The new Fiat Punto sporting Good car ????

gormixx

Hi

I am interested in buying the new Fiat Punto sporting or Grande dynamic maybe an 06 or 07.. Does anyone have any advice to give about this car?

Is it a good car ? reliable or does something go wrong with it alot ?

Please any advice im going to look at buying one tomrw and just want to make sure I wont have problems with it after a month or two..

Thanks :)

bazz26

They are not a bad car, shares alot of running gear with the current Opel Corsa. Try and find one of the 16v ones as opposed to the old 8v engine.

conacur

Had an 02 Punto (wasn't a sport) a few years back & was warned time & time again that the head gasket always go on them. Me being me thought "Well that wont happen to me" sure enough one day in town in jammers traffic the car overheats & eventually the head gasket had to be replaced. That car broke my heart. Kept overheating at the sight of traffic, was very freaky. Can't really comment on the new models to be honest but I am defintely of the belief now FIAT - Fix It Again Tomorrow.

bryaner

conacur wrote: »

Had an 02 Punto (wasn't a sport) a few years back & was warned time & time again that the head gasket always go on them. Me being me thought "Well that wont happen to me" sure enough one day in town in jammers traffic the car overheats & eventually the head gasket had to be replaced. That car broke my heart. Kept overheating at the sight of traffic, was very freaky. Can't really comment on the new models to be honest but I am defintely of the belief now FIAT - Fix It Again Tomorrow.

Even with their head gasket problems, it's a cheap fix on the puntos.

gormixx

thanks for all the advice.. would still like to hear what someone who has one thinks too but I just cant find anyone who has one so is that a bad sign ?

deceit

I've driven a few of the newer sportings and they are much more reliable than the old cars. Did a few 1000 miles in one and never gave me an ounce of bother

SV

New fiats are a great car, I'd go for it if I was you..

gormixx

thanks

Gitb1

I think most of the opinions in this thread are of the old mk2 punto. The newer versions are pretty good cars

bryaner

Gitb1 wrote: »

I think most of the opinions in this thread are of the old mk2 punto. The newer versions are pretty good cars

True

CiniO

About FIATs you can hear millions of stories how bad they are.
Even in this thread, there is one about head-gasket. Conacur says, that his head gasket was gone. But the real reason for it, was that engine overheated. And what I suppose, the reason that engine overheated in traffic jam, was that a radiator fan broke down. In Irish climate when it's cold enough and fan doesn't need to turn on too often (especially during winter) sometimes it get's stock and stops working.
This leads to overheating, and finally to broken head gasket. But if the driver was looking at the indicators on the dashboard, he'd knew that engine is overheating and could just fix a fan for few quid insted of fixing head gasket.

Anyway in my opinion Fiats are as good as any other make. If car is reliable or not, depends on how you care about it. Most people (escpecially in Ireland) heard somewhere that Fiats are rubbish, so they don't care about them, don't service them, and then when they break down, these people spread the word that fiats are ****e.


I was always attached to this make.
My dad had 126 in the 80's. This was really crap, but at these time in Poland you didn't have too much choice.
In middle of 90's my dad got 97 Cinquecento with engine 0.7 litre. As engine was really crap (never available in Ireland) - it was slightly modified version of 126 engine, so everything else was really good and reliable. Body as for a car from the begining of 90's was extremally rust free in comparision to german, french or japaneese cars from this period.
I drove it for a while after I passed my test in 99. Then I got 97 Cinquecento Sporing 1.1 - great car. Only problems that I had with it, was because I was using it for amateur rallies, and training on forest gravel tracks.
After it I got 93 Cinquecento 0.9 (it was already in 2003). Car was 11 years old, over 100k miles on the clock, and was in perfect condition. I've done over 50k miles with it in 2 years, and never got any problems. Worst thing that broke, was fuel pump, which costed less then 30 euros to fix. After it I got 97 Bravo 1.6, which was another really great car. I did necessery work after buying (car was already 8 years old) - shocks, wishbones, spark plugs, ignition wires, etc... I drove it for 3 years without problem.
In the mean time i got 97 Cinquecento 0.9 here in Ireland - just a car to move around for couple of months a year that i was spending in Ireland. After getting it, I changed the oil for new one, and drove with it over 20k miles without putting single penny into the car.
Then I got 01 Bravo 1.2 which I have until now. It's over 2 years I have it. I've done over 50k miles with it (had 60, now 110). Except from changin oil few times, spark plugs, and timing belt once, car is just driving without any single problem. I would describe it's condition as perfect.

