[nkrishnap]

By the way how much did the seat covers cost and from which shop was it done.

Please pm me the details if you it is not possible to post on the open forum

[NutsNBolts]

Congrats on your acquisition. I believe multijet starts behaving like an entirely different entity after 5K on odo. Happy mile crunching.

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

By the way how much did the seat covers cost and from which shop was it done.

Please pm me the details if you it is not possible to post on the open forum

It costed me 7.6K. It's of a combination of Luster and the next grade ( the gray stripes you see) from G-Sport. Done by Torque, Indiranagar. Pretty close to my place so I went there. I liked the design and color combination, it was suggested by Mr. Pawan there. Not a completely happy experience though. I would not recommend it to any one as of now.

Originally Posted by Newpunter

Nice seat covers and congrats. Your thread title is very apt. You don't buy a Punto, it buys you .

Thanks Newpunter. It buys you - Very true, and that too all on her own. No help from the Manufacturer and absolutely nothing from the dealers.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[sbkumar]

More interior pictures...

Another update:

To my disappointment, I found that the OEM HU that is present in the newer Emotion models do not have the support for AUX. I went to EVO Ulsoor today and tried to get it done. Though there were pins to connect the AUX connector ( don't know how to call it) , there was no menu option to change the input to the AUX. It seems that it works with older BLAUPUNKT HUs, whereas mine has Delphi.

Got HELLA 100W head lamps fitted in Evo for Rs.1.1K

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

Congrats on your acquisition. I believe multijet starts behaving like an entirely different entity after 5K on odo. Happy mile crunching.

Thanks NutsNBolts. I could see the difference even when I did the TD. The first car I drove had 300KMS on odo whereas the one I drove after a month had 3000K on the odo and there was a considerable difference. That kind of helped me decide on Punto.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[Surviving Brain]

Congratulation sbkumar on your Italian hatch.

I must say that you own the most beautiful hatchback sold in India. Yes, you read it right. I just love the curves and lines of Fiat Punto.

The seat covers looks awesome. It blends well with the interiors.

IIRC, this is a Fiat Punto Emotion, right? So, do you plan to go for alloy wheel?

PS: Your rear floor mats looks very dirty. I feel that you have to clean it soon

Best Regards,
Surviving Brain

[gopikb]

sbkumar, the seat covers look very good. Can you share why you dont recommend the place in Indiranagar for the car seat cover?

[prince_pervez]

I liked the seat covers. It is blending well with the interiors.

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by Surviving Brain

Congratulation sbkumar on your Italian hatch.

I must say that you own the most beautiful hatchback sold in India. Yes, you read it right. I just love the curves and lines of Fiat Punto.

The seat covers looks awesome. It blends well with the interiors.

IIRC, this is a Fiat Punto Emotion, right? So, do you plan to go for alloy wheel?

PS: Your rear floor mats looks very dirty. I feel that you have to clean it soon

Best Regards,
Surviving Brain

Thanks Surviving Brain! (By the way, that's a very interesting handle you have). I agree with you completely. It is easy to find better hatches in India in some aspect or other, but it's difficult to find a better looking one. Yes, it's an Emotion and I am planning for the alloys. Probably in the next week or so. Yes, I cleaned them. Actually I rarely used the rear set so I was surprised to see so much dirt there!

Originally Posted by gopikb

sbkumar, the seat covers look very good. Can you share why you dont recommend the place in Indiranagar for the car seat cover?

Yes, the seat covers do look good. I liked the fact that it matched the interiors. I didn't have a good experience on delivery.

When I booked, it was Mr Pawan who was there. He took time, discussed the designs and suggested this combo which I liked and made the booking. Unfortunately when I went back to fix them, he was not there. I think that probably was the most important reason for the unpleasant experience. It was Saturday evening 5.30 when I left the car with them. Said it would be ready in 2 hours. But finally got a call at around 8.30 ( meanwhile I had called around 8 and they wouldn't even respond properly) to come and collect the car.

What I found was disappointing to say the least. The right section of the rear split seats was about an inch lower than the left and there was huge gap between the two sections. When I pointed it out, they were not even ready to listen to me. They tried to even convince me it was the same way even before fitting the covers. Then they tried to rectify that by pulling up that end and beating the other section which was slightly higher with their hands to make it look like the same level. I assume that they miscalculated the width of that section and so had to stuff in the cushion really hard and tight to bring it to the width of the cover they stitched and it brought the level low. Then I noticed that they had pushed all the seat belts down when they put the seats back. I asked them to take it up and they were asking me whether I really need them . I was not satisfied with the way the worked and wanted to talk to Pawan before I pay them. The lady (told me she is the owner) over there said I can't talk to him as he was at home. I told them I would withhold some amount and pay that when I get it rectified at which she turned really nasty. I realized there was no point in trying to convince people who were in hurry and were not ready to accept their fault and thought I would deal with Pawan. But then she was not ready to listen to anything and I finally paid the full amount in frustration and left the place promising myself not to go back again, even to get it fixed.
I was not disappointed because they made a mistake. Everyone makes them. But the fact that they were not even ready to accept it made me go crazy plus they way they treated the seat to make it look normal. You have to see it to believe it.

It's not necessary that everyone else would face the same, I am sure there would be a lot of satisfied customers. But hope it would be a note of caution to others that things can go wrong even with good places. Another lesson I learned was not to take delivery of any such things in the dark. In the last pic I posted, you can see how the carpet got stuck under the seat on right side near the door. I noticed it only the next day :-(

[Surviving Brain]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Thanks Surviving Brain! (By the way, that's a very interesting handle you have).

