[download2live]

Well the engine has become rev happy. But there is a other side to the story. Had given it to the Concorde motors for some nagging rear side click click sound, They took apart all the noise insulations like padding etc in order to find the cause. And I guess that they did not put it back together well. Might have led to poor sound dampening. Just guessing. Coz when it returned the engine note was different. And it was more rev friendly too.

[download2live]

Took elevated flyover to Electronic city today and kept the speed at exactly 80 kmph. With AC on the Instant consumption varied between 22 kmpl to 35 kmpl. Never below 22 kmpl. With petrol in Bangalore now at 65 Rs a litre, I am feeling very happy with MJD.
But its so hard to keep it at 80!! This car makes you feel that you are doing 40 and not 80!!

OT: Saw a sad case of a Red Swift Dzire rear ended on the flyover (Fast lane side). Both the parties however were gentlemen and were exchanging the documents in a orderly way. Also saw the possible cause of accident a little further. A guy on Bajaj scooter was standstill on the RIGHT HAND SIDE (the fast lane) !!! I did not stop to see what he was upto but I feel he was going to try to Tilt the bajaj and get on the other side. There is some gap under the divider. But would be a very tight squeeze for that guy if indeed that was what he was upto. But why would he try to go over to other side in first place?? Beats me.

[download2live]

UPDATE:
One year servicing done. Actually it was scheduled on 12 of March but since I am going to be super busy this month I got it done in 11 days before only.

Total cost: Rs 4927
Place: Concorde Dairy Circle, Bangalore

Breakup:
FIAT DIESEL Engine synthetic oil 5W40 (Loose) : 3.2 ltr, Final amount: 1832
Oil Filter DSL : Rs 351
Fuel Filter DSL: Rs 1761
Air Filter: Rs 290.75
Wiremesh Filter: Rs 38.77
Height Adjuster mechanism: Rs 1907 (Under warranty)
Rivet Height Adjuster: Rs 14.98 (Under Warranty)

Time taken: 2 days!! Actually there was a slight noise I was experiencing from rear suspension while taking turns on the uneven roads. They took one extra day to check it out. Right now I am checking if the issue has been sorted out properly. The SA has asked not to give the feedback right now. He requested me to drive around and see if the problem is still there. And if yes then take the car back to them where they will work again on it. That's rather good. Usually SA's want to get a good feedback no matter what and forget the rest.

Overall satisfied. The only fly in in the ointment was that I had to call them up an ask for the progress. They did not bother to keep me updated.

Long term ownership update coming up. Will be happy to answer any questions by prospective FIAT buyers.

[download2live]

Punto completed one year with me this March 12. 13k kms logged.

Will keep this short.
Plus:
1. Love the ride quality and looks.
2. Awesome FE. I average around 17Kmpl with AC in city.
3. Thud of the doors.
4. Long list of features. Love it when I announce which door is open.

Negatives:
1. Ground clearance. A little bit more would have been good. Though how to do it without sacrificing "cornering like a cat" is debatable. But GC is something which can be managed with careful driving.

2. The throw of headlights in low beam. It ought to throw out a little bit more.

3. 6th gear needed for highways jaunts. It becomes noisy inside the cabin at 120+ speeds.

4. The interiors could have been better. But as such its not a deal breaker for me. I prefer hard long lasting no nonsense plastics to soft to touch rubbery feel. Others could differ in choice.

5. That annoying thud from the rear left shocker. I know its a design issue but change the design to make it go. Please.

Few words on the TATA A.S.S.

It has been a mixed bag frankly.
Guys at concorde really did try to solve the issues I had. But sometimes they did not have much clues on what was wrong. I will put that up in my next post.

[Rock 'n' rollz]

Originally Posted by download2live

Punto completed one year with me this March 12. 13k kms logged.

5. That annoying thud from the rear left shocker. I know its a design issue but change the design to make it go. Please.

First of all congrats on completing one year of Punto ownership.

Your observations are spot on. i haven't heard the annoying thud till date though. May be I am too busy enjoying the sound played by DJ MJD .

How is your experience with the AC so far?

[download2live]

Originally Posted by Rock 'n' rollz

How is your experience with the AC so far?

The AC is not a bone chillar like the one in early pre-facelifted Palio. But it does its job well. I prefer calling it a cooler, but mind you: an effective one that. Most of times I drive with fan at position 1 only with AC at min temperature.

Coming to the A.S.S part.

First within 1 month of driving I managed to get bashed sideways by a Tata 407. The left wheel arch took a lot of impact. The car was given to the Concorde Dairy circle.
-ve: They took whole one week to repair it.
+ve: Absolutely Absolutely fantastic job.
Good words for Future Generali also. It was great dealing with them. This year I again renewed my insurance with them.

Driver side door lock: Got jammed. Replaced free of cost at Concorde.

Few months later.
Driver side door lock(Again): This time it was a cable which was loose. Fixed at Concorde.

Irritating tick tak noise@rear right side: Concorde took a week(again) to go through the whole thing. Fixed something. But noise was still there while taking turns on the uneven roads.

Rear left door lock won't lock: Concorde replaced it free of cost.

First year end service: I tell the Concorde guys that the sound is still there while taking turns and to sort it out while they service the car. They take one extra day compared to a standard one day to test out fixes(?) they made.
After the car is returned, so does the tick tak sound, and with vengeance.

Enter FIAT@PUNE

I told my SA that I am not satisfied with the work they have done on the rear of the car. The SA asked me to get the car back in for a checkup. However I already had an idea of what they will do. Rip apart the rear suspension and try to locate the noise. I am not against it. But I do not like that to happen to my car. Its easier to take things apart than to put it back together well.

