[Mysticeyes]

congrats buddy..have a safe drive and nice pics too Like you said, Binu requires a special mention. He was quite courteous and informed.

[Klub Class]

Congratulations for buying the hawt Italian hatch.Welcome to the Grande Punto Club brother.I am damn sure that you'll enjoy every single moment that you spend in this car :-)

Happy and Safe Motoring.Keep Updating with more and more pictures brother.

[Soccerfan]

2nd part

Accessories Done

Planned for seat cover , sunfilm ,better mats (dealer provided free mats were crappy) and alloys. Power house accessories in trivandrum quoted 11.5K for a set of 4 alloys from neo wheels (98 PCD). I liked the design. Others didn't have any 98PCD alloys available. But due to budget constraints I had to drop alloys

Seat Covers - Most dealers quoted between 3.5K to 6K for art leather
Sun Film - Quoted were 1.2 to 1.7K for Garware, Lumar etc

Based on final bargained prices decided to buy all accessories from Power House accesories , Trivandrum as they seemed the best with pricing and most cordial to me

Cost Breakup

Seat Cover - 5K for G-Sports(including steering grip)
Sun Film - 1.5K- Garware Green 30% (Front windscreen not done as it reduces visibility)
Floor Mats - .75k
Mobile charger - .15k
Marble beads for drivers seat - .5K
Got perfume + tissue paper set as freebies

Seat Covers would take around 10 days to arrive. So installed films . Fitment was good.Took around 1 hour. Asked them to inform me when the seat cover arrives

After 12 days got a call from them that the covers have arrived. Since i couldn't go on weekdays waited for saturday. Reached there by 10 am. Receptionist asked the workers to start with the seat cover work. they are some lazy guys!!!!. After i gave a piece of mind to the supervisor work started. As they started trying to fit the front seat head rests, it turned out that they were smaller than what was needed for Punto. I paid the whole money as the receptionist said that replacement will arrive in 3 days. And this was a big mistake from my side!!

3,4,5 days passed. Called them on the 6th day and said it has not been dispatched yet from the bangalore factory of G-Sports. I asked them to expedite the process. 2 weeks gone still no reply. Now i called up a partner in that shop and shouted at him. The supervisor@ the shop called me immediately and told that he will get the thing on next tuesday (in 4 days). Come wednesday and still there is no sign of head rest replacement. Now i demanded cash back from them and he said will get it in 3 days. Next day he calls me up and said that the dispatch had indeed happened 2 weeks earlier but the thing was delivered to Kochi office. Don't know whether this is true or not but it seemed true. These guys really need a kick on their backside to make them do things .Customer service in India is pathetic to say the least in 99% of situations

Seats finish looked good for me. Fiends also felt the same. So i am happy atlast

Boguht 2 Stanley's head rest for around 900Rs

Experience so far

+
Very comfortable drive (Can easily take on most potholed roads)
Looks
Speed Volume (Volume increases automatically with speed)
Follow me Home headlamps
Excellent stability on curves.
Great steering feedback as its a hydraulic power steering. Feels so good to throw the car into curves
Makes you feel that you are sitting in big car
Good driver info display(compared to other hatchbacks)
High standing rear lamp cluster (wont break if u get hit softly on the back side)
Pointed lamps for front passengers
AC is powerful
280L boot
Auto light in the boot (very helpful in dark)

-
Long throw gearbox (shifting from 1st to 2nd seems to take an eternity)
2nd gear is like a tortoise to begin with and picks up afterward.
Finish of plastics - specially the rear parcel tray mechanism can easily get out of position [No parts have fell off so far for me though]
Underside of front bumper can scrap quite a bit in pot holes. Exercise caution while taking pot holed roads

2nd gear issue can be a nuisance.I faced this worst while starting to climb a steep incline. Accelerated till around 4000rpm (with 3 people including me) and shifted as fast as i can to 2nd. I expected to pick it up from there. I had to shift down as there was absolutely no power from 2nd gear. But i could easily climb without accelerating in 1st gear (just released the clutch) . Torque is great!!

1st service experience coming next
P.S. Do let me know if the accessories prices are reasonable

[Amartya]

First of all congratulations on the fantastic purchase. The car is bound to give you miles of happiness. I have a few questions, it'll be great if you can spare some time:

a. Did you notice a distinct improvement in performance and NVH after say 3K kms?

b. Did you notice any alignment related issues?

[Soccerfan]

1)NVH has slightly improved . Performance -no noticeable improvement
2)I faced an alignment issue. This was corrected during 1st service. But afterwards the steering had a slight tilt to left and i got it corrected.

[Rock 'n' rollz]

Originally Posted by Soccerfan

2nd gear issue can be a nuisance.I faced this worst while starting to climb a steep incline. Accelerated till around 4000rpm (with 3 people including me) and shifted as fast as i can to 2nd. I expected to pick it up from there. I had to shift down as there was absolutely no power from 2nd gear. But i could easily climb without accelerating in 1st gear (just released the clutch) . Torque is great!!

+1 to that. Experience that daily while taking my car out of the underground parking. First gear does the trick. I am happy.

And yes congratulations.. Welcome to punters club!!!

