FIAT-Ferrari in affordable trim - My Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion

hemanth.anand · 3rd October 2010, 01:08

Finally...after two months of scratching my head over all the tech-specs of all the available 5l-7l hatchbacks, I went ahead with what my heart said and got my Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion.

Flashback: On 20th September 2010, I wanted a test drive of punto. I had called up Concorde motors on Hosur road near dairy circle. after around 4 hours I was sent a test drive vehicle, a 1.2 emotion, the one i was targetting. I was really impressed with the car. I knew and felt that the power was less than its competitors, But the quality just bowled me over.

During the test drive on the Hosur road, I figured out that GP is a perfect highway cruiser. My usage being mostly on highways, the larger turning radius was no problem at all.The executive neatly explained me all the good features of the car and suggested a diesel...but my budget prevented me from going for a nice diesel.

At the end of a 20minute drive I decided that this would be my next car. October 1st was my 1st wedding anniversary and i wanted to book a car atleast on that day. But talking to the executive I just asked him if I can get the delivery on October 1st. to my surprise he told that the stocks had arrived just then and if the colour of my choice was available he can deliver my anniversary gift. He called his stockyard and luckily my whte punto was the last unbooked piece left with him.I had that blocked immediately.

In the mean time, I tested Figo on the 21st september. This car confused me for the whole day. But in the end, Punto's design,features and build quality won over the figo.

On 22rd, I went to the showroom with my family members and they liked the car as well. I paid 48k as downpayment (minimum was 25k) and also applied for a loan through HDFC bank. The whole thing took 1-1.5 hrs. But colour was one thing we were debating on. The executive showed me cars of all colours and finally it was down to white or silver or wine. White was my favourite and I won.

After the loan was logged in on 23rd thursday, I was told that it'll take 3working days for the sanction. But on Friday, I got all the verification calls and on Saturday 24th I was told it was approved. I went for signing the loan documents the same day. My car would be registered on wednesday was what I was promised. Any ways I wanted it on FRiday so i was least worried about it.

Also the executive helped me get corporate discount since my company was not in their list of companies. But since our company was a supplier to fiat and Tata, a few mails and calls to the top management and things were settled soon.

And then for the discounts...I got a corporate discount(6k), Insurance free (13k), extended warranty(5k), another dealer discount(5k)-almost 30k in total

Another twist to the tale was the ayodhya verdict which made me wonder if at all the RTO would be open to register my vehicle. But I was lucky again. On the verdict day, Before the actual verdict the car was registered. and On 30th september 2010, when all the vehicles were heading home expecting riots...my heart took me towards the showroom to take the delivery of my Ferrari (In affordable Trim ofcourse)

The delivery was OK without much fanfare, no photos, nothing. It was just my heart beating for a fiat.

On October 1st, Our 1st marriage anniversary, It was just me and my two ladies.I couldn't ask for anything more.

Below are the snaps from the first photoshoot.

vasanthn21 · 3rd October 2010, 01:25

Congrats!

Good to know that you could get it on your anniversary.

Nice pics on NICE road (right?), actually the jagged rocks and sky make a great background for the pics. I especially like the first pic and the (dsc0244) second last pic (dsc0269)

she looks great in white

Price details please, if you don't mind.

rajeev k · 3rd October 2010, 08:11

@ Hemanth Nice Pictures, which is this road.
Kindly log in your experience after getting the vehicle and driving it. I for one is in double mind regarding this car and Figo. Your experience would, I hope, help me for a solution.

arpanjha · 3rd October 2010, 08:35

@ Hemanth:

Congrats buddy. I too got a Bossa Nova White Punto on the 1st of Oct. Please go through my thread. Mine is 1.2 Petrol Active. Hope we all have great miles ahead.
Safe Driving. Have fun. Keep us all posted.

sachinj12 · 3rd October 2010, 09:04

Congrats on your car man, drive safe

Where was the pics taken?

gopikb · 3rd October 2010, 09:50

Hemanth, Congrats buddy and welcome to the Grande Punto club. I guess the pictures were taken in the NICE link road between Bsk III stage and clover leaf junction. Do you stay near banasjankari area as well?

