1998 Fiat Punto 60S 1.2

Summary:

Absolute rubbish

Faults:

Head gasket at 11,000 miles, dealer did not want to know as car owas ne month out of the warranty period.

Cooling fan electrics.

Seat covers wearing badly and coming away from the seat frame.

Brake calipers seizing.

Clutch problems.

Exhaust fell off as the mountings rusted.

Drivers door window fell out.

I could go on for ages yet!!!

General Comments:

Very disappointing car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 8th March, 2001

1998 Fiat Punto 60 SX 1.2

Summary:

Typical Fiat

Faults:

Rear wiper.

Horn (twice)

Heater (no temperature control - it's either on very cold or very hot).

General Comments:

Nippy enough below 40, but as soon as you get to 5th gear things begin to slow down. This is understandable for a 1.2 engine.

I would have given the car a higher grade except for the little things that continually went wrong.

The dealer was great before I signed the cheque. After that, they didn't care if I was going to be a repeat customer or not.

Crap resale value.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 14th February, 2001

3rd Apr 2001, 16:23

Hey... all Fiats are budget cars... I think they are the very best economical car that money can buy... so if you want some thing that is going to last get a German or Japanese built car...

13th Jul 2001, 17:17

OK, so they are cheap, you should still expect them to be of merchantable quality, my wife's Punto 60SX dropped a valve into the cylinder head at 5000 miles, rear wiper only works in the dry, she's done 20000 miles now and it has had more sets of brake disks and front suspension components than I care to remember... and the dealers aren't interested as soon as you've got the keys, they know only a fool would buy a Fiat after owning one... and it's a dog to drive, and worth a third of what we paid for it after less than 2 years.

12th Aug 2001, 11:49

Yes they are cheap cars. I bought one 60s and I have done 46000 miles. I have flogged the 1.2 engine to death and all I have had to replace is a new injector, for some reason it packed in. I have owned it for 2 years now and I'm well happy with it. Cheap motoring! Cheap car! You can't go wrong!

12th Aug 2002, 14:14

I have been driving my Punto 60S for nearly two years now, I have done about 30000 miles in it and its still going strong.

Mu recent MOT showed nothing wrong with it and I am yet to replace anything other than the tyres.

19th Sep 2002, 10:08

I own the 85SX 16V version- so far so good.

1998 Fiat Punto GT 1.4 turbo

Summary:

Badly built rocket on wheels made out of tin

Faults:

The handbrake mechanism froze up in the cold weather, two days later the handbrake stopped working altogether.

General Comments:

Dealer staff are complete idiots, forgot to put the oil filler cap on after a service. Thankfully no damage done. Dealer wouldn't give any sort of refund on the service bill after the car had to go back to them to be cleaned and for a new oil filler cap.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 5th February, 2001

28th Feb 2001, 12:26

I'd have to agree with you about Fiat dealers, they're totally incompetent. Took the car for a service, all OK, apparently, 1 week later strange noise from the wheels, brake pads are worn down to the metal, totally wrecked the discs.

8th Mar 2001, 06:15

Yeah, the same thing has happened to me!!

The handbrake mechanism froze up and the whole handbrake cable snapped. Fiat charged about £100 to fix it. I later found out that the cables only cost £20, so must of charged me £40 per hour!!

I agree that their customer service are crap. I am currently in the process of making a full complaint to Fiat's Headquarters!!!

21st Apr 2001, 11:20

This is a common fault with GT's. don't put the hand brake on in cold weather is the only way round it.

20th Jul 2001, 13:26

Punto Cabriolet 1600. At only 54000 miles the differential exploded wrecking the gearbox casing. £1000 to replace the gearbox.

The timing belt is changed at 64000!

Sent a letter to headquarters, but as usual they cannot reply. Regarded myself as a Fiat enthusiast. No longer unless they can look after their customers.

25th Aug 2004, 04:33

I agree with everyone's comments about Fiat customer service being very very poor. I have a 2001 Sporting, and it's almost at the end of its warranty. Took it to 5 garages; they all said I had a problem with the ABS pump. So took it to a dealer, they did a diagnostic, said nothing wrong with the car's ABS, even though car is not braking and is very dangerous, as they drove it. Gave me a bill for £30 for the diagnostic, and sent me on my way.

When I argued there is something wrong, their next excuse was "sorry we couldn't get the car up on our ramps to check it properly" I think they are telling me porkies, and when my warranty runs out in a week and I take it back to the dealer, I think they will suddenly see the fault, tell me it will cost something like £800 for a new pump, and charge me for it as it will be out of warranty.

This is exactly what happened with another Fiat I had. They would not admit there was a fault. I threatened to take them court that time, and then they decided to do something about it. Once they sell a car, the customer service disappears.