As you can see so far, I had loads of Fiats and neither of them gave me any problems. I don't know if newer fiats are also as good as older ones (mostly from 90's) but i suppose they are.

PS. Before buying make sure the engine is problemless. Just write me what engine you want to get, I'll let you know if that's the good one.
F.E. there was an issure when they started making Bravo and Brava in mid 90's, the smalles engine was 1.4. Obviosusly accoring to market conditions (VRT) most of these bravo's and brava's were with this engine. And the true is, that this engine was crap. It had serious problem with crankshaft which was just too soft. After couple of years Fiat stopped doing this engine, and changed it to 1.2 with about the same power, but much better construction. Actually this 1.2 is considered as one of the best fiat engines. Sadly the 1.4 already made bad opinion to bravo and brava. Actually I was happy, because just according to people's opinion, I could get my Bravo 1.2 very cheap, and so far i think it's the best car I ever had.

bryaner

CiniO wrote: »

About FIATs you can hear millions of stories how bad they are.
Even in this thread, there is one about head-gasket. Conacur says, that his head gasket was gone. But the real reason for it, was that engine overheated. And what I suppose, the reason that engine overheated in traffic jam, was that a radiator fan broke down. In Irish climate when it's cold enough and fan doesn't need to turn on too often (especially during winter) sometimes it get's stock and stops working.
This leads to overheating, and finally to broken head gasket. But if the driver was looking at the indicators on the dashboard, he'd knew that engine is overheating and could just fix a fan for few quid insted of fixing head gasket.

Anyway in my opinion Fiats are as good as any other make. If car is reliable or not, depends on how you care about it. Most people (escpecially in Ireland) heard somewhere that Fiats are rubbish, so they don't care about them, don't service them, and then when they break down, these people spread the word that fiats are ****e.


I was always attached to this make.
My dad had 126 in the 80's. This was really crap, but at these time in Poland you didn't have too much choice.
In middle of 90's my dad got 97 Cinquecento with engine 0.7 litre. As engine was really crap (never available in Ireland) - it was slightly modified version of 126 engine, so everything else was really good and reliable. Body as for a car from the begining of 90's was extremally rust free in comparision to german, french or japaneese cars from this period.
I drove it for a while after I passed my test in 99. Then I got 97 Cinquecento Sporing 1.1 - great car. Only problems that I had with it, was because I was using it for amateur rallies, and training on forest gravel tracks.
After it I got 93 Cinquecento 0.9 (it was already in 2003). Car was 11 years old, over 100k miles on the clock, and was in perfect condition. I've done over 50k miles with it in 2 years, and never got any problems. Worst thing that broke, was fuel pump, which costed less then 30 euros to fix. After it I got 97 Bravo 1.6, which was another really great car. I did necessery work after buying (car was already 8 years old) - shocks, wishbones, spark plugs, ignition wires, etc... I drove it for 3 years without problem.
In the mean time i got 97 Cinquecento 0.9 here in Ireland - just a car to move around for couple of months a year that i was spending in Ireland. After getting it, I changed the oil for new one, and drove with it over 20k miles without putting single penny into the car.
Then I got 01 Bravo 1.2 which I have until now. It's over 2 years I have it. I've done over 50k miles with it (had 60, now 110). Except from changin oil few times, spark plugs, and timing belt once, car is just driving without any single problem. I would describe it's condition as perfect.

As you can see so far, I had loads of Fiats and neither of them gave me any problems. I don't know if newer fiats are also as good as older ones (mostly from 90's) but i suppose they are.

PS. Before buying make sure the engine is problemless. Just write me what engine you want to get, I'll let you know if that's the good one.
F.E. there was an issure when they started making Bravo and Brava in mid 90's, the smalles engine was 1.4. Obviosusly accoring to market conditions (VRT) most of these bravo's and brava's were with this engine. And the true is, that this engine was crap. It had serious problem with crankshaft which was just too soft. After couple of years Fiat stopped doing this engine, and changed it to 1.2 with about the same power, but much better construction. Actually this 1.2 is considered as one of the best fiat engines. Sadly the 1.4 already made bad opinion to bravo and brava. Actually I was happy, because just according to people's opinion, I could get my Bravo 1.2 very cheap, and so far i think it's the best car I ever had.