The car wont disappoint you. Crunch many more happy miles

Newpunter · 3rd October 2010, 10:29

Congrats. Looking at the poor sales of the Punto, I think it is only the T-BHPians who are buying it

.
By the way, I didn't realise we had stretches of road in Bangalore where you could park the car sideways and not worry about the traffic

. The Pics look great.

3rd October 2010, 10:47

Congratulations and best wishes, hemanth.anand, on becoming a proud possessor of Punto. Happy and safe motoring in your Punto.

vasanthn21 · 3rd October 2010, 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newpunter

By the way, I didn't realise we had stretches of road in Bangalore where you could park the car sideways and not worry about the traffic

. The Pics look great.

I guess this was possible because this was on the Ayodhya Judgement day when most school, colleges and offices had declared holiday (or WFH in case of offices). Hemant bought it around that time right!

Not sure though, Hemanth can confirm.

hemanth.anand · 3rd October 2010, 11:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Congrats!

Good to know that you could get it on your anniversary.

Nice pics on NICE road (right?), actually the jagged rocks and sky make a great background for the pics. I especially like the first pic and the (dsc0244) second last pic (dsc0269)

she looks great in white

Price details please, if you don't mind.

Thanks Vasanth,
Yes,for me its the most picturesque part of NICE road.
Ex-showroom: 4,98,002
Insurance: 13,012
Handling charges:5,500
Extended Warranty:5,000
Road tax:71,215
On-road:5,92,729
Corporate Discount:-6,000
Insurance free,Handling charges off,extended warranty free.
Floor mats,mud flaps and sun film included (mudflaps out of stock so monday it'll be fitted along with the number plates)

Final On-road 5,63,717

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k

@ Hemanth Nice Pictures, which is this road.
Kindly log in your experience after getting the vehicle and driving it. I for one is in double mind regarding this car and Figo. Your experience would, I hope, help me for a solution.

Rajeev,
I can completely understand your situation coz i was in the same situation a few days ago. Since my budget was strictly less than 6l, i had considered Figo diesel and Punto petrol.
I must say that figo drove very well. My reasons for rejecting figo was the interior and exterior looks, the interior plastic quality and the absence of rear power windows.
Regards to 1.2 Punto, Frankly speaking, you can feel that it is slightly underpowered. But the chic italian looks,European build quality and plenty of small and useful features swept me away.
If your mileage is too high(atleast 20k per month) go for diesel with a compromise for looks or else go for punto petrol. (i'm speaking with max budget 6l)
Other suggestions would be-if your pocket permits go for Punto Diesel emotion. or if you feel you don't need many features, go for Punto Diesel active(6l on road Karnataka)
I won't say much but one thing-Punto drives like a hot knife on butter

Quote:

Originally Posted by arpanjha

@ Hemanth:
Congrats buddy. I too got a Bossa Nova White Punto on the 1st of Oct. Please go through my thread. Mine is 1.2 Petrol Active. Hope we all have great miles ahead.
Safe Driving. Have fun. Keep us all posted.

That's nice to hear. Have fun. Hope its not your anniversary too

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Congrats on your car man, drive safe

Where was the pics taken?

Pics are from The link road of the BMIC and the Peripheral ring road in Bangalore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopikb

Hemanth, Congrats buddy and welcome to the Grande Punto club. I guess the pictures were taken in the NICE link road between Bsk III stage and clover leaf junction. Do you stay near banasjankari area as well?

The car wont disappoint you. Crunch many more happy miles

you are right thats where these pics were taken. I live near Kamakya theatre on the ORR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newpunter

By the way, I didn't realise we had stretches of road in Bangalore where you could park the car sideways and not worry about the traffic

. The Pics look great.

@New punter,
For that side ways pic it took us 15 mins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

I guess this was possible because this was on the Ayodhya Judgement day when most school, colleges and offices had declared holiday (or WFH in case of offices). Hemant bought it around that time right!

Not sure though, Hemanth can confirm.

I bought it on that day but the pics were taken on saturday around 4pm. so traffic was fairly less.
I think it was partly because of ayodhya verdict also. Since most of offices were closed, it was a long weekend and bangalore itself was less populated

The camera was ready, i turned it sideways, the camera clicked, and it put it back in reverse back to the lay-bye.

