Absolutely nothing!
First of all I have to admit that FIAT was not on my shopping list. I was considering a Peugeot 207 or a Ford Fiesta diesel.
But one day, only one week after new Punto has arrived, I saw it in the showroom late at night, and stopped by to see it closer. The security guy welcomed me inside, and I had the chance to see it closer although the cars were locked.
I searched for it all over the Internet to see more pics of the inside, and it didn't seem very attractive to me. So the first thing I did next day was to go there again, and see what's inside. I have to tell you, the moment I stepped in and closed the door, I knew I would buy it. Fantastic (standard) music system, trip compter, electro hydraulic steering with city option (standard), mp3 player (on the Dynamic version), fog lights (Dynamic), 5 stars from EuroNCAP, superb award winning 1,3 multijet common rail turbo diesel engine power train with 90HP option (1.3 diesel variable turbo), and best of all, the state of the art italian design. All comes with a true Italian sports car feeling and an incredibly low price!
So that day I bought it. Never gave a second thought for new Clio, 207 (no diesel in the short run) or Fiesta. I was so sure, because we already have a tiptronic 1.4 petrol Fiesta 2003, which is one of the best cars in this segment, and I had the chance to compare these two cars.
The most obvious and important factor is the difference in character of these cars. The Fiesta is a boring car, it doesn't give you any feeling of joy while driving. But Grande Punto is very different. You get Italian sports car feeling the moment you step in. I bought it even without a test drive, and the first Grande I drove was my own. I cannot express how beautiful the feeling was to drive it.
Now we're still keeping the Fiesta for a couple of months more, until the automatic option becomes available here, and then we will have two Grande Puntos. Hopefully the next one will have 90 HP (1.3 diesel) and a skydome.
The Grande Punto's interior is dark, so I recommend buying a light exterior color. Mine is white and I think it looks gorgeous. BTW, there is no extra charge for metallic paint.
I think the new Punto looks good too.
Can't agree with what you say about the Fiesta though - I regularly take home our courtesy cars at work, which are 1.25 manuals, and think they handle extremely well, and the engines are very revvy, good fun little units. These cars are 05 plates.
I've worked in the car trade for 10 years, and have driven nearly every small hatch there is - this is one of the best!
I have a Punto Grande Active Sport and I think that Fiat have missed the mark. I feel sick every time I drive it, and the suspension rattles and rumbles like a drum - drive over a painted road marking and boom, rattle and vibrate.
On a long journey I had to stop and throw up - once on the way there and again on the way back. Thinking it was something I ate - my wife drove it 2 days later and guess what! She will not drive it again. Did another 150 mile one way trip and stop, throw up, wait 30 minutes and start driving again.
We have also a Multipla - the best MPV ever, but I'm not sure I will buy the next one.
Yes, it has been back to the dealer - answer with in spec - there has got to be something wrong with this car!
I have only owned Fiats, Alfas and Lancias and I am a 'spirted' driver being an ex rally co driver/navigator (you cannot be prone to car sickness doing this!) - this is the greatest disappointment I have ever had to pay for - never again.
I want my Stilo back - or rather my old Mirafiori 131 rallye.
I have never owned a Fiat before I am not sure that I will ever own one again. Since picking up our shiny new Punto Grande just over 1 month ago it has spent more time back at the garage then in my possession. The main problem is a front suspension / steering knock - bad enough to worry that something was loose.
It seems after 3 or 4 visits to the dealership that it is a faulty steering rack. Rack to be delivered from Italy with no time scale just as soon as possible. Apparently the rack is safe just worryingly noisy.
It has had one panel resprayed. Replacement parts too numerous to mention... The only good thing about the car has been the Fiat dealership who have been much better than I expected.
I am trying to keep positive because the car is a refined drive - at least the courtesy car provided by the dealer
I picked up my new Grande Punto about a month ago, and so far have driven about 2000 kms in it, and couldn't be happier.
Initially I was a little concerned, Fiat hasn't exactly got the best reputation. But the car is proving much, much better than the terrible Renault Clio it is replacing, which spent half its short life in the shop. Good work Fiat.