It was actually the thermostat sticking that caused overheating on the puntos.

CiniO

bryaner wrote: »

It was actually the thermostat sticking that caused overheating on the puntos.

Never heard of it... I suppose it's about engines 1.1 and 1.2 (both 8v).
I know there was problem with thermostat in them, but it usually sticked the other way, and engine was permanently underheated especially during winter.

bryaner

CiniO wrote: »

Never heard of it... I suppose it's about engines 1.1 and 1.2 (both 8v).
I know there was problem with thermostat in them, but it usually sticked the other way, and engine was permanently underheated especially during winter.

Correcto it was on the 1.1 and 1.2 engines but in my time at them they stuck shut.

Still was the cheapest fix on any car on the market €220 and away you go.

mle1324

The mk2 16v was far superior (imo) to the 8v, only thing bout the 16v was that it only came in 2 models,a 1.2 3dr Sporting and a 1.2 5dr ELX automatic (fantastic car for the city).

We used to have Fiats in the household for nearly 15 years and all of them bar one (98 punto selecta,over heating) ran with out a bother.

The best of them was defently the 1.2 Brava HSX,5 years and only a puncher . P!ss all over a Stilo any day!

Newer fiats are great however they do need a family saloon as there was never a replacement for the Marea.

Speedway

I owned a 2006 16v sporting for 18 months and I absolutely loved it, nippy little car with loads of equipment as standard. I never had any major mechanical problems with it. The only issues I had were some suspension couplings which were replaced under warranty and some corroded alloys which again were replaced under warranty.

It was an excellent car to drive, very economical with a 6 speed gear box and fast enough off the mark to trouble faster more expensive cars. Mine was the normally aspirated 95bhp version but I had it up to approx 110bhp. One other warning is that the sports suspension on them is very stiff for Dublin roads. It can get a bit bumpy.

the only major warning is that you will not get your money back on it. I paid 12,500 euro for mine and after 18 months garages were offering me 4-5k. Every garage I went into didn't care that it was a sporting etc. they all just said "it's still only a punto" and offered me very little for it, I had a very tough time selling it.

EPM

One of the car magazines took a 3 year old diesel to pieces a couple of years back to see how well it fared. Car had 60k on it afaik and it was perfect. Think the only problem in that time was with a lock or something. Overall they gave it a big thumbs up.

gormixx

Hi

I went to look at a Fiat punto sporting 06 today and the price was €6500

I was just wondering is this a good price or can they be got any cheaper ?

Thanks

gormixx

Speedway wrote: »

I owned a 2006 16v sporting for 18 months and I absolutely loved it, nippy little car with loads of equipment as standard. I never had any major mechanical problems with it. The only issues I had were some suspension couplings which were replaced under warranty and some corroded alloys which again were replaced under warranty.

It was an excellent car to drive, very economical with a 6 speed gear box and fast enough off the mark to trouble faster more expensive cars. Mine was the normally aspirated 95bhp version but I had it up to approx 110bhp. One other warning is that the sports suspension on them is very stiff for Dublin roads. It can get a bit bumpy.

the only major warning is that you will not get your money back on it. I paid 12,500 euro for mine and after 18 months garages were offering me 4-5k. Every garage I went into didn't care that it was a sporting etc. they all just said "it's still only a punto" and offered me very little for it, I had a very tough time selling it.

Hi I was just wondering I went to view a fiat punto sporting 06 today and it was €6500? Is that a good price or is there cheaper out there as you said you were getting offered 4-5k??

Thank you

Speedway

gormixx wrote: »

Hi I was just wondering I went to view a fiat punto sporting 06 today and it was €6500? Is that a good price or is there cheaper out there as you said you were getting offered 4-5k??

Thank you

Well this is my old one

I would think if you went in and haggled for it you'd get it for a decent price. The price of 4k would be the trade price rather than the selling price, the dealer would have to have some markup on it.

mle1324

gormixx wrote: »

Hi I was just wondering I went to view a fiat punto sporting 06 today and it was €6500? Is that a good price or is there cheaper out there as you said you were getting offered 4-5k??

Thank you

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Fiat/Punto/1.4-SPOR/201021198189443/advert?channel=CARS

Theres one for a 5er cheaper , unless thats the one yea were looking at.

