1996 Fiat Punto S review from UK and Ireland

Niggling faults right from the start.

Within a few days there was a mysterious tapping from the offside front tyre. I replaced it and it stopped.

It was a nightmare at the petrol pumps! Every few seconds the car would refuse to be re-fueled! It was embarrassing!

During winter it took several attempts to unlock the car-and the locks weren't frozen!

After 7 years of the car being on the road, a letter came through the post demanding a recall due to worries about the brakes!

The car needed new rear radius arms, which cost a fair amount (about £400 altogether).

Recently the engine has been reluctant to accelerate, and it took several attempts to start it up.

Apart from that its been generally reliable.

It was a fairly well-built car (i use past tense because I wrote it off a few days ago!).

For a 1.1 litre modern engine, it wasn't as economical as I expected. I got an average of about 40mpg. Its pretty slow off the mark as well and I didn't fully trust it.

However, it was refined, and a good cruiser for the motorway. It comfortably drove at 80mph. The seats could be better though.

Ride and handling weren't great-i crashed because the car skidded into the back of a Volvo.

The main attraction to me buying it was its looks, space, and low insurance and tax. Running costs proved to be expensive for a small car though.

After reading reviews from magazines I was expecting reliability. I got it to a certain extent. It was far from japanese standard-but what do you expect, it is Italian after all!