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Old 18th May 2016, 12:19   #31
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by sandeepmohan View Post
I should have been more clear. My car is a 2011 model. I was trying to say that this problem existed back then, when the car was new.

Rahulkool, when time permits, can you please go back to your service center and ask them to show you what parameter was highlighted that suggests the spark angle as the problem.
I meant when your car was new.

The service center is very far and that was the reason i did send a mail to Fiat. I had clearly mentioned that i had already drove once to the service center without any results, please make sure that its sorted out in the second visit.

Anyways i will call the service manager and ask him what was the exact issue.



Quote:
Originally Posted by thedragula View Post

Congrats on the car Rahul!
Thanks, my Palio was in perfect condition mechanically, there was some issue with dashboard paint, that all. I do regret selling it , but in the end i couldn't have managed keeping both the cars, i don't have the time and money to maintain. I like to keep my vehicles in absolutely perfect condition, even minor problems gives me sleepless nights

As i said earlier i have never faced any problem in slotting gear on Tjet or Abarth.

Abarth is essentially same Tjet engine with few different components, but it revs much better, you can red line it like the 1.6. Yes the palio had very good torque even at 1000rpm, i could shift till 4th gear without touching the accelerator and most of the mall parking gradient can be climbed without accelerator input. Abarth has decent torque low down the range but not as good as Palio 1.6

The first time i went to the service center they did connected a laptop and ran the diagnostics and told me that everything is fine and there is no errors as such. I remember that they removed the engine covered and cleaned the spark plug wires. Maybe they knew the problem was with spark plugs ? Service manager was not involved and only one mechanic was working on the car.

In my second visit they connected the laptop for diagnostics, i didn't wanted to intrude and disturb them so i was standing away from the car(i am thankful for the fact that Fiat allows you to be in the workshop, otherwise most of the manufacturers won't even let you in). I could see that service manager was talking to someone while diagnostics was running on the laptop. After that he was very confident that changing the spark plugs will solve the problem, i had my doubts. In the end changing it did sort out the problem.

I did ask that what was the problem, he said something related to spark angle. He also said that spark plugs has some manufacturing defect. i was too ecstatic to ask anything else.

Quote:
Originally Posted by shk 8896 View Post
Congrats on the Abarth, Rahul.
Thanks, i dont understand whats the fuss about the gearbox, i don't have any issues with it.

Last edited by Rahulkool : 18th May 2016 at 12:23.
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Old 18th May 2016, 14:47   #32
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by thedragula View Post
@Prabuddha: Ditto to what you said. I still cant let go of the 1.6. I too drive it alternate days. Everytime I drive the 1.6, I think to myself "Why don't I drive this more often". When I get to office and I look at my wet shirt (due to non-working A/c), I get the picture.
Luckily for me, everything on the Petra except the electric ORVM's works. Replacement is also not available. So I lean over and push the glass by hand.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thedragula View Post
....Also, your observation on the gear change is spot on. I too try to downshift just as i am about to take a sweeping left and the gear doesn't slot into third. If I am in fifth, it doesn't slot into fourth. But it easily slots into second.
Even on the Petra, gear shifting is not slick. I wonder why Fiat is not able to nail this in spite of such superb feedback on the Linea brakes and the steering, which no comparable car can match.

Last edited by prabuddhadg : 18th May 2016 at 15:02.
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Old 18th May 2016, 16:23   #33
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by sandeepmohan View Post
I too am curious to know what parameter on the OBD scanner indicated that it was a spark angle issue. More than anything else, I was surprised that someone at Fiat India could identify and resolve an issue like this. It is the fist time I am coming across a term called spark angle.
I called up the KHT service manager and asked him about the 'spark angle' issue on the Abarth/Jet and he said he was hearing about it for the first time. He asked me to copy all the relevant posts to his email so he could take it up with FIAT.
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Old 30th May 2016, 12:45   #34
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Yesterday drove to Horsley hills. Around 285kms from my place, total ~600kms. Started from home at 9am and was back at 8pm. Till now mostly i have driven on 4 lane highway with limited ghats or twisty section. Exception being drive to tirupati, but roads were not that good and i wasn't pushing the car because i had few more people in the car.

In this trip, apart from first 100kms on NH4(till sriperumbudur NH4 is really in bad shape and you have to pay toll !!, condition is better after that but still not in good shape), the rest was 2 lane road with lot of curves and ghats sections. Roads were good, except for few places with broken top surface and unmarked speed breakers in between.

Steering is a delight to use, you know exactly what the tyres are upto. The Michelin Primacy tyres are very silent and no squeal even on hard cornering(comparison with yoko ES100 on palio). Brakes are again excellent and provide ample feedback. Overtaking on 2 lane road was effortless, if you are above 2k rpm, no need of downshifting. Engine braking is lot less than 1.6 unit of palio, is it something to do with turbo ? Gearbox again not one of the sleekest, but does the job for me.

