2000 Fiat Punto ELX 1.2

Summary:

Nice, but always seems to have faults

Faults:

Rear Suspension Arm At 10,000 Miles, Due to rattling.

Juddering Wipers.

Knocking noise coming from rear passenger side.

High revving at 5000-6000, causing car to drive itself (current problem)

Brake Discs needed replacing at 20,000.

Noisy water pump.

Headlights switching themselves off.

Engine sounds like a quiet diesel.

1st to 2nd gear bad.

Juddering clutch.

General Comments:

Nice car to look at, but loads of faults, dealers no help. found knocking noise myself at rear, it was the folding seat latch, the plastic on the catch was worn, put some electrical tape around bar, noise stopped. Has anyone suffered very high revs when driving car at normal temperature, engine doesn't do it when cold, I only had it serviced 3 days before, they don't want to know. it doesn't seem to do it with air filter box off? other than that a good car, car had not caused me any problems until warranty ran out.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 29th January, 2005

2000 Fiat Punto ELX JTD 1.9 turbo diesel

Summary:

An all round very cheap and nice car

Faults:

As far as I can think there has nothing gone wrong with the car.

The only complant I have it the car does take a long time to warm up from cold mornings, but diesels engines do run cold anyway.

General Comments:

Very cheap and comfy car, I have had my car for 8 months now and still don't have any problems with it. Its very quick when you need it to be and very cheap when you take it easy.

60mpg is easly achieved.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 18th January, 2005

15th Dec 2007, 15:56

I have a jtd punto too and I know what you mean about it taking ages to warm up.

Can you post some information about the turbo on your car as mine does not provide any boost until the engine is at full operating temperature. This means that on short trips the car performs like a non-turbo straight diesel and therefore has very poor acceleration.

Does your punto behave in the same manner as mine?

2000 Fiat Punto ELX 1.2

Summary:

The car would be good if it were more reliable

Faults:

Both Front Headlights were really badly misted up and had to be replaced.

New Clutch fitted at 30,000 miles.

The seats had started to wear badly.

Drivers Electric window had to be replaced.

Windscreen washer motor and arms had to be replaced.

Clutch caused me a lot of trouble, though the dealer claimed there was nothing wrong with it. The car shuddered quite badly when taking off from lights or a junction.

Could not rely on the car to start on cold mornings.

General Comments:

The car was quite nippy for a 1.2 8 Valve.

And generally I was quite happy with the car.

The thing that impressed me most was the size of the interior.

Also the equipment that came as standard was very good (CD Player, Sunroof, electric windows, remote central locking & Alarm).

The car was cheap to buy and run at the start, but the longer I owned it, the more it cost me to repair it.

In the end though I felt I could not rely on the car as it would not start on cold mornings. I got stuck in a few places by the car not starting.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 17th January, 2005

23rd Feb 2005, 06:06

Has anyone found out why the Punto will not start if the temperature is below freezing, mine has caught me out a few times.

8th Oct 2005, 16:59

I have had a fiat punto elx 1.2 5 door on w reg for four & half years, I have done in total 55,000 miles the car was second hand when bought in 2001. Have serviced the car yearly and replaced all the tyres never had any problem with this car at all excellent car.

2000 Fiat Punto 1.2 petrol

Summary:

Good, reliable, ideal first car

Faults:

Exhaust snapped after 20,000 miles.

General Comments:

This car is not going to win any awards for speed, it is a capable town/city car that will happily cruise at 70mph.

The interior has faired really well for a four year old car the only mark is a scratch that I did whilst transporting a full length mirror.

This is a cheap car and as such you miss out on a lot of equipment, the standard radio I found was quite poor, but it was easily upgraded (with the aid of a faceplate). The "City" button is a nice addition as it makes the power steering even lighter to aid parking and narrow street driving.

I still think that it is a good looking car, the lights on it are fantastic, and not a single thing so far (other than tyres and exhaust) have need replacing, not even a bulb.

I have recently started traveling up to 650 miles per week and the Fiat has never once complained, it's as smooth as it ever was. One thing I did notice was that if you go over 70mph the fuel economy suffers rather badly, as the car only has a 1.2 8v engine this has to be expected.

Overall the fuel economy is quite good with 400 miles usually returned from a full tank. As a student this car served my very well, and I think it is an ideal first car.

Also another strong point in its favor is the fact that it achieved 4 stars in the Euro NCAP crash test, for such a small car this was quite impressive.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th December, 2004