FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car

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Mon 16 Feb 2015 20:12
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

I'm looking for a smallish car, and rather liked the Punto Grande styling.

So I looked at what the options for that car were, and decided on:

- 1.4 16v Star-Jet petrol engine

- Manual transmission

- Eleganza trim

- Barolo Red

- 5-door

...and of course I couldn't find exactly that car. There were lots of ones that were close, but not exact.

What I'm wondering is, how long should I keep this requirement, and where might it be sensible to compromise. To make that decision, I really need to get a feel for how many of which type of Punto is out there. If there were very few Star-Jets sold for instance, or not many Barolo Reds, then I would know if I was looking for something extremely rare or not.

Does anyone know of a place where I could find out this kind of information? There's not much point asking a car dealer - he might know, but he's not going to tell me. He's going to say:

"Ah, there weren't many Eleganzas made in red - but I happen to have a really good one here in blue..."

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Mon 16 Feb 2015 20:38
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - oldroverboy.
Look on auto trader. You can select colours engine transmission age mileage price and lots of other things.

Must it be a fiat?
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Mon 16 Feb 2015 23:08
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - Andrew-T

I haven't looked in a car showroom for years, but in the 'old days' one could get colour charts with trim details, in addition to the standard glossy showing each model. If a salesman won't answer that kind of question, either he's not well informed, or you can go elsewhere - or try the Fiat website. I'm sure they will send you reams of literature if you sound interested.

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Mon 16 Feb 2015 23:47
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

I can see that there may be a bit of confusion here, so let me add a few points.

1 - the Punto Grande stopped being made a few years ago, so I am looking for a second-hand car. That is why I cannot just specify what I want to a Fiat car showroom. They do not sell them today.

2 - I understand that I have put down a selection of requirements that I may not be able to find. Those are what I am currently looking for. I may not be able to get them, and may need to compromise - as most people do when looking for a second-hand car. What I am asking is whether there is any way for me to estimate in advance how hard it will be to find each particular requirement.

If one particular requirement proves to be pretty much impossible to achieve, it makes sense to drop that and look for something else. If there is some way to find out how many cars of a particular spec were sold, that will indicate how hard it will be to obtain one second-hand.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 00:07
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - RobJP

You will not find out that sort of information - plain and simple.

Your best bet, as has been said, is to go on something like Autotrader, and play around with the options.

From doing that right now, I can see that there are 994 Punto Grandes for sale. 967 of those are manual boxes, so that is not going to be an issue for you.

345 of the manual box cars are listed as having an engine size from 1.4 to 1-6 litres, so again, that's not going to be a mjor hassle.

Of those 345, only 119 are 5 door. So it's starting to tighten down a lot.

Of those 119, only 11 are red (there appear to be a couple of different reds used)

Of those 11, only 1 is an Eleganza spec. It's in Northampton, is a 09 car with 52k on the clock, and is up for £4196.

All that took me about 2 minutes.

So, of nearly 1000 cars for sale, 1 (one) meets your requirements. So, you're being too picky. Loosen up the requirements, and have a play on Autotrader, and see what turns up.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 01:30
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

...

Of those 11, only 1 is an Eleganza spec. It's in Northampton, is a 09 car with 52k on the clock, and is up for £4196.

All that took me about 2 minutes.

So, of nearly 1000 cars for sale, 1 (one) meets your requirements. So, you're being too picky. Loosen up the requirements, and have a play on Autotrader, and see what turns up.

Yes. It took me about 15 minutes to find that one a few days ago when I started looking, which is not Barola Red, and so doesn't meet the requirements. Putting my query another way, does looking at 1000 Puntos over the last few days and not finding a single one that meets the spec precisely mean that I should loosen up the spec, or look for a longer time?

If I knew that there were very few Eleganzas in Barolo, for instance, I could waste a fruitless month. But if there were lots of different ones coming on the market, it might be worth waiting.

Of course, this is a question which applies to ALL second-hand car purchasers to some extent. How long is it worth waiting to find the precise car you are looking for? And how can you find this out...

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 09:19
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - Andrew-T

Thanks to RobJP for his research, we know that one car in about 1000 was a near-miss, so the odds look pretty long. Reminds me of the (very) old days trainspotting :-(. You could watch at a preferred spot for a week hoping for the one loco you hadn't seen before. It may turn up tomorrow...

