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Old 27th November 2013, 10:06   #631
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by guyfrmblr View Post
Karthik, the new seat cover looks fantastic . Congratulations, you have a very good taste.

The interior of the red rocket looks 97% perfect. I have reduced 3% for the HU. It looks 50 years older in comparison with the other interior parts. I suggest you to go with a good touch screen HU which will complement with the other interior parts .
I would deduct 10 instead of 3 not just due to the looks of the player, the way it sounds too. The red rocket now has everything going except for ICE.

Karthik, time to think about upgrading ICE, the red rocket very much needs it.
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Old 27th November 2013, 11:34   #632
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

The interiors look lovely Karthik! The quality of stitching and the leather looks top-class. I hope it lasts long enough too. The only possible downside will be excessive sweating on long journeys.

Like others have said, ICE upgrade and possibly xenons/DRL's are left.
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Old 27th November 2013, 11:51   #633
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by nkrishnap View Post
I would deduct 10 instead of 3 not just due to the looks of the player, the way it sounds too. The red rocket now has everything going except for ICE.

Karthik, time to think about upgrading ICE, the red rocket very much needs it.
Krishna, along with ICE, also scope exists to upgrade the headlights and add appropriate looking DRLs. Reference here.


Whatsay, namesake?
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Old 27th November 2013, 12:29   #634
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

Loverly overall changes done to the car. It has transformed the car completely. But isn't the leather a little coarse grained?
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Old 28th November 2013, 14:10   #635
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

The interiors look awesome now Karthik and goes well with the exterior. Good thought into planning the interiors.
The pedals are lovely where did you procure them from?
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Old 28th November 2013, 17:40   #636
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by ku69rd View Post
The interiors look awesome now Karthik and goes well with the exterior. Good thought into planning the interiors.
The pedals are lovely where did you procure them from?
The pedals are stock fitment and came with the car when he bought it. They are OEM Abarth pedals and is available in the Sport Version.

@KarthikK, saw you and your car near JP nagar on 15th. Your Red Rocket was looking awesome.

Regards

Achyuth

Last edited by Achyuth Vaibhav : 28th November 2013 at 17:43.
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Old 28th November 2013, 17:49   #637
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by ku69rd View Post
The pedals are lovely where did you procure them from?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Achyuth Vaibhav View Post
They are OEM Abarth pedals and is available in the Sport Version
Actually, they're part of the Sports kit that is retro-fitted to the base 90bhp Model (including the black roof top which is factory made). The entire kit retails at Rs.22k
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Old 28th November 2013, 19:48   #638
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by extreme_torque View Post
Brilliant looking car. I think your's is the most lovingly kept Punto I have seen. Easy to see your love for the car.
Thanks a lot for the kind words extreme_torque! Glad you liked it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by guyfrmblr View Post
Karthik, the new seat cover looks fantastic . Congratulations, you have a very good taste.

The interior of the red rocket looks 97% perfect. I have reduced 3% for the HU. It looks 50 years older in comparison with the other interior parts. I suggest you to go with a good touch screen HU which will complement with the other interior parts .
Quote:
Originally Posted by nkrishnap View Post
I would deduct 10 instead of 3 not just due to the looks of the player, the way it sounds too. The red rocket now has everything going except for ICE.

Karthik, time to think about upgrading ICE, the red rocket very much needs it.

Next on the anvil, but need a few more months to recover from the Karlsson damage, hehe. I'm not too much of an audiophile, so anything basic with better sounding audio would be good for me. Touchscreen HU? Ouch! That would mean blue&Me goes for a toss. I'll need to give that some thought before opting for it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by shashank.nk View Post
The interiors look lovely Karthik! The quality of stitching and the leather looks top-class. I hope it lasts long enough too. The only possible downside will be excessive sweating on long journeys.
Thanks a lot shashank, your stanley review helped a lot in this decision . I doubt the sweating part though. As long as the AC is on, real leather shouldn't cause sweating I think. I've done plenty of 500+km per day runs in the Linea and never once found myself sweating with the ACC on. Art leather does trigger a lot of sweating though.

Quote:
Like others have said, ICE upgrade and possibly xenons/DRL's are left.
I have OSRAM 5LED DRLs ready in the box. I just need some time to unpack them and wire them into the front grill someplace. I just need a weekend or two to be able to manage half a day for this DIY; should try to complete it next weekend *winks*

Quote:
Originally Posted by k_ajay View Post
Krishna, along with ICE, also scope exists to upgrade the headlights and add appropriate looking DRLs. Reference here.


Whatsay, namesake?
Absolutely agree. Projectors + DRLs + ICE + Dayline LED taillamps should complete the picture and wind up this year-long modification story for good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by srishiva View Post
Loverly overall changes done to the car. It has transformed the car completely. But isn't the leather a little coarse grained?
Thanks a lot srishiva. This grain is what they have for black color in the 1.5mm Scandinavian range. The very fine grained one was available in Napa leather which was another 20k more, Ouch! It looked killer though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ku69rd View Post
The interiors look awesome now Karthik and goes well with the exterior. Good thought into planning the interiors.
Thanks a lot ku69rd! Part of the credit goes to Sajith for suggesting this design when I visited Karlsson first - it was supposedly an existing design on one of the earlier Alfa Romeo models it seems. That had orange in the same places where I now have red - the piping outlines and the single stitches.

