Faults:

I have only had the car for one and a half years, and in this period, I have driven 26.000km in it. During that time, the following things have gone wrong:

- Cam belt (not at fault, but pay attention that it has to be done every 3 years or 80.000km!).

- Wiper connection fell off due to wear, and had to be replaced.

- Oil pan was corroded and had to be replaced.

- Ignition coil, spark plugs and cables had to be replaced.

- Lambda probe had to be replaced.

- Cab blower does not work on steps 3, and the whole control panel must be replaced.

- Clutch squeaks, and must be replaced at some point.

- Exhaust has also been replaced.

- A/C is not working, and must be refilled.

General Comments:

The Italians are good at design, and I've always liked this Punto model.

It is reasonably fast, with its 80 HP.

It is very quiet in the cabin, especially when driving on motorways, because of the high gear ratios.

This also makes it economical, and it typically runs 17 km / litre in normal driving on motorways. Parts are reasonable cheap, but you just need too many of them! The reason is that Punto is constructed cheaply.

Be aware that the paint is thin, so it easily gets damaged paintwork, and therefore rust.

I am 191cm tall, and with normal seat adjustment, there is not much space behind the driver's seat.

The seats collapse in the foam, and the seat upholstery are not of the best quality, since it is difficult to keep clean if you get a spot on it.

I used to drive a XM, which until this, had the title as the worst car I had ever owned. But it had also been driven more than twice as much as the Punto.

I am used to French cars, and they are not known for their reliability, but this car beats everything!!!

Italian again??? Never ever!!

Faults:

Summary: it's noisy, thirsty, and costly to fix and buy parts.

I bought this vehicle as a used Japanese import. It came with just one key, the first shock was trying to get a spare key made in NZ, you can't get one anywhere other than through a Fiat dealer, cost of the blank key nearly NZ $600, plus programming/cutting cost. At that price, I could get one made from solid gold from a jewelery store.

Reason I chose this car was for its economy; well, I was disappointed, a tank of 40 litres will do about 500km, not bad, but not great neither. Compare this to my Honda Fit (Jazz), 35 litres can do about 600km.

The noise, let's just say you can hear the engine clearly, and the road noise even louder and clearer, especially on the motorway (highway). The radio and the conversation in the car just fades away.

Another issue for the short time I had it, the battery went flat. That's fine, batteries do go flat with age. However, the warning light came on and won't reset, and it needed to be taken to the mechanic with the fancy computer scanner to reset it. A few guys quoted me $100 odd dollars just to reset the light. It seem like a small issue, but it's enough to fail the Warranty of Fitness in NZ (equiv of the MOT in the UK). Compare this to a Japanese vehicle, the mechanic said Japanese vehicles usually don't need a reset for such trivial matters, just disconnect from the battery for 10 seconds and the warning light will be reset.

As for the spare key problem I mentioned earlier. Well, I did a DIY solution on it. Consider the car is worth about $4500, a spare key cost over $600. What I did instead was I took the transponder chip out of the original key and glued it near the sensor under the steering column. And made a spare for $8.

General Comments:

Some positive points though, the seats are comfortable. The acceleration good. However, because of the noise, I rate the comfort rating down.

Would I recommend it, absolutely not.