[Rahulkool]

Road trip after 2 years, went to Calicut in Dec 2021.

Another milestone


Beautiful TN highways !


Car returned fabulous FE. Controlled my itch to bury the pedal this time and used CC @ 90kmph in most of the driving on the 4 lane TN highways.


Always take pic after parking the car


A visit to Paragon is must in Calicut. Fantastic food.


Found this automated car cleaning place in Calicut.


FE for the whole trip, needless to say i was not much worried about the FE in the return trip.

[Rahulkool]

Parked in the beautiful lanes of pondy.


So it finally happened, first accident on a highway, apart from small nicks and dings in city. Went on a trip to pondy, decided to return by Chengalpattu , rather than ECR router i usually take. As had to drop someone on the way.

It was a sunday evening and we reached chengalpattu in the peak traffic hour. The route was really busy and traffic was moving very fast in b2b traffic. I was following a i20 and there was a bus behind me.

It was partially my mistake also, i should been little careful and kept more distance. Problem is, if you leave little gap then some car will try to merge. i20 braked hard, i did the same and stopped just few cms behind the i20. I was bracing for impact as i was certain that bus will not be able to stop. But it happened that one alto was trying to merge between my car and the bus at the same moment and it hit my car on the rear left side. as it was just in our lane partially. Bus was stopped way behind my car, maybe sitting in such high position they can see whats going on ahead.

Impact was quite big and i got out of the car to check the damge. Passenger from the car in front were also looking at me thinking i have rear ended them, but i that time i didnt realised the front impact. i got down and it didnt looked too bad, the rear bottom tail light was damaged and bumper was bend toward the wheel. In the meanwhile the alto guy just speed off. I got in the car and tried moving it to the side, but bumper was making noise as it was touching the tyre, slowly moved the car to the side and after little effort was able to move back the bumper in the right position.

After driving few meter, we realised the seriousness of the situation, saw at least 10cars in a pile up.

Reached back home without any other incident.

Checked the damage next day morning. Rear bumper, bottom reverse light was damaged, the inner wheel plastic cladding was also damaged because of the tyre touching it.


Drove for a week like that then visited the service center in 2nd week of feb. They had a look and luckily all parts were available. While in the service center i noticed that the front bumper also had a small crack near the headlamp. Then i realised that i must have hit that i20 after all.

As car had done almost 6k kms after the last service, decided to get the service done as well. SA told told time of 10 days for whole work.

Insurance claim was also done, this is first time i claimed insurance in 10+ years of bajaj allianz. Last year only insurance was changed to regular from B2B.

Car was ready in 10 days time.
Total bill was rs54k/-

Front and rear bumper was changed, rear light replaced along with wheel well plastic cladding. Total bill for repair work was rs25k/-. There was some minor touch-ups done, out of insurance claim for around 4000rs. Insurance paid around 13k out of rest.




This was a major service and all fluids were changed. Front brake pads and brake disk was also changed. Total cost was around 29k.





Service center did a fantastic job with the paint. This pearl white color is not easy to match, i didn't had high hopes but they matched it very closely. Very happy with the work. The work shop guy had regularly updated me on whats app as well. I visited the service center two times to see the progress.

looks brand new


This color looks really good in some lights but very ordinary in other.


Did polishing as always after service. Did the interior and engine bay detailing also. Although interior was in good condition, considering car was in the service center for 10 days.

[theredliner]

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

So it finally happened, first accident on a highway

Sad to hear about your accident and also that you had to pay out of your pocket for it. Such scenarios always make me nervous for this exact reason. The body work being satisfactory should heal the mental wounds significantly.

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

This was a major service and all fluids were changed. Front brake pads and brake disk was also changed. Total cost was around 29k.

Is the Selenia WR Diesel oil mentioned just for the bill or did they actually use it? It is the Selenia K synthetic that is supposed to be used with 1.4 petrols, for the FIRE and T-Jet Lineas at least.

[abhi_tjet]

@rahulkool- Nice pictures. Good to know that repair work was done to satisfaction. Which authorised service is centre this?

