My Grande Punto - In Fox Trot Azure ~~

arunkk · 9th August 2010, 15:57

Guys, here I am writing my first ownership report and also starting my first thread here in t-bhp.
I have been commuting on a 2004 Zen for quite long time now and lately I decided to "move on". Okay so I decided to go for a diesel hatch this time - Not because of many compelling reasons like 100+ kms daily commute and all, but just for the thrill of it and for a change.

Now the shortlist - Figo, Punto, I20 in the order i preferred after extensive reading of team bhp. Now before going for all the test drives let me tell you what I had in mind.
Figo - The best car anyone can ever get

(Not literally but I had such an impression )
Punto - Great looks, Good ride & handling. A car for enthusiasts with utter crappy interiors.
I20 - The best in interiors and feel of luxury with great engine at the price of being too expensive.

Now its the day for test drives. I decided that I will test drive all these cars back to back to find out all the pros and cons myself. Obviously my wife also accompanied for the test drives.
First we went to Hyundai showroom. A warm welcome and they offered a test drive of I20 Asta CRDI in 5 mins time. Now before every test drive, I give my wife a trailer of what I know about the car. About I20, I told her that we will find the best interiors in this car and she agreed fully. Now the drive part went good. Car produced great power after the initial lag and all other stuff people know very well over here.

Now next was the turn of Grande Punto. Even before reaching the showroom, I cautioned my wife about all the things I read about Punto interiors - that its using very cheap quality plastics, fit and finish is pathetic and all. Now we sat inside the car and the first thing my wife asked - Hey what's wrong with this interiors?? I was also quite surprised that I didnt find anything wrong at first sight. Now to answer her question, I showed her the panel gaps under the steering and all for which she gave a calm reply - Only you team bhpians will peek over such places and find something bad !!
And I really liked the drive as I went through the roads I take daily to my office and all those potholes which used to throw me around in my Zen seemed non-existent while driving this car ! Leaving the showroom, we again looked back at that Punto, and admired its beauty.

Next stop Ford figo. This time we were going to see the car which we have almost decided to buy. From outside the initial feeling is Oh its soo small. But interiors were very spacious. The dashboard, stereo, centre console everything served its purpose but didnt give that luxury feel. We went for the TD and the drive was very good indeed. Good mix of engine power, ride & handling. Few grunts from my wife about missing rear power windows which I knew already but was ready to compromise on. Overall we were a lil disappointed as we were all set to buy this one which was again fitting so well into our budget.

Now the decision time. We decided to stretch our budget and there goes Figo out of the list. Now Punto Vs I20. One more round of test drives just between them and finally we decided our car. Yes its going to be the Punto 1.3 MJD Emotion Pack. Decided on the new premium colour - Fox Trot Azure.
Went ahead with the booking and a 3 weeks wait which felt like 3 months and then I got delivery of my beauty last friday.

Now its time for pictures to talk.

My Grande Punto - In Fox Trot Azure ~~-img_1502-large.jpg

My Grande Punto - In Fox Trot Azure ~~-img_1503-large.jpg

My Grande Punto - In Fox Trot Azure ~~-img_1504-large.jpg

Did 350Kms in 3 days. Loving every bit of it. And yes this beauty will stay with me and together we will conquer many more miles.

extreme_torque · 9th August 2010, 16:10

Stunning looking car! Congratulations!

joe1980 · 9th August 2010, 16:12

Congratulations on your new car. The color looks very pleasant to the eyes.

neoonwheels · 9th August 2010, 16:16

Hey congrats and welcome to the FIAT family. Awesome color BTW

mobike008 · 9th August 2010, 16:19

Congrats. Looks very good. Is it the 90HP one? Also, how much did you pay for this new color?

arunkk · 9th August 2010, 16:24

Thank you guys..

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobike008

Congrats. Looks very good. Is it the 90HP one? Also, how much did you pay for this new color?

No its the 75HP one. 90HP was released after my booking. I didnt go for it even though I had an option to change my booking. Premium colours - Fox trot azure & Tuscan Wine will cost 6K extra !

gods-envy · 9th August 2010, 16:24

arunkk,
Welcome to the Fiat family.
i have a related question as mobike008 - Why did you not buy the 90bhp one?

