My wife has had her 1.2 Punto for a few months now. She uses mainly to get to and from work and to knock about the City. I have to say that the car has totally surpassed my expectations for a sub 6k small vehicle.
Yeah the plastics are crap, the metal seems thin and it hasn't got much woomphh but the general quality, comfort, panel fit etc. etc is actually very good. It's fun to drive too.
No doubt I'll eat my words now!
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Tempting fate a little wouldn't you say 'H'?
Mind you it is only your wife's car :)
Seriously, I hope it's an improvement over my MIL's Punto Selecta (now safely disposed of) - that was a pile of rubbish which felt like it had been made from old beer cans.
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i'd say the opposite,, plastic quality excellent inside as good as you are going to get in a small car, also good ergonomics.
but rubbish to drive feels very unstable very poor upright arms out driving position, steering way to light and with city button on you have no idea what front wheels are doing.
one of very few cars i actually feel unsafe in.
Fiat are so near but so far with this car. i tried very very hard to like them but i just can't.
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I would have thought it a simple matter for FIAT to design the system such that 'City' steering mode is turned off once speed rises about a predermined threshold (e.g. 10mph)?
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The City mode does turn off auotmatically at 30 mph.
I just can't see any need for it tho' unless an individual is so frail that they need it.
The car is one of, if not the safest in its class, with a four star rating. My mate who works in the insurance business claims, however, that this rating is not worth the paper that it is written on though!
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City mode is a bit pointless, yes. Stilos and Pandas have it too. My view is that if some folks are so frail that they need steering that light, I worry about their ability to exert the necessary pressure on the brake pedal for an emergency stop, if needed.
I don't know whether this is done on the new 1.4 Punto Sporting, but on the previous (1.2 16v) one, putting the car in City mode altered the throttle response to make it a bit more tractable in urban traffic. Boy, with that Fiat drive-by-wire throttle, did you need it sometimes - when moving off in ordinary mode I never knew whether I was going to get the 2,000 rpm that I actually wanted, or an embarrassingly boy-racery 3,500 rpm, or stall!
FWIW I never had any problems with build quality on either the Sporting or the new-model Multijet JTD I had at the end of last year; the only thing was that the Multijet felt a bit dated. Nothing that a decent R&D budget wouldn't sort out.
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City mode is a bit pointless, yes. Stilos and Pandas have it too. My view is that if some folks are so frail that they need steering that light, I worry about their ability to exert the necessary pressure on the brake pedal for an emergency stop, if needed.
When I had a Punto on hire for a week, that City button was one of the best features of what I thought was a very good little car. I wish all cars had it!
For myself, I don't need steering that light, but I liked it. It was great not have to put any effort at all into steering around a cramped car park.
I suppose I might change my mind if big biceps on women ever become fashionable ...
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One thing that I have noticed with the Punto is that when you take your foot off the accelerator to change gear, the revs actually increase slightly, there is a delay, then they drop.
Is this normal?
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A lot of new cars do this to varying degrees. Its programed into the ECU, some say its for smoother gear changes, some say for polution control reasons.
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I bought a new Punto Active just under a year ago, one of the last of the old style models which I think look better than the latest one. Paid £5765 for it pre reg including metallic paint and optional CD player.
Personally so far I regard it as a major bargin, done 16K with it, so far only problem has been a sticking bonnet catch which was rectified by a Fiat dealer under warrenty.
At the moment I make a 60 mile round trip to work every day cruises on the Motorway comfortably better than some larger cars I have been in.
I wanted something reliable but cheap due to high mileage and so far this car has been excellent.
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'A lot of new cars do this to varying degrees. Its programed into the ECU, some say its for smoother gear changes, some say for polution control reasons.'
Ah! Cannot remember what I was driving, but it did this, and I put it down to my incompetence at lifting foot off accelerator quickly enough when changing gear. Felt very very very bizarre.
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City steering is something you get used to, but its not as dangerous as some of the Jags or others which are even lighter.