[speedguy]

I don't know why, but I just love this car. Thanks for writing in detail & posting beautiful pics.
By the way, your first .gif is somewhat misleading. I thought you are sliding & trying to carry out a handling test!(Double lane change)

[BackstraightBoy]

Nice to see you enjoying your Abarth Punto, @Rahulkool. I've read a lot of criticism of the car's ergonomics and the difficulty of finding an ideal driving position. Having driven it for over 40000 kilometres now, what's your experience been? Are you comfortable on long drives? Asking because I'm considering buying a used one.

[theexperthand]

She is a keeper and a beauty @Rahulkool

Originally Posted by BackstraightBoy

Having driven it for over 40000 kilometres now, what's your experience been? Are you comfortable on long drives? Asking because I'm considering buying a used one.

From my experience of living with a Punto for 10+ years, ergonomics was not an issue for me and I loved each and every highway drive we did.

--Anoop

[ankitsharma]

Looking at the service bill, brake discs and pads are very costly. How is the quality though ? How much the pads lasts ?

Also the engine oil is very cheap. Not sure if they are using the fully synthetic 5w40 ?

[Rahulkool]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Sad to hear about your accident and also that you had to pay out of your pocket for it. Such scenarios always make me nervous for this exact reason. The body work being satisfactory should heal the mental wounds significantly.


Is the Selenia WR Diesel oil mentioned just for the bill or did they actually use it? It is the Selenia K synthetic that is supposed to be used with 1.4 petrols, for the FIRE and T-Jet Lineas at least.

Can not avoid accidents, this is only incident which has happened in 5+ years of ownership. I was more worried about that repair job, service center has done a fantastic job. I visited couple of "professional painting" places outside also but their attitude towards the finish and all was much worst than authorized service center folks.

They have used selenia K only, this is done by the billing guy, always mentioning selenia WR, as cost is same and they have habit if writing that for fiat diesels. it has happened a few times, in past i had argument also , that time they had given me remaining oil from 1L selenia K bottle as they didn't had the barrel.

Originally Posted by abhi_tjet

@rahulkool- Nice pictures. Good to know that repair work was done to satisfaction. Which authorised service is centre this?

VTK Jeep service center Kattupakkam - https://goo.gl/maps/uDBddNfnsogGg4ww5

Originally Posted by speedguy

I don't know why, but I just love this car. Thanks for writing in detail & posting beautiful pics.
By the way, your first .gif is somewhat misleading. I thought you are sliding & trying to carry out a handling test!(Double lane change)

That video was captured from passenger seat. TN highways are really amazing but 2 lane torture awaits in Kerala.

Originally Posted by BackstraightBoy

Nice to see you enjoying your Abarth Punto, @Rahulkool. I've read a lot of criticism of the car's ergonomics and the difficulty of finding an ideal driving position. Having driven it for over 40000 kilometres now, what's your experience been? Are you comfortable on long drives? Asking because I'm considering buying a used one.

Ya many people have complained of ergonomics but i never had any issues. maybe because i am coming from a fiat palio lol. I have driven 1000+ kms in a day and there was absolutely no fatigue.

Originally Posted by theexperthand

She is a keeper and a beauty @Rahulkool



From my experience of living with a Punto for 10+ years, ergonomics was not an issue for me and I loved each and every highway drive we did.

--Anoop

Yup, this car is joy to drive on highways, never fails to bring a smile on my face.

Originally Posted by ankitsharma

Looking at the service bill, brake discs and pads are very costly. How is the quality though ? How much the pads lasts ?

Also the engine oil is very cheap. Not sure if they are using the fully synthetic 5w40 ?

Ya brake disks and pads are a bit expensive. Brakes pads last anywhere between 25-70k kms, depends upon how you drive. I have seen people change in both intervals. For me it lasted 42k kms, it could have been used for another 3-5k kms. Brake disks had some grooves on it, few people suggested to get it skimmed on a lathe but i decided to change it.

Ya they use fiat recommended selenia K oil. Its a synthetic oil. I was using this on my palio too. Price very well compared to other synthetic oils. Luckily price has not changed in last few years.

