Punto- ELX, Sporting, ELEGANCE ???

plastic-man

looking for my first car and ive decided to go with the punto and my final decision only thing is I don't really understand which is which . Is the Elegance the best one? If so why? i'd just like to get a bit of enlightenment on this issue for price comparison issues?

Holsten

I assume they would be the trim/spec levels of the car.

Sporting seems to be the best.

Notorious

If you're picking one of the above, look for a Sporting 1.4GT as opposed to the Sporting 1.6 to keep the insurance down.

Also a few pointers if you're testing out a Punto;
Check for oil leaks around the engine, the head and sump gasket are a divil on the fiats.
Have a look under the car at the rear driver side. A lot of Puntos you see driving around have a cable hanging down around the fuel tank area. Not sure what the said cable is for, but keep an eye out to look for it. Oh, and thats on a mk1 Punto btw.

plastic-man

thanks for the tips. tbh I think I'd be best off bringing a mechanic with me to look at the car, anyone have any details on this?

bigpinkelephant

Whatever you do, check the head gasket. They are a notorious weak spot in Puntos and are expensive to fix.

I have a Punto and so does my friend and both our car's head gaskets went. This is before we bought them.

ninty9er

HLX or Elegance are the ones to go for, they're both practically the same but the Elegance replaced the HLX.

There was never a 1.4 Mk1 or Mk2 Punto AFAIK. It was only introduced in the Grande Punto in 2006

ottostreet

well, ive only had older ones, the mk2 (99-03) and the best one is the sporting. 1.2 engine, 40-45mpg, MUCH quicker and feels more solid than the other ones. nicer interior and has a sunroof too! havent had the head gasket go either, which my ELX did twice in 7000 miles. I had a bog standard one too. a 00. didnt let me down once but was very very basic and slow.

SV

lol..the reason your head gasket hasn't gone in the sporting is because you haven't drove it enough miles cos the engine keeps falling out

bazz26

Sporting was only available in 3 door form, ELX or Elegance was the 5 door model and had a 6 speed gearbox.

Head gasket issues were mainly with the 8 valve "Fire" engine. I think the Sporting and ELX/Elegance had the 16 valve engine.

Definately have a mechanic check the car out first as alot of Puntos are poorly maintained due to their owners being on a tight budget. Any poorly maintained car will give trouble.

bigpinkelephant

bazz26 wrote: »

alot of Puntos are poorly maintained due to their owners being on a tight budget.

Exactly!
My parents bought a Punto brand new the year they came out. This was 1995, before the Celtic Tiger and no one had much money. They chose the Punto because they needed a cheap car.

It's funny to think of that they had 3 kids and we were all perfectly happy in that little Punto. These days, as soon as you have a child, it seems you now "need" a Santa Fe or a Qashqai. Two kids, and you can't go any smaller than a Range Rover!!!

plastic-man

hah yeah! I'd have to agree with the idea of people not maintaining their puntos due to them being on a tight budget (in general) .. Any good points about the ELX or ELEGANCE ?

Notorious

We have a mk1 Punto 55sx at home. Its a '96, we've had it from new, and its been looked after very well. I'll just give you a round up on whats happened with it since I started driving it:

I started driving it with approx. 45k on the clock in the summer of 2006. It had been sitting on the front drive for 6 months, and not driven. The exhaust was replaced not long before I began using it; it had rusted since my Mom had only used it for short journeys.

So by December the head gasket went for the first time. I repaired it (thanks to the Haynes manual) so that kept the cost down. While I was at it, I had to do the timing and put in a new belt.
About 4 months later the radiator burst - it had rusted too. Bought a new one for about €60, and replaced the thermostat while I was at it.
Next up, the speedo broke. Whenever I drove it just got stuck on 30kph even though I'd be doing about 100kph. A set of dials from the junkers yard sorted that out.
Not long later the cooling system started loosing water. It turned out the water pump had rusted. I should've replaced it when I did the timing belt, but I didn't know that at the time. A garage replaced the pump and the belt. Not too sure how much they charged, but it was about €150.
Two of the coils went next. I was out of the country, and the car was put into a garage for me. We got ripped off and had the broken coils and all the spark plugs replaced for about €200. Turns out I could've bought 4 fiat coils myself for about €90. We were charged €120 for two.
Then midway during the summer it was in a garage again, though this was completley at the fault of a local petrol station. The fuel system had to be drained.
Now the clutch just went, at 75k miles. Also, the exhaust has developed a problem and theres a hole somewhere on the box, and the sump gasket is gone. Fun times. I've another amusing electrical problem too. When I've got my headlights on, my right indicator going and I brake, my indicator just stops going. Its an on/off thing. I've changed a lot of the wiring and just can't figure out the problem.

