[Sheel]

^^ OT:

Hi!

I believe its a good time to start your C250's ownership thread. You must have spent some significant time & logged in miles to form an opinion about. Looking forward to it

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I believe its a good time to start your C250's ownership thread. You must have spent some significant time & logged in miles to form an opinion about. Looking forward to it

The Punto is my daily driver and I feel I still don't update this thread often enough. The C250 is used primarily by my BIL who makes frequent trips to manage the family business. I don't think I will be able to do justice to an ownership thread, other than posting some pics.

As for forming an opinion about the C250, I would say it has been a very satisfying experience so far. Being a first luxury car, we were worried about maintenance costs and reliability (just check the thread on german cars on flatbed trucks!!). Thankfully, the car has been reliable so far. Only problem faced was with a tire which developed a bulge and had to be replaced.

It is a white car with panoramic black roof and it is a real attention grabber. Performance-wise, there is no reason to complain, especially when it is more than twice as powerful as the next most powerful car at home - 204hp vs 90hp and 500Nm vs 209Nm.

Ride is good at the front, don't really know about the back seat since I rarely travel there when I use the car.

FE is nearly 10 in city and if driven sedately on the highway it can return around 17-18kmpl.

The car is very easy to drive. The steering is super light at parking speeds and weighs up nicely at speed. I don't feel any difficulty in driving due to the size of the car while changing from Punto to C250. While changing back, the Punto's steering feels too hard for the first few minutes.

The car is quite low slung and getting in and out is a problem for the elderly. Even I find it difficult, if I try to get out while carrying my 18-month old son. The other minor complaint is that the engine is fairly audible inside the car. I had expected it to be more silent, but maybe I was expecting too much.

If we had to choose a car from the same segment at this point of time, I am sure we would choose the C-class again. I will be happy to answer any questions on the C250 in the appropriate threads.

[StarrySky]

My Punto has covered just under 37000km now and the condition of the left front tire on my Punto has been a concern for a few weeks. I've been planning to change the tires but I have meanwhile been busy with a job change. The job change also involves a location change, and I've been running around getting quite a few things in order before I leave Cochin and have been putting off the tire change.

Today, however, I spotted a crack on the left front tire and I thought it's not safe to put off the tire change any longer. So I managed to take out some time and get the Punto's shoes changed.

My priority was to only get 4 new tires to rule out any risks. I wasn't really concerned about road noise or comfort since the Punto is not going to be used regularly from now on.

My first choice was Appolo Accelere in stock size, but as luck would have it, the shop I went to had only 3 of those tires!! I was given the option of changing 2 tires right away and another 2 next week, but since I'm leaving Cochin early next week, it wasn't suitable for me. Next I picked Bridgestone Potenza RE088, and as luck would have it again, they had only 3 of those too The third choice was Goodyear GT3, which was the OE tire on the Punto. I wanted to change to something better and wasn't considering them at first. But, in the situation I was in, this seemed to be the only feasible option. So I went with Goodyear GT3 in stock size and changed all four tires.

The noise from the suspension of the front right side is appearing more regularly now. I was near the Hyson Fiat A.S.S in Cochin yesterday when the noise reappeared. I immediately took the car to the A.S.S and got one of the SA's to take a quick look at the car. We took a test drive and as usual, the Punto refused to make any noises when the SA was driving. I described the noise to him and he said it could be from the suspension mount. I have taken an appointment for Tuesday anyway, but I'm not very sure of keeping the appointment due to my schedule. So the list of things to do during the next service due in about 3 weeks is getting larger.

[StarrySky]

And here is the latest milestone reached, today morning:

[StarrySky]

This update is quite late as I've been quite busy over the past month.

My Punto went for 3-year service last month at Hyson Motors, Thrissur. The pickup-drop service offered by the service station was used. The service was done with the odo reading 37300+km. The total bill came to Rs.8067, including Rs.280 for the pickup-drop service. There was no repair/replacement work to be done other than what is required for the 3-year service.

From the bill, most parts appear to cost less compared to the last service. Especially oil, which is cheaper by about 30%. However, the labour costs (which were absent last time) have ensured that the bill amount is not much lower than the 2nd service. Water service costs Rs.393, brake cleaning close to Rs.600 and the labour charges for the service is Rs.1685. Among the parts, I've been charged Rs.156 for "Air Filter Top Cover". I don't remember paying for that in the last service.

I've been waiting for the elastic pads for over two months now, but the service station has not got hold of the part yet. I'm lucky it's not something that keeps the car off the road. Brake pads are nearing replacement. It will be replaced in another few days (hopefully ).

I've picked up employment outside India and left the country at the end of July. My Punto has not been sold and I have no intention of selling the Punto at the moment. It's now used by my BILs as a third car. They report that the car has become really smooth after the service. The Punto is exploring upper limits of rpm range with them and they also seem to be impressed with Punto's power and highway capabilities.

[StarrySky]

A small update: A few days back my BIL experienced some loss of power while accelerating and saw the "Check Engine" warning on the MID. He took the Punto to the A.S.S and the diagnosis was broken turbo hose and faulty glow plug.

The glow plug was replaced under (extended) warranty. This is the 2nd time a glow plug has been replaced in my Punto.

