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Old 19th July 2010, 17:55   #181
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Guys, I am confused ! i thought the 90HP Punto is the Punto Sports !! isnt it the same? Some one has posted that lets wait for the Punto Sports now!

Also looks like everyone is looking upto GTOs test drive! GTO, whenz ur report gonna come?
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Old 19th July 2010, 18:03   #182
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Quote:
Guys, I am confused ! i thought the 90HP Punto is the Punto Sports !! isnt it the same? Some one has posted that lets wait for the Punto Sports now!

Also looks like everyone is looking upto GTOs test drive! GTO, whenz ur report gonna come?
90hp could end up being Punto Sports. It depends upon the number of takers for 90hp. If 90hp brings in reasonable volumes, then Fiat might launch Punto Sports with all those bell and whistles in a T-jet avatar, else all those bells and whistles will be made available as accessories and you can build your Punto Sports by buying a 90hp and adding all those accesories to it.
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Old 19th July 2010, 18:08   #183
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swiftnfurious View Post
Guys, I am confused ! i thought the 90HP Punto is the Punto Sports !! isnt it the same? Some one has posted that lets wait for the Punto Sports now!

Also looks like everyone is looking upto GTOs test drive! GTO, whenz ur report gonna come?
Nope, the 90Hp is not the sports. I hear the Sports is on its way. Since the Punto T-Jet is nowhere near being launched in India, i expect the car to look like the Punto Sports displayed at the Auto Expo with the black roof, alloys, etc and run the 90Hp motor, hopefully in a different state of tune & with the euro gearbox.
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Old 19th July 2010, 18:23   #184
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Originally Posted by humyum View Post
Swift has overdrive in 4th and 5th gear

Gear ratio 4th - 0.911

Gear Ratio 5th- 0.725

Where as people have reported than the engine gets too noisy and boomy above 100 kmph in the punto because of the short gear ratios, I have cruised all day long in the Swift D at 140+ speeds with neither a hint of speed or noise inside.
Point to ponder: They both do 100 kph at 2500 rpm. It more to do with the sound deadening than anything else.
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Old 19th July 2010, 19:20   #185
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Originally Posted by extreme_torque View Post
You can't expect the 'same engine' to perform the same in a considerably heavier car. Is it that difficult to understand?
Is it a crime to expect something sporty in terms of performance from a car touted as the 'Fastest Diesel Hatch' or 'Punto Sports' ?... Now is that too difficult to comprehend?

Quote:
Originally Posted by extreme_torque View Post
To answer the next part of your post - the reviews have been contradictory. On one hand you have BSM which says there is a 3.8 seconds improvement in 0-100 kph times and that is some performance improvement and on the other hand is Autocar which claims a 1.5 second improvement, which is not so good.
So aren't you and I saying the same thing, the performance isn't exactly chart bursting or wildly exciting for which you'd make a dash to the showroom and look to pay 50 K extra!

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Originally Posted by extreme_torque View Post
Yes plastic quality is an area of concern and some of bit and pieces are plain horrible but overall I wouldnt ever say that they are pathetic like many in this thread have been saying which quite frankly is taking it too far.
I'll tell you when it feels horrible/ pathetic and you actually feel hurting someone at FIAT, i.e. when you bring the car home for the first time and everyone wants to have a look, indcidently the rubber beeding from the rear door comes off in front of F&F and despite your best efforts it just wouldn't stick back !

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Originally Posted by extreme_torque View Post
We also have to remember that each car has its USP which in case of Punto is segment busting solidity, ride and handling. Fiat's were never famous for the best plastic quality in the segment (but I would agree that the older Palio's were as good as it gets) so its a matter of prioritizing your expectations. Some will and some won't but that is precisely the reason why we have options
Is wanting an additional USP (read as swift like performance...even with extra 15 bhp) a sin ? Give me one good reason, why should we not demand and expect improvement on the relatively weaker fronts (Performance & Plastics) of the car considering we already have ride and handling with us ..considering we are paying 50 K extra on top of the Emo pack ?

Are you suggesting FIAT is too old to change its ways? If its not famous for plastic quality, isn't it time to do something about it ? All this and more, considering this is India, either you're in the race to woo customers or you are out of it much sooner than you'd imagine. If FIAT are trying to be 'also-ran' again this time, they are in for some serious trouble !

- B4W

Last edited by better4worse : 19th July 2010 at 19:26. Reason: typos !
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Old 19th July 2010, 19:35   #186
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Originally Posted by better4worse View Post
Is it a crime to expect something sporty in terms of performance from a car touted as the 'Fastest Diesel Hatch' or 'Punto Sports' ? is that too difficult to comprehend ?
I am afraid you are wrong. Fiat calls it "the most powerful diesel hatch in the market"

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Originally Posted by better4worse View Post
So aren't you and I saying the same, the performance isn't exactly chart bursting or wildly exciting for which you'd make a dash to the showroom !
Allow me to explain. Since reviews coming from all corners have been contradictory so lets not judge a book by its cover. I am not saying that Autocar is wrong or BMS is right all I am saying is that let a few more reviews come in, drive the car yourself and decide.

