[h@r$h@l]

Guys,

this is my first ownership thread so please point out any errors if any and also if any particular info or pics required please let me know.

It all started in early 2009 when we decided to sell off out 5 yr old M800 that served us well over those 5 years. After selling it off we decided to wait for a few months to get a feel of the war of the hatch backs and monitor closely the progress, pros & cons of each one. Later on we came to a conclusion that the Hatch we buy is surely going to be a diesel hatch to cater to our regular Surat, Baroda, and Rajkot etc runs. For our other family trips / drives we have the Cedia serving us pretty well. So, we shortlisted the below and the reason for rejections. In our house, buying a car is a joint family matter and we don’t have a personal car concept. We drive away which ever we want. Cedia, Wagon R etc. So the car had to be approved by each and every member. Dad, Mom, Wife & me.

1. Swift Vdi. : when you think of a diesel hatch, the first car that comes to our mind is Maruti Swift. The car has been selling well across India for the last 5 years and that is proved by its long waiting list and ZERO discounts. Also, being on road for all these years, the car has proved its point of being successful but we didn’t like its aging design and tons of them everywhere you go. Also with the Vdi model not having airbags wasn’t impressive.

2. Ford Figo : honestly none of us liked the car. So no particular reason for rejections. JUST DIDN’T LIKE IT.

3. Nissan Micra : Found the car cute. Suitable for mom and wife’s driving. Since safety features was a top most priority we were put off only to find out that the top end variant doesn’t even have ABS and only driver side airbag.

4. Hyundai i20 Crdi: Loved everything about the car. Nothing really I can find wrong about except the price. At INR 7.98 OTR Ahmedabad I backed out.

5. VW POLO: excellent driver’s car. Loved it. Was put off by the feature less top end model. Come on VW, ACC & Power rear view mirrors at least on the top end model. Also the looong waiting period we were not ready to wait NOW.

6. Fiat Grande Punto EP: I have loved this car ever since it was launched. I have completely fallen for its interiors, exteriors and everything about it. I have visited the 2 dealers several times just to take a good look at the car. Driven it on several occasions and loved the driving position and road manners. Since we owned a Fiat Uno around 1999 to 2002. Dad was a bit biased towards Fiat. When we bought the Wagon R in 2008, we had considered Palio too, but due to some reasons we didn’t book that.


Now since we were ready to buy the car, took dad and wifey to the showroom and took a test drive with them and they too enjoyed the drive and liked everything about the car. We got to see all the available colors at the dealer and hence it was easier for us to take the color call.

Dec 2010:
Dad and me visited the Fiat Dealer ASPI motors to check the Punto and understand the costs involved. Initially dad wasn’t too keen on checking the car so soon as we had to make the buy in Jan 2011. But since he was travelling overseas I wanted him to check out the car before he took off. He drove the car. Liked it very much. Since then we have been getting regular follow ups from the dealer about the booking. But 14th Dec. to 14th Jan. being an inauspicious period we informed the dealer that we shall be taking the decision only after 15th Jan 2011.

Jan 2011

2 days later I get a call from my dad at 8 am asking me what I have decided about the car. Finances, availability, etc. So I contact the dealer and get details on the available offers. Sadly I was informed that on all 2011 there are no offers and at the max the dealer could throw in a 5k cash discount and some accessories. So I was back into thinking mode and regretting that I didn’t book it in DEC itself and took advantage of the ongoing offers. Later that day I got a call back from the sales rep at ASPI saying they have some 2010 models ex stock but for that I need to confirm with them the color and model so they could check the availability and update me. I asked them in below preference for the GP MJD EP model.

1. Tuscon Wine
2. Exotic Red
3. Medium Grey

An hr later I got a call stating that RED is the only one available and I had to confirm the same within 2 days. So I discussed the same with my wife and we decided to go ahead with the red. I called the dealer and confirmed the RED color. Again after an hr I get her call saying that another dealer has a Punto EP in wine color and they can bring it down for me if I agree to the same within next 2 days. So I came home from office and we downloaded a few Wine color pics and emailed the same across to dad mom for immediate approval. As soon as we got a go ahead from them we rushed to the dealer and booked the FIAT GP EP TUSCON WINE with a booking amount of 51,000/-.

[h@r$h@l]

Contd..

The final offer given to us was


On top of this I was given an additional 10k cash discount + RSA package + accessories ( mats + flaps + Teflon coating) upon negotiating more on this offer I was told that she will try and add another 5k to this offer. I was told the car will reach the dealer stock yard by weekend and I will be able to conduct the PDI there and if not satisfied I can opt for the RED color car which is readily available at the dealer stock yard.

