MY NEW LOVE PUNTO

I have become proud owner of Tuscun wine punto 1.2 active just 1 month back. After extensive online, offline research & showroom visit of almost all car manufacturers. We (me & my wife) shortlisted Maruti Ritz, Swift, Figo, Uva, Etios-Liva & i20 (we never considered punto) amongt other as these were within our budget (5 to 5.25L). VW-POLO & SKODA FABIA were rejected due to after sale service cost.

After discussions, debates & feedbacks received from friends, family & coulleages we finalised SWIFT Lxi.

We went to RANA Motors, New Delhi to finalise the deal & was about to give the booking amount, then suddenly I decided to visit TATA Motors before finalising the deal. (no particular reason for that decision, may be we hv'nt visited the TATA Showroon in the process thats why).

Autolinks, hauz khas, New delhi was nearer & once reached there, we stunned by the looks of italian masterpeice @punto@.

We moved towards that white 1.4 emotion punto (I can still remember) as punto is pulling us towards it. When my wife open the drivers door, it was so heavy (many sedans are not havin such heavy door) that it gave feeling of opening a premium sedan car. interior were also much much better than other hatchbacks we tested. There was also no problems regarding leg space for front as well as rear pessengers. Boot space was ample,dash board was classy, engine had a extra support from below (which I didnt see in any car)

Morever, All version of Punto comes with power windows, tilted steering, digital tachometer, digital clock, different digitalmeter which will tell u your real time mileage, Kms to tank empty, maximum speed limit alarm, seat belt alarm, door open alarm & indicator, low petrol & low battery indicator, service reminder etc.

So stunned by looks (interior & exterior) & features we went back to home & started analysing & comparing with Swift. & friends frankly speaking, in no specs or features (after sale service not considered) swift scored above punto apart from the fact that it is most selling car in its catogary (not even in mileage) & trust me if you physically inspect both the vehicle, you will come to know that how inferior is swift as compare to Punto whether it is Built quality (swift is <1000kg & Punto is >1100kgs, punto is much heavier ensures better control & road grip during high speed & safety during accidents), or Mileage (my punto is giving 12.5kmpl to 13kmpl in city conditions & whereas u cant get more than 12kmpl in swift), or interior (punto has stylish classy interior, whereas plastic used in swift interior smells like hell), or features ( no power window in Lxi, no wheel cover, no tachometer while punto base model has everything).

Here I also want to mention a point that no one is suggesting us to buy a punto coz 1st its a FIAT MAKE & 2nd servicing is of TATA. Eventually, against everyone's wish, we made the booking & took our LOVE new PUNTO ACTIVE 1.2 on 20th feb'2012 to our home

But here come Autolinks (the villain), first they tried to give us 1 yr old car for which we refused. Then they gave us a different car but with only 1 key, sunshed broken, without toolkit, without basic accesaries by saying that these are not available now & will be handed over to you as soon as we receive them. But till now I have only received the keys & nothing else, they are just promising everything & doing nothing. Any FIAT top executive viewing this pls make a note that why one of the best selling car in europe is struggling to get a respectable sales mark when compare to other same catogary hatchback in india eventhough it has everything (spec & feature) to compete them.

I think i went little bit off the topic, now lets start talking about punto...,,,what a riding experience...,,,,suspension is best in class....,,,driving on bumpy road is no more a problem (i have a santro as well which is not very smooth on bad road at speed of 40-50kmph) but in punto u dont observe the jerk even at 60kmph.

 

Gearbox is smooth, accelaration is bit bit slow in 1st & 2nd gear but once you are in 3rd & 4th gear, punto accerates much better, car can easily goes on at 3rd gear @ speed of 10-20 kmph (with ac off) which is comendble. so it gives you a gear shifting free ride in city driving.

Engine generate best accelaration when in 5th gear. you can jump fom 70 kmph to 120 kmph in no time.

maximum speed reached in my punto is 130 kmph with AC on & car is very stable at this speed. I think 155-160 is quite reacheble in this car.

 

The only big issue is "after sale service" in my opinon. Also the vehicle ground clearance in low & front below side got hit if you drive at high speed on bad road & try to cross speed breaker at high speed.

A very good car to buy...

Stunning looks, ride quality, atteractive interior, VFMHorrible TATA dealership, low ground clearance