I'm glad that you like my handle

I agree with you completely. It is easy to find better hatches in India in some aspect or other, but it's difficult to find a better looking one.

I can't agree more with you brother.

Yes, it's an Emotion and I am planning for the alloys. Probably in the next week or so.

Make sure that you buy 98 PCD alloys for your Fiat Punto. If you don't mind, please do share the pics of the alloys that you're interested.

Surviving Brain

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by Surviving Brain

Make sure that you buy 98 PCD alloys for your Fiat Punto. If you don't mind, please do share the pics of the alloys that you're interested.

Surviving Brain

Yes, I am looking for 98 PCDs. Sure, will do when I get the snaps.
Yesterday I checked with Evo, they don't have 98 PCD. There was a discussion in another Punto thread about 98 PCD alloys available with Sai Mag. Need to check out them.

[sbkumar]

Completed my first long drive. Took her on a trip to Kutralam, TN. Total distance covered 1300 Approx. As per the MID, the average mileage was 19 kmpl, average speed 50kmph.
Kept her to a max of 2k rpm most of the time.

[sbkumar]

Here is an update on my trip:

I took her for the first long drive (BLR-Coutralam-BLR). A drive of 600+ kms one way.

Route taken - BLR-Krishnagiri-Salem-Dindigul-Madurai-Thirumangalam-Rajapalayam-Coutralam.

Firstly, heavy rains make you focus more and make the drive a little more challenging.

NH-7 was the usual, nothing much to update except that there are some minor pot holes and rough road surfaces near Hosur. On my return there was one big pothole after krishnagiri toll gate and before A2B which I think people normally don't expect in highways. Could lead to accident when people try to swerve seeing it at the last moment.

Started from Indirangar at 7:30 PM thursday reached Coutralam at 7.30 in the morning. Lost about 30 mins due to heavier than usual traffic on inner ring road. Dinner Break of 1 hour in A2B Krishnagiri. Another break of 15 mins for tea and a halt of one hour in Rajapalayam to pick up a friend.
Total driving time of 10hrs mins approx. Probably a little more than estimated timings due to the heavy rains and the fact that it was the first trip on my punto which is still in run-in period. So kept it to a max of 90kmph/~2k rpm.

Started back from Coutralam at 6.15 PM saturday. Really heavy rains for around 25% of the time and moderate rains/drizzling for another 50% of the distance. Reached bangalore by 6:30 AM sunday. Took a dinner break for an hour in Thirumangalam and had to take a detour into Tenkasi and Dindigul towns where we probably lost around 1 hr. This is again with a relaxed cruising at around 90 kmph when possible and much slower drive due to rains at other times.

Something disappointing happened in the trip.

On Friday early morning, I noticed a crack on the windshield. It was arch shaped and of about 15cms in length. Since it was night and it was raining continuously, we never noticed it before that. The crack has started from the beading and proceed upwards like an arch. Since I was long way away from BLR, I had to drive it back and now it looks like it has increased in length by probably another 5 cms. I called up Prerana Hosur road and they told me I have to apply for insurance. I don't remember anything abnormal happened while driving and even took a dinner break at the usual A2B krishnagiri. There was no indication ( at least to my eyes) of anything falling on top and I really doubt that would be case as the crack has started from the place it has been fixed to the body. Is claiming insurance the only option?

I had posted it on the Fiat Issue thread, yet to get a response though :-(

[vsk2009]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

Here is an update on my trip:


On Friday early morning, I noticed a crack on the windshield. It was arch shaped and of about 15cms in length.

It is unfortunate to hear it with a new car. Can you post the photo. If you have a 50% NCB then go for insurance if the price is more than the extra premium that you will be paying for few years.

[sbkumar]

Posting some pics.. sorry for the poor clarity.. got hold of camera only this evening :-(








Couple of pics from inside the car.

[sbkumar]

Couple of Updates:

1. Windshield Issue: Fiat refused to accept that it could be a manufacturing defect since they spotted a very small chip in the glass and said it could be due to that. I still wonder how that was caused as it is quite unlikely that something that strong could have hit while I was driving without my notice. Since I can't prove it otherwise I have to agree with them and claimed Insurance. They failed to give a convincing reason on how it could have happened. Worried that it could cause such a big crack as the chances of small stones hitting the windshield is quite high on our roads. Hope it's just a one-off case.

Work done by : Prerana Workshop at Gudulu Gate, Hosur Road.
Total time taken: 2 days.
Total Cost: 6.8 k ( 3K for windshiled, 1.5k for Glue, 1k for moulding, 1k for labour)
I paid 1.3 k and the rest covered by Insurance.

No major problem with quality of work although they left some scratches in the front pillars which they removed after I pointed it to them at the time of delivery. No increase in cabin noise levels an no water leaks found so far and hope it remains that way.

2. Latch Issue:
On Sunday, while driving, the "Rear left door open" message came up in the MID. Tried all sorts of things to fix it, but it would never go off. Was unable to lock the car both with remote and manually, central lock failed.
Took it to Hosur road workshop again yesterday afternoon and got it fixed.
Took around 3 hours for fixing it. Seems they had to replace the door latch.
Cost 1.3 K, all covered under warranty.

Little disappointed to get such minor niggles in a new car.
Though they fixed it in 3 hours they could never give an estimate on how long it would take. Waited for an hour and half and decided to return home as I had another appointment. By the time I reached home at 6.30 they called and said it's fixed and asked me to come back and pick it up. Only saving grace was that the service manager offered to stay back and deliver it to me in case I get delayed due to traffic.

Current ODO: 2.5k