[SamtheLeo]

Finally


The RED Multijet Grande Punto Emotion Pack has arrived.

A bit late in posting here as it came of wednesday, but till now I am loving it. It has got everything which we can desire in a Small hatchback.

Will post pics & experiece soon.

PS : First service 3000 kms or 3 months.
Second Service 15000 kms or 12 months
Third Service 30000 kms or 24 months

WOW!!!!

[finneyp]

Congrats Platzaturbo & SamtheLeo! Enjoy the Bold new drive!

Do start a new thread & post your initial impressions & pics.

[extreme_torque]

whoaaaaa... its raining Punto's here! Congrats guys!

[anup996]

Here's something the lucky owners could plan to for in a while:

YouTube - Grande Punto

[live2drive]

^ Drool! Except those Indicab style tail lamps.

[hiren.mistry]

Been contemplating on buying a hatch for a while now and have been spending quite a bit of time TD'ing various cars like Ritz, i20. In a way I was saving the Punto for the last.

I reached Wasan motors (Borivali) and saw a blue Punto Diesel and that it was beautiful (and I used to think the i20 was a good looking car). Was promptly attended by a sales advisor and he went to arrange for a TD car but then it was already being TD'ed by someone else.

So I asked him if I could have a look at the Linea, to which he agreed and boy was I impressed or what. The interiors took my breath away, the dashboard, the console, beige upholstery, the space et al. I was really, really impressed (I went on to take a TD, I'm not sure where I should post that).

After that the advisor arranged for a Emotion model Punto and having seen the interiors of Linea, I was crestfallen with Punto's interiors. The black color theme is not a patch on Linea's beige. I am not sure whether the quality of plastics used in Punto is similar to the ones in Linea as they did not feel as nice. The leg room is also less as compared to Linea but I was comfortably seated in the rear with the front adjusted for a my height (5.11).

Now it was time to take it for a drive. Got it out on the highway and touched 85kmph very quickly (surely quicker than my 95 Esteem) and the ride was amazing. It was so calm and confidence inspiring. The steering felt live and the feedback was great. Not the inert feel like the i20. All through the test drive I was raving like a lunatic on the ride and steering much to the amusement of the sales advisor.

One thing that came to my notice was the AC's cooling, it was very hot and sunny today and the cars were parked in the open, I felt the cooling was poor and it took a real long time for the car to cool down. Of course the TD was over in 7 odd minutes, so mebbe it was too early to say.

The boot space is also adequate, how I wish Fiat could push the seats back by an inch or two. The hooks for the parcel tray was broken (surprising for such a new car).

So sum it up, I came away impressed by the Punto. As the saying goes, save the best for last and it was the best hatch I've TD'ed so far. If Yamaha's tag line 'Touching your heart' could apply to one car it was be the Linea/Punto. Hopefully I would be booking one in the near future.

Cheers and apologies for the rather long post (its the cars fault, not mine ).

[smilenow]

Yee-haww!!
Delivery date confirmed,getting the mutijet in about 3 days.
One more punto is in the house!

[roms]

Its been a pretty difficult week for me. No, not because of the excess work load, but more so because I had tested the Punto 1.2 last weekend at Concorde Motors, Prabhadevi, Mumbai. And I just did not get the time to put down my thoughts for an entire week. So I had to keep reminding myself of the various points about the 1.2 over and over again (just so that I dont miss the important ones when I actually sit down to write the TD report). And the 1.2's TD was followed by that of the 1.4 FIRE & the MJD as well, but more of that later.

I am surprised that so far, there have been absolutely no TD reports on the 1.2, either on the forum or on the TV shows/mags. On second thoughts, I can understand why that motor has been completely ignored by everyone. There are owner/TD reports mentioning that the 1.4 petrol and 1.3 diesel are not enough for this heavy hatch. So what chance does a puny 1.2 have? The tech specs read as follows :-

Its a 1172CC SOHC 8 valver pumping out a massive 68PS (roughly 65-66bhp) @ a pretty high 6000 rpm. The max pulling power or torque figure is 96 NM, but more importantly it makes that figure at a pretty lowly 2500 rpm. A single glance at these specs can give you preconceived notions. How can 66bhp be enough for a car weighing 1140 kilos? The only saving grace is that low 2.5K rpm figure for max torque.

Since the 1.2 is only available with the base level Active variant, it does not come with keyless entry. So you dont get that fantastic looking key fob in the Active and Dynamic (1.4P & 1.3D) variants, dubbed 'Desmodronic Foldable key'! Wow, some name that.It does not even have central door locking. Now that really should have been provided, especially since you just one variant for the 1.2 . You get a manual HVAC, power steering, power windows(front), tachometer, service reminder, follow me home headlamps, digital trip & odomenters, seat belt warning. Hmm, not bad then for a base variant, isn't it?

Lets get on with the drive. Start up is not as refined as the 1.4 petrol, but it settles down eventually. Being a small engine, it is clearly audible throughout the rev-band. Before I slotted 1st gear, I actually mentioned ' lets see how bad this car is'. I was in for a rude shock. Slot in 1st and the car moves smartly off the blocks. No, you wont be able to manage a lot of wheel spins with that motor, but the short 1st gear make your take offs a breeze. Shift to second and the Punto 1.2 loses momentum, but only if the revs fall below the 2000 rpm mark. Also, the transmission is pretty jerky and everytime you leave the throttle, the car tends to jerk quite a bit, making smooth driving in the 2nd cog a bit difficult. This is not felt in either the 1.4 FIRE or the MJD. But once over the 2K rpm mark, the car's max torque helps in pushing the car forward and you can actually enjoy driving this car a fair bit between the 3k-5K rpm range. 3rd and 4th gears are pretty decent as well. Did not get a chance to engage overdrive though. Overall, the driveability is pretty ok, but never bad at any point of time. Infact, part throttle acceleration is quite good and I never had to actually mash the throttle to get to higher speeds. The engine itself is reasonably free revving, but it cant beat the 1.4 petrol on that count. (More on that later)

Ofcourse, all this talk about the engine being decent is only relative and in comparison to the other 1.2 engined cars. So far, I have driven the Jazz, i20(1.2) & the Punto. Did not get a chance to drive the Ritz yet. But I have to say that the Punto impresses and it falls somewhere between the i20 & the Jazz. Refinement levels are decent in the Punto, both the i20 & Jazz are better at it.

