way the ECU and the Gears are in the car. You would realise that one need not downshift on the highways even if you come down to 50 or 60 kph from higher speeds, just tap on the throttle and she moves on.

Also the peak torque comes in at a much lower 1750 RPM rather than 2000 RPM for the swift D.

Thirdly, the SWIFT D is more fun to drive cos of the insane push one gets but the PUNTO is no dog - If driven between 2K to 4.5K, it moves too. The swift suffers from a Turbo Lag which seems non existent in the punto.

The brakes are fantabulous and the handling make it so much unlike a small car.

Looking forward for your updates as I've just managed 3K kms in 3 weeks!

Cheers

[headers]

The car just back from first service. I had asked them complusively to change my engine oil and oil filter. All done and OK!

[epicenter.rulez]

Originally Posted by ravikn

Excellent Review there. Surely helps probable Punto buyers from teamBHP. Please do share some pics of the car

the pics are already there..pls refer pg. 1, there lies the facebook link.
will put up some more pics when the car is shod with new tires and etc., etc

Originally Posted by Amartya

Pornographic tea! Now that's a new one.

Thanks mate for sharing the user reviews, not only was it informative, it was great fun to read as well.

u'll have to taste the tea to unravel the pornographer in it

Originally Posted by headers

HI Mandeep,

Well, you've prompted me to buy 2 Puntos - Both are EPs - 1 E3 and the other E4. [As I too have to drive insane Kms to work everyday!] My Dad uses the E3 and I use the E4!

Coming to the FE part - I drive the E4 more than the E3 and my car is due for 1st service now. I've managed 18 to 19 consistently and I drive at 100 - 130 or 140.

The reason for the fantastic FE of the Fiat - MJD is the way the ECU and the Gears are in the car. You would realise that one need not downshift on the highways even if you come down to 50 or 60 kph from higher speeds, just tap on the throttle and she moves on.

Also the peak torque comes in at a much lower 1750 RPM rather than 2000 RPM for the swift D.

Thirdly, the SWIFT D is more fun to drive cos of the insane push one gets but the PUNTO is no dog - If driven between 2K to 4.5K, it moves too. The swift suffers from a Turbo Lag which seems non existent in the punto.

The brakes are fantabulous and the handling make it so much unlike a small car.

Looking forward for your updates as I've just managed 3K kms in 3 weeks!

Cheers

@ headers,
this car is gonna change the way people think about hatchbacks. i'm just back from experimenting on and off with a k&n and a stock filter the last 10 days or so and boy do i have some results with both of them. will put them up on the board for everyone to comment once i've discussed and authenticated them with vishal. the car gave a nice 19.8 overall during the last tank of diesel. also the odo as on date reads 24998. new shoes on the car are i suppose only a couple of days away. also in store are some basic mods. will keep all of you guessing what they are all about

Originally Posted by headers

The car just back from first service. I had asked them complusively to change my engine oil and oil filter. All done and OK!

i changed oil only during the 15k service. will do the same again at 30k. the car and i will be off to delhi on the 12th and back on the 19th i suppose.
will keep one and all updated about the wonders of this italian babe.

[ragsri]

Epicenter, I really like your writing style . The love for the car and driving comes out so nicely in all your posts. You have that great skill of combining the best of technical details and best of emotions which gives one of the best reviews in this forum. I also loved your swift ddis review.
Thanks!

[manjo]

Great facts there epicenter and great ride too!!
On Punto white is the best IMO.
15K in 3 months..
I did 15K in 9 months, though no/very less daily drives.

Now just my experience if it helps..

Be careful when driving the car in real bad roads owing to the tire profile.
Once i had slightly low air in my tires and had to take it through real bad roads. Got a bent in one of the alloys, and the tire went totally flat. Middle of the jungle with my mom and sister, so couldnt stop the car, drove off and stopped after a Km or so. The alloy was crushed totally.
I went to the FIAT to buy an alloy. He said its 12K single. I am like what????
This was in last July, i booked mine on launch and never guessed the alloy price.
But now the good thing. I took the alloy to a local shop to give it a try. He said if alloy nothing can be done. I said let it break, but give a try, anyways was planning to claim the insurance. I said dont heat it though, as insurance guys might create problems. But guess what, when i returned in an hour i see a perfectly corrected alloy. He said this is the first time he is seeing such good alloys which never cracked after all this abuse. Now i am running this past 15+ kms(not as spare), not a single problem.

Also i love the mightly shield below the car which takes in any hit from the mountains on Bangalore roads. Almost everything is sealed safe below.
And another nice thing was i had a fused number plate light and the MID showed the error, similar did it show a low brake fluid level. Excellent piece of engineering with such great ride.
Now about the Blue&Me, does it read out messages for you, if yes which phone. With my N73 it doesnt. And when playing from USB i am not able to change the songs without the steering controls, experienced that?

Now another thing, beware of the Goodyears in rain. I was used to the superb cornering of the GP and loved hitting corners at great speeds. But once i was taking a nice curve in about 80, road was quite wet and my GP almost went off road. I was lucky to discover this with no harm, thank god!!

