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-   -   Fiat Grande Punto : Test Drive & Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/60626-fiat-grande-punto-test-drive-review-272.html)

Can you post any picture of the broken lever? Lets see how bad it is, may be any DIY may help fix the problem.

I had a very bad experience with carnation myself. The guys messed up the Steering centering while doing a free wheel alignment. It ended up wearing out the inner side of the front tires. Cost me 9k for a new set of tires for the front :Frustrati.

Attached are the pictures, the actual lever is a metal which is probably made of cast iron and is not very strong. And the plastic casing snaps into the metal lever as shown in the red circles. It has broken at the joint as seen in the first picture as circled. Will getting it welded be of any help?

Hi, wanted to share this experience of mine from yesterday.

I had cleaned the car and had opened up the bonnet to tank up the wiper water container. After completing that, I was casually checking all the other fluids - mainly coolant, brake fluid and PS oil. I was shocked to noticed that the unit housing the coolant had gone way below the "min" mark. In fact there was barely any coolant left in the unit.
Since I observed this on Sunday evening, there was not much I could do. Called one of the service persons I know from Concorde this morning to ask if it was even ok to drive to the service centre with the coolant level being that low. He asked me to fill the coolant unit with either regular drinking water or distilled water and then drive (about 8-10 kms from my place).
Filled about 300ml of distilled water and headed to Concorde, where the car was hoisted and a thorough check was done for leakages. But, none was found! The coolant was topped up and all is fine for now.
Anyone ever been through this before? How can there be almost no coolant at all - the car was last serviced sometime in June earlier this yr and also was checked during a Fiat monsoon camp (around Sept?). I actually recall all the fluids being checked and topped up during the monsoon camp. Anyway, after this incident, will ensure that I look under the hood more often.

I have never faced any issue with coolant. Observe the coolant level from now regularly. If it again reduces then there is surely a leak in the coolant sump. Otherwise, AFAIK the coolant level does not reduce so drastically. May be other Gurus can put some light onto this issue !

@Samson02: Try some super glue stuff ! Else Welding might be the only temporary DIY option. But if you go for it then be careful not to burn the seat or the surrounding plastic casings :D.

Permanent of course is to replace the lever [Check with any of your friends in europe. You get lot of accessories for Grande punto online. May be they can get it for you]

Test drove the 1.3MJD Punto Emotion Pack yesterday and simply loved it.
The initial pickup felt sluggish but then once the car gathers a bit of momentum it moves smartly ahead.

The test drive was very short but it was long enough to leave me impressed with its handling and ride. After driving a softly sprung Esteem and Civic it was a pleasure to drive this firm Punto. I'm keen on the 90HP and would decide on one after I've got a test drive. Of course I am also keeping an eye out on the face lift.

BTW, the latest models of Punto are shod with Apollo Acelere tires. I believe these are better than the noisy Goodyear GT3's.

Regards

Guys is there any replacement or fault in Puntos manufactured this year. Got a call from FIAT regarding some replacement to be done in some Puntos and they have asked to bring my Punto tomorrow morning to Concorde service center. Will go and check it out as to what it is.

Cheers

They are replacing the clutch Master cylinder to one with better quality due to some customer complaints I believe!!

Please take a photo of the part that is being replaced and also the bill if you can. It would be helpful for us existing owners.

The clutch master cylinder and AC kit was the older one. This is some rear axle replacement I guess. Dad took the car to Concorde today and this is what they had said. Will post a copy of the bill once I get it. I'm not really sure if there actually is a rear axle in a FWD car like the punto. Can anybody confirm?

My 7 month old punto is close to the 7k mark and Im very happy with the car except for 2 things
1. The HU ensures that you dont have the facillity of an aux in which is a crying shame in this day and age
2. The annoying tendency to start slowly pulling to the left every few months. When I first got the car, it had this problem and I got it rectified by Concorde Motors, Cochin. Since then I have shown it thrice to Concorde Motors, Bangalore for the same issue. If I take my hands off the steering wheel, it tilts marginally to the left and the car gently deviates from the straight line. I had gone there a couple of weeks ago and got it fixed again and I thought that was the end of it. Yest while driving down to Cochin, I noticed that it was pulling ever so slightly to the left.

I called up the Fiat Service Advisor at Concorde Motors, Cochin who told me that this is a known problem with Puntos :eek: Apparently last week another customer complained about the same thing & Fiat flew down an expert from their plant and despite replacing several parts, it still pulls a wee bit to the left. They had to show the customer that new Puntos that had freshly landed also faced the same issue.

It seems that more Punto owners complain of this in Bangalore (among other cities) because the roads there are wider and it is easier to observe. Given the state of Kerala's roads (roads, what roads you ask) they dont receive too many of these complaints here though they know it is an issue. They (the SA in Bangalore as well) say that all they can adjust is the toe - in and beyond that they are helpless as it is a manufacturing issue.

Call me crazy but I dont think that is a suitable excuse. Anyways have fixed up an appointment with them for later this week. Will see how they handle it.

Thats strange as I have never faced this problem in mine or in my friend's punto both of which are used in Bangalore.

I havent heard of too many offset steering Puntos either. Of course every car ownership thread has a couple of cases where people talk about incorrect alignment but thats par for course. The SA in Cochin stuck to his story that all Puntos have this issue. Which is ridiculous because TBHP shouldve been flooded with people complaining about this had that been the case (or any other noticeable problem for that matter). Will see if they can fix it this time or else I will have to take it up with Fiat directly.

Does it pull to the left or right if you do the same bit of road in the reverse direction? , [ i.e. if you are going from East to West on a road Z, try doing West to East on Road Z in the same area. ]

They always care so much about the geography of the roads, doesn't want to do what they have to rectify the problem. They are interested only in selling the cars that too with a 'buy it if you want' behavior.

IMHO, All the fiat car owners in tbhp together should write directly to fiat including the post which details about the problem we are facing with their cars.

I have an 8 month old Punto which has done 12500kms and I do not face any left pulling issue. Please don't generalize that all Fiat cars are faulty.