Actual picture taking took 30 seconds but to wait for a traffic-less road, it took us 15 mins. We had around 1 km visibility of the road that helped

nkrishnap · 3rd October 2010, 12:26

Congrats on the new bold white drive. The Bossa Nova White on Punto looks fantastic. Try and get the front painted black. It will enhance the looks.

I am keenly interested in the kmpl figures of this 1.2 Punto. Do post the updates as and when u ready with them

hemanth.anand · 3rd October 2010, 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Congrats on the new bold white drive. The Bossa Nova White on Punto looks fantastic. Try and get the front painted black. It will enhance the looks.

I am keenly interested in the kmpl figures of this 1.2 Punto. Do post the updates as and when u ready with them

Thanks krishna for your suggeestions. Any modifications will all happen next year once i'm a bit more relaxed financially. Alloy wheels,park sensors and cosmetics are in my list

Will keep you posted on the consumption figures as soon as my car stabilises.
One great feature is the car itself gives me an approximate mileage.

funkykar · 3rd October 2010, 15:39

Congrats Hemanth on the Punto. She looks beautiful.

Hope Fiat continues to sell such wonderful cars in India.

NutsNBolts · 3rd October 2010, 17:27

Congrats on the white beauty Hemant. The car looks smashing.

Although 1.2 is written off by majority auto experts as being a nobody, I firmly believe that this could prove to be the dark horse for Fiat by further cutting down the prices and bringing it at par with market leaders. 1.4 and 1.3 are priced too high in the premium segment yet with a perception that there are no premium interiors. 1.2 makes for a great buy given the peppy engine and dynamics to boot.

Drive safe.

PaddleShifter · 3rd October 2010, 17:58

Congrats Hemanth.

One more Bossa Nova White Punto. It surely is a great color and the best thing about this color is that the tail lights look superb and add to the distinct looks of the Punto.
Nice pics too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Try and get the front painted black. It will enhance the looks.

Hi. Though its highly subjective, I feel that black grill on Bossa Nova White looks better on Linea. Punto looks cool with Silver grill.

3rd October 2010, 01:08	#1
hemanth.anand Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 3,275 Thanked: 14,706 Times View My Garage	FIAT-Ferrari in affordable trim - My Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion Finally...after two months of scratching my head over all the tech-specs of all the available 5l-7l hatchbacks, I went ahead with what my heart said and got my Grande Punto 1.2 Emotion. Flashback: On 20th September 2010, I wanted a test drive of punto. I had called up Concorde motors on Hosur road near dairy circle. after around 4 hours I was sent a test drive vehicle, a 1.2 emotion, the one i was targetting. I was really impressed with the car. I knew and felt that the power was less than its competitors, But the quality just bowled me over. During the test drive on the Hosur road, I figured out that GP is a perfect highway cruiser. My usage being mostly on highways, the larger turning radius was no problem at all.The executive neatly explained me all the good features of the car and suggested a diesel...but my budget prevented me from going for a nice diesel. At the end of a 20minute drive I decided that this would be my next car. October 1st was my 1st wedding anniversary and i wanted to book a car atleast on that day. But talking to the executive I just asked him if I can get the delivery on October 1st. to my surprise he told that the stocks had arrived just then and if the colour of my choice was available he can deliver my anniversary gift. He called his stockyard and luckily my whte punto was the last unbooked piece left with him.I had that blocked immediately. In the mean time, I tested Figo on the 21st september. This car confused me for the whole day. But in the end, Punto's design,features and build quality won over the figo. On 22rd, I went to the showroom with my family members and they liked the car as well. I paid 48k as downpayment (minimum was 25k) and also applied for a loan through HDFC bank. The whole thing took 1-1.5 hrs. But colour was one thing we were debating on. The executive showed me cars of all colours and finally it was down to white or silver or wine. White was my favourite and I won. After the loan was logged in on 23rd thursday, I was told that it'll take 3working days for the sanction. But on Friday, I got all the verification calls and on Saturday 24th I was told it was approved. I went for signing the loan documents the same day. My car would be registered on wednesday was what I was promised. Any ways I wanted it on FRiday so i was least worried about it. Also the executive helped me get corporate discount since my company was not in their list of companies. But since our company was a supplier to fiat and Tata, a few mails and calls to the top management and things were settled soon. And then for the discounts...I got a corporate discount(6k), Insurance free (13k), extended warranty(5k), another dealer discount(5k)-almost 30k in total Another twist to the tale was the ayodhya verdict which made me wonder if at all the RTO would be open to register my vehicle. But I was lucky again. On the verdict day, Before the actual verdict the car was registered. and On 30th september 2010, when all the vehicles were heading home expecting riots...my heart took me towards the showroom to take the delivery of my Ferrari (In affordable Trim ofcourse) The delivery was OK without much fanfare, no photos, nothing. It was just my heart beating for a fiat. On October 1st, Our 1st marriage anniversary, It was just me and my two ladies.I couldn't ask for anything more. Below are the snaps from the first photoshoot. Attached Thumbnails
	(2) Thanks

