[sachinj12]

Congrats on the car man, Drive safe and happy motoring!!

Originally Posted by ch.nathan

Surely one of the most beautiful cars in India, if not in the World.

. So far,its been the only car that sets my pulse racing.

[drdeepudev]

Congrats on the new Fiat man. Welcome to the family. Glad to know that the ordeal you faced with Concorde is over. My car was from concorde, cochin.
Any way forget those incidents and treat her/him well.

[eagle_bush]

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Congrats on the car man, Drive safe and happy motoring!!

. So far,its been the only car that sets my pulse racing.

Thanks sachinj.

Originally Posted by drdeepudev

Congrats on the new Fiat man. Welcome to the family. Glad to know that the ordeal you faced with Concorde is over. My car was from concorde, cochin.
Any way forget those incidents and treat her/him well.

Thanks drdeepudev. I did forget the entire incident once I got my hands on the car. It was just like magic

[Soccerfan]

congrats buddy on the new acquisition . upgrade the tyres soon

[PaddleShifter]

Congrats Eagle_Bush. Enjoy your beauty.
Bossa Nova White is my favourite color. I used to have this color on Punto in the videogame "Need For Speed-Most Wanted (2006)"

Love the features list of this car which beats i20, ANHC and almost every car under 10lacs (unfortunately brochure reveals only a handful of features).

You will get to know of many new features regularly.

e.g. Speed Sensitive front wipers that change their wipe frequency when in intermittent mode, depending upon the speed of the car.
Rear AC vents etc etc.

[eagle_bush]

Originally Posted by Soccerfan

congrats buddy on the new acquisition . upgrade the tyres soon

Thanks Soccerfan. Tyre upgrade would come as soon as Vitamin M is replenished.

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

Congrats Eagle_Bush. Enjoy your beauty.
Bossa Nova White is my favourite color. I used to have this color on Punto in the videogame "Need For Speed-Most Wanted (2006)"

Love the features list of this car which beats i20, ANHC and almost every car under 10lacs (unfortunately brochure reveals only a handful of features).

You will get to know of many new features regularly.

e.g. Speed Sensitive front wipers that change their wipe frequency when in intermittent mode, depending upon the speed of the car.
Rear AC vents etc etc.

Thanks Paddleshifter.
I did get to know a lot of extra features in the car, the rear AC vent under the co-passenger seat is actually helping in keeping my amp cool .

I did get a chance to see the Speed sensitive front wipers on my trip to Vizag. The only irritating thing about them is that there is no on/off button for that feature. During a faint drizzle at speeds over 100 kph the gap between wipes is just about a second which feels like the wipers are in the second speed setting.

[eagle_bush]

14 days, 3000 km, it was time for first service. I called up Concorde service center, sadly the service center was too far. I opted to give my car to another dealer (Malik cars) which was nearby.

I went down to the service center to at 11 AM. I have had some bad experiences with the way customers were treated at TATA workshops when I gave my dad's Indigo for service. I set my expectations low and reached the service center. I was asked whether I had an appointment, to which my answer was 'no' as I just drove in because the workshop was close to my place. It took some time for me to find one Mr.Balaji, who handled FIAT service. I had to go all over the service center, asking where I would find this person, and finally after about 20 mins I found him. He assigned a service advisor and left immediately. The SA took a look at the car, and started writing the job card. He asked me a if there were any problems. The only issue I noticed was a 'thud' sound from the rear suspension and nothing much. He asked me to pick up all my cd's and any important documents and take them with me. I had to find a plastic bag to pack all the stuff like charger, cd's etc.

At this point I felt, the way customers are relieved from the way cab drivers or in general drivers are received at a TATA service center. I was told that the service would be complete by 5 PM.

At around 5:30 PM I gave the workshop a call to find the status, to which I got a reply that the car was in wash, and I could come and collect the vehicle.

Recent highway trips in rain had given a off-road look to the car. The car was washed, interiors neatly cleaned and was looking as good as new. I noticed that the right fog lamp was deeper than usual. No idea what happened but it came loose and was hanging. Sadly, the fog lamps were not cleaned as expected. I could still see loads of dust on it. On pointing out these issues, they were prompt in getting them fixed.

All the politeness which should have been from the beginning came at the time of me filling in the feedback form. I think TATA is taking the feedback seriously. Seems the SA was following the feedback points very strictly. There were around 10 points like: Did the SA explain the next service schedule etc. To my surprise, what I assumed to be good customer care turned out to be the points at which I had to rate them . I don't know when the attitude of people at the workshops would change.

For the reported suspension sound, the suspension bolts were tightened. I did not get a chance to drive over bad patches during the test drive after service. Though the experience was not so great, there were no issues with the quality of service. I would rate 4/5 for the quality of service and 2/5 for the way customers are received/treated.

The car felt a bit smoother, no idea what they did as this service was only a top-up and checks kind of service.

[gopikb]

Eagle, 14 days and 3000 kms - Are you doing a golden quadrilateral trip? Mind boggling man!!!. How did you manage it?