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Quite the nastiest car I have ever driven, due to its ultra light steering, was the old Rover 3500. Positivly dangerous - blink an eyelid too vigourously and you were on the wrong side of the road!
Roger.
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Have any of you driven a hyundai accent 00-03?
i previously owned a 03 plate punto 1.2 active and hardly used the city button. However, my accent feels even lighter than a city button and can be some what dangerous if taking corners swiftly.
I guarantee a hyundai accent is the same as having the city button on, only it stays on over 30 mph!
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SWMBO has had a Punto Multijet Dynamic since last October, just coming up to its 12,000 mile service and absolutely nothing to complain about up until now with 6 months of relatively hard use on the daily commute.
The plastics on the dash - especially the upper black area - are definitely poor quality in fact this area looks and feels cheaper than my mk1 punto. But then you'd never pay as much for a Punto as a Polo, would you :)!
My wife chose the car on the basis of leasing price through work - £115 a month maintained and the tax is very affordable as its only 119g/km CO2 and EuroIV compliant engine. No it wouldn't be my choice as a private purchase, but when you don't have to worry about resale value or maintenance costs, it makes good sense! Its well equipped for the price and the City steering is useful - no never on the open road but in the tight car park situation extremely handy and IMHO better than many of the speed sensitive systems seen on more expensive cars. Just wish we'd gone for the alloy wheels that apparently reduce the road noise significantly.
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The plastics on the dash - especially the upper black area- are definitely poor quality in fact this area looks and feels cheaper than my mk1 punto.>>
i really have to disagree with you, if you take a look at other cars in same price bracket you'll see IMO that the punto dash plastic quality is really quite good!
i'm a fan of it and believe me i've driven a lot of cars in this price range.
if you want to see poor quality plastic take a look at a 2004 renault megane.
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i'm a fan of it >>
the dash plastic NOT the car!! see my other post.
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Another vote for the Punto. Mrs AD's Punto is now 4 years old and inside is better put together than my Pug 307. Thought that the Fiats rock hard ride would result in the interior self-destructing, but so far so good.
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I bought a Dec 99 Punto HLX at 3 years old, the price being right. Lovely interiour, aircon, nice stereo, alloys etc...
After reading some poor reports on reliability and getting of to a bad start with the clutch making a funny noise (replaced for £170) I was a little concerned I had bought a lemon. However its actually been quite a nice little car, its very quiet very nippy(1.2 16V) and very economical (43 round town - 53 on a run!). The ride is a little firm though.
I recently had a Skoda Fabia 1.2 as a courtesy car when my Octavia(which I like!) was being serviced, I hated it - it was noisy, sluggish , suprisingly thirsty (38 mpg) and I hated the seats - the bolster cushion accross the front dead legged me after 20 miles! The Punto seemed much more civilised in comparison.
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I think the dash is fairly good for the price bracket the Punto is in. OK the plastics are fairly cheap but overall it looks fairly good and is more functional than many of the latest dashboards.
At the side of a CityRover dashboard it is state of the art, and that comes from someone who likes Rovers
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I have a 2001 1.2 eight valve Mia base model. After owning it for 12 months I am still undecided on it's verdict. My previous car was a Fiesta 1.25 which had superb ride and handling plus responsive 16v engine. The biggest immediate shock was the terrible ride quality and stodgy handling of the Punto, however after 12 months it's positive points are starting to appear. At least 40 mpg plus is available in all conditions, the very smooth FIRE engine which pulls well from low revs and gets better as the miles increase, and plenty of space up front comparable to larger cars.
I admit that some of the dashboard plastics are prone to scratch marks, particularly the gray colour near the ignition key.The car has a utility charm and can almost be forgiven but I am always annoyed by it's terrible ride quality (corrected in the current facelift model) which sends every road imperfection into the cabin.
It's a shame there is no car that combines the space, frugality and style of the Punto with the ride and handling of the Fiesta?
As with most cars it is a case of compromise in some departments.
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