3rd October 2010, 01:25	#2
vasanthn21 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 811 Thanked: 521 Times View My Garage	Congrats! Good to know that you could get it on your anniversary. Nice pics on NICE road (right?), actually the jagged rocks and sky make a great background for the pics. I especially like the first pic and the (dsc0244) second last pic (dsc0269) she looks great in white Price details please, if you don't mind. Last edited by vasanthn21 : 3rd October 2010 at 01:37.
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 08:11	#3
rajeev k Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Emerging Metro Posts: 3,352 Thanked: 1,947 Times	@ Hemanth Nice Pictures, which is this road. Kindly log in your experience after getting the vehicle and driving it. I for one is in double mind regarding this car and Figo. Your experience would, I hope, help me for a solution. Last edited by rajeev k : 3rd October 2010 at 08:22.
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 08:35	#4
arpanjha BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Kolkata Posts: 362 Thanked: 505 Times	@ Hemanth: Congrats buddy. I too got a Bossa Nova White Punto on the 1st of Oct. Please go through my thread. Mine is 1.2 Petrol Active. Hope we all have great miles ahead. Safe Driving. Have fun. Keep us all posted.
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 09:04	#5
sachinj12 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,187 Thanked: 168 Times	Congrats on your car man, drive safe Where was the pics taken?
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 09:50	#6
gopikb BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 554 Thanked: 390 Times	Hemanth, Congrats buddy and welcome to the Grande Punto club. I guess the pictures were taken in the NICE link road between Bsk III stage and clover leaf junction. Do you stay near banasjankari area as well? The car wont disappoint you. Crunch many more happy miles
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 10:29	#7
Newpunter BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 744 Thanked: 336 Times	Congrats. Looking at the poor sales of the Punto, I think it is only the T-BHPians who are buying it . By the way, I didn't realise we had stretches of road in Bangalore where you could park the car sideways and not worry about the traffic . The Pics look great.
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 10:47	#8
J.Ravi Posts: n/a	Congratulations and best wishes, hemanth.anand, on becoming a proud possessor of Punto. Happy and safe motoring in your Punto.
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 12:26	#11
nkrishnap Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,983 Thanked: 7,407 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the new bold white drive. The Bossa Nova White on Punto looks fantastic. Try and get the front painted black. It will enhance the looks. I am keenly interested in the kmpl figures of this 1.2 Punto. Do post the updates as and when u ready with them
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 15:39	#13
funkykar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 2,635 Thanked: 6,617 Times View My Garage	Congrats Hemanth on the Punto. She looks beautiful. Hope Fiat continues to sell such wonderful cars in India.
	() Thanks

3rd October 2010, 17:27	#14
NutsNBolts BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Jammu Posts: 817 Thanked: 41 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the white beauty Hemant. The car looks smashing. Although 1.2 is written off by majority auto experts as being a nobody, I firmly believe that this could prove to be the dark horse for Fiat by further cutting down the prices and bringing it at par with market leaders. 1.4 and 1.3 are priced too high in the premium segment yet with a perception that there are no premium interiors. 1.2 makes for a great buy given the peppy engine and dynamics to boot. Drive safe.
	() Thanks