GrandeGuy said:

They are not making a new punto,
But yep you guessed it, a model will come out called the 500 5door

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We don't know this for certain. Some car mags have said this, but Fiat say the 500X is the last 500 derivative.

In Fiats most recent announcement the Punto is listed at 'Punto' for the future plan, not on the 500 side of the plan.

http://www.fcagroup.com/investorday/Pages/Home.aspx

Click on the 'Fiat Brand' section & its on page 69/70 where it shows their plan for our market (titled EMEA).

There is not a new Fiat that I would buy at the moment, that is for sure. I really cant imagine getting an Alfa either. Seems like Fiat will just make 500 variants now.

This fan made Fiat 127 Concept was brilliant;









http://www.netawd.com/Ps/item.php?id=127311

JTD_Liam said:

http://www.fcagroup.com/investorday/Pages/Home.aspx

Click on the 'Fiat Brand' section & its on page 69/70 where it shows their plan for our market (titled EMEA).

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Well that makes depressing reading.

Basically the biggest Fiat and possibly the fastest/best performance Fiat you will now able to get is the 120BHP 500L.

Looks like Chrysler & Dodge will be filling out the mid to large to big 4x4 options.

s130 said:

Well that makes depressing reading.

Basically the biggest Fiat and possibly the fastest/best performance Fiat you will now able to get is the 120BHP 500L.

Looks like Chrysler & Dodge will be filling out the mid to large to big 4x4 options.

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Perhaps Fiat will be concentrating more on the sort of cars that they have the most success with, ie the Panda, 500 & Punto.

I love the Panda.

Have never had one but the car is 100% up my street. I wan't a 4x4 for our Italian Dolomite off road trips.

However I also tow a 1000kg caravan to Italy every year and sadly the Panda is not capable of doing that.

The 500L and 500L Trekking can, nut the Trekking is not available to the 120BHP petrol engine.

Famous last words but I don't think I will ever buy another diesel car again, especially as the UK is clobbering them on Fuel and other charges, and that modern diesels have more reliability issues than the good old petrol engines.

s130 said:

Well that makes depressing reading.

Basically the biggest Fiat and possibly the fastest/best performance Fiat you will now able to get is the 120BHP 500L.

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The 500X, for launch late 2014/early 2015 is meant to be getting the MultiAir 135/140 and 160 engines, and then there's the 'Speciality' model, which is likely to be what was going to be the new Alfa Spider tie-up with Mazda, which will be around in the next 12 months, albeit possibly badged as an Abarth.

puntofan01 said:

Perhaps Fiat will be concentrating more on the sort of cars that they have the most success with, ie the Panda, 500 & Punto.

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Exactly. And tbh they'd be mad not to do this. I think it'd add a lot of appeal to the brand if they added a few Panda 100HP/Punto Sporting type models, but you can't blame them if they choose to focus on small cars and MPVs, as that's where they tend to sell. I liked the Stilo (3dr, at least) and Bravo, but they can't make something which only sells a few thousand a year.

s130 said:

I love the Panda.

Have never had one but the car is 100% up my street. I wan't a 4x4 for our Italian Dolomite off road trips.

However I also tow a 1000kg caravan to Italy every year and sadly the Panda is not capable of doing that.

The 500L and 500L Trekking can, nut the Trekking is not available to the 120BHP petrol engine.

Famous last words but I don't think I will ever buy another diesel car again, especially as the UK is clobbering them on Fuel and other charges, and that modern diesels have more reliability issues than the good old petrol engines.

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The Multijet 120 diesel and T-Jet 120 petrol were added to the 500L & 500L Trekking several months ago. There's hardly any on AutoTrader - I found just one 120bhp diesel and no 120 petrols, but you can order them. Weirdly the most common 500L I see is the 1.3 diesel - I've looked at about 15 I've seen, and all but 3 have been 1.3 diesel - you can tell as they're the only ones with 5 speed gearbox. So it seems few people are bothered about power/pace! It's not a bad engine though, I used one (in a massive 500L MPW) and it goes much better than a 1.3 diesel with 85bhp has any right to!

Most 500l's I have seen are rental cars.

A lot of the ones I've seen have been rental cars too. Good for getting the cars on the road and noticed, but terrible for flooding the market with far more nearly-new 500L's than the market wants, which is why you can pick up a 13 plate for £10,000, at least a 5 grand loss from list price.

However, I have seen about 20 which appear to be privately owned, most of them have been 1.3 Multijet Lounge's, a few PopStar's and a couple of Easy spec (now discontinued). Only seen a couple of MPW's and one Trekking that looked to be privately owned. Mostly Passadoble Red & Bossa Nova White, though a few Beatbox Green and a few Black and Silver. Not that I'm looking THAT hard!

I want to come back to Fiat however the range is just so poor right now. My Bravo 2.0 MJet 165 was fantastic but I no longer need a diesel. The 135 Multiair Punto appealed but there are none out there. I couldn't bare to have the 1.4 8v, my parents have one. As great a car it is it just doesn't have the power I want from a car.

What to do...?

austenw90 said:

I want to come back to Fiat however the range is just so poor right now. My Bravo 2.0 MJet 165 was fantastic but I no longer need a diesel. The 135 Multiair Punto appealed but there are none out there. I couldn't bare to have the 1.4 8v, my parents have one. As great a car it is it just doesn't have the power I want from a car.