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Originally Posted by better4worse View Post
I'll tell you when it feels horrible/ pathetic and you wanna hurt someone at FIAT, when you bring the car home and everyone wants to have a look the Rubber Beeding comes off in front of F&F and despite your best efforts it wouldn't stick back !
I would still say that overall quality isnt horrible as it is made out to be having experience it myself. Some bits and pieces are.

Quote:
Originally Posted by better4worse View Post
Is wanting an additional USP (read as swift like performance...even with extra 15 bhp) a sin ? Give me one good reasons why should we not demand and expect improvement on the relatively weaker fronts (Performance & Plastics) of the car considering we already have Ride and handling with us ..considering we are paying 50 K extra on top of the Emo pack ?
You want is not equal to you will so rather discussing what it can be, we should concentrate on what it is. Given better A/C and HPS I would buy the Hyundai i20 in a heart beat but that doesnt mean that I deride the car because it doesnt have what I want.
Another correction: You are paying 30k's over the FGT variant not 50k's.

Quote:
Originally Posted by better4worse View Post
Are you suggesting FIAT is too old to change ? If its not been famous for plastic quality, isn't it time to do something about it. All this and more, considering this is India, either you in the race to woo customers or you are out of it much sooner than they'd imagine. If FIAT are trying to be 'also-ran' again this time, they are in for some serious trouble !
- B4W
Yes I am equally appalled by the plastic quality knowing what Fiat can do it (I own the first gen Fiat Palio 1.2 and I know how good the plastic quality is). If plastic were such a major concern, Tata would have been out of business long back and so does Maruti. Lets face it, we want the best possible value for money from our cars when we buy it, in the process of owning it and when we sell it. Fiat seems to be doing quite Ok in the first two and third will follow.
Lets also face it that they wouldnt work on individual feedbacks. All said I would have loved i20 quality interiors inside the Punto and would have happily spent an additional 30-50k's but the question is will the car buying public pay that and this is a question which you and me cannot answer.

Phew! Peace out! No further arguments on this until a few more reviews are out.

Last edited by extreme_torque : 19th July 2010 at 19:38.
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Old 19th July 2010, 21:48   #187
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dhiskao!!! dhiskao!!! dhishum dhishm!!!

wow what a fight we are having

The Poor Swift and Spark, you guys constantly disturbing those 2 cars

Here is my take -

Punto is a lovely car, with great ride quality and WOW looks and the driver has the best cabin, some industry first features, and now with a more powerfull engine, and I know people will buy it, at least if i have the money in my pocket I will buy a Punto 90hp and change the alloy and fit a moon roof to make it a Punto Sports. Wait for the market response, the Poor Honda Jazz was the car of the Year in NDTV C&B awards, so any thing is possible.
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Old 19th July 2010, 22:00   #188
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Those who think that FIAT needs to take a lesson about engine tuning from Maruti got it totally wrong. Have you checked the numbers of the Linea compared to the Punto? Linea D does 0-100 in 15 secs. Even the Linea P does 0-100 in 15 secs while the same engine in the Punto takes 16.5 secs.

Having said that, I say that FIAT lost the plot yet again. However hard they are going to try, no mass market customer (read the Maruti/Hyundai buyer), is going to migrate to a FIAT. The best these people do is crib about FIATs' interior quality, acceleration, mileage etc in internet forums and feel happy about it. FIAT should at once trash the current engines and bring in powerful ones and sell their cars who love to drive FIATs.

ps: FIAT may want to take a look at the Yamaha story. The RX100 was a reasonable success, and appealed to the ones who loved their rides. Then some dumbhead at the top looked at the Hero Honda sales numbers and thought that they had to get there. So in came the Liberos, the YBXs, the Cruxes. None sold well as anybody who was obsessed with mileage still bought the HHs. It took Yamaha more than a decade to realize it's folly. Now the company is back to manufacturing bikes for the enthusiasts. The R15 and the FZ16.
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Old 19th July 2010, 23:12   #189
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Adding more fuel to fire.
I will rather have the Punto(with 'so' called bad interiors) I have rather than shell out 20k(Guessing the figure) extra for i20 like interiors.

I had to stretch my budget real hard to get a Punto emotion.

And I guess everyone in India is not rolling in loads of cash.
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Old 20th July 2010, 00:02   #190
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i am confused TOTALLY now.

is this a punto 90 bhp thread or a swift/spark/figo/bla bla bla performance thread?!?!?

