[asdon]

Originally Posted by arunkk

Oh My !!! A mileage of 30+ for linea !!! I dont think even Alto gives close to that !

Right, I get 24/25 regularly on highways, but 30+ is WOW...

[rageshbhaskar]

Agree with Sachin, I have noticed all through that there is at least 30 % increase in fE if the car is driven below 2k rpm. This is true with most of the cars , diesels the margin is higher.

But problem is that i tested it many times, never really benefitted in long run

It was a Palio GTX!!

[SpinWizard]

A simple question to all guru's:
Can the 90HP Punto be pete'ed ?

[HammerHead]

Originally Posted by SpinWizard

A simple question to all guru's:
Can the 90HP Punto be pete'ed ?

I think it can be as there is pete's tuning box available for same engine in Linea (1.3 VGT 90 HP) which can take it to 102HP.

[SpinWizard]

Originally Posted by HammerHead

I think it can be as there is pete's tuning box available for same engine in Linea (1.3 VGT 90 HP) which can take it to 102HP.

Thanks for the info. Apart from the engine being the same, I feel there would be other parts involved too, frankly which I do not know (may be gear box ?), which may get negatively affected due to this, since its a smaller car(compared to the Linea). Could you and the gurus throw some light on this ?

[pk_del]

Congrats StarrySky on booking the 90 HP GP. I will test drive the 90 HP GP over the weekend when I drop my GP MJD for 15K service.

Do post your experience with 90 HP Punto. Yesterday luckily I found some empty stretch on the outer ring road and accelerated my GP to 130 KMPH. I wanted to go beyong that but the speed limit warning (set to 130 KMPH) slowed me down.

GP was so stable that I never felt that I was driving so fast.

-PK

[better4worse]

Originally Posted by pk_del

Congrats StarrySky on booking the 90 HP GP. I will test drive the 90 HP GP over the weekend when I drop my GP MJD for 15K service.

Do post your experience with 90 HP Punto. Yesterday luckily I found some empty stretch on the outer ring road and accelerated my GP to 130 KMPH. I wanted to go beyong that but the speed limit warning (set to 130 KMPH) slowed me down.

GP was so stable that I never felt that I was driving so fast.

-PK

I was at the service station today to get my Punto serviced (1st service), found time enough to TD the 90 HP. First impressions, steering felt really good, adequately light at low speeds and much like the 75 bhp at higher speeds. I found the engine to be very refined and smooth, in gear acceleration was much better compared to existing 75bhp variant. The plastics are the same, nothing changes but having said that, the TD mule I drove had just 550 kms on it and appeared to be in prime condition. Interestingly, I found the gear and gear shifts to be very smooth too, I haven't yet experienced such smooth gear shifts on my Active.

Simply put the already strong bits about the car (read as ride, handling, super 3rd gear) have been improved further but no noticeable efforts have been made improvement on the existing pain points ( slightly sluggish 1st and 2nd gear performance, fit & finish of some of the plastic bits in the car)

So is it a better car ? Absolutely, anyone considering Emo/Emo pack should definitely buy nothing but the 90 HP variant. It's a no brain-er really, If you have the dough ...go for it, definitely worth the additional 30K! It would have been better had FIAT launched a lower trim on the 90 BHP as well, seems FIAT is still not looking to sell volumes with this new introduction.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by better4worse

So is it a better car ? Absolutely, anyone considering Emo/Emo pack should definately buy nothing but the 90 HP variant. It's a no brain-er really, If you have the dough ...go for it, definitely worth the additional 30K! It would have been better had FIAT launched a lower trim on the 90 BHP as well, seems FIAT is still not looking to sell volumes with this new introduction.

Funnily enough, I test drove the car today as well. Your report is exactly the same as what I experienced. I'll pen down a slightly more detailed review as well since I drove the Linea right after on the same loop to compare the seat-of-the-pants driving experience.

[better4worse]

Originally Posted by Amartya

Funnily enough, I test drove the car today as well. Your report is exactly the same as what I experienced. I'll pen down a slightly more detailed review as well since I drove the Linea right after on the same loop to compare the seat-of-the-pants driving experience.