There is no warranty on the turbo hose. Since the front brake pads were nearing the end of their life, they were changed. This is the first change of brake pads on the Punto at 43K. The total bill came to about Rs.5000.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

A small update: A few days back my BIL experienced some loss of power while accelerating and saw the "Check Engine" warning on the MID. He took the Punto to the A.S.S and the diagnosis was broken turbo hose and faulty glow plug.

The glow plug was replaced under (extended) warranty. This is the 2nd time a glow plug has been replaced in my Punto.

There is no warranty on the turbo hose. Since the front brake pads were nearing the end of their life, they were changed. This is the first change of brake pads on the Punto at 43K. The total bill came to about Rs.5000.

Good to see you updating the thread even though you are not driving it these days. Thanks.

How's the interior doing? One major thing people point out the quality of interior and how those fine print on switches etc fade with time. Can you comment on these ?

[parimal_g]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Good to see you updating the thread even though you are not driving it these days. Thanks.

How's the interior doing? One major thing people point out the quality of interior and how those fine print on switches etc fade with time. Can you comment on these ?

Hi,
Except the texture of the plastic there is nothing wrong in the Punto's Interiors, in fact the Door pads are very strong compare to other hatches, and Post 2012 Cars the Plastic quality is much better, i have 90 HP Punto even after 50 k it hardly rattles.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by jkdas

How's the interior doing? One major thing people point out the quality of interior and how those fine print on switches etc fade with time. Can you comment on these ?

I would say the interior has held up pretty nicely over the last 3.5 years - not exactly sure about the last 6 months , but still.

There has been some loss of color/discoloration on the handbrake release button and on the top of the gear lever. I would put that down to wear and tear. There is no fading on the plastic anywhere else. I haven't had any trouble with the infamous glovebox rattle as well.

I guess I should mention two points to help judge better how the interiors have held up:
1. I'm not one to fiddle a lot with the buttons. My most commonly used button is the ACC ON/OFF, following by the TRIP button on the stalk, the electric ORVM adjustment buttons and the phone button on the steering wheel. All of them have not had any fading. Other buttons are usually left untouched.

2. I'm not one who pampers the interiors with a detailing session every few months. The interiors have not had any "detailing" other than the foul-smelling stuff the A.S.S puts on the dash when I take the car for the annual service.

[neoonwheels]

Good to see your car is holding up pretty well. In my case, from last 2 months the rear parcel tray has started rattling a bit. Its mostly on bumps when I go fast. Even I would say apart from this the car is a gem to drive even after putting up 43K km.

The 5th service (At 42.5K KM) was a bit pricey at 7K since the labor rates have gone up from 750/- to 1100/- for a regular paid service job. I was even charged 450/- for AC duct cleaning apart from this regular 1100/- charge. For last 5 servicing, I have paid 28K overall, I guess it must be comparable in its segment.

[StarrySky]

I had been home on vacation last month and drove the Punto around while I was there. My BILs who've been using the Punto had done about 10K kms from the last time I drove it. Few updates:

- The Odo stands now at 47908

- The cap on top of the gear lever has come loose and now it doesn't align properly in the right direction. It's slightly uncomfortable to hold now, but nothing major.

- The grey plastic under the handbrake is showing signs of wear

- The battery had already started weakening about a year back, so I decided to replace it. Went for Amaron battery, cost me Rs.5000 after exchange of the old one. The MID was showing Airbad failure warnings with the weak battery and these were no longer seen after the replacement.

- There was a pretty audible "tak,tak" sound which appeared to come from somewhere behind the dashboard on the RHS. I took it to the A.S.C (Hyson, Thrissur) for checks. The SA told me that it could be because of the elastic pads and they may need replacement. Replacement of the elastic pads has been a pending item for long, so I decided to go for it. Also replaced RHS wiper blade. There was a camp ongoing (monsoon camp or happy camp or something similar), so I got a 5% discount on parts and 10% discount on labour. Total bill after discount as around Rs.5500.

- There is a noticeable drop in mileage. I have rarely averaged (as per MID) anything less than 20kmpl for my Cochin-Thrissur trips, but this time I was averaging between 16-18kmpl. I am not sure how much of it is due to driving style change. Earlier due to 70kmph speed limit, I used to keep to 70 and maybe touch 80 once in a while during overtakes. Now, I was told the speed limit is 90, so I have been hugging the new speed limit on the highway, occassionaly going higher during overtakes.

[StarrySky]

After 4 years of happy ownership, the Punto was sold on the 3rd of September this year. It had clocked a shade above 51K kilometres at the time of sale and was just out of its 4th year service.

Last year, I had left India for employment and the car has not been used frequently since then. I had still kept the car because I wasn't sure how everything would work out. But now, things are more or less settled at my new job and place and I will not be returning to India for a few more years. It didn't make sense any more to keep the car.

Even so, I wasn't actively looking for a buyer for the car. But a friend, who has been on a few long trips in the car with my BIL during the last year, came up with an offer for the car. It was out of the blue and I felt a bit rushed, but eventually I decided to let the car go.

I wish the car would provide years of trouble-free service to its new owner.

Here is the last pic of the car I clicked about 3 months back when I was home on vacation.

[n_aditya]

Note from Support - Thread closed as the car has been sold. If anyone has needs any specific inputs from the owner, please use the PM feature. Thanks!