[SnS_12]

A great review of another wonderful car from the fiat stable.

For me and lot of potential buyers a sour point would be that rear mounted tyre. Looking at it, I could imagine myself scratching my head figuring out what all I would have to do (or rather not do) to live with that design.

a) Can never park the car in reverse against a wall.

b) Can never open the booth in traffic with other cars so close to me in traffic.

c) Security guys at malls and hotels would have a tough time opening it.

d) Can never load or unload luggage from or on the right hand side as the wheel would block my way. etc etc


On the T - Jet engine I did read on the Autocar website, that it might be introduced in the Punto Abarth version with 140 BHP.

Now, even that won't have the sales numbers ringing for Fiat, but it would definitely be a car to have in your garage.

[phamilyman]

Fantastic review man. Amazing attention to detail.

I cannot understand just one thing - the boot mounted spare wheel. Basically it has become an instrument of self-flagellation only for the sake of looking butch/good. Can one just take the damn tyre off and keep it back in the boot where it belongs?

[hemanth.anand]

Wonderful review CD, really exhaustive. Rated a deserving 5-star.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

What you won't:

I also got an opportunity to TD the Avventura and I would add the long clutch travel too to this list(although very smooth)

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Gap between the wheel arches & tyres is massive. Here with an iPhone 4S:

You don't love your iphone or what?

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Wasted opportunity. The entire space vacated by the 205 mm spare wheel is used for keeping a thermocol unit housing the tools & warning triangle:

that would have been atleast 25 litres. Also notice that the jack rod doesn't fit in the cavity made for it

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Interestingly, I feel the infamous air noise or whistle of the Punto has been resolved in the Avventura. The media cars had very little sound from the wing mirrors, even at high speeds. Has it got anything to do with the wide cladding diverting air flow away from the ORVMs? Tyre noise seemed to be on the higher side though.

Apart from the wide cladding I feel that the indicators added to the mirrors are the reason behind this reduced noise.

Did you see this lever over the rear wheel well inside the boot? I wonder what it is meant to do?


Also I found a switch below the steering column. I don't know if you noticed it...Any idea what it is?


The Pricing announced today is good as with the Evo. The top end is a whole 1 lakh less than the Ecosport! But only time will tell if Fiat have something to cheer or not

And now for some mods for my car...I'll be the first to order those black skirtings to replace the black stickers on my car

[Fiatanic]

Many thanks for the excellent review!

Now this difficulty in opening/closing the boot it a practical concern. Here in delhi you have to open the boot for the gaurds before entering some malls/hotels etc.

Makes me wonder if one could somehow get the rear wheel mount removed and place the the spare in its original duct in the boot? The will be still be a looker - minus the odds of boot opening procedure, as seen in this picture:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...g_1484_800.jpg

[KarthikK]

On a related note to the (in)famous boot problem, isn't it practical to do away with that rear parcel shelf and allow access for passengers to the boot space without having to go through all that circus of opening it? It still won't solve the security check hassle though

[p'arth]

Security personnel at most offices and malls do open the boot while entering (sometimes exiting also) to check. Imagine their plight in opening this beast of a boot.

Alternative may be to remove the parcel tray and access the boot from the rear seats. Relatively easier.

[puchoo]

A hit or a miss for Fiat depending on who you speak to i suppose although bookings numbers circulating around appear to tell the story that more people are happy rather than not.

The boot space is a complete lack of thinking in my opinion , with the entire spare wheel out all they could come up with was to put the tools in the same space? But the design and the way they have laid the spare tyre aesthetically is something i would compliment fiat for.

Tilt / Compass , nice to look at , absolutely no real daily use atleast not for me.

Same steering wheel as in the Linea , maybe a little differentiation could have been brought in here - the steering wheel is fantastic , there is no problem with it per say but maybe a few more design inclusions to make it different from the family.

I do not like the color of the soft touch dashboard at all , looks like a dirty grey carpet - would have been better to so go with a solid / textured design along the lines of say the Fabia.