Nice...Will look forward to your detailed report. Like I mentioned, the gear shift was much smoother on the 90 hp especially the downshifts. Now I haven't driven a fully run in Punto yet and the gear shifts are still quite notchy and rubbery in my car. I face some trouble on and off while down shifting from fifth to third or fourth while overtaking or in traffic and while going from 2nd to 3rd (occasionally) its not as smooth as it should be. I guess the comparison with the 90 BHP kinda brought this observation to the forefront and I am wondering if I can improve this in my Punto.

Much like the NVH, I was curious to know if this too would improve with more miles under the belt. Have you personally experienced any improvement in your gear shifts ? Has it progressively improved over time ? Is it something that can be fixed or say improved with a little help from the Tata FIAT workshop ?

[SpinWizard]

I test drove the FGT run 13K KM, back to back with a VGT run 534 KM, honestly speaking I did not find much of a difference between the two, on the contrary the FGT felt much more revv happy and eager to move ahead, quiter too. Once run-in hopefully the VGT will make the difference felt.

[deepakhon]

Very interesting! We still seem to be getting reviews of 90HP which are quite the opposite of each other.

[nicesachin]

Originally Posted by p'arth

Just 1 booking of Punto VGT in the "I booked my Car" thread. Can anything be deduced from this?

Guys Yesterday I booked my Punto 90 HP. expecting a delivery next week

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by Klub Class

Congratulations StarrySky! From where did you book the Punto VGT? Concorde Motors or RF Motors?

Thanks. I booked mine from Hyson Motors, Thrissur.

Originally Posted by pk_del

Congrats StarrySky on booking the 90 HP GP

Thanks.

Originally Posted by nicesachin

Guys Yesterday I booked my Punto 90 HP. expecting a delivery next week

Congrats!!

[Klub Class]

Originally Posted by nicesachin

Guys Yesterday I booked my Punto 90 HP. expecting a delivery next week

Congratulations Sachin! Btw, you currently own a Fiat Linea rt?
(Ref : Your Signature)

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Thanks. I booked mine from Hyson Motors, Thrissur.

You're from Cochin right? So, I wonder why you chose Hyson Motors over RF and Concorde motors. Do start an ownership report once you get your car!

PS: Sorry for going off the topic :(

Regards
Amith

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by better4worse

Nice...Will look forward to your detailed report.

B4W, thanks for sharing your experience, the questions raised are very pertinent as well. I am slightly busy right now, so the report is not as detailed as I had originally planned, but here goes:

Car: Fiat Punto 1.3 VGT, Emotion Pack
Price: 6,79,128 (ex-showroom Delhi, quoted from Fiat website)
Odometer reading: 2300kms
Test Drive duration: 35 minutes, 32.6 kms
Maximum Speed attained: 120kmph
Time of day: 2:15pm - 3pm (includes a cursory visual inspection of the car)
Outside Temperature - 34 - 35C

Cosmetic Changes

a. The red-stitching on the seats looks good. I prefer understated looks and this is a nice classy change. However, I would have preferred the 3 Punto logos in red ( on the backrest) to have remained either grey or changed to black.

b. Chromed door handles - A lift from the Linea, the quality of the chrome finish was quite good though I am not a fan of them. A chromed door handle is not something I would like to have on a 'sportier' version. I understand it's there for product differentiation but seems counter-intuitive on a supposedly sportier model.

As far as cosmetic changes are concerned, that's about it. A quick comment on the interior plastics, they are quite good to touch and they feel softer than the Aug'09 model that my girlfriend owns. Finish is improved as well, but that's true for all models across the range (the 2010 model range).

I would have liked to see subtle changes like a different gearknob (maybe with brushed aluminium inserts) and perhaps a slightly different colour combination for the instrument panel background. Perhaps the 90Hp could have had the Linea's alloys. I think that would have been a reasonably easy option to take care of.

Driving Experience

I started the car inside the dealer compound which had walls on both sides. With the windows open, the familiar diesel clatter was quite audible (due to the walls) and the engine sounded exactly the same. What was nice was that there were no vibrations felt inside the car whatsoever. Drove out from the compound, rolled up the windows, stopped before hitting the road.

Observation 1: Seems quieter than the MJD version even at idle. Asked salesperson whether there is additional sound deadening material, he said he'll find out and let me know.