25/01/2011

Today morning got a call from the dealer. She has reached. So I book a PDI at the dealer yard for 4:30 pm and I am told the car won’t be in clean condition so don’t panic. It’s ok. Pics from the PDI





27/01/2011

My dad was travelling and resumed office today and we decided to go to the bank to sort the loan process and all. Dad has been banking with these people for over 25 years and hence it was a 5 mins job to get the loan in order. We were issued a sanction letter and DD in 30 mins total. I called up the dealer and faxed them the DD copy and they started the delivery process. Went to the dealer in evening and handed over the DD and collected the receipt. My mom insisted we get the car home as per the time suggested by someone. So the delivery time and date was decided as 28th January 2011 at 4:30 pm. So I had been eagerly waiting for 4 pm so I could zoom out of office and get my Italian beauty home.

Reached the showroom around 4:30 and saw my beauty parked in the front all waiting to be driven home. I was greeted by the sales rep and went through the signing formalities. After that another rep took us to the car and gave us a detailed demo which lasted well over 30 mins. I must say here; Blue and me is going to require a few hours of usage to get my hands around it. Drove out of the showroom in a while and then straight to the HP bunker and loaded her up with some liquid diet. The Range than showed us the figure of 666. When I got the car from the dealer the ODO read at 17 kms @ 5:30 pm. At 11 pm the ODO read 88 kms. There are 2 short distance highway drives planned this weekend and I shall post my first long drive impressions after that. Also with that I shall post my list of pros and cons I have noticed so far and shall keep updating the same as and when I hit the roads more and more.

[h@r$h@l]

Attached are the pics of the italian after it was brought home. We performed a small puja at home and than took her out for a spin.

The Killer front


The superb steering


Enjoy the rest !!

[fiat_tarun]

Congrats on the car. All colours look beautiful on the Punto, but the tuscan wine does stand out a little more. Good to know your dealership experience was also pleasant.

PS: Add the initial driving report ASAP, lest the mods lock this thread.

[hiren959]

Congrats Harshal on you new buy, Punto really looks killer in this color.
Enjoy your ride and drive safely!

[@tombum]

SmokinG Hot!!

Congrats Boss! On the next meet, I hope we have the Tuscan beauty for company!

And I was shocked by your dealer experience at ASPI. Good you chose them over Cargo.

[h@r$h@l]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

Congrats on the car. All colours look beautiful on the Punto, but the tuscan wine does stand out a little more. Good to know your dealership experience was also pleasant.

PS: Add the initial driving report ASAP, lest the mods lock this thread.

Thanks. The dealer experience was very good in my case. They were very helpful and cooperative. I shall update this thread as and when i hit more kms on the road.

Originally Posted by hiren959

Congrats Harshal on you new buy, Punto really looks killer in this color.
Enjoy your ride and drive safely!

Thanks hiren.

Originally Posted by @tombum

SmokinG Hot!!

Congrats Boss! On the next meet, I hope we have the Tuscan beauty for company!

And I was shocked by your dealer experience at ASPI. Good you chose them over Cargo.

Hi tom,

The dealer experience was very good. Way better than Cargo. I went to cargo twice, but they were not even interested in showing me the punto.

Next time we meet, punto will surely be along.

[@tombum]

Cargo sure is a letdown! My experience was worse than pathetic.

Time to update your signature Boss!

[sandeepmohan]

Congratulations. Once again; the most beautiful hatch to land on our shores in years. The steering wheel looks neat and nice to hold compared to the Active variant.

A few questions. Any reason not to consider the more powerful diesel variant? The Road Tax charges of Rs. 25XX is really low. How come? But I see Rs. 35XXX
towards RTO charges and that it very steep.

[S350L-E240]

Finally you have your ride, congrats and I see you have spent ample of passionate time writing, have a great time with it, let me know when do I get to see it in person, and do post few more reports after your planned drives.

Btw, what exactly are these planned drives? Let's get the route incase we need to hijack you off there?

Once again congrats man, have miles and miles of secured and safe and thrilling drives.

Regards,


P.S Nice photos, when do I get your appointment to get some shots of my car?

[h@r$h@l]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

Finally you have your ride, congrats and I see you have spent ample of passionate time writing, have a great time with it, let me know when do I get to see it in person, and do post few more reports after your planned drives.

Btw, what exactly are these planned drives? Let's get the route incase we need to hijack you off there?

Once again congrats man, have miles and miles of secured and safe and thrilling drives.

Regards,


P.S Nice photos, when do I get your appointment to get some shots of my car?

