Faults:

I bought the car in April 2005, so the weather wasn't too bad. It came to September, and I had quite a big pool of water in the back passenger foot well. This is a continuous problem, and Fiat cannot fix it.

It's been 7 months now. Rain enters on the left side, and I suggested replacing both seals, and if it still continues, both doors. I was told that it is not cost effective to replace parts if they cannot prove that they are faulty, but it seems like a huge waste of money to pay men to hold a hose over my car for hours at a time, on more than one occasion, trying to find a leak. The money spent could have paid for a door and a new seal.

Constant rattling of the radio unit.

Rattling of the left hand side passenger door.

Screeching noise began a few weeks ago every time I turn left.

General Comments:

Nothing mechanical has gone wrong with the car (with the exception of the new wheel noise when I turn left, which is my only complaint).

Great fun to drive, although seats are a bit uncomfortable.

I have had enough of the leak, and although my service manager has agreed to keep repairing it even though it is out of the two year warranty, there seems to be no end in sight, and I do have to travel quite a distance to get to my Fiat garage.

I emailed Fiat UK to complain and wanted to know their policy on unrepairable manufacturing problems, but they don't care and sent me back to my service manager.

I asked if they wanted to send the car away and I would pay the difference for a new car, but they don't care and can't help, even though Renault do that for ongoing manufacturer faults in their cars.

I am hoping to trade it in tomorrow, because although I love the car, I can't go on like this any more. They are wasting my time and theirs by pretending they can fix it.

They did replace a door seal eventually, but I don't think it's the one they should have replaced, and it didn't help anyway.

Faults:

Cooling fan was coming on from a cold start.

I am now on my 3rd horn, the previous 2 stopped working!

New slave cylinder for clutch to stop a rather irritating "clicking" noise when the clutch was released.

Starting problems - has failed on me a few times although 99% of the time it is fine, however there are a lot of bumps and rattles when starting from cold.

Irregular revs - they drop very very slowly - fiat admit it has a fault, but don't know what it is... surely that's why all cars have a warranty is it not?

Blowing exhaust - getting gradually worse!

Windscreen washer jets packed up.

General Comments:

Quick for a 1.2 - the 16v version is a lot quicker than the standard 8 valve believe me! It is also quicker than an equivalent corsa as I had one as a hire car and I noticed it was a lot slower straight away, the Punto is a very light car however which certainly helps!!

I like the steering, its very direct, but there is a fair bit of body roll so don't try and go around any corners too quickly.

Have had a handful of problems in its first 19,000 miles, nothing too major, but still very annoying.

Seats are quite comfortable and are fairly good on long journeys.

I will never buy another punto I don't think, I do really like the car, but I am forever wondering what will go wrong next, and also the depreciation is just ridiculous - bought new 18 months ago for £9000, now worth £4000, what a joke!