@ajay_j
buddy you will be shocked. I am not sure what kind of driving conditions your friend drives in, but rest assured indore has some of the worst roads in India. so if your friend's car hasn't started rattling in 10k+ kms, it will probably start doing that around 40k+ kms (considering he will still retain the car) i have driven the i20 of my friend's with some 21k odd kms on the odo. driving condition normal. road condition abnormally amnormal. so probably what happened to a vehicle with 20k odd kms with bad roads WILL happen to a car at 40k+ kms in good driving conditions.
my santro driven by my mom & sis has every nook and corner creaking/rattling in just 10k odd kms. yes i know they are women drivers (not that bad though - not major accidents yet - just a minor scratch here, and a big dent on the other side) - but the usage is similar to the uno that we had. (though the roads were lot worse). uno didnt have a problem of rattling and creaking for good 200k odd kms.

@all
is it just me or has it occurred to others too? are there any chances that FIAT is keeping the bad gear ratio for the 90bhp punto only because it wants to launch the punto sport with a better gearbox? in comparison it WILL make the punto sport slightly sportier ehh?

p.s: mods can you please clean up the thread a bit? people might end up having unnecessary arguments over trivial things.

Last edited by samyakmodi : 20th July 2010 at 00:06.
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Old 20th July 2010, 00:04   #191
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Just a suggestion to all : Please check out the Punto 90 HP yourself & then arrive at conclusions of the plastics / drive etc.

Although Sid has given an insight on the car he drove, I have a slightly different opinion, after I drove it. I did not find the plastics as bad as made out to be, though not up to the mark, but definitely an improvement.

NVH was much better & driveability had a significant improvement. The pricing, I feel is spot on & couldn't have asked for more at this price.

Comparing it to 'Pete-ing' etc. is different & one needs to remember that any aftermarket mod. has certain ill-effects to the engine in the long run.

I find it a more complete hatch now - am ready to put my money on it!
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Old 20th July 2010, 00:27   #192
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Hmm, I have yet to see a thread of either i20 or Swift etc, where so much discussion is held. The fact is we all love the Punto the way it is & let us all accept that. The sheer strong build, robust feel, terrific handling & ride, exquisite stunning looks & class leading features - all are hard to find in any other car.

Drooling over a car, or hoping certain things would have been better, are all outcomes of the love for this car we all have.

Long live Punto!
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Old 20th July 2010, 08:17   #193
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For those who are obsessed with 0-100 numbers, please buy some Feraris or something similar to that, Team-BHP as a forum and we as its members have a responsibility to promot safe and sensible driving, but I see whenever a new car is launched, everyone just goes for that 0-100 numbers for those 10/11/12/14/16 seconds, are you going to win KBC in those many seconds? if you really want to test your 0-100 skills, please join Force india. I know people might say "I got a car at 8L otr, why should I see a car OTR 6L passing me at the signal?", for those - please don't drive with this ego, after all you are not loosing your job if a so called spark or swift overtakes you on a traffic signal. I think all of us should go for a in person test drive of the 90HP model, after all those who drive Marutis should not talk about plastic quality(I drive a Maruti too). When I saw FGT EP, I really liked the interiors, and guys i20 interior are not that premium, recently my friend got an Asta, the looks are ramped up, only because of the usage of chrom finish on the consol, where Punto kept the plastic or whatever is the metirial. I was really surprised no one talking about i20 spare prices against Puntos and cost of servicing. I think this car is going the be a hit on road.
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Old 20th July 2010, 08:29   #194
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^^ I concur, as driving enthusiasts, in-gear acceleration is very important and for that the Punto is in fact very good (even in VGT form).

That being said, I don't think this would be a huge hit. Trust me, I love the Punto (and put more than money where my mouth is) but the car buying public in India doesn't think alike. In fact, even on this forum, how many people do you see who actually consider the Punto to be the best car in this range?

Anyway, I plan to test-drive the car within the next couple of weeks. I don't plan to buy the car (have a VGT Punto with someone close to me), and had thought of test driving later, but the salesperson called me up to schedule an appointment. He knows that I'm not going to buy the car, but he said that Fiat has asked them to contact everyone who asked about the 90bhp version (even if they have a VGT version) upto a year back.

I asked him to contact me in a couple of weeks, mainly because I wish to drive the car after it has been run-in. At the very least have 3K kilometres under its belt.
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Old 20th July 2010, 09:31   #195
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Great review, Sid. I agree that this seems like a wasted opportunity for Fiat. The point of a more powerful engine variant should be a significant improvement in performance, not "maybe there is a bit more driveability at x RPM". And at 6.75 lakhs ex-showroom, as per the ad today, it isn't exactly cheap.
But they aren't calling this the Punto Sports. Does that still mean that we may get a 1.4T-Jet Punto Sports?
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