Dev,

Thanks for your comments man. I totally enjoyed the drive in your 5er that day. It was excellent. I am heading not very far tomorrow but got 2 trips tomorrow (Anand and back & Dakor and back). All together about 200 odd kms. Should be a good experience.

We meet up sometime next week for your car pics.

[bnzjon]

Congrats friend. The colour looks stunning.
Enjoy your ride and drive safe.

[GTO]

Congratulations on the car! Please note that Team-BHP does not permit booking / buying experience threads in the Test-Drives section anymore. For the benefit of members & guests alike, it is now imperative to include a complete report on the car (the driving experience / comfort / features, what you like, what you don't like etc.).

This thread is temporarily closed. Please report this post once you are ready to update with a complete driving report; that's when it shall be re-opened. Thanks for your support.

[h@r$h@l]

29/01/2011-30/01/2011

No since the car is 3 days and 585 kms old I have a few things to say about my car rather than generally speaking on the car.

I have categorized the points in the below order as suggested by GTO. Please note that these are my own observations and impressions and may differ from what others have experienced. I am not car expert but would try my best.

The driving experience:

Don’t understand from where to begin. I had heard a lot of stories about Punto being a pain to drive in city and all, but in the last 2 days this has completely changed my point of view. The car is simply amazing to drive in city as well as a brilliant beast on highway. I had doubts that my mother will not be able to drive this car, thanks to its turning radius. But honestly it didn’t bother any of us. We all could drive it with ease.

At the end of 3rd day the car stands at 585 kms on the ODO. Out of which 300 odd kms were done on the highway and rest within the city. Initial period I am not even bothering myself with mileage calculation as I have read a lot on this that its best to look in that direction only after 4k kms. Yesterday on the highway run we came across almost all sorts of terrains and this beast performed fantastically well. The car was loaded with 4 of us in the car on the first trip in the morning and in the evening we hit the highway again to with a total of 5 passengers on board.

The issues that we encountered a lot while driving this thing was; finding a right driving position. It wasn’t as easy as in other cars. It took all of us a while to adjust to it. But once you are there, it rocks. In the 1st and 2nd gears the car lags a bit (I know many here will disagree to the ‘bit’ thing, but it’s all here as I felt it). I am not very good at describing combinations of rpm and gears and all, so I will not go into much detail there.

Comfort:

Comfort again is a very subjective matter. What is comfortable to me may not be to others. A lot has been said and written about Punto’s sitting comfort on rear bench. Honestly I found it superb. We have driven with 5 adults on board and none complained of discomfort for the 200 kms drive. Those 200 kms were inclusive of NH, Express Highway, State highway & Village roads. We had taken punto to our village temple. The add-on features like B&M, ACC etc make the drive very comfortable.

Now, there are a few things which made my drive a bit uncomfortable. I don’t know if others have noticed it before, but when playing music through ipod or usb, the only way to change the track is through the arrow keys on the steering wheel? Now that’s annoying. I don’t want to be told every few mins to change the track. I would have loved if the person on passenger seat could do that without disturbing me. I don’t know if there is a setting which lets u do that and would really appreciate if someone could show me how to get around this.

Blue and me syncing your phone book contacts and letting you talk hands free is a boon. I am using a BB8520 and the phonebook didn’t sync completely. When I get a call, some contacts name appears and in some only the numbers. But that’s ok. Not something I can’t do without.

I would like to make a special mention on the things I like and I don’t like about the Italian.

Likes:
1. Driving pleasure
2. Strong built
3. The Color
4. The way FIAT is taking interest in the customers ( 3 feedback calls already)
5. Ground clearance
6. Sitting comfort
7. Seat cushioning.
8. Blue and me
9. The small lever places inside the boot to open the fuel refill compartment incase the mechanical one fails.
10. Speed limiter warning.

Dislikes
1. The ORVM controls; have to really lean forward to use them
2. I would have loved to have the boot handle like the Hyundai i20 or the VW Polo.
3. The controls for audio system when Ipod or USB connected
4. The quality of audio. Its below average. But a lot here have suggested to get rid of the OEM speakers and upgrade to JBL components. Need to check on vitamin M for that.


As of now that’s all I can think and say about the car. Today I took it to RTO for the registration process. I plan to take her on a long 600 kms drive coming weekend. Just can’t enough from this thing. If any of you want any particular pics please ask for it and I shall have them here.

Thanks a lot for reading this first timers review.

[devarshi84]

THe car is beautiful if anything. Cargo is a letdown in all ways. Their follow up call for Punto was returned 3 months after I had bought the Jazz. But Aspi is supposed to be better.

Congrats on getting the Italian home.