[StarrySky]

My B.N.White Punto MJD 90HP was delivered yesterday. It's my first car!

Background:
The thought of buying a car has been on my mind for many years now, but because I wasn't very keen on driving, I always used to find one reason or another to put it off.

It was only around last January '09 that I really started evaluating my options.

First car to be considered and eliminated was Swift. Reason: Too common on Indian roads.

At this time, I was thinking only about Maruti and I came to know about the Ritz launch. I was eagerly waiting for the Ritz. It was while looking for info on the Ritz that I found T-BHP. I saw the pics, I liked the front and hated the rear. I checked out the Ritz after it was lauched and the same impression remained.

Then I waited for Jazz. It was eliminated for a simple reason - price.

Next was i20 (CRDI - I didn't consider i20 petrol version). One reason was price. Then I had this image (right or wrong) about Hyundai diesels (esp Getz, Verna) that they had lot of power without the handling to match it. The comments I read in many places about i20 steering did not inspire confidence. I checked out the i20 when it was brought to my office as part of a campaign and elimated it too.

Ok, those weren't the only reasons to eliminate i20 - because in between the Punto was lauched and I was smitten. But then I heard lot of comments about poor plastics, parts falling off etc which weren't what I wanted to hear.

In August '09, I had to make some financial commitments and my car buying plans were put in backburner for atleast 8-10 months.

Then came Auto expo and Punto Sports - and I thought this is what I was waiting for.

Cut to July '10:

In between Figo was launched, but by June '10 I had set myself a budget of around 7.5L for the car and I was considering only 3 cars - Punto, Polo and the i20 (the prices had come down - at the expense of some saftely features). Then again, my earlier impression on the i20 prevailed and it was eliminated first.

It was quite close between the Punto and Polo. I visited Fiat and VW showrooms 3 or 4 times within the space of a week to check them both out.

What went against the Polo:
1. Rear space - in general and in comparison to the Punto. It was the first thing that my wife commented when we went to check out the Polo (we then went straight to the Fiat showroom, so we could do a direct comparison). To be very sure, I took my father, brother and brother-in-law along to both showrooms and the unanimous opinion was the the Polo is more cramped at the rear.

2. Price: OTR was 7.61L in Cochin. Add to that 3-year AMC ~19K and the price is close to 7.8L. Extended warranty would be extra. In comparison, the Punto 90HP with 50-month extended warranty was available at 7.53L.

3. Features: Of course, Punto is more loaded + it has the proven "national" engine. When the features were taken into consideration together with the price, the Punto appeared more VFM.

4. Disclaimer: Purely subjective: The feeling that the got when I TD'd the Punto was better than the Polo. With the Punto, I got the feeling that I was in a safe place. With the Polo, I knew it had all the safety features that the Punto has, but I felt it lacked that solid feel.

Where Polo scored was:
1. Interiors - My wife commented that she wanted Punto, but with Polo's interiors! Polo's interiors are better no doubt. Period. But to be honest, I couldn't understand why everyone loves to hate the Punto interiors.

2. Niggle free ownership: This was based purely on the initial ownership reviews of the Polo here (Chetan, Poloman - Thanks).

But till the last moment, I was quite undecided between the two. Finally, I realised that even if I buy a Polo and I'm quite happy with it, each time I saw a Punto on the road, I will be thinking "What if...". And that was it.

[StarrySky]

Showroom and TD experience

I went to Concorde Motors Cochin soon after the Punto 90HP was launched. I had to wait for only a couple of minutes before I was introduced to the sales executive. He was a nice person and talked about the features of the car - compared to the FGT version as well. There was no TD offered that day because the car was not yet registered. Same day I went to the VW showroom as well. The sales executive was immediately available and was friendly. But, no explanation on the features of the car. No TD of the diesel version was offered that day because TD car was not available (I had not taken appointment).

TD of the FGT Punto was taken during my next visit to the showroom. The TD was mainly in the city, with only a very short time on open roads. I also tried the backseat with the sales executive driving. He was quite happy of focus on the strengths on the Punto - ride and handling. He drove to a place full of potholes and demonstrated the capabilities of the car. Then I went to the VW showroom for a TD. The TD experience could not be more different. The sales executive was not too keen on me taking the car more than 2-3 kms. Even during the short TD, he was fiddling with his mobile phone and appeared disinterested in anything else.

As I mentioned earlier, I paid another visit to both showrooms - main agenda was to re-re-check the rear space. The Fiat showroom experience was nice. There was no TD of the 90HP Punto again, because the car was being readied for the official launch the next day. VW experince was nice this time. But, in between we asked the sales executive to compare the Polo to the Punto and he started off by saying that Polo has more torque!

By the time I chose the Punto, my brother also made the decision to buy a Linea. So now we were looking to get maximum benefits for booking two cars. My brother is based in Thrissur and the Thrissur dealer - Hyson Motors came into the picture along with Concorde Motors in Cochin.

Since the 90HP Punto was a recent launch, there were no discounts offered on it. But, we got a (much) better deal on exchange for my brother Fiat Uno at Hyson Motors, Thrissur. So we chose to book the car from Hyson.

The dealership experience at Hyson was quite satisfactory. The sales executive was quite helpful. He had arranged a long TD of the Linea for my brother. He also arranged TD of 90HP Punto for me. He also appeared to be honest during the negotiations. Also, by the time I took delivery, he had also helped us get Corporate Discount and free extended warranty on my Punto. So the final OTR price was about 7.36L for the Punto.

