[Latheesh]

^^

My favourite colour is White. Spotted Tuscan wine Punto yesterday and looked very nice.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post1873331

[magnanimousdude]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

i didn't know where else to ask this

booking my punto 90 bhp in a day or 2

there is only one confusion.. what color to buy.

bossa nova white was my choice, but then there are a lot of white punto's puttering around the city, and i also got about 4 other white cars in my garage.
medium grey in the pictures looks great, but haven't seen it yet. unable to decide on it.
hip hop black looks amazing, but would be a pain to maintain, but then again looks great none the less.

suggestions guys...

Color depends on how much you like it!!! i got Bosso Nova White. I bought my car when it was a rainy season in chennai...Think about it! i had to daily wipe her off, one day i got frustrated and kept her in the rain and cleaned . Each time i start cleaning it i am a bit lethargic but after cleaning it am so proud that i couldn't let my eyes down from her, beautiful color. I know it is rainy seasons but I still had the choice and bought it because "rainy season is the short season and now a days its Summer that stays long". Any color you choice we have to make it a habbit to clean her for her gorgeous look. For Your Information, I heard that Tuscun wine color is difficult to maintain from our fellow Tbhians, the dirts are so evident.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

i didn't know where else to ask this

booking my punto 90 bhp in a day or 2

there is only one confusion.. what color to buy.

bossa nova white was my choice, but then there are a lot of white punto's puttering around the city, and i also got about 4 other white cars in my garage.
medium grey in the pictures looks great, but haven't seen it yet. unable to decide on it.
hip hop black looks amazing, but would be a pain to maintain, but then again looks great none the less.

suggestions guys...

Keep in mind that the 90HP Punto has chrome door handles. Not all colors go well with those. That's one reason why I chose white over red. If not white, I guess FTA would be a great color.

I have seen both red and tuscon wine 90HP Puntos and among those I think tuscon wine looks better.

@magnanimousdude: Agree that it's quite difficult to keep a white car looking great in the rainy season!!

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

i didn't know where else to ask this

booking my punto 90 bhp in a day or 2

there is only one confusion.. what color to buy.

bossa nova white was my choice, but then there are a lot of white punto's puttering around the city, and i also got about 4 other white cars in my garage.
medium grey in the pictures looks great, but haven't seen it yet. unable to decide on it.
hip hop black looks amazing, but would be a pain to maintain, but then again looks great none the less.

suggestions guys...

If you moved from Bossa Nova white to Medium Grey, I have a feeling that bling isn't your thing. If that is indeed the case, then I'd recommend the Minimal Grey over the Medium Grey, simply because the chrome on the door handles would be a more subtle change.

It is also going to be one of the easier colours to maintain.

[samyakmodi]

bling definitely ain't my thing, but would love to have a nice set of wheels

decided on the white car, the chrome door handles would be replaced by the body colored ones.

maybe, just maybe, might get the car repainted after sometime to a nice shade of grey (something like insideman's m3), get some nice multispoke matt black alloys (if at all i am able to get my hands on such 98 pcd alloys that is) with a thin red strip running on the circumference, and then get the side view mirrors changed to red or something like that. carbon fibre mirrors would look great too. but not too sure from where would i get them for the punto.

does anyone know how to use photoshop?? can anyone try helping me visualise it better?

@starrysky

sorry to highjack your thread buddy, but i still don't know where to ask OR go looking

[StarrySky]

Well, it's been 4 months (and a day) since I brought my Punto home - and a minor milestone came up today. I've been very happy with my decision so far.



However, there are a few things I'm not 100% happy with:
1. Headlights - I think they are quite poor. Especially in low-beam I can almost see nothing if there's another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

2. Wipers - The one on the RHS is leaving a small patch.

3. There's a minor squeak from the front LHS speaker. It's not so loud as to annoy me yet, but I will get it checked soon.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

My choice would be Tuscan Wine / Fox Trot Azure. Electric Blue is also my favorite but it's discontinued now, sadly. These mettalic shades are easier to maintain, but difficult to match when doing a minor touch up. On the other hand, mettalic shades don't show swirl marks as much as non-mettalic ones.

I doubt, my local dealer said one can order for one.

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Well, it's been 4 months (and a day) since I brought my Punto home - and a minor milestone came up today. I've been very happy with my decision so far.
However, there are a few things I'm not 100% happy with:
1. Headlights - I think they are quite poor. Especially in low-beam I can almost see nothing if there's another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

Upgrade to 100/90. A colleague of mine who owns 75bhp uses 130/100 Philips Rally for the last 8 months now.

Did I tell that my boss is awaiting his 90BHP in white and checks this thread? 7.29 OTR at TRV.

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by jkdas

I doubt, my local dealer said one can order for one.

JK, many of us have heard from dealers otherwise. Moreover, Electric Blue is not listed on FIAT's website.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Upgrade to 100/90. A colleague of mine who owns 75bhp uses 130/100 Philips Rally for the last 8 months now.

I'm caught in two minds about upgrading to higher wattage headlights because I don't want to mess up the warranty.

Did I tell that my boss is awaiting his 90BHP in white and checks this thread? 7.29 OTR at TRV.

Ah! Another 90HP Punto! They seem to be quite hard to find. I was looking for one on-road since I brought my car. Finally, two weeks back, I found a KL-9 registered BNW 90HP Punto in my own office parking lot. But now, it seems to have disappeared.

