The long story of my Hip Hop Black Grande Punto Emotion 1.3 MJD !

theexperthand · 13th June 2011, 15:22

Congratz PuntoMania - the car is a looker in black color. Do get some good polish and keep the looking sparkling clean - I know it is not an easy task, but a well kept shiny Black Punto is a joy to look at

Congratz once again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

Congrats on the car. Not everyday do you find people walking out of a Maruti showroom and into a Fiat one. Its usually the other way around ! I'm sure you will enjoy the car.

@Fiat_tarun: we did exactly that almost two years back - walked out of Maruthi showroom to the Tata showroom next door and now we have two fine examples from the Tata-Fiat stables. May the force be with us.

PuntoMania · 20th June 2011, 12:19

Well, on my 10th day in the car, I managed to clock my 1000th km

Some 600 of these 1000 were covered on the weekend. Took the car for a long drive from Pune-Nasik (Took the long way around Pune-Panvel-Thane-Nasik) and back. I must say the car is a real mile muncher.

This car, more than any other small car I have driven or experienced in India, is made for our highways. Its simply beautiful to drive on highways. The stability at high speeds is pretty awesome.

The Kasara Ghat section on the Thane - Nasik highway was an absolutely superb experience. I was able to really corner this car well. Sharp turns, U-turns, inclines all of these are easily taken in this car.

Been running in the car with utmost care in this entire 1000 km. Especially on the highways, I took care to ensure I kept the revs within 2500 most of the time, with the occasional push to 3000 rpm (thanks to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/owning...r-new-car.html ). Kept varying the speed at 5th gear between 80, 100 and 120 with no hard acceleration and minimum hard braking. Took a couple of breaks to cool down the engine and also I take maximum care to ensure the car warms up gently in the mornings. I'm going to do this once, and its gotta be done right !

On Saturday the car looked a real mess - It turned from Hip hop black to shtty brown. Spent a good part of 2 hours shampooing, cleaning and then polishing the car. Looked really shiny for a couple of days before getting dirty again today morning

I'm extremely pleased with my experience of the car. Though there are a few small issues that have started cropping up:

Rear seatbelt doesnt engage
Plastic panel below steering wheel is developing a large gap
Seatbelt indicator is not working properly (intermittently shows on/off when starting the car)
Rear windscreen washer is not working - checked it out it looks like the pipe thats connected to the rear washer has come off under the bonnet
Car maybe veering slightly to the left on an open road
In cabin noise on the expressway is very high. There is a very large, abrasive sound coming through from the tyres - I guess this is because of the 165s on the car.
EDITed to Add: Wheelcaps seem to be coming off.. They are loose I'm afraid one of these days they may just fall off !

Will be visiting the workshop soon to resolve these issues and change the Engine Oil + Oil filter (plan on doing so sooner than my first service, guess I read it up somewhere on T-Bhp that its a good idea to change the oil after the first one thousand)

One (more) positive : On the expressway after my 100 odd km run (100% AC on, speeds between 80-120 km at 2000-3000 RPMs) the display showed my a mileage of 25 kmpl ! I was shocked. The overall mileage displayed is 18.5 kmpl for my highway run with 100% AC. I dont know how accurate this meter is, but it was pleasantly surprising. Pics will come soon, when I decide to bend my back again and clean it again of all the highway grime !

20th June 2011, 12:19	#17
PuntoMania BHPian Join Date: May 2011 Location: Pune Posts: 218 Thanked: 249 Times	Re: The long story of my Hip Hop Black Grande Punto Emotion 1.3 MJD ! Well, on my 10th day in the car, I managed to clock my 1000th km Some 600 of these 1000 were covered on the weekend. Took the car for a long drive from Pune-Nasik (Took the long way around Pune-Panvel-Thane-Nasik) and back. I must say the car is a real mile muncher. This car, more than any other small car I have driven or experienced in India, is made for our highways. Its simply beautiful to drive on highways. The stability at high speeds is pretty awesome. The Kasara Ghat section on the Thane - Nasik highway was an absolutely superb experience. I was able to really corner this car well. Sharp turns, U-turns, inclines all of these are easily taken in this car. Been running in the car with utmost care in this entire 1000 km. Especially on the highways, I took care to ensure I kept the revs within 2500 most of the time, with the occasional push to 3000 rpm (thanks to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/owning...r-new-car.html ). Kept varying the speed at 5th gear between 80, 100 and 120 with no hard acceleration and minimum hard braking. Took a couple of breaks to cool down the engine and also I take maximum care to ensure the car warms up gently in the mornings. I'm going to do this once, and its gotta be done right ! On Saturday the car looked a real mess - It turned from Hip hop black to shtty brown. Spent a good part of 2 hours shampooing, cleaning and then polishing the car. Looked really shiny for a couple of days before getting dirty again today morning I'm extremely pleased with my experience of the car. Though there are a few small issues that have started cropping up: Rear seatbelt doesnt engage Plastic panel below steering wheel is developing a large gap Seatbelt indicator is not working properly (intermittently shows on/off when starting the car) Rear windscreen washer is not working - checked it out it looks like the pipe thats connected to the rear washer has come off under the bonnet Car maybe veering slightly to the left on an open road In cabin noise on the expressway is very high. There is a very large, abrasive sound coming through from the tyres - I guess this is because of the 165s on the car. EDITed to Add: Wheelcaps seem to be coming off.. They are loose I'm afraid one of these days they may just fall off ! Will be visiting the workshop soon to resolve these issues and change the Engine Oil + Oil filter (plan on doing so sooner than my first service, guess I read it up somewhere on T-Bhp that its a good idea to change the oil after the first one thousand) One (more) positive : On the expressway after my 100 odd km run (100% AC on, speeds between 80-120 km at 2000-3000 RPMs) the display showed my a mileage of 25 kmpl ! I was shocked. The overall mileage displayed is 18.5 kmpl for my highway run with 100% AC. I dont know how accurate this meter is, but it was pleasantly surprising. Pics will come soon, when I decide to bend my back again and clean it again of all the highway grime ! Last edited by PuntoMania : 20th June 2011 at 12:26.
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