First time

ccd

Got a question on a first time buy which of these three is the better car Punto, Polo, Corsa. Have been offer these at a good price and i cant make my mind up

PowerHouseDan

I'd Pick the Polo myself.....

PaulKK

ccd wrote:

Got a question on a first time buy which of these three is the better car Punto, Polo, Corsa. Have been offer these at a good price and i cant make my mind up

Go for the polo or corsa, don't buy a fiat.

greglo23

if it's a 12 valve 3 cylinder corsa dont go near it. problems with headgaskets,timing chains,air flow units, engines ! the polo would be your best bet.

Saruman

Polo.. its a VW after all Only bad thing i have ever heard about VW is clunky gear stick.

ccd

Ok so the corsa is out. But why would you recommend not to Fiat

prospect

ccd wrote:

why would you recommend not to Fiat

Probably because a guy who was a friend of an uncle of a bloke he used to work with bought one in 1972 and it gave him a good bit of trouble earlier this year!

Bluetonic

What year/model are they all?

ccd

It’s a 5 door 1l 99 Polo and a 3 door 99 punto. Two Hundred EURO difference in price in favor of the puto. Suggestions

milltown

Then it's either an expensive Punto or a cheap Polo. Put it this way, if you keep both for a year you will sell the Polo for almost what you paid for it or put a match to the Punto.

ccd

The Punto is priced at E 3800 and the Polo at E 4000. Is this exspensive for the Punto or should i be worried about a polo ging hat cheap

dceire

I paid E3500 for a 98 Polo 3 months ago & have had no problems with it so far deffinately the best of the three. Stay well away from Fiats though.

commited

The polo is a boring car to drive, but the sensible choice is pick the polo (assuming condition is good etc).
get a mechanic to check it over first though if you arent sure

ccd

What's SO wrong with Fiats. Why are Polo dull

Big Nelly

ccd wrote:

What's SO wrong with Fiats

The Punto? are you serious? look at them....horrible car....no suspension.....could keep going on.....dont like the Polo myself but better than a Corsa(althou my mate willl only buy Corsa's...she loves them)....and 10 times better than a Punto....from that lot I would go Corsa!!

alias no.9

Saruman wrote:

Polo.. its a VW after all Only bad thing i have ever heard about VW is clunky gear stick.

How about premature gearbox failure, gunked up throttle bodies on 1.4 and 1.6 petrols, dodgy coil packs on 1.8 petrols, dodgy MAF meters on TDi's, ****ed up central locking on mk IV golfs, the list goes on. It's all here on the boards and repeated over again so it's more likely you haven't listened to anything bad about VW rather than haven't heard anything bad.

Anyway back to the original question, you need to look over all three cars carefully, if you're not sure what you're doing, get someone else to do it. Make your decision based on the condition of the car, the mileage, the service history, NCT, price and of course warrenty. Don't ignore bad feelings, if it doesn't feel right, then walk away. There is good and bad in every make and model of car and it usually has more to do with how it's been driven and looked after than any inherrent problems with the car. Having said that there are some known problems with different types of car, that doesn't mean that all cars of this type are affected, it means you need to make sure they're not, thats why you need to check the car over or get someone else to do it. Finally, that punto seems to be a bit expensive for a 99, it would want to be a low mileage, new model, sporting for that money.

Big Nelly

alias no.9 wrote:

Anyway back to the original question, you need to look over all three cars carefully, if you're not sure what you're doing, get someone else to do it. Make your decision based on the condition of the car, the mileage, the service history, NCT, price and of course warrenty. Don't ignore bad feelings, if it doesn't feel right, then walk away. There is good and bad in every make and model of car and it usually has more to do with how it's been driven and looked after than any inherrent problems with the car. Having said that there are some known problems with different types of car, that doesn't mean that all cars of this type are affected, it means you need to make sure they're not, thats why you need to check the car over or get someone else to do it. Finally, that punto seems to be a bit expensive for a 99, it would want to be a low mileage, new model, sporting for that money.

This is why I wouldnt go near a Punto....everyone know they are scrapping them after 4 years or so when you trade them in because they are a ball of ..... I wouldnt sit in a Punto let alone drive it.....as said above because you are buying a petrol the milage is a big deal!!!!

HelterSkelter

PaulKK wrote:

Go for the polo or corsa, don't buy a fiat

dceire wrote:

Stay well away from Fiats though

Have either of you ever owned a Punto?

We had three puntos in our family over the last 9 years and had very little trouble with any of them. I know FIAT have a bad rep for some of their pre-punto cars but Puntos are very reliable.

HelterSkelter

Wouldn't go for a corsa, girlie car, unless of course you are a girl!