Suspension is stiff and as i said earlier after you pick up speed ride gets better. Body roll is lot less than Palio. Due to stiff suspension you have to lot careful with speed breakers. At high speed, tyres jump off the road and suspension makes loud thud noise
Edit: Drove a friends brezza few days back and it felt like gliding over. It was super nice when compared to my car. The regular punto is also very comfortable on bad roads.

The car has done 3250kms till now and overall FE is 9.6kmpl.

Route i took
Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up-screenshot-20160530-11.41.42.png

Few pics from yesterday, drive to the top was fantastic, no traffic at all !!
Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up-fullsizerender_2.jpg

Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up-fullsizerender_1.jpg

Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up-img_3013.jpg

Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up-fullsizerender_3.jpg

Last edited by Rahulkool : 30th May 2016 at 13:09.
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Old 31st May 2016, 08:36   #35
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by keroo1099 View Post
I called up the KHT service manager and asked him about the 'spark angle' issue on the Abarth/Jet and he said he was hearing about it for the first time. He asked me to copy all the relevant posts to his email so he could take it up with FIAT.
Feedback from KHT service manager after discussion with Fiat is that the issue is only with the spark plugs. I didn't press any further.
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Old 5th June 2016, 00:03   #36
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Congratulations RahulKool on your latest acquisition.

And a big hello to all the members on the forum. I just got my membership approved today. I have been following Team-Bhp since 2012 and finally decided to take the plunge and become a member last week.

Incidentally, I have booked an Abarth Punto in Kolkata from Austin Fiat some 10-12 days ago. The Sales Representative sent me a text message yesterady that the car would enter their yard tomorrow, the 5th of June. I will in all probability do a PDI sometime next week, preferably Tuesday. I have a few questions for all the owners of this wonderful vehicle. Is the date of manufacture imprinted somewhere on the vehicle or do we use the VIN decoder (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...cture-vin.html). If we are using the VIN decoder, does the Abarth Punto follow the exact same codes as the Grande Punto, or are the codes different? And what about the Engine code. I believe the Abarth uses an imported 1.4 T-Jet, which might be different from the one on the Linea. Does that make the engine code on the Abarth different from the one used in Linea?

Thanks,
s_scorpion
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Old 5th June 2016, 01:08   #37
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by s_scorpion View Post
Congratulations RahulKool on your latest acquisition.

And a big hello to all the members on the forum. I just got my membership approved today. I have been following Team-Bhp since 2012 and finally decided to take the plunge and become a member last week.

Incidentally, I have booked an Abarth Punto in Kolkata from Austin Fiat some 10-12 days ago. The Sales Representative sent me a text message yesterady that the car would enter their yard tomorrow, the 5th of June. I will in all probability do a PDI sometime next week, preferably Tuesday. I have a few questions for all the owners of this wonderful vehicle. Is the date of manufacture imprinted somewhere on the vehicle or do we use the VIN decoder (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...cture-vin.html). If we are using the VIN decoder, does the Abarth Punto follow the exact same codes as the Grande Punto, or are the codes different? And what about the Engine code. I believe the Abarth uses an imported 1.4 T-Jet, which might be different from the one on the Linea. Does that make the engine code on the Abarth different from the one used in Linea?

Thanks,
s_scorpion
Thanks and congrats

Abarth has same VIN as GP, look for the last 3 digits. It should be AGZ.

A= January
GZ = 2016

Full VIN details as below.
Quote:
e.g. MCA118A5F94649463DNZ (hypothetical VIN just for example)
Here:
MCA= Fiat India Car
118A5F= Tells about engine and Car. BS4 Grande Punto 1.4Fire Petrol in this case See below for details on engine codes.
94649463= Chassis No.
D= April. See below for codes for various months.
NZ= 2010

Codes for Production Months:
A- JAN
B-FEB
C- MAR
D- APR
E- MAY
F- JUNE
G- JULY
H- AUG
J- SEP
K- OCT
L- NOV
M- DEC

Source - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2034763
VIN no will be mentioned in the engine compartment as well as footwell of front passenger side.
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Old 5th June 2016, 23:48   #38
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

@Rahulkool ... hearty congratulations on being an abarth owner. Recently visited Fiat showroom/service centre regarding my Fiat Palio (1.2) . Just had a sneak peak into the showroom with my better half. Saw the angry scorpion and instantly fell in love with it against strong words of caution from my wife. I had to appoint my more sensible friends to talk me out of yet another fiat ( them being owners of Figo, Polo, City and Swift. Proper sampling i would say ).