More cont -

[roms]

I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the 1.2. Its not a speed machine by any stretch of the imagination, but its a not a bad drive either, atleast in the city. The mags have given a 14-15 odd 0-100 timings for the 1.4 petrol, God knows what sort of a timing the 1.2 will manage. It may not be good at flat out acceleration, but it is decently driveable in the city.

So how does the Punto manage that? Well, I had a Palio 1.2NV for 3 years that despite claiming 72PS made a few horses less I felt. It definitely felt underpowered, under torqued rather and the throttle had to be mashed to get some decent grunt. The 1.1 Stile, well, that car is woefully underpowered, except for the 3rd gear which saves it to some extent. But the Punto 1.2 is way better than either of those cars.

Handling/Suspension/Steering - The talking point of the Puntos. Part of the reason why I feel the Punto 1.2 is a decent drive is because of its agility. Infact, both the Linea & Punto feel a lot lighter and easier to drive than the Palio. The Punto 1.2 more so, with its lighter engine upfront, feels quite agile and very very chuckable. You can make quick quick lane change maneuvers and the car in general feels a lot smaller than it actually is.The steering is light at low speeds giving you the ease of driving that is required in the city. Yet, it is very direct, precise and gives brilliant feedback. This is one steering wheel you want to hold with both hands. The suspension, which has been praised is so good, you actually have to drive it to believe it. I mean, after the super stiff suspension of the S10, this to me was heaven. If anything, the ride quality is even better than the Emotion variant due to the high profile 165/80 R14 rubber. Did not get to test its high speed handling, but it definitely wont be as great as the higher variants due to that tyre-wheel configuration.

The brakes are really good even without ABS on the Punto 1.2. But I think they should have atleast given ABS, if not airbags as an option. The gear shifter is decent, it has a long throw. But there are better gearboxes out there, the Maruti Swift comes to mind.

The Punto 1.2 is priced at 4,13,506 (ex-showroom Mumbai), and that comes to roughly 4.7L on-road. There are quite a few options at that price. If you are on a budget yet want the Punto, this car is not bad. Yes, the plastics feel even worse on this spec. The door handles look and feel decidedly cheap and they are indeed made of low quality fiber/plastic. But someone looking for low cost of running, decent driveability, good looks and road manners, this is a fairly good buy.

Pics-
1] A picture of the 1.2 Active at the Mumbai launch at Taj lands end. I quite like wheel caps on the Active and Dynamic.
2] A pic of the wheel caps from the emotion variant. In comparison to the low spec Puntos, these look rubbish IMO

Next up- the 1.4 FIRE & 1.3 MJD

[Gandhi]

Nicely written review roms. Eagerly waiting for the review of 1.4 FIRE.

[tj123]

Good to see some thing other than the diesel MJD.
The 1.2 petrol seems to be a value for money proposition for a budget owner.
Any clues what is the type of mileage a 1.2 gives ?

Looking forward to see some more reviews on the 1.4 & 1.2 petrol

[neotraveller]

The mileage of Punto 1.2 should match what a vista safire gives (same engine). [15.7 kmpl is the company's claim]
The 1.4 Punto would give 11/12kmpl in city (going by Linea's figures)

Originally Posted by tj123

Any clues what is the type of mileage a 1.2 gives ?

Looking forward to see some more reviews on the 1.4 & 1.2 petrol

[finneyp]

Roms, nice review of Punto 1.2!
It is aimed for buyers in the budget range of i10, A-star etc.

But, I feel it (1.2 ver) won't find many takers!

[helboy]

An adorable beast (atleast the 1.3 MJD version) .Woulda loved a double barrell headlamps on this beauty,though.

[roms]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

Nicely written review roms. Eagerly waiting for the review of 1.4 FIRE.

Thanks Gandhi. Took a break and back to review now.

Originally Posted by tj123

Good to see some thing other than the diesel MJD.
The 1.2 petrol seems to be a value for money proposition for a budget owner.
Any clues what is the type of mileage a 1.2 gives ?

Looking forward to see some more reviews on the 1.4 & 1.2 petrol

I think the 1.2 should be pretty frugal, considering the fact that driveability is quite decent. I guess it should be 11-12ish in a city like Mumbai and 16-18 kmpl on the highways. Like neotraveller mentioned, its the same engine as in the Vista Safire and FE should be slightly lower, considering that the Punto is a heavier car.

Originally Posted by finneyp

Roms, nice review of Punto 1.2!
It is aimed for buyers in the budget range of i10, A-star etc.

But, I feel it (1.2 ver) won't find many takers!

Thanks finney. I think even Fiat knows that there wont be too many takers for this car, hence the single low spec variant. Wonder why they bothered with this engine in the first place. Only time will tell the fate of this variant. Even at the showroom, there was hardly anyone interested to TD this car. Infact, it was probably the first time that I saw a half a tank of fuel in a TD car, and the odo read just about 300 odd kms.

Anyways, there is a small thing I missed. The car does not struggle even with the a/c on. Infact, there is hardly any difference with the a/c on.