[Soccerfan]

ownership and 1st service

Had no issues till almost 2700 km. One fine morning , the display started showing check LHS. The front left indicator was fused . This issue was reported by many owners. Took the car to service center (Kulathunkal) and the bulb was replaced free of cost

Gave for 1st service on Dec 22nd as i was planning for a trip to wayanad during xmas holidays. Booked the service 1 week before itself . Reached there by 8.50AM and the service assistant asked whether i had any problems to report. Reported that there is a slight pull to left side and asked to check the clutch slave cylinder. One good thing is that they make a note of already present scratches, accessories in car ,fuel level, tool kit, stepney, tyre make and all while giving the vehicle (Maruti owners reported that this is not done for them).
The vehicle was supposed to be ready by 5PM. Got an SMS from TASS by 4PM that the car is ready. Reached there by 5.30 and the vehicle was ready. Cleaning was very well done . Steering pull was corrected. Wheel alignment was done and this was Free.Have read that some owners were charged for this. Clutch slave cylinder had no issues they said.

Overall it was a happy experience 7/10.

Started our journey to Wayanad (Mananthavadi) on 24th morning 6.30AM. We took the route Ernakulam, Kodungallor, Chavakkad, Ponnani Byepass, Kuttippuram, Kozhikode Byepass,Vythiri,Padinjarethara route to Mananthavadi. If u have to go to Mananthavadi i would recommend this route than the kalpetta route to Mananthavadi. The road is in excellent condition and this is a true drivers road with nice turns and S curves. really enjoyable drive!!. We reached there by 4 PM . We could do the route in 8 hours excluding coffee, lunch and 1-2 naps. The Edappally-Chavakkad route is notorious for traffic. Top speed achieved was around 120.It's drives like these were you really admire the stability and behavior of Punto. Pure bliss!!. We had 5 passengers including me and a packed to the brim boot. Had everything in it including eggs, duck and shrimps. Average FE was 17.2 in this drive . Ride was extremely comfortable for all passengers. Evreybody was appreciative of the comfort levels and the looks. Makes you feel proud of your investment

On next 2 days we went to Soochippara falls, Banasura sagar dam and Kuruva island. The soochippara and Kuruva trips brought out the weakness of Punto - Poor ground clearance under the front bumper. We had quite some scrapes (Total 5 adults and 2 kids (13 and 10 years old)) . Maybe it was due to the load that we had. But be careful while riding through bad roads.

Returned on 27th morning via the same route. Total 4 adults. FE improved to 18.2 during this journey (No eggs and ducks this time) .

Completed around 1300 kms during this trip. Odo read around 4500km by end. Had a good wash and waxing (Formula1 wax) by me (Good workout guys!!. Give it a try) and the car looks stunning.

A small sound has appeared somewere in the front passenger side which i am not able to locate . Sounds like those from an un-lubricated moving part (seat movement rail??) . This can be heard when you shift gears and release clutch.

Other than that the car is in perfect condition. Thumbs up!!

[NutsNBolts]

Originally Posted by Soccerfan

Returned on 27th morning via the same route. Total 4 adults. FE improved to 18.2 during this journey (No eggs and ducks this time) .

Other than that the car is in perfect condition. Thumbs up!!

What! Eggs and ducks consumed almost a litre of fuel?

Nice report soccerfan. I too am interested in making a holiday trip to Waynad, will ask you regarding route details when I plan it.

[Soccerfan]

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

What! Eggs and ducks consumed almost a litre of fuel?

Nice report soccerfan. I too am interested in making a holiday trip to Waynad, will ask you regarding route details when I plan it.

Only 4 people on return + it was a sunday (less traffic) . but got stuck @ edappally level cross for about an hour

[kailashnj]

Congrats on your car and such a nice writeup. Continue with your experience in this awesome car.

Happy motoring and wish you many more kms.

[Soccerfan]

I think i found the reason for the sound from passenger side - the seat movement lever. It has a slight play and i could feel the vibration. Also today while checking the car found that the underside screw on front bumper (left side) is gone. This screw holds the mud guard tightly. The screw on right side of bumper is intact. Have to get the screw replaced.

Guys , check this in your car too!!

[Soccerfan]

Took the car to dealer(kulathunkal,tvm) today and showed SA the rattling issue. He wasn't able to identify the cause that time. But told that he will fix it. The noise was not due to the seat movement lever. It was due to some plastic strap somewhere inside the dash board. This was replaced and 8 rs was charged for this. The bumper screw was also fitted . No rattles now

There is a slight sound from the back right side door while closing. Feels like the glass is getting touched by some metal part while closing the door.He said the denter was on leave today and so unable to repair it. He asked me to call him one day and bring the car when there is not much rush for servicing . I like his honesty. He has been quite good to me . His name is Rahesh.

[recshenoy]

I think thread name is misleading. my freind read "emotional atyachar" in thread line and asked what is the problem with Punto!

i think its better to change the thread name to avoid confusion due to work Atyachar

[vsarath]

Even though less, why has he charged you 8 Rs ? What part has he changed ? Dont you have 2 years unlimited warranty and extended warranty ? Another question is why do he want a denter for fixing the issue ? Be careful as they should not grind on your door to remove the sound. IMO, that is not the way to do things in a new car. Be with them before they do something on your car. I'm not sure, but I think I have read some others also reporting about grinding the door to remove the sound. Can anyone throw some light on this.

[Soccerfan]

Requesting mods to change the title to "Punto Emotion - the driving diary"

Will be with the SA during the rear door door checkup. Thanks for the suggestion