Fiat Grande Punto Test Driven

post more pics and experience vijay.
ok here's my experience on the back seat.
the ride quality is good. road vibrations are not much. although sound levels in the cabin left me dissapointed. engine noise and also the tyre noise crept into the cabin, which is sadly not so well insulated.
seats were quite comfy though. with good under thigh support. the arm rest on the door pads also fall at the right place. the quality of plastics used in the interiors are good and solid.
leg space at the rear is a few mm less than i20.
overall with the equipment and features offered on the punto make it a good VFM car. only down part is the engine isnt so peppy and is also a bit noisy. i could feel a little sluggishness in the car while sitting at the backseat.
rest the design of interiors is appealing. the dash has a nice layout. there's 'blue and me' on the emotion pack and there's also a USB port inside the glove box.also comes with ACC and front airbags. when there's no passenger in the front, the driver can deactivate the passenger airbag. 'blue & me' can save contacts of upto 5 different phones.
the console also has fuel to distance calculator and also tells about upcoming service schedule.
so all in all i liked the car. looks good. has very neat and smart lines flowing on the body. only i feel its not such enthusiastic when it comes to driving.

tire noise can be rectified by upgrading tires, but the engine noice cant be rectified, hope fiat makes note of these negative and rectifies them and deliver a much better fiat punto

sorry guys as said have problems with my net connections.
yes the features given in GP is class apart with Auto climate controls, steering mounted controls, switches, all are superbly placed and of good quality.Steering weight has been the perfectly accurate on weight side, which is very much felt safer and best so far on higher speeds, which i20 and jazz were disappointed.

centre console

instrument clustre with centre digi meter with quite good information on display

side view mirrors are auto managed and switches are placed very well

a good thing was seen was a different boot release and fuel capp release sswitches which were different then others and of good quality

dash board is of dual colour and gives you a good rich feel, has this chrome strip on the left side board.

even door handles had chrome finish plated and feels nice, though while opening the doors it makes typical fiat noise.(all this on top end model which we tested)

rear seats, not very comfy but has good tigh support, not for 3 adults


boot area which is quite good for this hatchback, but i wanted a better rear seat space with few MM lesser space for boot.

Blue and Me from microsoft same as linea, and connects with 5 difereent phones. superb technology that fiat came up with.

more of punto




typical fiat front touch, one can make out this design which is quite similar to its palio's design, though i would have loved black grille to this silver one.


best tyre size seen so far on hatchback
195/16/R15

Paint looks top notch. Tyre is sure one of the biggest in hatchbacks. Alloys look cool. I'm happy that Fiat didn't go for beige interiors in this.

i agree CC, paint on punto looks great, stunning,
and cool that punto has a service reminder, it will be useful for people like me for sure

yes the paint finish is good and i loved the tyres.

sorry guys for a little mess up with specs and features above,HERE THE DETAILS AGAIN.
mods kingly delete my previous post of specs which is little messy.

ACTIVE:
HVAC/POWER STEERING
TILT ADJUST FRONT POWER WINDOW
DIGITAL CLOCK/12V POWER SOCKET
DIGITAL ODOMETER WITH TRIP METER
FOLLOW ME HEAD LAMPS
PROGRAMMABLE SERVICE REMINDER
REAR SEATS DOUBLE FOLDING FOLD(FLAT)
REAR PARCEL SHELF/REAR FOG LAMPS
BODY COLOUR BUMPERS
IMMOBILIZER WITH ROLLING CODE
FIAT FIRE PREVENTION SYSTEM
FOLDABLE GRAB HANDLE FRONT AND REAR
SEAT BELTS WARNING(LIGHT ONLY)

DYNAMIC:
ALL ACTIVE FEATURES +
FABRIC INSERT ON DOOR TRIM AND DOOR ARM REST
INSTRUMENT PANEL LIGHT REGULATION
CENTRAL DOOR LOCKING
POWER WINDOWS FRONT AND REAR

EMOTION:
ALL DYNAMIC FEATURES +
HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE FRONT SEAT BELTS
ABS WITH EBD
FRONT FOG LAMPS
BODY COLORED DOOR HANDLES AND ORVM
DUAL TONE DASHBOARD
BOOT LAMP
REAR SEATS SPLIT FOLDING 2ND ROW
REAR SEAT HEAD RESTRAINT ADJUSTABLE
DRIVER SEAT HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE
TEMPERATURE DISPLAY
CENTRAL LOCK WITH DESMODRONIC FOLDABLE KEY
ELECTRICALLY ADJUST ORVM
REAR WINDOW WASHER AND WIPER
REAR DEFOGGER
CIGAR LIGHTER
ASHTRAY
MP3 PLAYER WITH 6 SPEAKERS

EMOTION PACK:
ALL EMOTION FEATURES +
3POINT ELR SEAT BELTS WITH PRETENSIONERS AND LOAD TIMER
DUAL STAGE FRONT DRIVER AND PASSENGER AIRBAG
SEAT BELT WARNING WITH LIGHT AND BUZZER
STERING WHEEL LEATHER WRAPPED
GEAR SHIFT KNOB LEATHER WRAPPED
AUTO CLIMATE CONTROL AC
AUDIO CONTROLS ON STEERING
ALLOY WHEELS
BLUE AND ME FEATURE.

on road prices for ahmedabad ex-showroom
inclusive of 2+2 years warranty/150000kms
GRANDE PUNTO
ACTIVE 1.2 454440/-
DYNAMIC1.4 529260/-
EMOTION1.4 573702/-
EMOTION PK1.4 634800/-