All depends on how long you can wait, and your present car remains acceptable (or lasts). And as has been said, the holy grail may be tarnished.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 00:13
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - Auristocrat

The Grande Punto was facelifted and renamed the Punto Evo in 2009. The Punto Evo was facelifted and renamed the Punto in 2012. The car is still in production, and still available new in the UK, albeit in a reduced range.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 07:06
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - oldroverboy.
Two points.
1. Put ad asking for what you want on auto trader.
2. It,s a case of how. Long is a piece of string.. You might find what you want but you might not.
Ultimately down to your degree of patience/wanting it.
Good luck.
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Tue 17 Feb 2015 09:05
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - Wee Willie Winkie

What happens if you find your holy grail and it turns out to be a dog of a car? Will you buy it as you're so excited to have found it, or do you keep looking?

I think you can be as specific as you like with new cars, not so much with second hand.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 09:27
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - RobJP

You have to view what is on Autotrader, motors.co.uk, etc as being representative of what is out there. While it is possible that there might be 6 of the 'perfect' car coming onto the market in the next 3-4 weeks, you do need to look at the realistic chances of it happening.

Oh, and Murphy's law states that as soon as you've bought a car, having given up on getting the 'perfect' one, 2 that ARE perfect will come up for sale within 5 miles of you.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 09:43
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - madf

Also try motors.co.uk

Gumtree

and Preloved.

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 12:40
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

<i>...You have to view what is on Autotrader, motors.co.uk, etc as being representative of what is out there. While it is possible that there might be 6 of the 'perfect' car coming onto the market in the next 3-4 weeks, you do need to look at the realistic chances of it happening....</i>

This comment gets to the nub of what I wanted to talk about. Murphy's law will always apply, of course, but to get a feel for the 'realistic' chances of something happening you need to have a bit of data.

How many Eleganza Manual Puntos were made in Barola Red? None? Then I'm stupid to go looking for one. Lots? Then I'm a bit unlucky not to find one immediately, but I'll certainly see one in a week or two....

Perhaps another question would be: "How long do you normally take to look for a car?"

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 12:45
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - oldroverboy.

"How long do you normally take to look for a car?"

when I decided to change could.t find what I wanted in my budget, took 7 months, but things happened in the last few days of the previous car to make me decide. Murphy's Law... The car I wanred turned up almost on my doorstep at my budget..

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Tue 17 Feb 2015 12:48
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - skidpan

When buying used its condition and history that matter. Colour and spec are irrelevant.

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Wed 18 Feb 2015 21:19
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

When buying used its condition and history that matter. Colour and spec are irrelevant.

Er...so what I want as a customer is irrelevant? Seems an odd way to run a transaction. Spec and colour might be irrelevant to the price, but not to a person who wants a specific item....

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Wed 18 Feb 2015 21:25
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - gordonbennet

Painting yourself into one specific car choice like this is a sure fire way to paying way over the odds, unless you are prepared to wait indefinately for the right one to come along and then still be prepared top walk away.

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Wed 18 Feb 2015 21:29
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - daveyK_UK

Fiat are on the up, if the commercial vehicles are anything to go by, they are more reliable than they have ever been.

A friend who knows his stuff mechanically has a 500L and rates it highly.

Cant comment on a Fiat Punto, fiatsupersaver normally do decent deals for private buyers if you want new or pre reg.

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Sun 22 Feb 2015 17:41
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

<i>...Painting yourself into one specific car choice like this is a sure fire way to paying way over the odds...</i>

Yup. I would have no problems with that. The cars are worth about 4k max - another k or so would no problem...

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Thu 19 Feb 2015 10:30
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - artill

If you look at the Grande Punto on howmanyleft.co.uk you can see there are 5 models of Eleganza listed, 2 of which had diesel engines. The petrols number a few hundred. Only a small proportion of these will be for sale at any point, and this doesnt take into account the number of doors and colour. I doubt there are more than a very few cars registered that match your requirements. Waiting for one of those to be for sale could be a very long wait!

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Thu 19 Feb 2015 22:59
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - Happy Blue!

It will be a long wait, by which time you could have bought one that was almost at your preferred spec. For fairly rare cars finding one in good condition at the trim level and engine size you want is the main thing. Colour is a bonus. I would widen the brief a little to include all colours initially and then other features.

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Sun 22 Feb 2015 17:39
FIAT Punto - Buying a specific car - dodgy geezer

<i>...If you look at the Grande Punto on howmanyleft.co.uk you can see there are 5 models of Eleganza listed, 2 of which had diesel engines. The petrols number a few hundred. ...</i>

Thanks! That's exactly what I needed!

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