I am sure you must be enjoying every moment of driving it without which it can be impossible to drive so much in a short time. Share your experience on the high drives with your Punto

[eagle_bush]

Originally Posted by gopikb

Eagle, 14 days and 3000 kms - Are you doing a golden quadrilateral trip? Mind boggling man!!!. How did you manage it?

I am sure you must be enjoying every moment of driving it without which it can be impossible to drive so much in a short time. Share your experience on the high drives with your Punto

Well just two trips on two weekends, One round trip Hyderabad to Vizag - 1350 km and the Other Hyderbabad to Kakinada 1100 kms were the major ones the rest was office commute and a trips around the city.

And boy I am loving this car on the highway. It's such a masterpiece, that I can't stop admiring it's capabilities at high speeds, and the steering, I could hold it all day and keep driving 24/7 .

[eagle_bush]

Finally got some time out to post some pics of the Audio install.

The stock speakers on the front doors. Paper cones, and sadly riveted!



Polk Audio db6501 components install on the front doors.



Pin diagram of the stock HU



The quality of Audio improved a lot after installing the Polk components and co-axials. The THA 555 PnP added more quality. However, at volumes above 25 I feel there are a lot more vibrations. Any thing else which I need to get done to avoid those?
As of now the speakers continuous power is rated at 90W RMS for front compos and 60W RMS for the rear co-axials. The Amp has a continuous power of 55W per channel.

Also, I'm thinking of buying a sub to get the extra bass. The amp has a rating of 200W RMS for the sub. Any recommendations for a nice sub would help!

A few more pics . This one is after my first long trip.



I just love the IP of the Punto at night. Sorry for the bad quality of the pics. Will try snapping with a better camera. The images somehow do not show the beauty completely.

[neoonwheels]

Nice addition Egale. The stock speakers are pathetic when it comes to bass. The ambient lighting is one of the best I have seen in this segment of cars. Though I still feel Linea has got a real nice retro dials

[gopikb]

Originally Posted by eagle_bush

And boy I am loving this car on the highway. It's such a masterpiece, that I can't stop admiring it's capabilities at high speeds, and the steering, I could hold it all day and keep driving 24/7 .

Exactly!!!! You are bang on. These are exactly the words which come uniformly from all Punto owners. I wanted to see if you have the same comments too and you did not dissapoint.

I have read Figo, Polo and Fabia have similar capabilities in highway driving. Never tried them yet. But migrating from a small car segment in Maruti and Hyundai, the Punto just blew me away.

[eagle_bush]

Originally Posted by gopikb

I have read Figo, Polo and Fabia have similar capabilities in highway driving. Never tried them yet. But migrating from a small car segment in Maruti and Hyundai, the Punto just blew me away.

I td'ed the Figo before I was sold on Punto. The car handled well at higher speeds. The three spoke steering in FIGO was good to hold but no where near the feel of a Punto IMO. I would say each car has a different characteristic drive of it's own. The USP in my case was the looks, and loads of gizmo's inside the Punto.

I upgraded from the Chevy Spark. And the difference showed in the travel times . Also, a few overtaking maneuvers which I would have not taken if it was a Spark were so very evident. The in-gear acceleration of the Punto is great. But I did feel that a 6th gear would have done wonders!

[eagle_bush]

After looking at a few punto's with alloy's, I felt I need to get my punto a nice set of alloys. I want to stick to 14 inch options as a tyre upgrade is still a long way ahead. I have the following 98 PCD options. Can someone help me choose which would look the best.

These alloys are new and come in single PCD (98). So no extra holes on the alloys. The finish is Hyper silver.

Attachment 444680

These alloys come in multi PCD (98 + 100). Full machined black finish.

Attachment 444679

Attachment 444681

[donarun]

Originally Posted by eagle_bush

The quality of Audio improved a lot after installing the Polk components and co-axials. The THA 555 PnP added more quality. However, at volumes above 25 I feel there are a lot more vibrations. Any thing else which I need to get done to avoid those?
As of now the speakers continuous power is rated at 90W RMS for front compos and 60W RMS for the rear co-axials. The Amp has a continuous power of 55W per channel.
I guess you have not done damping to the doors. Refer to the ICE section where you can find more info abt sound damping. It would cost you abt 2.5 - 3k for proper damping of both the front doors. If you can stretch your budget then I would most definitely recommend you to go ahead with the damping

Also, I'm thinking of buying a sub to get the extra bass. The amp has a rating of 200W RMS for the sub. Any recommendations for a nice sub would help!
What is your budget for the woofer ? For a VFM SQ sub you can look at the Infinity Ref1260w. This would cost abt 5-6k plus another 1-1.5k for the enclosure.

My comments in BOLD

Originally Posted by eagle_bush

These alloys are new and come in single PCD (98). So no extra holes on the alloys. The finish is Hyper silver.

Attachment 444680

These alloys come in multi PCD (98 + 100). Full machined black finish.

Attachment 444679

Attachment 444681

Not able to view the attachments. Can you repost them or give a valid link.