Fiat Punto....Would ya???

ninty9er

The main things that I noticed recurring Puntos coming in with over a few month when I was on work work experience with a main dealer were

a) Timing Belt - make sure it's done twice if theres more than 65k on the clock
b) the dicky CD player of all the FIAT/Alfa range of the time which spewed out CDs when the weater was hot (It was November).
c) Immobiliser....numerous Puntos were towed to the garage for immob work. This requires you to have the red key....if the car doesn't have the red key don't buy it!
d) Wiper motor is prone to burnout.

They drive very well, but they are the main issues...even the service receptionist said if she drove one she couldn't guarantee she'd get to work every morning so she drove a Corolla.

For that money you could have a Corolla privately, a Mazda 323 or a Nissan Almera.

It's worth the extra if you cna get a good insurance quote.

I'm in the same position...3rd year student, year to go and I'm changing the Corsa I bought just over 18 months ago, because I feel I've outgrown it as a car.

You might as well get something you can hang onto for a while, because unless you're studying pharmaceuticals you're grad salary ain't gonna be all it was cracked up to be when you started college!

E92

ninty9er's post reminded me of something... the Mk2 had diabolical; wipers, they never worked(the amount of times I've seen a Mk2 Punto with onlu one wiper beggars belief) and the Punto was obviously designed for countrys with no bumps on their roads becaue the ride quality is appaling in both the Mk1 and Mk2 Punto.

Masada

martinr5232 wrote: »

I know exactly what im talkin about seen it done it.
There was a problem with punto cooling fans not cutting in when the engines were being tested so dont try and tell me im wrong.
So what makes you think there so great.

Ooo, someone got up on the wrong side this morning huh.,
well as you say, they were like that from new yeah? well that would mean they are classed under the recall and that NONE of the affected cars would have been left with the problem as fiat posted a letter to all buyers to inform them that certain things had to be rectified which they will cover the cost of.,
Hicups happen, when the BMW mini was first launched it had a problem with the fuel tank that meant it was aparently in danger of exploding in a rear end accident., this problem was recalled by BMW. an awful lot of cars have recalls.,

Esel

vtec wrote: »

..NONE of the affected cars would have been left with the problem as fiat posted a letter to all buyers to inform them that certain things had to be rectified which they will cover the cost of...

Fiat might have learned their lesson from the non-recall of the Mirafiori, which had a known electrical problem which could cause to burst into flames. Fiat denied there was a problem, while people died horribly. They eventually put their hands up.

nytraveller

nellocon wrote: »

Hey,
im currently a 3rd year college student and will be looking to buy a car in march 08...
Now im on a budget so was thinking of spending 3000 - 3500...

To me Fiat puntos on carzone look perfect for what i need, as i reckon ill only have it for about a year. And because theres so many for sale i really can get a decent 2002 model with low mileage within my budget.

And yes i know iknow its a fiat but really, no cars are made that poorly nowadays right!!!???

NO
I believe when you turn your car on,
it should return the favour!!:D

nads

Max_Damage wrote: »

Just buy a Micra or Fiesta or something else.

Punto's have an appetite for head gaskets, and not only that, they are one of the most blandest cars to drive as well.

really have to disagree with that. have driven various sized engines on toyotas and hyundais - their first gears are like their 5th gears

no problems with my punto - bar driver induced accidents - oh and replacing the odd rear light now and again

alias no.9

vtec wrote: »

Hicups happen, when the BMW mini was first launched it had a problem with the fuel tank that meant it was aparently in danger of exploding in a rear end accident., this problem was recalled by BMW. an awful lot of cars have recalls.,

I'm afraid it was much worse than that, there was a static charge that would build up in the neck of the fuel tank that could have caused the whole thing to go up while you were standing there filling it up:eek:. Most people never get rear ended. Everybody refuels their car.

martinr5232

vtec wrote: »

Ooo, someone got up on the wrong side this morning huh.,
well as you say, they were like that from new yeah? well that would mean they are classed under the recall and that NONE of the affected cars would have been left with the problem as fiat posted a letter to all buyers to inform them that certain things had to be rectified which they will cover the cost of.,
Hicups happen, when the BMW mini was first launched it had a problem with the fuel tank that meant it was aparently in danger of exploding in a rear end accident., this problem was recalled by BMW. an awful lot of cars have recalls.,

There was never a recall on puntos for cooling fans.
You havent said whats so great about puntos as far as i can see the only thing they have going for them is they are cheap.
You buy cheap thats what you get A CHEAP CAR.

LuckyStar

martinr5232 wrote: »

There was never a recall on puntos for cooling fans.
You havent said whats so great about puntos as far as i can see the only thing they have going for them is they are cheap.
You buy cheap thats what you get A CHEAP CAR.

Jesus no need to be so aggressive, what do you drive anyway??

I love my lil Punto, doesn't mean I go around trashing everyone else's cars.

martinr5232

LuckyStar wrote: »

Jesus no need to be so aggressive, what do you drive anyway??

I love my lil Punto, doesn't mean I go around trashing everyone else's cars.