Mr Magnolia

Definitely the corsa, if it's 97 or newer it's gonna be a 4 cylinder.
I'd one, put 100k on it and it didn't miss a beat.
Stay away from the punto, they're dung.
What milage is on the cars, what year is the corsa, what extra's?

alias no.9

HelterSkelter wrote:

Have either of you ever owned a Punto?

We had three puntos in our family over the last 9 years and had very little trouble with any of them. I know FIAT have a bad rep for some of their pre-punto cars but Puntos are very reliable.

I can beat that, my father has been driving fiats since 1982, two of my sisters have fiats, I've had a fiat. The cars have included an original panda, two uno's, three punto's, two bravo's and a stilo. The combined mileage of the lot (covered by my family) is probably close to 750,000 miles. One of the punto's blew a head gasket, it wasn't fixed properly and blew again. That's the sum total of non wear and tear faults that you'll get on every car.

prospect

TO the OP,

DO NOT PICK A CAR BASED ON HOW NICE LOOKING IT IS!
A car may look great, but that means sh1t. I know hundreds of people who buy cars because of the looks, and that car is automatically promoted to the best car on the road just because they want to justify their spend. People like this don't know sh1t about cars.

Same applies to people who knock an entire range of cars in one swoop. Anyone who says 'All Fiats are crap' are talking crap. Have you ever noticed how many puntos there are on the road? If they were really all completely 'crap' would they keep selling in such high volumes?

I know a guy who bought a brand new A6 and within the first week he had a major problem with the bearings. The car was off the road for a good while, and everyone here had the opinion 'It is unusual', or 'He must have done something to it'. Yet another colleague had a similar problem some time later with a year old Rover and the attitude was 'What do you expect buying a rover!' It is all about perception, and in fairness 90% of people don't actually know what they are talking about.

{END RANT}

Big Nelly

prospect wrote:

TAnyone who says 'All Fiats are crap' are talking crap. Have you ever noticed how many puntos there are on the road? If they were really all completely 'crap' would they keep selling in such high volumes?

Because they are cheap!!!! everyone bought them around the late 90's/early 2000 because all of a sudden young people had money and these car where selling for a fiver a month and so on!!! go outside of Dublin and see how many people actual drive Punto's!!! they are a city car!!!

Not read where people where trading them into garages after 3-4 years and the garage just scraps them because they wont resell them!!! I know that anyone that I know in Cavan or Dublin and anywhere else would never drive a Punto!!!!! friend of mine from Navan wont sit into her BF's Punto with its tinted windows and all!!

Mr Magnolia

prospect wrote:

TO the OP,

Same applies to people who knock an entire range of cars in one swoop. Anyone who says 'All Fiats are crap' are talking crap. Have you ever noticed how many puntos there are on the road? If they were really all completely 'crap' would they keep selling in such high volumes?

{END RANT}

Reason they're bought in large volumes is because they're relatively cheap:

Opel Corsa 5 dr Hatchback Manual € 15,700

Fiat Punto 1.2 5 dr Hatchback Manual € 13,995

Polo 1.2 5 dr Hatchback Manual € 15,880

Ever wondered how they can make them nearly 2k cheaper????

prospect

Big Nelly wrote:

friend of mine from Navan wont sit into her BF's Punto with its tinted windows and all!!

And that makes Fiats crap???
Sounds to me like your 'friend' has bigger issues!

BTW, I live in the countryside in Kildare and there are plenty of puntos.

Another point regarding 'cheap' cars sold in high volumes. The type of person who buys the cheapest car they can usually does not spend money maintaining the car. Sometimes, (and i have personally experienced this), a person will buy a cheap small car, and NEVER service it. Unfortunatly the Punto often suffers this fate, and hence the bad name develops.

I have said this before and I stick to my guns on it:
"ANY car that is not properly maintained, will give trouble"

Big Nelly

prospect wrote:

And that makes Fiats crap???
Sounds to me like your 'friend' has bigger issues!

This was in regards to the point earlier that not only are they a terrible car but they look terrible and have a brutal name!!! I get your point about not looking after a car but I have heard plenty of horry stories about them to believe its not just people not servicing them....also as mentioned they are a town car so would take most people in town along time to get 10k so its not like you ahve to service that often....I have done over 10k in my car in 6 months since I got it.....

Most people in Kildare are just blow ins from Dublin anyway:D I travel all around the country, was in Mayo and Galway at weekend and I never seen one Punto on the roads from what I can remember once I got outside the Dublin area! cant name one person in Cavan that has one!! there is bound to be people that have them I am not saying that but the majority of Punto's are bought for city driving by young people!!

stevenmu

As usual, I'll chime in and say that if you're looking at polos consider a seat ibiza or skoda fabia, both are the same car as the polo for cheaper, the seat would probably be better specced than the polo too, and I think someone mentioned before that the skoda would probably be better specced again.