I think Fiat still suffer from inconsistent built quality; unlucky if your car was one built on a Monday morning, or Friday afternoon!! My current Punto Sporting had many small problems as well as a rather major one. I would still buy a Fiat because I prefer the style of the sporty models over say VW. I hope they sort out these problems though, as I would like a new Punto Grande Sporting.
People, you scare me! I've just ordered one, hoping it'll be cool ride. It's okay if problems are small and do not endanger me and other passengers. It's a new model so it's not strange for it to have some problems. But front suspension problems? That means problems with steering AND drive! I like to push it a bit harder, so now I'm not sure if I'll be safe in it... Will I? :) (Most probably I will, but disheartening things I read here...)
Greets!
Igor.
Re My entry of 27th April about the Grande Punto - Fiat are the best company to deal with in the world. To settle the finance was £8300.00 and if I could find another £5K I could have a Stilo Schumacher with 19 miles on the clock! So in parting with my hard earned folded I have never been so happy as when I owned a 131 Rallye. Also as I have had 6 months missing from the warranty, as it was registered in Jan 2006, Fiat UK are going to service it free in Jan 2007 and gave me £300.00 of Fiat vouchers - THAT'S WHAT I CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE.
The judgement from Fiat was - well, just one of those cars that get through, but not many do - so for the rest of you who are buying one - don't worry I think I had the crap one.
Funny thing to think about - every time I have bought a car I give it a name, but not the Grande Punto - never had a problem with the others - ever!
I'm the original sender of this review and I'm surprised to read some negative comments. It's been around 7000 km now and I have nothing to complain. Instead I have to admit Fiat's after sales was more than impressive. They called me FIVE times after the purchase and each call was from a different department, making sure the car is running perfectly and I had no problems. For those who are interested in buying 1.3 75bhp Multijet Active trim, I highly recommend this car. Not only because I own ad drive it, but because I have subscribed to all news about Grande Punto at Google and I’ve read nothing bad about this car.
The only problem I heard was from the local mechanics which didn’t happen to me: They asked me if I experienced an abnormal tickling sound from the front suspension. I said I didn't experience any abnormal sound and when I asked why, the mechanic said; rarely in some, not all Grande Puntos the front suspension needs a fix to stop tickling. So if you buy one, make sure you hear nothing from the front suspension like me :) If you do hear, just go and have it fixed, nothing important.
One interesting news about Grande Punto. I learned that new Opel Corsa will not only share the engines, but share also the chassis and everything except the interior and of course back/front look. That’s really interesting. I would go, see and drive one (Grande) Corsa when it’s available here. I saw some pics on the net. The interior is colored like Smart forfour. Interesting.
Grande Punto is a true success story and that’s why it sold more than 5500 units in just 4 months here. If you want an economic little 1298 cc diesel engine and ride as fast as 200km/h (I did), buy one. I will also post a 10.000 km review when I make it :) If you have questions about Grande Punto just drop me a line: g. besen at superonline dot com.
It is pleasing to hear so many people are happy with their Grande Punto's. It is a stunning looking car.
Sadly our experience with the Grande Punto has been awful. Vehicle build quality and reliability has been extremely poor. The recognised problem with the front suspension / steering rack has gone from bad to worse. It has developed into a truly appalling knocking - confirmed by the dealership. Sadly the dealership still have the car over 4 weeks later.
It is such a shame because my wife and I really liked the car, but now we are just bitterly disappointed. The one time we have been able to afford a new car and Fiat blew it.
I finally got mine and it's good! No knocking, no nothing wrong (yet). When I went to pick up my car, I've been told (without even asking) that they're aware of the suspension knocking problem and they've figured it out so if that happens it's going to be fixed within a day. Hopefully that won't be necessary. So far so good. I'm very happy with my new toy.
Greets!
Igor, Belgrade.
Looks fab and is a very refined drive. Sadly quality and reliability is unacceptable, and the dealers remain poor.
Apart from many niggling quality issues, the front suspension / steering rack has been a constant problem from the day the car was delivered in May. After many visits, eventually a new rack was found to be necessary, but no delivery date could be provided. The car was returned to dealer in early June because it was awful to drive, and to encourage Fiat to send the replacement rack as soon as possible.
By the end of June there was no news and no car. It became necessary to formally reject the vehicle under Sale of Goods legislation. Despite dealer assurances that my complaint would be looked into, by the end of July I had still not received a formal response.
