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Why not check out Ciao's own Ladyfuscia at http://www.myspace.com/akolayd She can really play.
Member since:06.02.2001
Reviews:110
Members who trust:404
A short while ago, some kindly soul reversed what I would imagine to be a wagon into my car and left the scene as they say without leaving his or her details. No problem straight on the phone to my insurers, details given and the claim accepted within twenty minutes, great.
A courtesy car was to be provided by the body shop, a reputable company based here in the North East of England which duly arrived within the hour on the back of a recovery wagon. A Vauxhall Corsa was the vehicle provided as replacement for mine, however when I turned the key I was greeted with a violent knocking noise from the engine, quite obviously the big end bearings had gone, The delivery driver quickly found a can of oil which he tipped in to the engine whilst telling me not to worry, maybe you can guess what I told him and the manager of the bodyshop, needless to say the Corsa was spirited away and a FiatPunto
sent in its place, a quick look under the bonnet to assure myself it was ok and it became mine for the duration of my repair.
First impressions were ok as I drove home in a torrential rainstorm. Next morning I needed to use the screen washers for the first time, three minutes later after stopping to check the water level which was ok they finally trickled into life, quite obviously there was a need for either a replacement non return valve or one to be fitted, its not good to be in this situation where you cannot clean the windscreen quickly when needed.
The car itself is spacious enough to accomodate my six foot 2 inch frame with ease, but in the rear my six year old daughter had to sit with her knees under her chin, also the car is quite high so I didn’t need to sit hunched up while driving. Seating was not particular comfortable though and the material itself resembles a migraine attack in blue!! The interior of the car, although quite stylish is very cheap and tacky. The dashboard being made of what appears to be a very cheap plastic, reminiscent of some older cars that I have driven where the dashboards actually cracked after a period of time. The boot such as it is, is very short on space, easily overcome I know by dropping the rear seats but if you have four people in the car don’t attempt the weekly shop. Electric windows at the front are standard.
Ride quality was absolutely terrible. Every pot hole, manhole and blemish on the road surface was met with violent banging from both front and rear, even turning up the dreadful radio, which with the bass set at maximum just emitted feeble tinny sounds from each of the four miniscule speakers could not cover the dreadful noise coming from the woefull suspension.
The engine itself, which has been about for a number of years in various forms is an eight valve, single overhead camshaft, single point injection unit of 1242cc. This can only be described as a high revving gutless wonder. While driving to and from work by myself it was adequate, I even managed wheel spin on a number of occasions thanks to a particully vicious clutch, but add my wife, two daughters aged 6 and 12 and driving became a real chore, it would just not pull. Its easy to see why a five speed gearbox is included as the low first gear does at least allow you to pull away, but where I live there are some steep little hills and full throttle standing starts were needed to prevent stalling.
This engine although not on the one that I had,is now beginning to give problems with premature failure of the head gasket, why I am unsure but I suspect that the radiator is not up to the job. Usually refacing of the cylinder head and a new gasket will resolve the problem in the short term, but if the car has been driven for any distance and severe distortion of the head has occurred then a new cylinder head and camshaft are required due to the fact that the cam shaft housings also distort and run out of alignment. Fiat in there wisdom decided not to fit temperature gauges to some of the Punto’s.
If you are unfortunate and do blow a head gasket and decide to carry out removal of the cylinder head yourself then be aware that the retaining bolts are stretch bolts which must be discarded and new ones fitted on refitting of the head.
The best thing about the car was the power steering which was positive and responsive, it also comes with a so called city function which is a switch which increases the amount of assistance given to allow easier manoeuvring at slow speeds. The braking system is also adequate with out being outstanding, it does the job.
The car comes with built in security in the form of an immobiliser and central locking which had a mind of its own and refused to let me into the same door twice, I feel that anybody stealing this particular car would return it very rapidly.
Now fuel economy or lack of it, well I only had the car for a week and did the same mileage that I normally do but this little beast drank the petrol, I could swear it had a hole in the tank. Compared to my own car a Rover 400 it is very thirsty and cost me almost double. Not bad for a car half the size with a smaller engine.
This car when new costs £7521 it was the Punto 3door 1.2. The car I had on loan was a multi user loan vehicle which are prone to misuse, but for a car that had less than 5000 miles on the clock it was appalling. Had I paid this sort of money, and I had toyed with the idea before buying my last car, then I would have sat and cried as this car was so bad, I appreciate that this was the basic model but that doesn’t excuse the faults it had, it was truly terrible so I was one very happy bunny when I got my own vehicle back and my nightmare on wheels ended.
Thanks for the read and thanks for the suggestion Angus.
Advantages: A lot of kit for the money, and very large inside. Disadvantages: 3am breakdowns, clutch, electrics, body panels extremely weak, can be dented with a slight pressure.
Coops46 08.01.2009 (08.01.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Fiat Punto 1.2
Dec 16th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