As for the FIAT vs the world debate, the main reason to avoid FIATs is because of their resale values, when you go to get rid of it in a couple of years you won't be able to unless you give it away. The only way to get a decent return on one is to trade it against a new one, but then you're facing the same problem a few years down the road again (this is well known as one of the main reasons FIAT can keep their return customers). VWs hold their value really well, Seats and Skodas are pretty decent too as they get more popular.

alias no.9

I'm originally from rural county cork, not far from kerry in fact, and they're one of the most common cars around there. There's still plenty of '94 puntos knocking around. What's more the local dealer was the top performing fiat dealer in the country several years in a row, at a time when the punto was the biggest selling car in the country, and the vast majority of that business was made up of punto's. On top of this, even though I'm originally from cork, I've lived in dublin for the last three years, in galway for three years before that and in limerick for four years before that, I'm regularly back in cork, limerick and galway, I also visit tipperary regularly, I have covered in excess of 20,000 miles a year for the last 5 years, so in terms of travelling the country and living in different parts of the country, I've been there and done that, and I see plenty of punto's on the road. In fact where I come from the biggest reason not to buy a punto, is that everyone else has one. So don't try to tell me they are a city car only bought by city dwellers.

Oh and by the way, servicing is supposed to be carried out by the sooner of a time period or mileage interval.

prospect

Big Nelly wrote:

Most people in Kildare are just blow ins from Dublin anyway:D !

Me being one of them

Dcully

Im born and rared in Kildare town now living 6 miles south in Monasterevin and Puntos are getting more rare by the month.
Fiat are terrible in fairness.
Build quality is pathetic,resale is even worse.
Avoid like the plague.
Go with the Polo as i have heard the 3 cylinder Corsa gives trouble.

dceire

HelterSkelter wrote:

Have either of you ever owned a Punto?

We had three puntos in our family over the last 9 years and had very little trouble with any of them. I know FIAT have a bad rep for some of their pre-punto cars but Puntos are very reliable.

No, because I wouldnt touch one with a barge pole. My mate bought a 02 one about a two months back & wants to get rid of it already with all the problems he's had with it.

A freind of my sisters bought one from new a year or two back had it five months when the engine litterly blew up in her face on the hard-shoulder of the M50 & for instance last week I during the wet weather I saw 4 Fiats broken down at the side of the road, two puntos & two chinikichentoooooossss!

69 mustang

alias no.9 wrote:

I can beat that, my father has been driving fiats since 1982, two of my sisters have fiats, I've had a fiat. The cars have included an original panda, two uno's, three punto's, two bravo's and a stilo. The combined mileage of the lot (covered by my family) is probably close to 750,000 miles. One of the punto's blew a head gasket, it wasn't fixed properly and blew again. That's the sum total of non wear and tear faults that you'll get on every car.

That sounds like the old yard brush joke
" I've had this brush fo 15yrs only changed the handle 3 times and the head 4 times"

Opel's are as bad a Fiats since the mid 90's and the pedals are too close on the Corsa.
If the VW hasn't got over sized wheels or boy raced go for it.

CrimE

Just regarding the fiats, I am getting my first car soon-ish and I am in the same situation as the OP.

I have heard differing reports about the puntos reliability, I know about 6 people with them and one is having minor problems and the rest of them are grand. I have about 4000-4500 to spend and the punto, to me, seems like the best value out of all of these. Best spec, best looks ( imo others look far more dated) etc.
What I wanna know is if you get a punto fully checked out and all is ok and its the 16v sporting should it be ok?

Btw sorry for hijacking thread

alias no.9

69 mustang wrote:

That sounds like the old yard brush joke
" I've had this brush fo 15yrs only changed the handle 3 times and the head 4 times"

Opel's are as bad a Fiats since the mid 90's and the pedals are too close on the Corsa.
If the VW hasn't got over sized wheels or boy raced go for it.

How the f#*k do you make that out? One blown head gasket, not fixed properly, blew again six weeks later, was fixed and ran fine for at least another 40k miles before the car was traded in. Other than that you've got run of the mill wear and tear items at high mileage such as clutches and wheel bearings, stuff that will happen to any car.

KME

I Bought a 2001 16v Punto sporting and I have never had any problems. I know lots of people who are very happy with Fiat. IF I were you i'd with the Punto all the way

CrimE

Yeah cheers for that, its the way im leaning anyways. Ill get a mint one and have it fully checked and hopefully it will be grand.

If I get any hassle this will be the first place I turn to complain so you will all know about it

alias no.9

VW's and Punto's have more in common than you might think... I was in my local motor factors to order some flexible brake lines for my primera. The guy in there mentioned when taking the order that the only ones they keep in stock are for VW's and Punto's because they nearly always need replacing for the NCT.