Slowly drove onto the road to merge with traffic, the gearbox was slotting in well, went upto third gear at around 65kmph and had to brake at a traffic stop.

Observation 2: The shift action was the same as the one I was used to, no surprises there. I wish the shift action was as good as the Polo or Fabia (I rate them the highest here). Contrary to what's been reported about the 90Hp, I felt that it was also better - though marginally - even at these city speeds. Again, it felt quieter. N.B. I drove this stretch without the A/C (blower on), as I wanted to note the difference.

Starting off from the last traffic stop, there was a flyover that I wished to negotiate in order to check whether the extra horses make their presence felt in any city condition or not. At the bottom of the ramp, reduced speed to 30kmph in second gear, then started climbing and kept it in second gear till 45kmph before shifting into third. Again, the A/C was turned off, windows rolled up (at 35C, just because I wanted to evaluate performance without the A/C, blower on).

Observation 3: The revs drop sharply upon shifting to 3rd. Then trying to accelerate in 3rd gear, one experiences the turbo-lag where the car refuses to accelerate sharply. Point to note though, is the fact that the VGT is significantly better than the FGT during this exercise, and the boon is that this is quieter too.

Moved onto higher speeds, and I went through the gear onto an indicated top speed of 120 kmph. I did a 80-120 acceleration test in 4th gear, and the car picked up speed very smartly. Negotiated a sweeing curve at around 90kmph.

Observation 4: This car blossoms into a different avatar at slightly higher speeds. The car felt faster than the Linea which I drove too (later), this was a surprise as all auto-magazines say that the Punto is slower. Note, I said 'felt', so perhaps the numbers might be the other way round, and the Linea might just be more refined, thus giving me this impression.
The steering felt exactly the same as the FGT version.

Halfway through the drive now, stopped, did a u-turn after stopping completely.

Observation 5: I thought that the power steering felt exactly the same. People reported more assistance at lower speeds, but I couldn't discern the change despite keeping an eye out for it.

By now I was sweating, and so was the salesperson. I apologized to him and turned on the A/C and did the whole drive back on the same route.

Observation 6: At slower speeds, with the A/C on, this car behaves very similar to the FGT. At the traffic light, this car felt slower than before (obviously) and like reported by other people earlier, the difference in performance with the FGT version is less. I cannot really decipher why this is the case, if anything, the difference should become more pronounced. If I has to hazard a guess, perhaps the ECU mapping might have something to do it. Would love to get someone else to opine on this.

Conclusion: If you can afford to spend the 35K premium over the FGT version, do not even think twice. The premium over the regular model, is worth every penny and this is true whether you drive in the city or on the highway.
I have been a pretty vocal fan of the Fiats currently being sold in India. While penning this driving experience, it crossed my mind that my feedback would always be taken with a pinch of salt on this forum; but you know what, the 90HP has that salt and is worth it too.

Competitor Pricecheck:

VW Polo 1.2 Diesel Highline - Rs. 6,82,500 (ex-showroom Delhi)
i20 1.4 Diesel Asta - Rs. 6,95,603 (ex-showroom Delhi) - Note this doesn't include the sunroof/curtain airbags.

Originally Posted by better4worse

Like I mentioned, the gear shift was much smoother on the 90 hp especially the downshifts. Now I haven't driven a fully run in Punto yet and the gear shifts are still quite notchy and rubbery in my car. I face some trouble on and off while down shifting from fifth to third or fourth while overtaking or in traffic and while going from 2nd to 3rd (occasionally) its not as smooth as it should be. I guess the comparison with the 90 BHP kinda brought this observation to the forefront and I am wondering if I can improve this in my Punto.

Much like the NVH, I was curious to know if this too would improve with more miles under the belt. Have you personally experienced any improvement in your gear shifts ? Has it progressively improved over time ? Is it something that can be fixed or say improved with a little help from the Tata FIAT workshop ?

The gearshift quality was similar to the FGT as per my driving experience. To answer your question, yes, the gearbox too becomes easier to use after running in. I have personally experienced that improvement.
There is nothing much one can do to improve the gearshift quality other than adjusting the clutch, do talk to your service advisor and ask him to check if the clutch play is set correctly or not.