[krish3]

Wow.. a house full of white cars. Planning to start a political party ;-) ?

Btw, the car has been beautifully maintained. Kudos!!!

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by krish3

Wow.. a house full of white cars. Planning to start a political party ;-) ?

You've been very kind with your political party comment, friends usually call it "Taxi Stand"

[Rufus_M]

A beautifully maintained car there.I booked my punto 90HP after reading your review on August 17th 2010.It has been a pleasure to drive.This is my first post :-)

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by Rufus_M

A beautifully maintained car there.I booked my punto 90HP after reading your review on August 17th 2010.It has been a pleasure to drive.This is my first post :-)

Congrats on your car, Rufus_M! I hope it'll serve you well for a long time.

Happy to know that my ownership thread was useful to you. When can we expect yours?

[Rufus_M]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Congrats on your car, Rufus_M! I hope it'll serve you well for a long time.

Happy to know that my ownership thread was useful to you. When can we expect yours?

Well, my ownership report will be up only after my semester exams in January. Presently it has done 17,000 kms.

[StarrySky]

My Punto parted company with a brother earlier last month:


Punto went in search of a new friend and brother:


And found someone to join the "Brotherhood of White Cars" at home:

[krish3]

Wohoo.. a C CLass? or is it any sports model?

Whatever it is.. Congrats :-)

[jkdas]

Some upgrade then!

OT, isnt that a B class?

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by krish3

Wohoo.. a C CLass? or is it any sports model?

Originally Posted by jkdas

Some upgrade then!

OT, isnt that a B class?

It's a C250 CDI AMG Performance Edition.

Here's the thread on the forum on the launch of this special edition.

[StarrySky]

Crossed a milestone yesterday, exactly 30 months after I bought my Punto:



I have had a good ownership experience so far. Maintenance costs have been reasonable, with the service costs totalling to Rs.17919. City FE hovers around the 14kmpl mark and each tankful gives me a range of about 540km, with about 70% of the running within the city. Highway FE is still fantastic and I regularly touch 21+kmpl on my Thrissur-Cochin trips. The most recent such trip gave me an FE of 24.5kmpl with 100% AC, but without much traffic.

There have been a few problems along the way, mainly some rattles from the left C-pillar and boot, both of which were solved by the service centre. But, one problem remains - a muted squeak from somewhere on the front left side. I had complained twice about this at the service station, but they were not able to figure out the issue. It has been there for about 6-8 months now and of late has become slightly more frequent. I hear a tak-tak sound occassionally when turning the steering wheel at slow speeds. The SA told me (over phone) that the elastic pads may require replacement. I think I will wait for some more time before going in for the replacement. The brakes are still good, but I plan to get them checked out pretty soon anyway.

A few parts were replaced under warranty:
1. Clutch Slave Cylinder - preventive replacement along with service
2. One glow plug - I got the "Check glow plugs" message on the MID
3. Internal RVM - It broke off when by BIL tried to adjust it. The mirror was replaced under warranty

I am very happy with my car and I am glad I chose the Punto. I hope the service experience will become even better in future with the separate dealerships in place.

Much has been said about the virtues of the Punto - the ride, handling, stability, tank-like build etc and I agree with all of them. To me, I don't get the "feeling" of security of the same level as the Punto in other cars in its class, even though I know all of them have the same safety features as the Punto. That combined with the steering feel has made it difficult for me to enjoy driving other cars.

[Binzone]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Crossed a milestone yesterday, exactly 30 months after I bought my Punto:

I have had a good ownership experience so far.

Congrats! Wish you many more happy miles.

It looks like most puntos and palios get their clutch cylinders replaced as preventive maintenance.

Am planning to give my Palio to Hyson(either Kochi or Trichur) for my next 75k service, and then post a long term ownership thread.

[StarrySky]

I took my Punto to Hyson Motors, Thrissur yesterday with two issues:

1. The occasional "Airbag Failure" warning, suspected to be due to weak battery

2. Occassional noise/rattle from the front, which has been present for some time now.

Weak battery was confirmed by the service centre. As luck would have it, the noise from the front could not be reproduced during the TD.

The tak-tak sound while turning the steering wheel still exists and I was told few months back that the elastic pads would require replacement. The SA had the opinion that the "noise that could not be reproduced" could have the same root cause. The tak-tak sound from the steering is still occasional, so I thought I would get them changed probably at the next service due in August. I was told that the replacement would cost around 4K.

This was my first visit to the new FIAT exclusive service centre opened by Hyson. It was good to see some familiar faces there from the earlier Tata-Fiat service centre. The new service centre is much smaller. I had gone without appointment and managed to get an SA to look at my car within 5mins. So I guess it's not too crowded even though it is small.

[namit]

Much has been said about the virtues of the Punto - the ride, handling, stability, tank-like build etc and I agree with all of them. To me, I don't get the "feeling" of security of the same level as the Punto in other cars in its class, even though I know all of them have the same safety features as the Punto. That combined with the steering feel has made it difficult for me to enjoy driving other cars.[/quote]

You summed it up perfectly
Its happened with me that i cant stop praising my punto and others who have no experience of a fiat think i am trying to justify my purchase and then i have to tell them that i also own a santro and most importantly to them the honda city and i only enjoy punto

Yes i am spoilt by punto for not driving my honda city enough infact only once a week or fortnight

And also you are spot on about the safety features
Abs and airbags on punto anyday much safer bet than any other hatch or sedan with abs and airbags

Fiat rules

[StarrySky]

I got a reminder of Punto's speed-masking abilities from my wife the other day. She had gone home with my BIL in his Fiesta (old). I went to pick up my family 2-3 days later. While we were returning, I found my wife checking the speedo and asked her what she was checking. She said, "While I was going home, we were doing 80-90kmph and it felt really fast. I was thinking why are you going so slowly and checked the speedo. We are going just as fast as we did in the Fiesta, but it doesn't feel like that at all. It's completely different". Needless to say, I was very happy to hear that

[StarrySky]

I visited the Fiat A.S.S (Hyson) again today with the "noise from suspension" issue. This noise came from the right hand side and was quite audible inside the car - audible enough for others to take notice and ask whats's wrong. Unlike earlier noises, this one occurred on good roads too. It disappears on its own after some time. It was very audible yesterday when I travelled from Cochin to Thrissur. It was there when I started my trip and disappeared sometime after I crossed Angamaly town, almost 30km from the starting location.

However, as expected, the noise did not crop up during the TD I took with the SA. However, since the elastic pads are anyway known to be defective, this noise could also be down to that. The SA mentioned that the noise might start after the car goes through standing water (quite common these days in Kerala) and it might disappear when the moisture dries up (which could happen with some running). His explanation seems to be inline with my observations. After I left the A.S.S, the noise did occur in the afternoon after I had to drive through some standing water to visit a friend.

The good part of this visit was that I could avail the benefits of the checkup camp that Fiat is organising. I saw the mechanics checking all lights, topping up fluids etc while checking my car. The elastic pads were out of stock, but they expected to receive it in the next 2-3 days. Since my car is now part of the camp, I can avail discounts on parts and labour.

I was informed that the brake pads would last another 3K kms. I have already covered ~36200km on the original set of brake pads, so I guess I will get them changed at the next service coming up in a month's time.