Financing:

I opted to get a loan from SBI in Cochin - mainly because I'm based in Cochin and I already have a relationship with the bank. The loan was under the Eazee car loan scheme (8% for 1st year, 10% for the next 2). The loan was promised in 3 days - it took about double that time. Next, I was told that it would take a day to open the loan account. Once it is opened, the bank would only send the DD for the dealer by courier (no e-transfers, won't give it to me either) which meant one more day's delay. By this time, I had already done PDI of the car and the dealer was waiting for the DD. The final twist was provided by the courier company which mistook the address "Poonkunnam P.O" as "Ponkunnam P.O." and sent the DD to another district altogether. I had to make quite a few phone calls to get it redirected to the correct address. I need to mention here that the sales executive had arranged for temp registration of my car on Thursday (the bank had faxed a copy of the DD on Wednesday) because he expected the DD to arrive by noon atleast on Thursday. The temp registration was done, but the DD did not arrive on Thursday - this put the sales executive in a fix too. My father met the sales manager at the dealership and assured them that the DD would arrive by Friday and we also told them that we would take delivery of my brother's Linea (fully paid for by Thursday) also only along with my car on Friday.

[StarrySky]

Initial Experience:

The car had 17km on the odo when the took delivery yesterday at 4:30pm. Now the ODO stands at 230km. Quite a bit of running was running in peak city traffic in Thrissur.

Not-good:
1. I haven't quite got used to the turbo lag - I guess it would take a few days.
2. Gearshifts - Shifting from 5th to 4th has been a problem at times, I hope the shifts will get better.
3. Need to find a better driving position, specifically to rest my right hand during long drives. My right shoulder developed slight pain during the drive today from Thrissur to Cochin.

Good:
Quite happy with the car on the whole so far. The ride is quite comfortable, I don't think I would be testing high-speed handling and stability very often.

Mileage:
Did not do a tankful-tankful calculation so far, but I got the following as per MID:
1. Today morning, we had a 55km round trip to Guruvayoor temple. Overall FE was 15kmpl. 85% on two-lane road with no divider, low-medium traffic. 15% in city, B2B traffic. ACC 100%
2. My Thrissur-Cochin trip gave me 18.4kmpl. 74km, Avg.Speed: 41kmpl, ACC 100%. I was trying to maintain 70-80kmph when possible. Road widening is on-going along the entire route, so it's not easy to maintain a constant speed.

Pics will be up shortly.

[funkykar]

Let me the first to Congratulate you. Welcome to Punters Club.

I guess this is the First Punto 90HP on TB. Superb writeup.

[Amartya]

Starrysky, congratulations on buying the Punto 90HP. Do share some pictures with us, but do so when you get the time.

I had driven the 90HP and shared the experience on the 90HP thread (I read about your booking there too), and I think that this car is the best premium hatchback available in the country (the Jazz is currently priced out of the equation, but even if it were there, I'd prefer the Punto).

I agree with your feedback about the Polo, it is very cramped but at the same time, I found it to be quite well built. Yes, the Punto feels slightly better, but the Polo beats everything else out there. Your wife's opinion is something that everyone here would love to have(Punto with Polo interiors), what I'd also like to have in the Polo gearshift, it's supremely smooth.

Anyway, I hope this thread becomes the go to one for people looking for information about the Punto 90HP, because it certainly deserves to sell quite well (it probably won't though).

[joshguy]

Guess this is the first Punto 90BHP,Congrats Dude !!!!

BTW whats the onroad price of it and hows is performing,mileage too pls

[GeekSrik]

congrats starrysky !! enjoy many more miles!

[Soccerfan]

congrats bro. Please post some pics and when can I lay my hands on the 90HP Punto

[aditya116]

congrats on the ride!hopefully you will feel gearshifts getting easier as you log on the miles.

[StarrySky]

Thanks, everyone. Here are some pics. I bet all angles of the Punto are already covered on the forum. Please do let me know if you would like to see any specific photographs.

[fuel_addict]

Congrats on the 90HP Punto. She sure looks ravishing in white. Hope you have a good Tata/Fiat experience.

[PaddleShifter]

Finally a 90bhp Punto. Also, I've noticed that there has been no new Punto review for quite some time.
Congrats.
Does your car have BLUE&ME sticker at the back on the rear windscreen?
What is the month and year of manufacture of your 90bhp mini Maserati?
Edit- Please post some pics of the interiors including the center console. Yes, there are many pics but the more, the better.

[quadra]

congrats on the purchase.

OT: What bike is behind the car in the 1st three pics ??

[PaddleShifter]

@quadra- Looks like a Karizma.
Look at the silencer.
Edit- No, it's not a Karizma. 1st pic reveals a large rear disc brake and muscular tyres like those of superbikes. Design looks like that of Honda CBR?

[kavesh55]

Dear Starrysky- Congrats on your acquisition. The Punto as the positioning says 'Crafted for a true fan' is apt. Yes the Polo is very cramped. Not justified for a car costing atleast 5.9 lakhs. Hope you enjoy with the Punto. Im sure the product if not the service will surely excite you. Also if you could mention reasons opting for a 90HP when a 75 is available ? I had a tough time catching up with the punto in mumbai traffic with a logan diesel. Me and my colleague said 'It runs'.