Im not trying to be aggressive if i come across like that im sorry im trying to get my point across i have first hand experiance of fiats in general i was a service manager in a main fiat dealers so i think im entitled to my opinion on puntos i know better than most people on here what trouble they give.
If you like your punto fair play to ya some people are lucky most arnt.
I dont drive one particular car im in the motor trade so i drive differant cars all the time.
Needless to say never a punto.:D:D

r3nu4l

martinr5232 wrote: »

fair play to ya some people are lucky most arnt.

If it's the case that most people aren't so lucky then how come the majority of Punto owners that have posted here have said they are very happy and haven't had a problem.

This is a chance for all aggrieved owners to come out and say "I've had nothing but trouble with mine, head gasket belw 50 times in one month and one even blew as the garage were replacing it!!!!1!!"
Instead we've seen the majority say "Hey, mine has been grand, no probs, thanks"

So far the "most aren't lucky" bit isn't holding up, ex-FIAT service Manager or not!

LuckyStar

I agree with the above. At the end of the day, especially in Ireland, we will complain about something a lot sooner than we will write something nice about it.

How many times have you been really thrilled about something you've bought and thought "I'm so happy with this, I'm going to make a thread on Boards raving about how much I love it" or "I'm going to ring the manufacturer and tell them how great that product is"

Compared to

How many times have you been really angry about something you've bought and thought "This is a pile of rubbish, I'm going to make a thread on Boards ranting about how much I hate it", or "I'm going to ring the manufacturer and tell them how crap that product is".

At the end of the day, look how many Puntos are on the road. They're everywhere. If they were really that bad surely they would have faded into obscurity Lada-style by now..

freewing

My first car was a 97 punto I had it for a year of Mullingar to Dub commuting and then I traded it for a 02 punto which I managed to put 70k miles on and I just serviced it regularly and drove it like I owned it rather than like I stole it.Traded it in for a multipla ( Fiat) and other than a clutch I had none of the typical associated problems I am presently on the lookout for a Punto for the missus and would have no hesitation in reccomending them.:)

ninty9er

One thing I noticed though, don't know wheteher it was anything to do with the miniscule numbers sold, but the Punto Dynamic and Emotion/ HLX seem a lot less likely to go wrong and have a more quality feel to them.

The run of the mill Acitve / ELX seemed to be in for a broken this that or the other in massive numbers

RobAMerc

I think the big problem here is people who know jack about cars feel safe posting comments that sh*t on certain cars and saying other cars are great.

eg - Fiats are crap - you will get near universal agreement from like minded folk on boards ( those who think a car is good because it never breaks down and heard a rumour about a fiat that broke down once )

Skoda Octavias are great - yea they are but ffs they are not the answer to all motoring related q's.

I also notice a lot of the posters who write this sort of tripe dont hang around here long - I presume their new found motoring interest wanes once they have to wash the new car.

Masada

martinr5232 wrote: »

There was never a recall on puntos for cooling fans.
You havent said whats so great about puntos as far as i can see the only thing they have going for them is they are cheap.
You buy cheap thats what you get A CHEAP CAR.

i wasnt going to reply to your trolling but you seem so full of crap i feel i have to., firstly ill answer your question then, Ive owned so far,
97 punto 55SX 8v
98 Punto 60S 8v
99 ELX 16v
another 99 ELX,
01 ELX mk2
98 Bravo and god know how many other ones, thats just a quick run down of them and i still have 2 puntos outside now so i think that gives me a valid opinion .,
Im mainly a Honda fan (had more hondas than any other car) and mechanic so i know all about reliability and what goes wrong on what cars etc.,
so far every negative comment has been the "i know a fella who had one" type, truth is i propably forgot more than you know about engines and calling yourself the service manager weather its true or not means nothing when you are talking crap.,
There has been loads of positive comments from actual fiat owners and thats what matters,., the rest is just bangwagon jumping, stereotyping etc etc.,

LuckyStar

Seems Puntos are treated the same way as Staffie/Pitbull type dogs- you hear of one biting someone somewhere and suddenly they're ALL bad!!!

Masada

LuckyStar wrote: »

Seems Puntos are treated the same way as Staffie/Pitbull type dogs- you hear of one biting someone somewhere and suddenly they're ALL bad!!!

yeah thats another thing., i used to have a pitbull and he was an oversized teddybear.,lol

jmayo

I can't see how anyone can say a Punto is a good drive.
I had the misfortune of having one for a couple of days while my own Honda Accord car was in getting door replaced.
I know big difference in car engine size but there were other huge differences.
I had to drive to/from Galway and it had to be the worse drive of my life.
Apart form having shag all power, it was very uncomfortable and a dog to drive generally.
The only fun I had was tearing around a multi story car park becuase it was small.

Now Fiat may have improved their relaibility over the last number of years and they don't get holes in the doors anymore, but they and their Italian cousins Alfa and Lancia gained a terrible reputation over the years and it affects resales to this day.
And yes I do have experience since parents owned Fiat and uncle owned a couple so it is not some hear say bull about how bad Fiats were.

