Fiat Punto - good or bad.

chicorytip

Just how wise or foolish would a 02
Punto ( 79,000 miles) be as an investment ?

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Paging DGT...

On a serious note, it wouldn't be an investment, it's a cheap runabout.

Atlantic Dawn

Anyone I know who has ever bought one has had head gasket issues, that said they were buying cheapo runabouts with zero service history and going for the price of a cheap push bike.

timmy4u2

A very underrated car.
Yes, many of them had head gasket issues but only when the warning signs were ignored, and ignored and ignored in that the rad fan had a staged switch on and this could go wrong.
The thermostat is also prone to sticking, either open or closed but a very easy job to change

Basically the same engine is in the Stilo with a different fan set up. If I the temp switch fails the fan switches on.
The gearbox was prone to give some trouble.
These Puntos were sold on a finance basis that was as cheap as chips and many of the cars were not serviced as they should and they require a 50% solution of coolant but many put plain water into them.

bazz26

On any 12 year old car it totally depends on the condition of the individual car.

dgt

Try to go for the 16v unit. Test the gearbox well, elec steering can go wonky and mind the engine mounts.

Mind the coolant and keep on top of it or bye bye hg!

Jesus.

Lovely little Motor. Used to have one. Head gasket will blow at some point though.

CiniO

dgt wrote: »

Try to go for the 16v unit. Test the gearbox well, elec steering can go wonky and mind the engine mounts.

Mind the coolant and keep on top of it or bye bye hg!

Was it either 1.1 8v and 1.2 8v engines that had head gasket failures?

timmy4u2

CiniO wrote: »

Was it either 1.1 8v and 1.2 8v engines that had head gasket failures?

Thec1.2 eight valve certainly had the problem.
The 16 valve were more reliable

Stavros Murphy

The electric steering system fails, 100% guaranteed and can be spendy to fix. Also, get the red key or that can be awkward too. The HG failure is down to no coolant in the mix/incorrect refilling of the system after a drain-down. There's a specific re-filling process and if you ignore it, there is air around the head and it over-heats. Coil packs fail, but are cheap and easy. The TB change is a doddle and the only worrying fault most overlook is the fuel supply lines running from the tank to the injectors-it's routed through the wing and can be an absolute bugger to remedy if it springs a leak - usually unusually heavy fuel usage is down to a leak in this area.

wotzgoingon

It's not called FixItAgainTomorrow for nothing.

Stavros Murphy

wotzgoingon wrote: »

It's not called FixItAgainTomorrow for nothing.

The 1.2 FIRE engine 8V versions are one of the easiest to maintain cars going. Trouble is, no one bothers to maintain them, so then they get the name of being "unreliable". Unfairly, Imo.

wotzgoingon

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

The 1.2 FIRE engine 8V versions are one of the easiest to maintain cars going. Trouble is, no one bothers to maintain them, so then they get the name of being "unreliable". Unfairly, Imo.

Maybe, I was just joking around but my parents had one and it was fairly unreliable, but it was a car to drive to the ground which they did do.

ba_barabus

wotzgoingon wrote: »

It's not called FixItAgainTomorrow for nothing.

Every car has issues. Mostly the biggest one is the one behind the wheel.

My dad has a 2000, albeit the 16V version. He bought it at 29,000 miles and it's now at 160,000 without too much trouble. He had a strange issue with one of the sensors but that's about it.

roadsmart

My parents bought an 1.2 8v '05 in '07, and are still driving it with zero problems. I was really impressed, I think its a great cheap runaround.

Stella Virgo

chicorytip wrote: »

Just how wise or foolish would a 02
Punto ( 79,000 miles) be as an investment ?[/QUOTE]

no such car exists....;)

Gazzmonkey

My first car was one of those Puntos, head gasket went after two weeks of ownership, power steering went two weeks after that. but held on to it for another 2 years and experienced zero problems. I made sure it was properly serviced though.

dgt

wotzgoingon wrote: »

It's not called FixItAgainTomorrow for nothing.

Just once, just for once I'd like to see a Fiat thread without this nonsense.

But alas I probably won't live long enough to see that.

Joke or not, I find myself asking why I bother sometimes

CiniO wrote: »

Was it either 1.1 8v and 1.2 8v engines that had head gasket failures?

All of them. Not so much the 16v as they were rarer.

What happened is the coolant would begin to eat the gasket after it became useless, thus the inevitable HG fail. Then if not repaired right, it would blow again between he cylinders. Then by that stage, the oil rings are probably broken too so scrap unless the engine got new rings

HG fail almost always down to the halfwits that owned them, never bothered to look after the car beyond the odd oil change then have the nerve to run them down.

It's pathetic, really

Moneymaker

Been at least 4-5 Fiats in my family down the years, never given any bother. I really liked my Panda, it was great for what it was.

Probably gonna pick up a Punto or Stilo as a 2nd car fairly soon :P

More value in a well minded 600-700 Punto then a 1500-2000 Yaris imo.