What to do...?

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Move else where? I'm sure you love the Italianess of a Fiat, however they are not doing much at the moment.

The Punto is seriously outclassed now. The Bravo not great is non existent.

austenw90 said:

I want to come back to Fiat however the range is just so poor right now. My Bravo 2.0 MJet 165 was fantastic but I no longer need a diesel. The 135 Multiair Punto appealed but there are none out there. I couldn't bare to have the 1.4 8v, my parents have one. As great a car it is it just doesn't have the power I want from a car.

What to do...?

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Alfa?

GrandeGuy said:

Alfa?

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I've settled on a nearly new Punto MultiAir 105 Lounge. Hope this is a good way to go. Puntos are great value for money I think even if the competition has moved on. I couldn't justify the price of a Fiesta for example. Thanks guys.

I was going to suggest Alfa as well but having just looked at the Alfa UK website the 1.4 MultiAir 140+ BHP engine is no longer available.

What the * is going on.

Seems that now in the Fiat/Alfa group the most powerful petrol engine supported in the 1.4 TJet with 120BHP.

Of course the 1.4 stock engine is pretty bullet proof and has a long reliable history (as far as I'm aware) and there are tuners out there who will tweek this engine to give more respectable performance but on a new car warranty will be void and on all there is the insurance issues/expense.

Since I started this post it looks like Fiat/Alfa have completely killed off the MultiAir engine. Just wondering that it was a good technology but introduced too early and there have been serious reliability and warranty claims.

What puts me straight off Alfa is the poor experience I've had previously with my closest dealer. Their dealer network is also pretty poor and doesn't accommodate certain areas particularly well.

Are they killing off the current generation Mito?

austenw90 said:

I want to come back to Fiat however the range is just so poor right now. My Bravo 2.0 MJet 165 was fantastic but I no longer need a diesel. The 135 Multiair Punto appealed but there are none out there. I couldn't bare to have the 1.4 8v, my parents have one. As great a car it is it just doesn't have the power I want from a car.

What to do...?

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I have the 1.4 8v in my Grande Punto, and I love it: fairly economical, a good noise, and surprisingly nippy. Its sad that so many people ignore the Punto because it's seen as' outdated'. Its still a great car, and makes a lot of sense.

s130 said:

I was going to suggest Alfa as well but having just looked at the Alfa UK website the 1.4 MultiAir 140+ BHP engine is no longer available.

What the * is going on.

Seems that now in the Fiat/Alfa group the most powerful petrol engine supported in the 1.4 TJet with 120BHP.

Of course the 1.4 stock engine is pretty bullet proof and has a long reliable history (as far as I'm aware) and there are tuners out there who will tweek this engine to give more respectable performance but on a new car warranty will be void and on all there is the insurance issues/expense.

Since I started this post it looks like Fiat/Alfa have completely killed off the MultiAir engine. Just wondering that it was a good technology but introduced too early and there have been serious reliability and warranty claims.

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That's weird, I just tried the Giulietta configurator on the alfa UK website and I could choose the 1.4 Multiair 170bhp.
It's also available in Denmark, both in the Giulietta and the Mito.
The 1.4 Multiair 140 and 170 bhp versions are also coming in the new Fiat 500X.

puntofan01 said:

I have the 1.4 8v in my Grande Punto, and I love it: fairly economical, a good noise, and surprisingly nippy. Its sad that so many people ignore the Punto because it's seen as' outdated'. Its still a great car, and makes a lot of sense.

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My dad drives theirs about 90 miles a day up and down the M3. He sits at 60mph and is getting an average of 53mpg, very good figures I believe especially with a bit of traffic involved.
It's a brilliant little car and hasn't had any mechanical issues.
Their only criticism is lack of a 6th gear or better gearing to bring the motorway revs down a little.

I just want something with a little more poke, that's why the 105 looks a little more favourable.

santa said:

That's weird, I just tried the Giulietta configurator on the alfa UK website and I could choose the 1.4 Multiair 170bhp.
It's also available in Denmark, both in the Giulietta and the Mito.
The 1.4 Multiair 140 and 170 bhp versions are also coming in the new Fiat 500X.

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Thanks for double checking Santa. Maybe I missed something when I went into the configurator.

If 1.4 multiair is still current then why can't we get 500L, 500MPW, Puntos with it now? A huge marketing opportunity lost IMHO for an engine that would take little porting. Indeed the 1.4 TJet and 1.4 MultiAir are basically the same engine except for the cylinder head valve gear assemblies.

Odd. Very odd!

I see the 500X is listed as having a 1.6 engine wonder where this has come from.

The 1.48v is very gutless, if it's what you are used to though and haven't driven anything else then I'm sure it's fine, however it is very slow.

s130 said:

Thanks for double checking Santa. Maybe I missed something when I went into the configurator.

If 1.4 multiair is still current then why can't we get 500L, 500MPW, Puntos with it now? A huge marketing opportunity lost IMHO for an engine that would take little porting. Indeed the 1.4 TJet and 1.4 MultiAir are basically the same engine except for the cylinder head valve gear assemblies.

Odd. Very odd!

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No problem
I still wonder why they use the "old" 120bhp/105 bhp T-jet and not the 140bhp Multiair or a slightly detuned Multiair with 120bhp.

And why they don't use it in the 500L and 500MPW is very odd indeed.