So after two years of good use on my part, the Punto has cost me a fair bit to keep running. Its been drinking petrol recently too, but I'm not sure how many mpg I'm getting.
My advice would be that if you're definitely going to get one, sort out your budget and get as recent a model as possible. Make sure to get a Haynes manual too, I dunno what I would do without one!

Ferris

Fix
It
Again
Tomorrow

L1011

Ferris wrote: »

Fix
It
Again
Tomorrow

If you can't make a constructive post, its better not to post at all.

plastic-man

I was looking at a 2003 with ,max, 55000 miles on it. Budget it tight. What is a Haynes manual?

masseyno9

OP, a haynes manual is basically an instruction book for the car, and how to fix/disassemble almost any part of it. Almost essential for undertaking any substantial DIY maintenance work.

The poster with the punto and all the problems - it was a 12 year old car, and most of the problems listed are genuinely to do with the age of the car and general wear and tear (rust, clutch etc.), rather than the build quality.

colm_mcm

The original run of Puntos consisted of base, ELX, HLX and Sporting and HGT models

The base models (1.2 8 valve 60bhp) had power steering one airbag, height adjustable seat and a CD player,

the ELX (1.2 8 valve 60bhp) added colour coded bumpers, electric windows, central locking, front foglights nicer seats with seperate headrests, and headrests for the rear seats.

The HLX (1.2 16 valve 85bhp) added an electric sunroof, alloys, (arguably) nicer seats than the ELX, remote locking, electric mirrors and a passenger airbag, they may have had standard ABS too. These were only available in 5 door, and had the 16v engine from the Bravo with a 5 speed box

The Sporting (1.2 16 valve 85bhp) had nicer alloys than the HLX, side skirts, all the ELX and HLX spec, sports steering wheel, some had aircon too. they also got a 6 speed gearbox and the option of going for exclusive colours like broom yellow.

The Elegance was a special edition that sat between the base and ELX models, these had colour coded bumpers, and some got alloys too. they weren't introduced in 1999, from memory they only came along in 2001 or so

Notorious

masseyno9 wrote: »

The poster with the punto and all the problems - it was a 12 year old car, and most of the problems listed are genuinely to do with the age of the car and general wear and tear (rust, clutch etc.), rather than the build quality.

Ah I know, I wouldn't expect any different regardless from the make of car. But we all know that Italian cars are notorious for certain problems. And for a car over 12 years old, I have to say its been great. I should have it back on the road after the weekend too...

justindublin

I've a Blue 01 Punto Sporting 16v going back onto carzone in a couple of days. All thats left on my bank loan is 3000 so i'm looking for around that. In pefect condition tho... PM

deceit

ninty9er wrote: »

There was never a 1.4 Mk1 or Mk2 Punto AFAIK. It was only introduced in the Grande Punto in 2006

I have two Mk1 1.4turbos so they definiately did come with 1.4s heres a video of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpuAwPs0piw and i think mk2b sportings had 1.4 16v engines if i'm not mistaken.
The mk1 sportsing where 5 speed 1.2 16vs or 1.6 8v and the mk2a sportings where the 6 speed 1.2 16v.
Headgasket problems where mainly on the 1.1 8vs and the 1.2 8v as people who bought these where generally on a tight budget and wherent to kean on splashing out on maintaining them. Theres a mk2 1.8hgt also but like the 1.4gt its not really ideal to learn in as both are really quick.
The sportings had different gearing to help 0-60 times over the hlx and elx and being a three door where dearer on insurance.
As a learner car if your going for a mk1 elx is the best option. If going for a mk2 hlx would be.