[Gannu_1]

Amazing review and excellent attention to detail! Rated the thread 5 stars.

From the current crop of the hatchbacks-turned-crossovers, the Avventura appears to be the only one I have a distinct love for. The Cross Polo and the Etios Cross appears too plain to be called a crossover - more like a plastic clad-job on the front, rear and sides, a different set of wheels and the roof rails. Same ground clearance; Etios Cross gets 4 mm more than the usual Liva but that’s just that. But Avventura seems to be on a different league altogether! 205 mm ground clearance! That's greater than Ecosport's 200 mm GC!

It has been reiterated a million times before and I’ll say it again - Fiat should have launched the Punto Evo/Avventura with the T-Jet engine. A lot of folks being wary of the DSG on the Polo, yearn for the 1.2 TSI with a manual gearbox (available outside India). Fiat could have filled this gap by introducing the T-Jet on the new Punto or the Avventura but looks like a missed opportunity for now. Perhaps, they could launch one later.

As for the tail-gate mounted spare wheel and the awkward opening mechanism, I guess it would be a good idea for the owners to keep a couple of printouts in the car which indicate the steps to open the tail-gate. Will save them some time from getting in and out of the car.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

And where did the projector headlamps and DRLs go missing suddenly from the prototype??

+1 to that.

See the attachment, that FIAT India has posted in their FB page on OCT 18.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

And where did the projector headlamps and DRLs go missing suddenly from the prototype??

Seems like Fiat completely forgot about it, oh wait, they have safely kept it for the facelift if at all this gets one

[joommen]

Very useful review. Wish I could try to improve the ground clearance of my Punto (90HP) that is badly needed for the 'excellent' Bangalore roads which are rich in craters and shallow lakes (could try for fish farming)

Thanks for any thoughts to improve GC, please..

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Excellent review CrazyDriver! Very comprehensive report and review on the car and very detailed pictures to boot.

[veyron_head]

Very comprehensive Review Crazy Driver!! If you need the bits & bytes details in a review and not just an overview, there ain't no place like Team-BHP.

What an awesome looking car! The only fly in the ointment to me is the gate-like tail gate. That is going to be a major everyday irritant.

How does the FE compare with the Punto Evo, considering the additional weight of Avventura?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by joommen

Very useful review. Wish I could try to improve the ground clearance of my Punto (90HP) that is badly needed for the 'excellent' Bangalore roads which are rich in craters and shallow lakes (could try for fish farming)

Thanks for any thoughts to improve GC, please..

Is yours the pre-2012 Punto 90HP? If so, the ground clearance upgrade kit is available (optional) at Fiat authorized service stations for an extra cost of around 12k + labour. You could get it done during your next service.

I have the version with increased GC and have never faced issues anywhere even on really horrid stretches. Can't remember anytime this car bottomed out, ever! On the T-Jet with 170mm and a longer wheelbase, I bottom out quite often while travelling to remote places

[arnabchak]

Well written CD.

Rating a well deserved 5 Stars.

Somehow, feel they have botched it with the pricing.
Also, in a place like India where space is at a premium and Cross over targets the metros, feel that the rear wheel set up mechanism is a joke.

Where, oh where in a place like Mumbai can we afford that amount of space to open a car dickey?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I cannot understand just one thing - the boot mounted spare wheel. Basically it has become an instrument of self-flagellation only for the sake of looking butch/good. Can one just take the damn tyre off and keep it back in the boot where it belongs?

As you said its there only to lend character/stance to an otherwise smaller dimension. Look what that did to Ecosport. All said and done, truly a really stand out looking product in terms of its looks. The T-Jet would have be an icing on this cake and so would be the often dreamt 1.6MJD. I hope they add that sooner than later.


Awesome review @CD. And as you said yes Adventure was a fantastic product. Many a times during my Fusion ownership, I have gone past the Adventure on road and shared a smile with the respective owner. We both knew what we owned!