Also can anyone tell me what is Pete's 1st stage, 2nd stage and all. I am new to this.
I am thinking of a performance upgrade but still not able to judge it, as for the smoking issues and the endangered Turbo reported in various thread though minimised by proper filters.

[headers]

Originally Posted by manjo

Also i love the mightly shield below the car which takes in any hit from the mountains on Bangalore roads. Almost everything is sealed safe below.
And another nice thing was i had a fused number plate light and the MID showed the error, similar did it show a low brake fluid level. Excellent piece of engineering with such great ride.
Now about the Blue&Me, does it read out messages for you, if yes which phone. With my N73 it doesnt. And when playing from USB i am not able to change the songs without the steering controls, experienced that?

...

Also can anyone tell me what is Pete's 1st stage, 2nd stage and all. I am new to this.
I am thinking of a performance upgrade but still not able to judge it, as for the smoking issues and the endangered Turbo reported in various thread though minimised by proper filters.

Superb Manjo: I quite agree that the shields below more or less cover the underbody pucca.

For Changing songs that are played via USB, use the voice command option " Next Track / Next Folder" etc and the next track or folder will play!!!

I'd suggest to go for a ECU remap rather than Petes' or any after market tuning box!!

Do the REAL stuff!!

[epicenter.rulez]

Originally Posted by manjo

Great facts there epicenter and great ride too!!
On Punto white is the best IMO.
15K in 3 months..
I did 15K in 9 months, though no/very less daily drives.

Now just my experience if it helps..

Be careful when driving the car in real bad roads owing to the tire profile.
Once i had slightly low air in my tires and had to take it through real bad roads. Got a bent in one of the alloys, and the tire went totally flat. Middle of the jungle with my mom and sister, so couldnt stop the car, drove off and stopped after a Km or so. The alloy was crushed totally.
I went to the FIAT to buy an alloy. He said its 12K single. I am like what????
This was in last July, i booked mine on launch and never guessed the alloy price.
But now the good thing. I took the alloy to a local shop to give it a try. He said if alloy nothing can be done. I said let it break, but give a try, anyways was planning to claim the insurance. I said dont heat it though, as insurance guys might create problems. But guess what, when i returned in an hour i see a perfectly corrected alloy. He said this is the first time he is seeing such good alloys which never cracked after all this abuse. Now i am running this past 15+ kms(not as spare), not a single problem.

Also i love the mightly shield below the car which takes in any hit from the mountains on Bangalore roads. Almost everything is sealed safe below.
And another nice thing was i had a fused number plate light and the MID showed the error, similar did it show a low brake fluid level. Excellent piece of engineering with such great ride.
Now about the Blue&Me, does it read out messages for you, if yes which phone. With my N73 it doesnt. And when playing from USB i am not able to change the songs without the steering controls, experienced that?

Now another thing, beware of the Goodyears in rain. I was used to the superb cornering of the GP and loved hitting corners at great speeds. But once i was taking a nice curve in about 80, road was quite wet and my GP almost went off road. I was lucky to discover this with no harm, thank god!!

Also can anyone tell me what is Pete's 1st stage, 2nd stage and all. I am new to this.
I am thinking of a performance upgrade but still not able to judge it, as for the smoking issues and the endangered Turbo reported in various thread though minimised by proper filters.

talk to peter about the petes box. i think he will be the best person to let u know the pros and cons of it. about the goodyears, i am already biased against them and now that they are on the verge of dying i am just itching to get the yokohama rubber on.

thanks for the info on the alloys though i have been driving on bad patches at reasonably high speeds on and off, i havent faced this issue. also went through a series of potholes ocassionally and the alloys have taken the abuse, but then it always pays to be careful. will keep your points in mind the next time i hit a bad patch.

Originally Posted by headers

Superb Manjo: I quite agree that the shields below more or less cover the underbody pucca.

For Changing songs that are played via USB, use the voice command option " Next Track / Next Folder" etc and the next track or folder will play!!!

I'd suggest to go for a ECU remap rather than Petes' or any after market tuning box!!

Do the REAL stuff!!

@header,
i havent done an indepth study on remaps but what the figures tell me is that there is almost the same amount of power and torque being put out with remaps as is with the tuning boxes.
the advantage of the tuning box is that if something goes wrong with it or you dont want your *** to know whats underneath your hood, you simply unplug it and your warranty issues can be taken care of. with the remap, it wont be possible for all to flash the ecu every time some issue crops up.
just thinking aloud...would really love to know the benefits of a remap over the tuning box.

drive safe
mandeep

[epicenter.rulez]

hey guys,
the car is almost at 26000 kilometers today.
had been noticing a noisy steering at cold starts since the last two days and was apprehensive about it though i had a feeling that the ps oil level would be on the lower side.
took some time off today to check it out. popped up the hood and went straight to the oil reservoir for the ps and there it was. the level was almost at the bottom. looked around with a sharp eye but couldnt find any leakages but will still top it up tomorrow and tighten up all connections.
so the next time your steering makes noise, check the oil level first and diagnose everything else later.
time for those tires now. next week most probably. also some other good news will be coming regarding the car.
drive safe guys.