Seems to be ur best bet around your area on carzone in terms of price

gormixx

Speedway wrote: »

Well this is my old one

I would think if you went in and haggled for it you'd get it for a decent price. The price of 4k would be the trade price rather than the selling price, the dealer would have to have some markup on it.

Yeah thats true, your one was lovely just like the one i saw today..Whats the difference between the sporting fiat punto and the grande they look the same but the grande is cheaper
do you know ? thanks

bazz26

gormixx wrote: »

Hi

I went to look at a Fiat punto sporting 06 today and the price was €6500

I was just wondering is this a good price or can they be got any cheaper ?

Thanks

This one is cheaper:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201016197668801

And if you are buying straight with no trade in I would expect a discount off that price.

Alanstrainor

gormixx wrote: »

Hi

I went to look at a Fiat punto sporting 06 today and the price was €6500

I was just wondering is this a good price or can they be got any cheaper ?

Thanks

I moved your two threads together, it's probably best to keep them all together.

bazz26

The MkI Punto was on sale from 1994 to 1999. The MkII Punto was sold from 1999 to 2006. In 2006 the MkIII Punto was launched and called the Grande Punto as it was a bigger car than the old model. The old MkII Punto was still sold along side the Grande Punto for at least a year as a cheaper alternative. Earlier this year the Grande Punto got a facelift and became the Punto Evo.

MkII Punto Sporting:


Grande Punto Sporting:

gormixx

bazz26 wrote: »

The MkI Punto was on sale from 1994 to 1999. The MkII Punto was sold from 1999 to 2006. In 2006 the MkIII Punto was launched and called the Grande Punto as it was a bigger car than the old model. The old MkII Punto was still sold along side the Grande Punto for at least a year as a cheaper alternative. Earlier this year the Grande Punto got a facelift and became the Punto Evo.

MkII Punto Sporting:


Grande Punto Sporting:

Thanks but the sporting fiat and the grande ( the ones iv been looking at on the internet) look the same but the only difference I can see is the engine size the sporting fiat is 1.4 and the grande is 1.2 ?

bazz26

They are all Grande Puntos then, the Sporting is only a trim level available in 3 door form afaik. There is also Active and Dynamic spec models in the Grande Punto range which have different levels of standard equipment.

gormixx

bazz26 wrote: »

They are all Grande Puntos then, the Sporting is only a trim level available in 3 door form afaik. There is also Active and Dynamic spec models in the Grande Punto range which have different levels of standard equipment.

Yeah I was looking at the grande dynamic one do u know if it is a good car ? it looks the same as the sporting but cheaper ?

thanks

bazz26

The Dynamic is just a less sporty version and available as a 5 door. It does without the larger alloy wheels, side skirts, sports suspension and sports seats of the Sporting. Mechanically there is nothing between them.

It really boils down to which one you prefer.

mle1324

gormixx wrote: »

Thanks but the sporting fiat and the grande ( the ones iv been looking at on the internet) look the same but the only difference I can see is the engine size the sporting fiat is 1.4 and the grande is 1.2 ?

Always thought the Grande Sporting was a 1.4 Tjet ? Or am I mistaken ?

gormixx

mle1324 wrote: »

gormixx wrote: »

Thanks but the sporting fiat and the grande ( the ones iv been looking at on the internet) look the same but the only difference I can see is the engine size the sporting fiat is 1.4 and the grande is 1.2 ?[/QUOTE]

Always thought the Grande Sproting was a 1.4 Tjet ? Or am I mistaken ?

yeah the fiat sporting is 1.4 but the fiat grande dynamic is 1.2

shamwari

Speedway wrote: »

Well this is my old one

I would think if you went in and haggled for it you'd get it for a decent price. The price of 4k would be the trade price rather than the selling price, the dealer would have to have some markup on it.

As a matter of interest, how did you find your 1.4 16v on fuel?

Ardennes1944

shamwari wrote: »

As a matter of interest, how did you find your 1.4 16v on fuel?

also would like to know this?

Speedway

shamwari wrote: »

As a matter of interest, how did you find your 1.4 16v on fuel?

It was very light on fuel.
I can't remember exact figures but around town I got around 38mpg and on motorway driving with the 6 speed gearbox I got close to 45mpg on average.