Is it me or has Fiat given up on the Grande Punto !
Looking for a replacement for my 2008 active sport so checked out the Fiat web site. Very disappointed with the range seems if you don't want a variation of the Fiat 500 your out of look. Any one know if there are plans for a new Punto?

littleted said:

Is it me or has Fiat given up on the Grande Punto !
Looking for a replacement for my 2008 active sport so checked out the Fiat web site. Very disappointed with the range seems if you don't want a variation of the Fiat 500 your out of look. Any one know if there are plans for a new Punto?

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Supposedly next year but no information has been mentioned from fiat yet.

I wouldn't be surprised if a future punto becomes a Fiat 500b or similar as fiat slowly turns its self into fiat 500everything

Seen a 15 plate five door punto in red, while waiting in traffic today, i thought that is still a great looking supermini.

If it had a better engine, with the discounts you can get, i would be tempted to get one.

The 500's a nice little car but Fiat seem to be putting all their design eggs in one basket. I"d love to see a new Grande punto sporting or T-jet.

littleted said:

The 500's a nice little car but Fiat seem to be putting all their design eggs in one basket. I"d love to see a new Grande punto sporting or T-jet.

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what did you make of the "focus-look" of the Indian spec Punto..,

that's the most "current" look I've seen in a Grande,

Charlie - 2012 Twinair

varesecrazy said:

what did you make of the "focus-look" of the Indian spec Punto..,

that's the most "current" look I've seen in a Grande,

Charlie - 2012 Twinair

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Just googled it. Not keen on the front end treatment, its a shame cause the Grande punto is a nice car just needs a decent update/restyle.

Sadly they've recently discontinued the GBT spec, which was effectively the replacement for the Active Sport spec. The Sporting went a year or more ago as they've gradually reduced the engine range down to the 1.2 and the 1.4 which is basically the same as the old Grande Punto Active Sport had i think (77bhp 8v one).

Best bet is to try & find an ex-demo or nearly new GBT/Sporting - there are quite a few of them kicking about in some nice colours (there's a bright orange & a stormy-looking blue colour, amongst others).

Failing that you'd get thousands off a 1.4 8v Easy+ brand new, if you can deal with not upgrading the engine from the current one. It's a great shame that Fiat have forgotten about their Punto customers, but then they don't seem at all customer-centric

Your absolutely right about Fiat customer service I love the big car feel and small car performance of the Punto range looks like I'll have to go with a used sporting or may be an Abarth.

The 1.4T sporting is good value for what you get. I picked mine up for £6700, 60 reg, 27K miles with plenty of optional extras such as leather seats, dual climate control etc

I was very tempted by the evo sporting, smart little engines and nice looking inside but went for an older Abarth for the same money.

Thanks for all the ideas lots of used bargains on Ebay
Looks like i'll be adding to the fleet soon. Cheers.

DrumPunto said:

I was very tempted by the evo sporting, smart little engines and nice looking inside but went for an older Abarth for the same money.

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Yeah in all fairness I love the look of the sporting and it is nippy, but the trouble is i'm getting bored of it already, I want faster! but the Abarth model doesn't seem to be that much quicker? tempted with possibly a VXR next year at some point.

Corsa? Only problem with that is its a Vauxhall

I'll agree with you the abarth isn't crazy quick but for something different and nice looking you can't beat it. An evo abarth supersport wouldn't be much behind a vxr. But back to the original point its a shame Fiat have given up on the Punto in favour of 500.

DrumPunto said:

Corsa? Only problem with that is its a Vauxhall



I'll agree with you the abarth isn't crazy quick but for something different and nice looking you can't beat it. An evo abarth supersport wouldn't be much behind a vxr. But back to the original point its a shame Fiat have given up on the Punto in favour of 500.

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Very true! I do love the Abarth but well, it's still the same engine as what I own now. I'd only considered the VXR with it being a 1.6. Hopefully, the apparently new 124 spider will gain a lot of people's interest especially the Abarth version, using the same 1.75 engine as the Alfa 4C

From JTD Liam, above...

"It's a great shame that Fiat have forgotten about their Punto customers, but then they don't seem at all customer-centric"

Maybe not.

I'll explain.

Who's buying Puntos these days?. Individuals or car rental companies? If renters are taking a good portion of each year's production, they are ordering middle trim levels with smaller engines. By only offering what sells best, Fiat can hold production costs down by not offering a myriad of variations.

Remember when the Punto 3a first arrived? The range was HUGE! They even had models with 120 and 130 HP versions on the 1.9 diesel on offer in luxury or sport trim. Needless to say, those versions were expensive and sold poorly. They've done more of the same as the range as aged. Limit the number of trim levels, engines, options, colors and so on. Even the Panda 3 doesn't have the same choices you could get in the Panda 2. And their's no diesel available for the newest edition of the 500/500C at the launch although the 1.3 is promised for later.

It seems they're making the ranges as narrow as they think they can get away with to get them through the lean times in the European market. Now auto sales here are climbing again and Fiat will have at least two new cars next year that look to be perfectly timed. Also, a LOT of Fiat's money in the past couple years has gone into Chrysler and USA sales for all FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automotive) lines are doing rather better. Now the attention is turning back to Europe with big investments into Alfa Romeo (finally!) and Fiat. Expect a Gen 4 Punto, a new Bravo, the new (Mazda) 124 Spider and maybe more in 2016 and 2017 plus the new Alfa Romeo Giulia and perhaps a MiTo replacement.