[arun_josie]

Excellent review, rav11stars!!!
Congratulations on the new ride!!! The car looks awesome.

Regarding the power loss issue, if its a one-off incident then I think you can ignore it.

I faced a similar issue in my Linea recently during a drive to Wayanad, quoting here from my thread

During the onward journey, at around 5 Kms from home on the NICE road, car emitted heavy smoke at 2000-2500 RPM may be for 4-5 seconds. I noticed this on the IRVM and also my friend who was behind me noticed it. And this was the only time it happened during this journey.

After this I started facing a power loss during 2000-2500 RPM intermittently. I regain the power within 2-3 seconds and I feel a thrust from behind when this happens. This happened multiple times during the onward journey. In Wayanad while going towards Kuruva Island, I took the car to 3500 RPM multiple times on the second and third gear(advised by few in Fiat forum) and now it looks like this issue has disappeared.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...kms-up-10.html

The issue has not appeared again. I reported this to FASS as well they checked the turbo for issues(leakages), but all fine.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

I'm with you on that. The European model just had the refreshed interiors and new tail-lamp. They retained the maserati snout and it's quite a looker.

Inspite of this neither the Punto Evo nor the Avventura made it to the TBHP car of the year list. Surprising isnt it.

Regarding the new alignment readings, are they being made available to all? I mean the private WA/WB players. I have to get the WA/WB of my Punto done in the next week and I spoke to the person to whom I regularly go and he isn't aware of that as yet. I need to write to Fiat in this regards and get the readings from them.

[me@fiat]

rav11stars . Excellent review and congratulations!!
Curious to know if you stay near by dange chowk? Because Me and a friend of mine had spotted this car couple of times near Dange chowk.
If yes then i think it's time to catch up

[Srikanthan]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

My overall feeling was " I'm buying the car, they're not selling me one".

Rav - I like this statement which exactly reflects the position I was in, when I got my Vento a year back. In fact I remember telling to the SA, "You are not selling the car, I'm buying it"

Enjoy your drives safely.

[kilireddy0]

True words have never been spoken before. Congratulations OP.

[swiftnfurious]

A good thread with good pics! Please keep continuing with regular updates. Just want to check - have you TDed Polo, Elite i20, Fiesta, Zest & Ecosport? I think these are some cars which scores high on cabin silence. Would love to know your rating of vehicles (you have driven) listed against Punto's.I have driven Zest & been in a Polo - both were really good.

[rav11stars]

Originally Posted by Rev_That_V8

@rav11stars : That was a very comprehensive review . enjoyed reading it .
I am also planning to buy a hatch in this price range and the Punto Evo is into my list, couldn't do a test drive as of now as they closed the dealership near my residence (Tata and fiat had a joint showroom and since Tata ended their JV with fiat their showrooms got separated too). planning to pay a visit with Ramkay-Fiat this weekend.

Two questions based on your experience:
#1: How is the legroom for the rear passenger and how is the comfy is the seat and thigh support, is it adequate for the rear passengers?.
#2: I would do a lot of city driving with high chances of bumper to bumper traffic. will the diesel be a good choice here?.

1. For the test drives I followed a pattern of asking three of my friends to come along with me. So along with the SA we always had five people seated in the car. Except for the Elite i20, I found the Punto's rear bench to be sufficient. It's not overly comfortable, but it's not congested either. I sat along with two other medium-built friends on a long drive and it was ok.
2. Yes, after driving through Pune's peak hour traffic off late, I found it to be good. You can just slot it into second gear and just move along. In bumper-to-bumper stop-go I'm just slotting into first, move and neutral. I've noticed that it didn't rev beyond 1.5k while doing this.

Originally Posted by me@fiat

rav11stars . Excellent review and congratulations!!
Curious to know if you stay near by dange chowk? Because Me and a friend of mine had spotted this car couple of times near Dange chowk.
If yes then i think it's time to catch up

yes, that's me. Not erasing off the number in the pics had it's advantage I'll PM you my number so we can catch up.

[rav11stars]

Originally Posted by stewie

Rav11Stars,
Congratulations on getting the beauty. Hope you have many happy miles with your Punto.

My Punto had a similar problem with pulling to the right.
The first time i showed it, they only did some changes to the camber etc. which didn't really make a difference.
On the 2nd visit, they rotated the tyres which actually reversed the pulling direction.
The issue was finally resolved after they removed the tyres and put them back on with the tread in the opposite direction. This was again at the Pandit workshop in Pashan.
I hope this helps and your car gets all better!
Regards,
ravi

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Inspite of this neither the Punto Evo nor the Avventura made it to the TBHP car of the year list. Surprising isnt it.