Driving around in a Fiat from 2008, no major problems till date . But service centres over here in trivandrum is a nightmare. They believe in replacing parts, they don't believe in repair. Last year had a not so nice experience with ramkay fiat too.
My million dollar question is does our fiat service centre properly equipped and trained to deal with an abarth ?
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Old 6th June 2016, 13:50   #39
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

@Rahulkool How would you compare the suspension of the Abarth Punto with that of the Palio 1.6? I find the Linea Tjet suspension to be slightly softer than that on my Petra 1.6 which is similar in feel to the Palio 1.6.

Cornering must have been a dream on the Abarth.
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Old 6th June 2016, 17:01   #40
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocker Arm View Post

Driving around in a Fiat from 2008, no major problems till date . But service centres over here in trivandrum is a nightmare. They believe in replacing parts, they don't believe in repair. Last year had a not so nice experience with ramkay fiat too.
My million dollar question is does our fiat service centre properly equipped and trained to deal with an abarth ?
Abarth is essentially punto with Tjet engine. The engine has few different components to make more power. I don't think it requires any extra skill to service this car, any fiat service center which has technicians for Linea Tjet and punto should be able to handle this car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by prabuddhadg View Post
@Rahulkool How would you compare the suspension of the Abarth Punto with that of the Palio 1.6? I find the Linea Tjet suspension to be slightly softer than that on my Petra 1.6 which is similar in feel to the Palio 1.6.

Cornering must have been a dream on the Abarth.
Suspension on Abarth to be more stiffer than Palio and travel is also less. Ya cornering is lot of fun in this car, even mid corner braking doesnt feel unsettling. Take a test ride and check. I dont find the tjet suspension stiffer than Palio.

Last edited by Rahulkool : 6th June 2016 at 17:03.
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Old 7th June 2016, 13:08   #41
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

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Originally Posted by Rahulkool View Post
A.... Take a test ride and check. I dont find the tjet suspension stiffer than Palio.
Test ride? In Bombay... that is a pipe dream. Not a single dealer here.
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Old 7th June 2016, 13:21   #42
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rahulkool View Post
I dont find the tjet suspension stiffer than Palio.
Oops sorry, i meant the other way around. Palio suspension was softer than tjet, just slightly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by prabuddhadg View Post
Test ride? In Bombay... that is a pipe dream. Not a single dealer here.
Damn!! I dont understand how fiat is not able to open one single showroom in mumbai
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Old 28th June 2016, 15:09   #43
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Hi All,

Need a small help from all of you. I got the VIN number for my Abarth punto from the dealer yesterday. The car is in transit. VIN ends with AGZ indicating it's a 2016 JANUARY production model. I am a bit concerned here because of the 6 months age of the car. I spoke with the sales guy and he said that this period is normal for all Fiat cars that roll out of his dealership. For linea it might even be more than 6 months. Is this period of 6 months normal for Fiat cars? Can anyone of you who own a Fiat/Abarth please advise? If this period is not normal should I refuse to take delivery of the car?
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Old 28th June 2016, 16:00   #44
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Quote:
Originally Posted by s_scorpion View Post
Hi All,

Need a small help from all of you. I got the VIN number for my Abarth punto from the dealer yesterday. The car is in transit. VIN ends with AGZ indicating it's a 2016 JANUARY production model. I am a bit concerned here because of the 6 months age of the car. I spoke with the sales guy and he said that this period is normal for all Fiat cars that roll out of his dealership. For linea it might even be more than 6 months. Is this period of 6 months normal for Fiat cars? Can anyone of you who own a Fiat/Abarth please advise? If this period is not normal should I refuse to take delivery of the car?
Monthly Abarth sales figure is really low. Even when i purchased the car in March, i got a jan manufactured car. As long as car is from the manufacturer and not lying in the dealer premises for 6 month i don't see any problem. Do a proper PDI of the car once it reaches the dealers yard and if you are satisfied then only ask them to send it for registration.
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Old 28th June 2016, 17:00   #45
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re: Palio 1.6 to the Fiat Abarth Punto. EDIT: 42,500 km up

Hearty congrats on owning the hottest common man's car Rahul. Have lakhs of happy km

Quote:
Originally Posted by s_scorpion View Post
Hi All,

Need a small help from all of you. I got the VIN number for my Abarth punto from the dealer yesterday. The car is in transit. VIN ends with AGZ indicating it's a 2016 JANUARY production model.
Hi s_scorpion,

Is the car being dispatched from the factory or the dealer's stockyard? If it is the latter, you should pay the ex-showroom price of 9.95L since the new price came into effect from 1st April 2016. Whatever the case is, ask for big discounts as the car is old and is not selling well.

If the dealer is not ready to give big discounts, insist on a newer stock manufactured after April at the least.

Last edited by theredliner : 28th June 2016 at 17:01.
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