Faults:

Electrical powered steering failure at 32,000 miles.

Head gasket at 34,000 miles.

Wiper arms fell off and needed replacing 3 times - I gave up trying to get them repaired properly and tied the arms on with shoelaces - (it did a better job)!Wiper motor also failed 3 times.

Exhaust fell off twice.

Front headlights replaced twice due to misting.

Dashboard lights flickered when using the foot brakes.

Driver side door fell off due to faulty hinges, made loud "cracking" noise after repair each time I opened it.

Central locking failed.

Electric windows failed.

Peculiar gurgling noise from engine which FIAT could not sort out.

General Comments:

Would never have another one and definitely wouldn't recommend it nor wish it upon my worst enemy!

Dealers were very helpful when trying to sell, but aftercare was appalling - they couldn't have cared less.

Faults:

Ticking noise from steering column when new - apparently a known fault. Fixed by dealer.

Juddery wipers on intermittent, but goes away after a while. Personally doesn't bother me that much.

Very heavy clutch and difficulty going into 1st gear. Had the clutch checked and was informed that this was "normal". Yeah, right.

Head gasket went at 40,000 miles - cost to replace £200 (plus new timing belt etc). Not from main dealer of course!

General Comments:

Originally I was looking for a new car under £6000 and you don't get much to choose from at that price!

Good package and 3 year warranty. Dealer repairs over-priced generally, but fixed things under warranty with no fuss.

Apart from the head gasket I've not had any major problems in nearly 5 years, so you really can't complain when you consider the price.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car as yet, apart from a few minor faults with thesunroof, which was sorted after turning the ignition of and then on again.

The car seems to have done a lot of miles, however, it had a new engine from Fiat put in at 40,000 miles, so the car has actually only done roughly 65,000 miles in total on new engine.

General Comments:

I loved the car from the second I saw it, the Italian styling is amazing especially on the Sporting model in sprint blue, both on the inside and out, the inside is classy and creates a feel of quality. The sporty seats are those which you would expect to see in a much bigger engined sports car, which is great for a car that costs this much.

I haven't yet passed my test, but, have it booked. I have driven a lot of cars, just practicing, but this car is the most hard thing to drive I have ever driven, the clutch is so tight, and as a result I tend to put too much power into first gear with the close gearing configuration, therefor on occasions stalling it. I guess it's only practice that will solve that, but I thought at first that the car had a fault of some kind.

Overall the car is stunning and I would buy another Fiat, but maybe not until I have more experience at driving, the Fiat Punto Sporting 1.2 16v is not a wise choice for a first car, with insurance group so high and if you have little experience at driving. But I can't sell it I love the looks, colour, styling of the car too much, so I'll just have to get the hang of it.

Faults:

Paint defects on off-side front door on delivery.

Rear washer inoperative from new.

Glove box catch faulty from new.

Doors difficult to shut (need a considerable slam).

Water stain to interior roof lining from new. Transpired a drain hose from the sunroof had not been connected in the factory. Had a replacement lining, but this was not fitted correctly so had to have further work!

Nearside rear shock absorber leaked at 4000 miles (a dangerous defect).

Suffers from carbon stains on rear valence (from exhaust).

Faulty windscreen wipe motor replaced at 7000 miles.

Rusty nearside front door at 7000 miles.

Car was off-the-road for 30 days in its first year!

General Comments:

Amazing engine. Superb torque at next-to-no revs. Always gives acceleration regardless of the selected gear. Can push the car along at 1500 rpm, yet also goes up to normal petrol engine limits (although there's no extra power up there!) so little to be gained above 3500 rpm. Fantastic economy; 60+ mpg is not difficult and 70+ perfectly possible. Would expect overall average around 60mpg.

Low cost of ownership.

Everything else though is pretty poor.

Ride is appallingly hard for this sort of car.

Made mistake of buying 3 door model (cheaper and fewer possible rust points) but front doors are too wide and access to rear is difficult.