Quote:
The pedals are lovely where did you procure them from?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tabrez View Post
Actually, they're part of the Sports kit that is retro-fitted to the base 90bhp Model (including the black roof top which is factory made). The entire kit retails at Rs.22k
Quote:
Originally Posted by Achyuth Vaibhav View Post
The pedals are stock fitment and came with the car when he bought it. They are OEM Abarth pedals and is available in the Sport Version.
Achyuth is right - the pedals came stock with the car from day 1. When I bought the Punto 90HP, it was sold under the guise of a limited edition 'Sports' model which had decals, black mirrors, chrome pedals, chrome exhaust tip, chrome accents (in the interiors) on the dash and door SILs if my memory serves me right. The chrome pedal pictures are there right on page 1 of my ownership review.

Now, probably Fiat has separated the goodies and is charging 22k for the 'Sports' kit. Interesting.

Quote:
@KarthikK, saw you and your car near JP nagar on 15th. Your Red Rocket was looking awesome.

Regards

Achyuth
Thanks for spotting me! You should have waved or something, I'd have been glad to stop by for a chat.
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Old 28th November 2013, 20:37   #639
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

Buddy you haven't upgraded the tyres have you? I think that should be no 1 on the list now. It will make a big difference to the car and now that it is remapped you certainly need some extra grip. The stock Goodyears are rubbish.
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Old 28th November 2013, 21:51   #640
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by akshay1234 View Post
Buddy you haven't upgraded the tyres have you? I think that should be no 1 on the list now. It will make a big difference to the car and now that it is remapped you certainly need some extra grip. The stock Goodyears are rubbish.
oh yeah, i missed out that one from the list. I'll probably run the current set of Apollo Aceleres for another 5k kms (they've done almost 20k now) and then switch to Michelin Primacy3 ST in the same size 195/60R15.
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Old 28th November 2013, 22:35   #641
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

Brilliant work Karthik. The red rocket with the external paint sealant and the tastefully modded interiors simply looks amazing.
As discussed above, it does miss a nice HU to complete the set.

I had spoken once with Vivek from TOT about remapping my Figo and was mighty impressed with his recommendations. Somehow couldn't get it done due some or other commitments. After seeing your mods, I have started saving so that I can get the remap done asap.

P.S. - I was quoted around 28k for a power based tuneup. Seems ok?
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Old 28th November 2013, 22:44   #642
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

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Originally Posted by KarthikK View Post
Touchscreen HU? Ouch! That would mean blue&Me goes for a toss. I'll need to give that some thought before opting for it.
Then at least cover it with a dummy touch screen panel .

What have you applied on the dashboard? Its shining like your new seat covers. Meanwhile I'm not spotting your car on Varthur road these days. Are you using some cheat code and traveling in stealth mode to avoid scratches from pesky motorists?
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Old 29th November 2013, 11:31   #643
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

Quote:
Originally Posted by satan's_valet View Post
Brilliant work Karthik. The red rocket with the external paint sealant and the tastefully modded interiors simply looks amazing.
As discussed above, it does miss a nice HU to complete the set.

I had spoken once with Vivek from TOT about remapping my Figo and was mighty impressed with his recommendations. Somehow couldn't get it done due some or other commitments. After seeing your mods, I have started saving so that I can get the remap done asap.

P.S. - I was quoted around 28k for a power based tuneup. Seems ok?
Thanks a lot satan's_valet, glad you liked it! The remap is really another reason for me to drive to office everyday - it has definitely improved city driveability a lot, and does give the urge to have some fun while commuting daily *winks*.

Vivek and Sid were both instrumental in giving me this cracker of a map and are open to refining the map as and when I need something different. I would definitely recommend their services as a satisfied customer.

28k is the same price what I paid too. I think it is their fixed rate for remaps, irrespective of the car's brand or model. It is a one time charge though for lifetime of that car. They won't charge anything more for future refinements or tune alterations, which is a good thing for the customer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by guyfrmblr View Post
Then at least cover it with a dummy touch screen panel .

What have you applied on the dashboard? Its shining like your new seat covers. Meanwhile I'm not spotting your car on Varthur road these days. Are you using some cheat code and traveling in stealth mode to avoid scratches from pesky motorists?
Haha, no I don't remember applying anything on the dashboard at all. I do brush the dry dust once in a while, using a Jopasu mini duster. Perhaps the wax on the duster strands are causing that shine effect there unintentionally .

I'm still on the Varthur commute itself. In spite of the potholes and speedbreakers, it is a 1000 times better than ORR with its mad cabs and bumper-scraping-bikers on their way to office. At least the car is in motion here, traffic is lesser with only 1 lane so no bumper scrapers, and I do like the greenery filled village roads much better than the smoke-dust combo of ORR *lol*. We might catch up one of these days, you never know - I started going early and coming early again.
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Old 29th November 2013, 19:12   #644
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* 114 BHP & 250 Nm by Tune-O-Tro

Just one word KarthikK, 'Awesome'. Since forum rules wont allow me to post a one worder I ll add some more


However

Quote:
Originally Posted by KarthikK View Post
[b]

And all 4 door trims:
Attachment 1167824

Attachment 1167825

Some bad finish there, specifically where the plastic meets the leather?

Apart from that all looks absolutely spotless. Would love to get something like that to the interiors of my Punto too

And yeah a brilliant ownership review thread running. Went through it comprehensively before I bought my Punto.
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Old 30th November 2013, 17:13   #645
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Re: The Red Rocket - Fiat Grande Punto Sport. *UPDATE* Interiors now in Karlsson Leat

Quote:
Originally Posted by KarthikK View Post
Thanks a lot shashank, your stanley review helped a lot in this decision . I doubt the sweating part though. As long as the AC is on, real leather shouldn't cause sweating I think. I've done plenty of 500+km per day runs in the Linea and never once found myself sweating with the ACC on. Art leather does trigger a lot of sweating though.
Will wait for your feedback on this. In Octy, the contact areas are sweaty after a long drive even after the AC is turned on.
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