My advise is buy Japanese, they hold their value better and are usually very reliable.
Get an old Corolla or Sunny, it will go forever and you can flog it onto some old farmer in 5 years time.
If you want smaller get old Starlet or the worse looking car in the world, the micra.

r3nu4l

jmayo wrote: »

I can't see how anyone can say a Punto is a good drive.
I had the misfortune of having one for a couple of days while my own Honda Accord car was in getting door replaced.

Not just a bigger engine, a completely different class of car, comparing apples with oranges aren't we? To the owner of a Maybach I'm sure your accord is a heap of junk!

I know big difference in car engine size but there were other huge differences.
I had to drive to/from Galway and it had to be the worse drive of my life.
Apart form having shag all power, it was very uncomfortable and a dog to drive generally.
The only fun I had was tearing around a multi story car park becuase it was small.

The superminis aren't built to be comfortable for long-distance journeys, they are made to be cheap runabouts and short-commute cars. I've been in Puntos, corsas, clios, Polos and Micras on long-distance drives and they are one and all crap for that kind of drive, again you compare the Punto with what you are used to...pointless comparison.

Now Fiat may have improved their relaibility over the last number of years and they don't get holes in the doors anymore, but they and their Italian cousins Alfa and Lancia gained a terrible reputation over the years and it affects resales to this day.
And yes I do have experience since parents owned Fiat and uncle owned a couple so it is not some hear say bull about how bad Fiats were.

I highlighted the most important word in that bit for you, past tense. FIATs were absolutely diabolical in the past but they are improving every year!

My advise is buy Japanese, they hold their value better and are usually very reliable.
Get an old Corolla or Sunny, it will go forever and you can flog it onto some old farmer in 5 years time.
If you want smaller get old Starlet or the worse looking car in the world, the micra.

No doubt that the Japanese cars are more reliable than European counterparts for the most part. I would say that the OP has a limited budget though and wants to buy the newest car that he can with that budget (as many people do). Within his budget a Punto is likely to be newer than anything else simply because of their poor residuals.

EDIT: I apologise if I'm coming across as an ***hole, I don't mean to! I've taken out the rolleyes emoticon I used earlier, not really fair. New years resolution, stop using rolleyes as often

Masada

above is exactly what i would have said, the accord doesnt compare to a punto at all,

jmayo

vtec wrote: »

above is exactly what i would have said, the accord doesnt compare to a punto at all,

Jeeze excuse me for breathing.
I have driven Clios (on long road trips both in france and Eastern Europe) and done Mayo-Dublin and back the same day in a Corsa. Both were prefable cars to a punto. I have only ever done short hopin old Polo so couldn't compare.
I refuse to get into a micra.
I know an Accord doesn't compare to Punto, but the other mini models I have experienced were better than punto.

The choice as laid out by r3nu4l was go for newest, so go for newer Punto rather than older better resale value and more reliable Toyota/Nissan etc.
With that logic you should go for new Lada (if they were still around ?).

L1011

jmayo wrote: »

and done Mayo-Dublin and back the same day in a Corsa.

I've just done Dublin to Galway and back in a *Panda*. There is no new car on the market which is uncomfortable for journeys on Irish main roads anymore.

I'm 6'5", for reference.

RAFC

Bought our firs NEW car in 1995 - a Fiat Punto. It was lovely and red and shiny - problem - the reg no. 13 4 13 - not 1 13 but 2.

10 days later I crashed with a Artic Truck carrying 13ton sugar beet - side impact protection bars meant NO structural damage to the car (or me) PHEW.

Point being - if you are to crash your Punto, be sure to do it sideways :):)

Never had any trouble from the car itself (just the reg. no) Hubby crashed it 2 years later...................he was fine too.

cpoh1

I can only speak from my own first hand experience working on these cars, I have done over half a dozen head gasket changes and head skims on them for both the mk1 (8v engine) and mk2.

Ill put it this way buy a punto and chances are it'll go wrong and wrong badly at that. You might get lucky you might not but when all you want in a car is something cheap, reliable and gets you from a to b id give it a skip.

Id rather have a 98 starlet than a 02/03 punto (if that was the type of car I was looking for- cheap and no fuss), at the end of the day I could be 100% sure nothing awful was going to happen to it when I least wanted it to.

Masada

jmayo wrote: »

Jeeze excuse me for breathing.

Im still trying to figure out why you would take that as offencive?

The Queen

I bought a 00 punto during the summer just gone for 1500, with tax and nct til Feb. Absolutely no problems with it, it's a brilliant little car! Even my dad likes it. My uncle has had his for 7 years and has encountered no major problems at all.

cantdecide

Haven't read the whole thread but I would always advise that you shouldn't buy a punto as a short term car. If you wanted one for the foreseeable future, it wouldn't be a bad proposition to keep it and make sure it was well taken care of.

When it comes to used Puntos, more often than not, they're ill-maintained missus-mobiles dirven with gay abandon through every pothole in the country and have a list as long as your arm of stuff wrong with them ager the first few years.

Lots of my extended family have had FIATs for years and I've had a couple myself. €3k is budget that you could expect to get a great car with as long as your criteria isn't that restrictive. I suggest a minded, low mileage stilo- they were essentially a flop even thought they were a very good car overall. If you got a 2 door, some little boy racer will definitely take it off your hands next year.