Edit - Read the answer above

arunkk · 9th August 2010, 16:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by gods-envy

arunkk,
Welcome to the Fiat family.
i have a related question as mobike008 - Why did you not buy the 90bhp one?

Edit - Read the answer above

Again, initial reviews discouraged me from going for 90HP. And in Bangalore traffic, I felt 75 is more than enough

gods-envy · 9th August 2010, 16:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunkk

Again, initial reviews discouraged me from going for 90HP. And in Bangalore traffic, I felt 75 is more than enough

I agree, 75bhp would be more than enough.
Anyways a tuning box should do the trick if you need more power.

gopikb · 9th August 2010, 16:39

arunkk, welcome to the Grande Punto club. Never got to see a Fox trot azure yet in Bangalore roads. Hopefully we cross each other sometime. Drive safe and enjoy your beauty. You may feel the drive pretty sluggish initially when migrating other rev happy cars like the Zen and Santro. But you will see a definite improvement after about 3K kms on the odo. This has been observed by most of us driving the Punto. From there on there is no turning back. You will enjoy every bit of drive and would want to hit the highways very often.

I drove 25K kms in 4 years of my Santro ownership. With the Punto, I have crossed 12K kms in 10 months.

SilkDrive · 9th August 2010, 16:41

Congrats, Arun, on your new acquisition. That colour looks very nice indeed. I had
decided on a punto few days back but later changed to palio for an interesting offer. During that time i got to see a FTA coloured Punto and became a fan. Great choice !!

download2live · 9th August 2010, 16:44

Welcome to the club Sir!!!!
Have a great time with your new ride.
Do a few highway jaunts to rediscover the meaning of "Great Ride and fabulous handling".

OT: Seems almost half of the guys on T-Bhp going for Punto are from Bangalore.

samsan02 · 9th August 2010, 17:06

Congratulations ! Welcome to the Bangalore Punto Club. Nice new color choice.
By the way I read above that 75 horses is enough in Bangalore, infact looking at the worsening traffic here I think just 1 real horse would be enough.

fiat_tarun · 9th August 2010, 17:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunkk

Thank you guys..

No its the 75HP one. 90HP was released after my booking. I didnt go for it even though I had an option to change my booking. Premium colours - Fox trot azure & Tuscan Wine will cost 6K extra !

Congrats on the car. The FTA is such a subtle colour. My parents also have a FTA Punto, but the 1.4 E+. Have the prices for the premium colours increased? We bought ours at the end of June and paid 4k extra for the FTA.

h14 · 9th August 2010, 17:27

Hi arunkk! Congrats on your purchase!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

Congrats on the car. The FTA is such a subtle colour. My parents also have a FTA Punto, but the 1.4 E+. Have the prices for the premium colours increased? We bought ours at the end of June and paid 4k extra for the FTA.

The FIAT India website says that premium shades will attract an additional charge of Rs.4000/- for the Punto and Rs.5000/- for the Linea. I believe they would have increased the prices by now.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2000 UNO 1.7 S – Sold @ 55,000kms || 2001 UNO 1.7 ELX / 1,73,000 kms || 2002 Palio 1.2 Sport – Sold @ 83,000kms || 2008 Palio 1.3 MJD x 2

