Team-BHP - Fiat Grande Punto : Test Drive & Review

@srishiva

I have put down the changed perception of one of our fellow bhpians.

"Hi all,

In my previous post http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post1350764 (FIAT Grande Punto Specs: Punt(o)ing around town) I had mentioned about less leg space. But yesterday when I adjust the driving seat for myself (5'9") my friend who is 5'11" sat comfortably behind me. The seats are very comfy and soft than many other hatch (say Swift, i20, etc)

Cheers!"

The thing is we often fail to understand what is actually available and expect something which is not.How can we resolve this?The answer is just a proper rationale,which,being a fellow bhpian,you should have in loads..You may own a civic,but you cannot expect what you get in civic to be in GP. GP is a hatch back and offers what it can,at its best..So stop spreading something which is not true.
It especially irks me, when you say that you are 5'7" and that you feel GP is cramped, this is definitely not in my books of practicality.

Have a Nice Day!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JVH (Post 1365951)

My question to you guys is - Are you getting the owner's/workshop and service repair manual along with the deliveries?

No the manuals haven't arrived yet from Pune. The dealer is saying it will take another week or so. :deadhorse

Hi Guys,

I know this is kind of Off Topic but since almost all Punto / Linea owners will at some point consider upgrading the audio system, I thought I'd post a link here.

Apparently there is a Steering-CAN-Controller available that allows you to upgrade the stock HU + retain all the steering controls.

Product details posted in the ICE - Product Discussion Section.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/produc...ml#post1366026

The website claims that this is specifically for the Grande Punto!

Quote:

Originally Posted by opendro (Post 1365500)

Ah! You got it there. Indian laws are generally too outdated or for the new ones, too disconnected from reality. For instance, you can be fined if the cell phone is switched on while driving, two wheeler or four wheeler, does not matter. But phone can be switched on if there is a co-passenger, to pick up the phone. This amendment was done when the phones started coming out with handsfree speakers.

Are you sure its that way? AFAIK, the driver is supposed to have his phone SWITCHED OFF irrespective of any number of passengers because if the co-passenger answers the phone for him and he (driver) speaks on handsfree / loudspeaker, it still would account to talking on phone while driving. Wouldn't it?

Just to make things clear, when people talk about the cramped seats in Punto.

I drive a 2003 Camry, If the driver's seat is pushed to its maximum, even my son in booster seat doesn't have enough leg room in the rear.

Please let us know what you drive, height and the reference vehicle in which you are making the comparison with. Everyone can have their views, but don't slander.

GTO/ Admins
We should have a process to avoid slanders to keep up the quality of TEAM-BHP.

The would be Punto owners will be generally upgrading from WagonR, Santro etc. They are not likely to find the back seat cramped. If the front seats are pushed all the way back then those seating at the back have less than adequate space in most hatchbacks.

Punto is not the best in class in this respect but not that bad at all. During the test drive I took I made it a point to seat at the back to verify it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dine (Post 1366866)

You forgot one point - with the driver seat pushed fully back, one can also complain that the pedals and steering wheel are inconveniently placed as they are too far away!

I am not for a minute saying that the GP is spacious or not spacious.

I agree with Dine - one should set the seat in the normal driving position, drive for a bit, fine tune the seat setting and then check the rear leg room without moving the drivers seat.

Cheers

Just checked the Autocar Figures (Source Punto Website)

Punto D 17.84 Sec
Punto P 16.58 Sec and top speed of 144Km/Hr

now how its possible.Its really difficult to understand why these auto magazines have problem with Fiat's engine performance and its really funny the same autocar India tested the linea Petrol and its almost 2 sec faster than punto for the 100 km/hr dash.

Is punto really slow..?

Quote:

Originally Posted by parimal_g (Post 1367130)

Those timings are incorrect, I managed to touch 95kmph on my testdrive and it didn't take close to that time. I'm sure gto would also agree with me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639 (Post 1367174)

Well the linea has a VGT and around 10bhp more than the Punto.

But vid, the linea also weighs more, anyway the petrol linea really can't be faster than the punto petrol; that's impossible

Quote:

Originally Posted by parimal_g (Post 1367130)

Well here is some more comparo from Autocar - I could not believe it ??

Linea 1.4 - 1240kg, 0-60km/h: 6.21s, 0-100km/h: 15.14s, 20-80km/h:14.04s, 40-100km/h:18.67s Top:182km/h
Punto 1.4 - 1145kg, 0-60km/h:6.28s, 0-100km/h:16.58s, 20-80km/h:14.11s, 40-100km/h:19.53, Top: 144km/h

To summarise,
Punto 1.4 is 95kg lighter, its slower in all sprints and in-gear tests, and has a top speed that is 38km/h lower :-(

Can gearing & ECU adjustment cause so much havoc when same bhp/torque is generated ? Autocar claims to be shocked by lack of performance from both Petrol and Diesel. Maybe some of their figure are wrong or typo ? They mentioned maybe the engines being new, they'll post figures after detailed tests ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancer_rit (Post 1367204)

How can 40-100Km/h be longer than 0-100Km/h?

BTW, I reported to Autocar India that their ingear acceleration and 0-100Km/h don't match quite well and thus the driver has not understood Linea's gear ratio. No one answered to that question.

For Linea/Punto/Vista, the best 0-100 will achieved by almost full rpm range in 1st, 2nd, 4th gears (skip 3rd). ACI does not know how to drive non-linear torque engine with a little closer gear ratios. I verified with their own data for diesel, add up first gear 0-30, second gear 30-60, fourth gear 60-100 timings and add two gear change time of say, 1 to one and half seconds. Manual gear changes are generally about half a second.

Quote:

Originally Posted by parimal_g (Post 1367130)

Just checked the Autocar Figures (Source Punto Website)

Punto D 17.84 Sec
Punto P 16.58 Sec and top speed of 144Km/Hr

Is punto really slow..?

just see the wikipedia data...

Fiat Grande Punto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote:

Originally Posted by parimal_g (Post 1367130)

Yes I saw this in ACI issue of July. I dont know whether the figures are right or not, but what is surprising is that Fiat has published these in their website. This means that Fiat is endorsing these figures. I have not driven the Punto Diesel, but TDen the 1.4 petrol. I felt the performance was really poor compared to the jazz and Ritz i test drove post and pre to the Punto TD. I could not take the car to 100 Kmph, but even 60 kmph was achieved after a great effort. I am not sure if it was something to do with the Test drive vehicle, but my impression of Fiat being an enthusiast's car has somewhat changed now

Why is everybody so worried about the performance part? Its not that bad.

If the pick up is really bothering you just get the car peted, put in a performance filter and you get a little over 90bhp then and there. That should solve all problems.