[viknb]

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

Car returned fabulous FE. Controlled my itch to bury the pedal this time and used CC @ 90kmph in most of the driving on the 4 lane TN highways.

Great to hear you're enjoying the Abarth!

I could never get a FE over 10kmpl in my Abarth, always tempted to bury the pedal time to time. That's why I was surprised when the FE actually increased the efficiency to around 14 when I did a stage 2 tune on it.

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

So it finally happened, first accident on a highway, apart from small nicks and dings in city. Went on a trip to pondy, decided to return by Chengalpattu , rather than ECR router i usually take. As had to drop someone on the way

Sorry to hear about the accident. Coincidentally, I saw the aftermath of the pile up too. Passed by Chengalpattu route an hour after it happened when the cars were beginning to clearing out.

[Madrasin_selvan]

I can vouch that you have been maintaining you car with utmost care. I recently bought a pre-owned Abarth and have got around 6-8kmpl FE in city. In highways its quite the opposite. Even while maintaining 100kmph in highways i used to get 14kmpl easily.

[Rahulkool]

The weather strips on the front weindscreen was falling apart. This is part known to be of poor quality in both Punto and Linea. Mine were actually in decent shape but messed up while removeed by the service center for windscreen replacement. Both cost around 530rs.

Drive side, you can see the old one on the right has a cut on the top. The old part is combination of hard plastic in the center and soft rubber on the sides. New replacement is complete single hard plastic.








Passenger side was in much worst condition

[Rahulkool]

I haven't updated this thread in a long while. Usage of the car is very less nowadays. I mostly prefer two wheeler considering the traffic condition, which has gotten much worst after covid.

Exide battery conked off in feb, lasted almost 3 years. Switched to Amaron this time around, paid 5500rs for DIN50 battery.



One of the brake lights was not working, upon opening i discovered that the bulb socket was also little loose, ended up doing little bit of plastic welding. Replaced both brake light bulbs.



Car has done 50k kms, time of cleaning and detailing







The steering wheel isn't just for steering, it's for holding on !


Gave the car for 50k service. Talked to a few Abarth owners and the only fiat service center in Chennai, VTK is jam packed with cars. Its catering to Fiat, Jeep and also Citroen now, even general service is taking 4-5 days. One of the friend had got his car serviced at Expert spanners, he gave a positive recommendation, so thought of giving it to them. They are authorized service center for fiat. Although a bit far from my home, almost 35kms. Things you do for maintaining such cars.

Called and confirmed, they had all the general service consumables except Abarth engine oil. Bought Motul engine oil from Amazon, this is one of the engine oils which conforms to Fiat requirements. Wanted to change spark plugs as well, they confirmed it on phone as in stock but finally told it is not available.



There were few issues in the car passenger side window was making noise, motor was changed for the same. Left side horn pad on steering is not working. They said need to clean the horn pads. They have charged for it but it was pending to be done, i told i will get it done in the next visit when i come back for spark plugs change.

Rest all was part of regular service
Engine oil
Oil Filter
Air filter
Cabin filter
Coolant change
Gearbox oil change
Front wiper blade change

They have charged for washing and cleaning but car was spotless clean when i gave it.


Service center is decent in size, around 12 service bays. Mostly they cater to fiats but i could see few other brand cars also like Skoda, Toyota, BMW etc.


Total bill was 15,288/-


Some more pics of the car.

[mikeautherton]

Happy to see an immaculate Abarth Punto. Need advice to keep the car in such shape even after 50K on the Odometer.

[Rahulkool]

Originally Posted by mikeautherton

Happy to see an immaculate Abarth Punto. Need advice to keep the car in such shape even after 50K on the Odometer.

Thanks Mike. Car exterior is not in the condition which i frankly like it to be, many small dings and scratches are there which are not visible in pics. The front and rear bumper painted by the showroom has very thin coat of paint, even small ding might scratch the paint. Horrible service quality even if you are ready to pay. I want to get few things done but no place is willing to give that much attention to repair work, i am worried they might make it worst.

Interiors on the other hand are in good condition, same or better than the day i took it out of showroom.