I'm half considering buying a second hand grande punto, but after reading through quite a few forum posts here it seems like a bit of a risk.

I've read through the helpful guides for repairing water leaks and fixing earthing points which can stop electrical problems.

I've also read about the common power steering problem that can be fixed by replacing the steering column, but is it possible to minimise or prevent the problem from happening in the first place?

Unfortunately not. Fiat revised the 2-3 years into the production of the GP. So the only way to avoid it is buy a later 2008 onwards car.

If you are searching for the "perfect" car you are unlikely to find it, as all OEM's and models will have issues of one type or another, the trick is to research which choice is likely to cost the least over the ownership of the car whilst being happy to live with that particular model. My 10 months of research ended up in me buying a GP


Your question should really be.... what percentage of cars built between 2006-2007 have had this issue? Now answering that with some level of accuracy would be quite interesting. I would hazard a guess if the issue was above 1-2% of total production volume, then Fiat more than likely would have made a call up to address it early in the car's life, which would suggest the issue is not as wide spread as feared.


The water and earthing problems can be checked during a vehicle inspection prior to purchase. Addressing them takes a few hours of your time and 20 quid at the dealer, both of which I did myself after buying the car. No biggie as long as damage is not already done! With that said, I did view over 15 cars over a period of a week before I found one that could be saved, most unfortunately have been abused by kid or first time owners, so it pays to be patient and stand up to your expectations, and don't be afraid to go to a trader with a torch and a couple of simple tools and go poking round. FYI by abused I mean exterior paint and plastics damage, interior plastics damage and scratches, those types of things, the rest was mostly lack of maintenance, none actually had the water ingress issue at the bulkhead that I looked at.


I have a 2007 car, owned it nearly 2 years, it is now nearly 9 years old, but there is no evidence in the history of such repair ever being carried out and I have NO indication of any issue with the steering thus far. Probably tempting fate now lol


My view on the steering issue is, even if I had to have this addressed, the cost is still more than reasonable compared to maintaining more expensive cars and specialists claim a fix for the life of the car, so the job can be done once and be done with it. When I'm spending 40 quid on fuel per month compared with 240 in previous vehicles, 2-3 months of fuel savings covers the cost of repair no sweat, then it's all cash in the pocket or as is the case spending it on other stupid activities/hobbies (according to the missus lol).


Overall I'm happy with my 1.3 mjet 75HP, its cheap in all regards and its not a bad place to be on a daily basis. Could do with more power, but I'll settle for my track car taking care of that itch.


Humour