DIESEL
ACTIVE1.3 550130/-
DYNAMIC1.3 584571/-
EMOTION1.3 629004/-
EMOTION PK1.3 690106/-

We also went to check out i20crdi, there were no TD available from the dealer and only one model was arrived for display which was asta, and the dealer said the price would be around 7.2L for this model.So overall as a package and features that comes in GP is surely VFM anyday.Yes there isnt that peppy engine like swift, incabin noise is very audible and annoys you, plastics are okay, better to other hatchbacks in this price.So if you are looking at a new different hatchback with top notch features, solid built and superb multijet engine which is good to ride with little bit lesser of rear space, then this one is to go for.Dealer said parts are manufactured at TATA motors ranjangaon factory for GP as well as Linea and they would be soon out with details of spare parts compare chart and claims are the cheaper in most segment, yet to receive it from dealer.Paint finish is superb and class apart.White was the only colour which didnt appealed a bit, it rather seemed crying to change its clothing..lol.Car handles high speeds good with perfect weighted steering wheel which other cars did felt more lighter and unsafer.ASS of tata is improving and people does have started to opt for fiat products again.Lets hope it continues like this and fiat comes up with more better products in our market.THANKS.

I wonder why Fiat couldn't still get the engine power, refinement and FE of Maruti. How is it sounding from outside?

outside is typical multijet noise, which is silent and refined, also inside you start the car and its quite smooth and silent, just that you move the car and noise gets inside cabin, probably more of tyres then engine.

Palio is noisier than Swift both inside and outside. That's why i asked. have you checked Palio before?

no CC its not as much as palio. even palio petrol makes more noise than punto diesel.

Crazy cat wrote:Palio is noisier than Swift both inside and outside. That's why i asked. have you checked Palio before?

well CC swift is the quitest of all multijet engines so far and punto the noiser, hope you can understand now.

You mean Punto is the noisiest of all(Vista, Palio)

Crazy cat wrote:You mean Punto is the noisiest of all(Vista, Palio)

no CC i found palio noisier than punto.

i would rate like this
from quitest to noisiest
swift
vista
punto
palio.

Louder than VIsta? I think Fiat is missing out somewhere. They need to improve a lot. At least learn something from Tata.

Crazy cat wrote:Louder than VIsta? I think Fiat is missing out somewhere. They need to improve a lot. At least learn something from Tata.

fiat missing out?? learn from tata? the quadrajet engine in the vista is fiat's own multijet! maybe fiat missed or rather crimped on some sound insulation material in the punto to lower costs (or increase profit!).

raj_5004 wrote:

Crazy cat wrote:Louder than VIsta? I think Fiat is missing out somewhere. They need to improve a lot. At least learn something from Tata.

fiat missing out?? learn from tata? the quadrajet engine in the vista is fiat's own multijet! maybe fiat missed or rather crimped on some sound insulation material in the punto to lower costs (or increase profit!).

yes Raj thats the reality, they themselves had confirmed that the sound insulation on linea is far good and of better quality then on GP to lower costs as they say, so is why it makes too loud noise incabin, also fan blower on higher speeds makes more noise which also annoys, its fine in 1st and 2nd slot.

raj_5004 wrote:

Crazy cat wrote:Louder than VIsta? I think Fiat is missing out somewhere. They need to improve a lot. At least learn something from Tata.

fiat missing out?? learn from tata? the quadrajet engine in the vista is fiat's own multijet! maybe fiat missed or rather crimped on some sound insulation material in the punto to lower costs (or increase profit!).

Yeah you read it right. Fiat's multijet performs better in other cars(Swift, Ritz, Dzire, Vista). Power, refinement, driveability, and mileage in some important aspects they lose out. If a company new to diesel can do it, why not Fiat? The 1.3 engine is selling like hot cakes with MSIL, while it is not like that in Fiat. Infact Palio was cheaper than Swift. I didn't expect Palio to sell in high numbers like Swift(considering Fiat's condition), but atleast decent numbers. I took TD of both Swift and Palio. I'm a fan of Fiat, but Swift performed better in all aspects, so went for it.

well CC, the reason fiat has tuned their GP in this fashion is that they wanted a better stability and better grip on their cars, without any wonder they are best in this, and also once you cross that red line car just zooms off as we want, unlike swift where that power boosts around 2000rpm.

I couldn't get the point. Actually Palio mjd has the biggest turbo lag, i've seen. I've not driven gp. I'm just saying that Fiat is not the best in their own engine.

yes you are right but GP is far better then palio multijet for sure, only that turbo push is not felt that sooner asit is feltin swift. But my overall feel isnt a perfect take for me, plastics are too loose and of lower quality, yes lots of features given but i dont drive features but whole of the car which isnt my take for GP atleast.

Fiat is known for its tough build quality. But losing out in interiors that too on a premium hatch is something unacceptable. I was expecting a lot from GP, but Fiat failed to surprise me.

what loose plastics are you talking about vijay? i found the interior quality to be good.

I have also test driven the GP mjd. It is drab compared to Swift diesel. Agreed that theres almost no turbo lag in GP, it has no midrange or top end either. Going at 120 kmph felt so annoying and it was difficult to push further with the engine noise getting too much vocal and no real power delivery. On the contrary, Swift and Ritz diesel feel very lively and touching 140 kmph with them is so easy. Their engines have a perfect balance in city and highway performance, which makes them much more enjoyable to drive than the GP.
As far as handling goes, the GP is much better than the other hatches. In fact, its a legend. But the poor engines donot do justice to it.