Regarding the new alignment readings, are they being made available to all? I mean the private WA/WB players. I have to get the WA/WB of my Punto done in the next week and I spoke to the person to whom I regularly go and he isn't aware of that as yet. I need to write to Fiat in this regards and get the readings from them.

yes, In fact, I called them up yesterday and went over there. This time I stopped being the less talkative shy myself and explained that I do not want the SA who was assigned earlier. I also explained that this would be the second time I'd be visiting after the first service.
After reaching there, I made sure to mention that my left side pulling issue still persists and about the sluggishness. I said that I came to know about the new alignment values for Punto Evo. The alignment guy came in and this time I attentively looked at the screen and found that there were new values for the Evo. He checked and found that the toe in was not within threshold. He adjusted it and I took it for a spin. Issue resolved.

@ghodlur
I have the new report in the car. I'll attach it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Excellent review, rav11stars!!!
Congratulations on the new ride!!! The car looks awesome.

Regarding the power loss issue, if its a one-off incident then I think you can ignore it.

I faced a similar issue in my Linea recently during a drive to Wayanad, quoting here from my thread

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...kms-up-10.html

The issue has not appeared again. I reported this to FASS as well they checked the turbo for issues(leakages), but all fine.

yep, I've already read your post when I faced this issue After the alignment, we took it out for a test drive. I said, although this is a one-off incident I didn't want to take chances as this can be caused due to some constriction near the turbo. We came back and he hooked on an examiner to check. It runs on windows98 and is a touch-screen
Initially I found that the Evo is listed and said we should select this whereas he said it's a different screen to check the engine. He followed my advice, selected Punto Evo and clicked continue. It just said "downloading data" and gave an error "check the cable blah-blah". He then came back and selected a customized menu to check the engine errors etc.



No errors were reported. He physically checked all the hoses and said there's nothing to worry and it can be ignored as a one-off incident.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

A good thread with good pics! Please keep continuing with regular updates. Just want to check - have you TDed Polo, Elite i20, Fiesta, Zest & Ecosport? I think these are some cars which scores high on cabin silence. Would love to know your rating of vehicles (you have driven) listed against Punto's.I have driven Zest & been in a Polo - both were really good.

Thank you.
I've TD'ed the Polo, Elite i20 and the swift. In terms of engine, build quality and interior finish there's no beating the Polo. But then the lower ground clearance, cabin noise (it had 1700km on the odo and the sales exec said the noise is due to it being a test drive vehicle) and a congested cabin were against it. I didn't like the way I had to get into it to get into the car; felt like getting into an Igloo, although I've never been into one.
I felt the door closing thud of the Polo to be more confident that the Punto. When I gently push it through the three stages, at the last stage, I felt that it automatically pulls it confidently to a close whereas the Punto sometimes doesn't.

I'd rate the Elite i20 as the best of the lot. It had all the bells and whistles (although less than the outgoing i20), lots of storage spaces. You'd not believe, but I didn't go for it because it didn't have the red colour I wanted. Yeah, I can be that quirky at times. But then isn't a car all about driving? It's steering didn't have that feel which the Punto had.

The Zest was not available at that time. I liked the Fiesta, based on the official review. The chocolate brown colour and the features were nice. But I was only looking for a hatch and moreover the Fiesta is pricey, at least when compared to my budget. Moreover I'm like "look at/try out something only if we have a genuine interest in wanting to buy it" which my wife doesn't agree with.
My only regret that I didn't TD the Ecosport was felt after I read the official review recently. The long-waiting period, my budget and the fact that I wanted a hatch comforted me. I don't know why, but I do not like the cross-over stuff. They look like marketing gimmicks to lure us with hatches on stilts (Ecosport is a new model, but I don't think it's an SUV either). If I want a hatchback, it'll be a pure hatchback. If I want an SUV, I'll save up and buy a SUV. No compromises.

[rav11stars]

From the service station, I called up 3M, Baner to check if they're free. I went over there to see what they had to advise. Swapnil, the Manager had a look and he does have an eye for detail. He advised that I go in for the paint sealant treatment. He explained about the other care plans as well.



Got a nice view from the top


I didn't want to go in for any cosmetic changes at once. So just got these done. Instead of CF tape covering the entire ORVM, I wanted a small strip of red showing up. I was worried as to how it'll look, but it came out ok.
I also had the two crome strips in the front masked with glossy tape. I did a simulation in my mobile first and it looked ok. Having a Lumia with Fantasia painter app has it's advantages. It's the equivalent of photoshop on mobile. No, it's not available on Android

The number plate is blocking the trapezoidal chrome strip; time to reduce it's size and get a nice one instead of the iron sheet. Left: before and the right-hand side is after the application of the strips. Let me know your views as well. Laxman, who did the job of fixing the strips is quite adept at his skills.