I told SA to give me a call whenever technicians from FIAT Pune come for giving them some training etc. I will like them to have a look at it. And it so happened that indeed they were to be in the town this week. The SA gave me a call and asked me to get the car in there so that FIAT guys can have a look.

I got the car in at the 10.30. However I had to wait till 1.30 in afternoon as they got stuck in traffic. However I do not regret it.

Both the FIAT guys were very attentive to whatever I said. Seems that some tough questions were asked to the FIAT staff at Concorde regarding how they went about resolving my problems before. Then we went for a test drive.

One was on front seat and other was in rear seat, ears glued for the sound. And as it happens most of times at the crunch time that sound refused to appear. The gentleman in rear seat meanwhile folded the rear seat and plunged into boot area while we moved on. It was a funny sight. He kept on touching and feeling all the suspect areas and finally that sound surfaced .
He said that it was the boot lock which was making the noise. There was some play and that was making the noise.
Yes as simple as that.

The car was taken in and they did some work on boot lock. Also they put some tape on the metal loop to be on the safer side.

The FIAT guys took the feedback from me on the car. They assured that they will look into that noise plus any other noise or anything which I might have missed. And by lord the car feels super smooth now. The noise is gone (though I have kept feedback on hold. Will drive some time more before giving the feedback) and the engine is pure velvet. Diesel anyone? Now I know what they mean when they say that MJD shows its true colors after 10k+ kms.

I am not saying anything against the Concorde FIAT team. I am happy with them. Every time I had complains they were attended to promptly. The Team lead is a very nice soft spoken man who goes all the way to make sure that the problem is solved. But there is still some learning to be done.

Service advisor Chetan is a good guy to deal with.

And someone at workshop keeps flicking the pens I keep in the car. Somehow I always forget to take them out with other things while leaving the car in. . Lost three pens till now.

[aditya116]

there was a slight noise I was experiencing from rear suspension while taking turns on the uneven roads

dude,the culprit is probably a hose for draining spilled fuel in the fuel lid area which may have come loose.i had the same problem.

[download2live]

Originally Posted by aditya116

dude,the culprit is probably a hose for draining spilled fuel in the fuel lid area which may have come loose.i had the same problem.

Jaata nahi nahi yeh raasta kahin aur se ho ke,
Pehele bhi gujar chuke hai isi mod se ho ke.

The fuel drain pipe is not the issue. How I know? Cause it did come off. And I got it fixed. The sound was there before the pipe came off, was there when it came off and still was there when I got it fixed.

[Rock 'n' rollz]

Originally Posted by download2live

Jaata nahi nahi yeh raasta kahin aur se ho ke,
Pehele bhi gujar chuke hai isi mod se ho ke.

The fuel drain pipe is not the issue. How I know? Cause it did come off. And I got it fixed. The sound was there before the pipe came off, was there when it came off and still was there when I got it fixed.

Yeah i faced the boot lock issue. During one of my appointments I had asked them fix alignment issue of the lock. May be those guys didn't tighten it up properly. and then the journey to find out the source of tuk tuk noise started. it took me a couple of weeks to find that out. Got it fixed and no issues since then.

BTW can you check with your dealer if all punto accessories advertised @ Fiat's website are available with them. I checked it here in Mumbai and the guy replied they only have seat covers and central lock. nothing else .

I am looking for the rear spoiler and body cover.

[download2live]

^^ I have seen the Fancy Metal pedals, door sil in display. Body cover they usually keep, both the regular and the Tyveck, Spoiler I am not sure. But there was some Rs 4999 stuff in display. Did not see much closely.

Will check and let you know.

But seriously, avoid the body cover. They get stolen.

[Rock 'n' rollz]

Originally Posted by download2live

But seriously, avoid the body cover. They get stolen.

The place where I park my car, its tough to steal the entire body cover. But its easier to flick a logo. Have already lost the rear one twice.

I know lifting the cover and stealing a logo is still a possibility but I want to discourage the thief and make the activity as difficult as possible.

On a side note, I am not really afraid of losing a logo. This time the service center guys have used some extra special glue to stick the logo. And I am worried about thief damaging the car (dents etc) in the process of making away with the logo.

[download2live]

The car was at standstill for 7 days. On 8th day it refused to start up. Battery dead.
Had to get it jumpstarted @100 Rs.

Is this normal? I feel that there might be a leakage of current.
Other Punto owners have seen something like this?

The Battery is now more than one year old and hence out of warranty. Its an Exide make.

[neoonwheels]

Originally Posted by download2live

The car was at standstill for 7 days. On 8th day it refused to start up. Battery dead.
Had to get it jumpstarted @100 Rs.

Is this normal? I feel that there might be a leakage of current.
Other Punto owners have seen something like this?

The Battery is now more than one year old and hence out of warranty. Its an Exide make.

I never ever faced this. I have kept my car idle even for 2 weeks (Mine is Mar'10 model) but it never refused to start. I dont know why they shifted to Exide, my Palio used to have Amaron and trust me its much much better than Exide.

Originally Posted by download2live

Is this normal? I feel that there might be a leakage of current.

Nowadays, I sparingly use my Linea, sometimes once in two weeks. I have not yet faced this problem.

[airfoil]

It is unlikely that your battery is at the end of its life, most OE batteries last between 2 and 4 years. It is more likely that some light/device (ICE, perhaps?) was left switched on or is wired to draw current even with the ignition switched off.

In the event your battery is dead, you will know soon enough, because it will be unable to hold its charge even after it has been recharged.

If you have not recharged it yet, try running the car for a 20-odd km at a stretch and gauge if this is recharging the battery and if the battery is holding the charge overnight or longer. If it is not, it may be time to buy a new one. Your battery dealer can help diagnose if the battery is dying.

If you have altered the factory wiring in any way (fitment/modification of ICE for example) then that may need to be checked as well.