[samyakmodi]

i just noticed yesterday..

surprisingly other than the fox trot azure (not too sure about this) and the discontinued electric blue color, punto doesn't have any metallic shade!!

the medium grey is just a plane jane grey - non metallic. minimum grey i am not too sure of.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

i just noticed yesterday..

surprisingly other than the fox trot azure (not too sure about this) and the discontinued electric blue color, punto doesn't have any metallic shade!!

the medium grey is just a plane jane grey - non metallic. minimum grey i am not too sure of.

In case you want to see (and read about) a Punto in minimal grey, you can check this out: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...punto-mjd.html

[StarrySky]

Crossed the 6000-km mark on Friday.

The niggles listed in the 5k update remain. I haven't got them checked so far. But I did visit the service station (Concorde, Cochin) about 10 days back because the engine coolant level looked a little low to me. I had to wait about 10-15mins to meet the SA (I had no appointment). In another two minutes I was out of the service station after coolant top-up. Total cost - 0.

Meanwhile, there is a chance that another Punto might join the family. My BIL is looking for a diesel hatch. He wasn't considering the Punto (just because there's already one in the family), but I hope the extended TD that I gave him on Friday night has changed his mind

[StarrySky]

I crossed the 8000-km mark in my Punto today. Progress has been slow over the last couple of months due to work pressures.



The car has been giving me no trouble at all. I think I've learned how to keep it in the power band most of the time, so there is no feeling of being under-powered. The FE meanwhile seems to be settling at around 15-16kmpl (tankful-tankful). I guess that's OK considering that highway runs would constitue less than 25% in the last 2000km. Highway-only FE is around 21kmpl most of the time - better roads surely have helped. All mileage figures are with 100% AC.

Speaking of which, the ACC is doing a good job in the heat. During the afternoon, the MID shows 37/38 degrees most of the time. Once I've even seen 40 degrees (and it's only mid-March ). A few minutes at 20 degrees and then back up to 24/25 degrees is enough to keep the interiors comfortable. Even so, I'm considering installing sun-films before peak summer.

The interior plastics are holding up well. Nothing feels like it will break or fall off. The exterior plastics are also in good shape - although I don't have covered parking in office. The car has been exposed to all of mother nature's powers in the last 7 months.

Only thing that has given me a bit of worry since the last update is a little noise that appeared during my Thrissur-Cochin trip 4 weeks back. It was a "krrr.." sound, almost like an insect flapping it's wings fast against the glass. It appeared to be coming from behind the steering wheel. I did find a fly in the car soon after, so I thought that was that. The noise was gone, but it reappeared during my trip to Thrissur last weekend. The noise appeared only at speeds of 75-80kmph or above - there was no noise at say, 40kmph. However, the steering was as rock-steady as ever even when I took the car briefly to triple digit speeds. I was waiting for the noise today morning when I returned to Cochin, but it never appeared. Only thing that has changed in the last two days is that when I was giving the car a wash, I removed lot of dry leaves that were caught just under the bonnet. So I hope that's the simple explanation for the noise and its disappearance. I will take the car to the service station if the noise reappears.

[StarrySky]

I need some advice - I will be on a trip for about a week. During this time, my car is going to be left standing at home (covered car parking). What are the do's/don'ts when leaving the car idle for a few days? Is it OK to leave the handbrake engaged during this time?

[StarrySky]

On Saturday, I'd been to the Fiat First free checkup camp. I'd registered my Punto for the camp at Hyson Motors, Thrissur. I'd done the registration online at the Fiat India website and received a call from the dealer for confirmation. I was asked to be at the service station by 8:30am. However, my brother who also had registered his Linea at the Fiat website did not receive any call or information from Fiat/Tata/Dealer so he skipped the camp.

I was a little late and was at the service station by 8:45am. Within a few minutes an SA was assigned. He asked if I had any specific complaints. I mentioned a rattle from the left C-pillar and a little noise I hear intermittently from somewhere around the steering wheel at speeds above 60kmph. He noted down the issues and told me that the car would be ready by 4pm. He also told me that he was not sure if he could fix the noise from the steering, since if it required opening the centre console it could not be done as part of the camp. I was OK with that. I asked if anyone from Fiat was around - but I was disappointed. The SA told me that there was no information that any official from Fiat would be participating.

I waited at the service station till about 11am and after that I had to get some other work done. I was back at the service station after lunch at 3pm. I checked with the reception if my car was ready and to my surprise - it was. It was washed and cleaned properly. The engine bay was also cleaned. The rattle from the C-pillar was fixed. The SA informed me that they could not reproduce the noise from the steering. It wasn't a great surprise to me, as even I can't exactly predict when the noise would appear. The SA told me that I could leave the car at the service station for a day for them to investigate the issue. But since it isn't a big issue and I really needed the car, I thought I'd do it some other time. The SA was very friendly. He gave me his card and told me that I could get in touch with him if I had any issue.

Once I was back home, I noticed that they had also added two rubber pieces to the hatch door to prevent any rattles from the parcel tray.


I haven't faced any issue with the parcel tray so far - but probably someone else has and this is Fiat's solution. I was happy that the service station had made the addition proactively.

And this is the result of my latest highway run today starting at 4pm from Thrissur.




It could've been even better if I had better luck with the traffic signals along the way. The ACC usage was 100% at 26 degrees. The speed was kept under 70kmph all the time, mostly just above 60kmph. It was a great test of my patience. It is b-o-r-i-n-g to travel in a Punto at 70kmph on a highway. You feel as if you're hardly moving.