And a final snap after 6 hours of washing, polishing. Swapnil inspected, called them over and pointed something in some nooks and crannies and had that redone. I was thinking for quite some time that there's something odd with the seat-belts in my rear seat. He found that a belt went under the seat; he took it out and neatly folded it.

Wow, looking at the entire thing, standing along with them for 6 hours, the feeling was "oh, how lucky these cars can be. Even I was not pampered as much as them". Wish there's the equivalent of 3M for humans as well

[rav11stars]

Found something interesting. Did you also notice this? Does FIAT have the same MID for all Punto across the globe? Notice the "shift up/down", the S with the arrows wrapped around it and the city/sport beneath the AcB?

What could these be?

[Rev_That_V8]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

1. For the test drives I followed a pattern of asking three of my friends to come along with me. So along with the SA we always had five people seated in the car. Except for the Elite i20, I found the Punto's rear bench to be sufficient. It's not overly comfortable, but it's not congested either. I sat along with two other medium-built friends on a long drive and it was ok.
2. Yes, after driving through Pune's peak hour traffic off late, I found it to be good. You can just slot it into second gear and just move along. In bumper-to-bumper stop-go I'm just slotting into first, move and neutral. I've noticed that it didn't rev beyond 1.5k while doing this.

Thanks @Rav11Stars, good that city drive looks comfy I did a TD yesterday (picked up my friends too into the drive) and I'm finding the Evo(driving posture) very comfortable (seats are way better than say, the Swift and are of good grade.) My dad has back (lumbar) pain and he found the rear seats to be better than the swift. would mostly strike a deal in favor of the Punto after couple of TDs at Volkswagen (polo TDi) and Hyundai Elite i20.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

Found something interesting. Did you also notice this? Does FIAT have the same MID for all Punto across the globe? Notice the "shift up/down", the S with the arrows wrapped around it and the city/sport beneath the AcB?

What could these be?

Attachment 1320606

Its from the Abarth Punto Evo.
The "S" is for Sport Mode wherein.
The "Shift up and down" is a GSI or Gear Shift Indicator.
The UP light comes on when people are driving in higher rpms at lower gears, which consumes more fuel.
The DOWN light comes on when people lug the engine i.e., drive in higher gears at very low rpm.

[myavu]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

Found something interesting.

What could these be?

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

Its from the Abarth Punto Evo.
The "S" is for Sport Mode wherein.

So if we read both thread together (parts sharing), the possibility of upcoming Abarth Punto Evo and Abarth Avventura is a fact not fiction.

Cheers!

Vinu

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by rav11stars

I said that I came to know about the new alignment values for Punto Evo.
@ghodlur
I have the new report in the car. I'll attach it tomorrow.

Can you post the alignment report, would like to know the values. I spoke with Mangesh Kodalkar of Fiat and he said there is no change in the alignment values either for the post 2012 nor for the Evo models. There are only two sets of alignment values, one for pre 2012 models without GC enhancement kit and one for post 2012 models with GC enhancement kit. He was curious to know as to where the information of new alignment readings are coming from. I asked if he is ready to share the values, he resisted. I am attaching the WA report for the ones done in Dec 2013 and June 2014 for my Punto, both done at same place but do have the difference in the range values. Can you relate to these readings. I think the car variant selection plays an important for the preset values. Both the times the WA was done on Hunter machines. Planning to get the WA done tomorrow at Balaji Fiat, Thane FASS.

[rav11stars]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Can you post the alignment report, would like to know the values. I spoke with Mangesh Kodalkar of Fiat and he said there is no change in the alignment values either for the post 2012 nor for the Evo models. There are only two sets of alignment values, one for pre 2012 models without GC enhancement kit and one for post 2012 models with GC enhancement kit. He was curious to know as to where the information of new alignment readings are coming from. I asked if he is ready to share the values, he resisted. I am attaching the WA report for the ones done in Dec 2013 and June 2014 for my Punto, both done at same place but do have the difference in the range values. Can you relate to these readings. I think the car variant selection plays an important for the preset values. Both the times the WA was done on Hunter machines. Planning to get the WA done tomorrow at Balaji Fiat, Thane FASS.

sorry for the delay; with the wife and junior back in town it's been hectic driving them around town and it's been good fun. Here's the WB report.