1998 Fiat Punto Reviews - Page 14 of 14

Nothing, apart from an intermittent sticking seatbelt, which I have had to get the AA out to release on occasion. I haven't bothered getting the dealer to look at it as it only seems to happen on extremely cold mornings and the car is no longer under warranty.

Performance is adequate, but when cornering the car tends to roll a bit.

Long journeys can be uncomfortable since the seats do not provide much in the way of lumbar and thigh support.

The non-power assisted steering is fairly light, and the quality of the switchgear is excellent for a car of this price, although not quite up to VW standards.

The exterior design still looks young - much more aesthetically pleasing than most equivalently priced cars.

Nothing has gone wrong with the car, it is an excellent car. Especially as it had not been serviced in the first 28,000 miles of its life!

This little car is a cracker! Great head and leg room. Driving position is brilliant thanks to its adjustable steering column (reach and rake), seat(height and adjustable lumbar support). The 60SX spec is just the right balance for this size of car.

Its engine is also brilliant, good acceleration, I once timed it at 9.1 seconds 0-60. It's a little noisy at high speeds but I find it just goes nicely at 90mph. It can carry 5 adults and a full boot at 107mph.

FIAT - no longer the little rust buckets they used to be!

Sunroof runner snapped after 2nd week and entire roof + lining was refitted - still rattles like hell though.

Don't expect too much mileage from the standard Pirellis (9-10k).

Buy a GT if you can stretch to it.

After about two months the car broke down, not completely, but ran at about 10 miles an hour maximum. Turned out to be a dodgy computer. Replaced, but took a while to replace it, had a free rental car though, so can't compain too much.

Nice car, suspension a little hard, but good performance and handling.

Looks good, drives well, I'd recommend them to other people.

Nothing so far!

I like this very much. The only thing that is not so good is the gear change - it can be a pain to select reverse gear.

Otherwise a good solid car, with lots of luggage space and headroom - especially in the back. Seats 5 adults without problems. A great supermini!

Delivery wax on the car when I picked it up, inner sill cover loose and handbrake went all the way to the top. Took several phone calls & a personal visit to get the dealer to fix these. Now it is 8 months old, with 6000 miles on it and the gear lever gaiter has holes worn in it & the passenger electric window switch has worked itself loose.

Other than the less than delightful buying experience, and the dealers reluctance to honour the manufacturers warranty, I will certainly look at another FIAT in the future. The cars themselves are beautiful to look at and perform & handle way in excess of the usual Ford/Vauxhall equivalent.

Mark on dashboard on delivery - dealer said that whole dashboard would have to be replaced - didn't bother as it wasn't worth the trouble.

Fan belt slipping - had to be replaced.

Passenger seatbelt jammed and was replaced.

Turbo not boosting properly - turned out to be accelerator adjustment.

This is my second GT and I have found them to be generally reliable given the type of car. The performance is excellent and I find them overall great value for money when you look at bhp/£. Build quality could be better and not very comfortable for long journeys.

The problems I've had are from the road conditions I have to drive on.

My front right wheel got buckled on a nasty pothole.

The thing was the car was only 2 weeks old....needless to say I wasn't happy.

I was even less happy when I pulled out the tiny spare wheel that comes with it.

It has a maximum speed of 50mph.

What's the problem in giving a proper wheel and tyre?

The dealer was Millennium Motors in Galway. I found them very good.

When I came to collect my car, it was not quite ready, so they lent me the Punto Sporting for a couple of hours until it was. I've only had the car since the first week of December so lets see.

Very small but niggly faults, mainly manufacturing build problems ranging from interior trims to brakes, clutch and petrol leak after taking delivery of the car for 15 minutes.

At present the car is in the garage again!!! Trying to get these things sorted out.