9th August 2010, 15:57	#1
arunkk BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 186 Thanked: 42 Times	My Grande Punto - In Fox Trot Azure ~~ Guys, here I am writing my first ownership report and also starting my first thread here in t-bhp. I have been commuting on a 2004 Zen for quite long time now and lately I decided to "move on". Okay so I decided to go for a diesel hatch this time - Not because of many compelling reasons like 100+ kms daily commute and all, but just for the thrill of it and for a change. Now the shortlist - Figo, Punto, I20 in the order i preferred after extensive reading of team bhp. Now before going for all the test drives let me tell you what I had in mind. Figo - The best car anyone can ever get (Not literally but I had such an impression ) Punto - Great looks, Good ride & handling. A car for enthusiasts with utter crappy interiors. I20 - The best in interiors and feel of luxury with great engine at the price of being too expensive. Now its the day for test drives. I decided that I will test drive all these cars back to back to find out all the pros and cons myself. Obviously my wife also accompanied for the test drives. First we went to Hyundai showroom. A warm welcome and they offered a test drive of I20 Asta CRDI in 5 mins time. Now before every test drive, I give my wife a trailer of what I know about the car. About I20, I told her that we will find the best interiors in this car and she agreed fully. Now the drive part went good. Car produced great power after the initial lag and all other stuff people know very well over here. Now next was the turn of Grande Punto. Even before reaching the showroom, I cautioned my wife about all the things I read about Punto interiors - that its using very cheap quality plastics, fit and finish is pathetic and all. Now we sat inside the car and the first thing my wife asked - Hey what's wrong with this interiors?? I was also quite surprised that I didnt find anything wrong at first sight. Now to answer her question, I showed her the panel gaps under the steering and all for which she gave a calm reply - Only you team bhpians will peek over such places and find something bad !! And I really liked the drive as I went through the roads I take daily to my office and all those potholes which used to throw me around in my Zen seemed non-existent while driving this car ! Leaving the showroom, we again looked back at that Punto, and admired its beauty. Next stop Ford figo. This time we were going to see the car which we have almost decided to buy. From outside the initial feeling is Oh its soo small. But interiors were very spacious. The dashboard, stereo, centre console everything served its purpose but didnt give that luxury feel. We went for the TD and the drive was very good indeed. Good mix of engine power, ride & handling. Few grunts from my wife about missing rear power windows which I knew already but was ready to compromise on. Overall we were a lil disappointed as we were all set to buy this one which was again fitting so well into our budget. Now the decision time. We decided to stretch our budget and there goes Figo out of the list. Now Punto Vs I20. One more round of test drives just between them and finally we decided our car. Yes its going to be the Punto 1.3 MJD Emotion Pack. Decided on the new premium colour - Fox Trot Azure. Went ahead with the booking and a 3 weeks wait which felt like 3 months and then I got delivery of my beauty last friday. Now its time for pictures to talk. Did 350Kms in 3 days. Loving every bit of it. And yes this beauty will stay with me and together we will conquer many more miles. Last edited by arunkk : 9th August 2010 at 16:11.
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:10	#2
extreme_torque Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Melbourne Posts: 4,376 Thanked: 5,105 Times	Stunning looking car! Congratulations!
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:12	#3
joe1980 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Andromeda Posts: 336 Thanked: 155 Times	Congratulations on your new car. The color looks very pleasant to the eyes.
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:16	#4
neoonwheels Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 2,064 Thanked: 1,875 Times View My Garage	Hey congrats and welcome to the FIAT family. Awesome color BTW
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:19	#5
mobike008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 11,695 Thanked: 14,784 Times View My Garage	Congrats. Looks very good. Is it the 90HP one? Also, how much did you pay for this new color?
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:24	#7
gods-envy BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 474 Thanked: 38 Times View My Garage	arunkk, Welcome to the Fiat family. i have a related question as mobike008 - Why did you not buy the 90bhp one? Edit - Read the answer above
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:39	#10
gopikb BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 554 Thanked: 390 Times	arunkk, welcome to the Grande Punto club. Never got to see a Fox trot azure yet in Bangalore roads. Hopefully we cross each other sometime. Drive safe and enjoy your beauty. You may feel the drive pretty sluggish initially when migrating other rev happy cars like the Zen and Santro. But you will see a definite improvement after about 3K kms on the odo. This has been observed by most of us driving the Punto. From there on there is no turning back. You will enjoy every bit of drive and would want to hit the highways very often. I drove 25K kms in 4 years of my Santro ownership. With the Punto, I have crossed 12K kms in 10 months.
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:41	#11
SilkDrive BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 172 Thanked: 24 Times	Congrats, Arun, on your new acquisition. That colour looks very nice indeed. I had decided on a punto few days back but later changed to palio for an interesting offer. During that time i got to see a FTA coloured Punto and became a fan. Great choice !!
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 16:44	#12
download2live Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: - Posts: 1,147 Thanked: 1,144 Times	Welcome to the club Sir!!!! Have a great time with your new ride. Do a few highway jaunts to rediscover the meaning of "Great Ride and fabulous handling". OT: Seems almost half of the guys on T-Bhp going for Punto are from Bangalore.
	() Thanks

9th August 2010, 17:06	#13
samsan02 BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 410 Thanked: 21 Times	Congratulations ! Welcome to the Bangalore Punto Club. Nice new color choice. By the way I read above that 75 horses is enough in Bangalore, infact looking at the worsening traffic here I think just 1 real horse would be enough.
	() Thanks