Before I purchased the vehicle, I was warned not to touch Fiat with a barge pole. I really wish I had listened.
They really do not deserve any customers if they treat them the way they have treated me.
The one to get is the 1.3 multi jet with 90 hp engine.
Fantastic engine good little car I've' done 4,500miles with no problems other than breaking the ashtray pot lid?! still a fiat after all!
Sits a bit high on the suspension I think, but good looking car gets a lot of admiring comments. The sporting spec models look amazing.
Never thought i would buy a fiat but after test driving the 1.3 multijet i was convinced.
Not yet seen the claimed 72.mpg but wil do 60+ on a steady run
60+mpg from the 1.3 90bhp? That is excellent! My 1.9 130bhp Sporting gives about 45-50 mpg, but then again I tend to go really fast, especially while accelerating... Is the 90bhp engine good on drivability? I've read that there is too much turbo lag. Is that true?
I have worked around the knocking noise issue and found that the problem is NOT the steering rack, but a small hard white plastic part resides between the steering rack and the front axes. This part is initially designed with a higher tolerance value that causes the steering parts make noise on bad roads. Since our roads are really bad, it is first discovered in Turkey and Fiat Turkey has redesigned this part with lowered tolerance values. You can't imagine how simple and small part it is. Its diameter is around +-4cm. I had mine replaced and the noise disappeared which showed up on the mountain roads. It took around 2 hours to replace this part. Unfortunately I can't give you a part number because this part is currently produced in Turkey and won't match in another country.
I met with people who has replaced their steering rack and couldn't get rid of the noise, because the steering rack simply wasn't the cause of the problem. I gave it a hard test drive on the worst roads and it's perfectly running after this replacement. So whatever you do DON'T have your steering rack replaced, otherwise you can find yourself waiting for 5 weeks for a new steering rack which is not going to be a solution. You just need this revised small hard plastic part to be replaced and know that it's available in Turkey.
Since all FIAT dealers worldwide are aware of the issue, this fix should be done within the same day. There is no security risk related with this issue however the noise is annoying and shows up in bad road conditions. I assume the revised part is included in newly produced 2007 Grande Puntos.
End of the steering rack MYTH! Hope this helps.
About the turbo lag; As far as I experienced turbo is not designed to work below 2000 rpm. That means you should engage the right gear not to fall below 2000 rpm when you need power. If you try to speed up below this value, say 1500 rpm, you will need to wait until 2000 rpm for turbo to start. That would be a crucial mistake when passing a long truck. This is not actually a lag, because it's designed to work this way. You just need to know your car more and when you do know, it's more fun :)
About mileage; mine is 1.3 Dynamic 75bhp. On a 650km trip I managed to keep an average consumption of 76.4mpg (3.8 l/100km) with air conditioning on and the trip took 8 hours. My speed was between 70-120 km/h depending on the road conditions. If you want high mileage the ideal speed is between 80 and 90km/h. It’s kind of slow, can be boring too, but 8 hours for 650km is not that bad. Go slower up hills, faster down hills. I wonder how the 90hp / 6 Forward geared version is doing, because on 5th gear at 2000 rpm your speed equals 85 km/h (52,82 mph) quite slow and it’s the optimum I found with this car. Since 1.3 is a small diesel, higher speed means more consumption. That’s why I wonder how fast the 6 geared versions go at 2000 rpm (where turbo is ready and max torque is achieved)
Feel free to mail me about Grande Punto: g. besen at superonline dot com.
Happy rides :)
I have had the same problem as a lot of you on here.
My passenger door wouldn't open from inside and the PDI check failed to notice the wing mirror assembly was loose and the boot had no bulb in it.
I was told 3 weeks ago that my car needed a new steering rack.
I was assured by the dealership that it was safe, even though the AA had told me it was probably not. The dealership manager was so certain that the car was safe he asked me to get an MOT, and guess what... it failed!!!
Can't get a date for delivery of the part... fiat italy shut down aug-sept. So I'm in the process of getting it swapped like for like.
I've heard that the later cars don't have this problem, and its cheaper for me not having to take court action.
Not a happy customer and if I could afford to id get rid!