i have a mk2.5 (the newer 1 with roundish headlights) and i love it, very spacious and fun to drive

i guess since you say new car, you mean a grande punto?

i'd like to be able to say its a good choice, but i'd be telling wopping great fibs. as a general rule of thumb, dont ever buy an italian car unless you're married to a mechanic.

my brother's girlfriend owns a grande punto active sport, and in her own words "i'll never buy another fiat ever again, its crap". she's had a lot of trouble with it and its been back to the dealer many times, even for basic problems like the door handles not working and the paint been defective. she owned a hyundai getz before the punto. she thinks that was better built, more reliable, nicer to drive, and better all round apart from styling. i have to agree with her on that.

just read the threads in the grande punto section and see how many faults there are, how awful the dealers are, and how many owners are not satisfied. then ask yourself if you want one.

if you want a hassle free car that wont let you down or cost you money, consider a micra, yaris or swift. they're a lot better, its just a shame they dont look as good. the swift would be my recommendation, suzuki have some good deals on offer, and reviews for the swift are excellent. plus for the ladies, the swift comes with an optional "pink pack" which has pink stiching in the leather and loads of other pink goodies.

We have 3 Punto's... very reliable

Just remember that most people come onto these sites because they do have problems and that goes for all manufacturers. Fiat are no worse than any other major volume manufacturer when it comes to build quality and I can tell you some horrendous stories concerning VW.

The point is that the majority of owners don't have major problems, there will be warrenty issues with every car just like every manufacturer but you will be getting something stylish, a bit less run of the mill and modern.

Personally I've had 4 fiats, one of them was a company car and apart from the first that was old and not particularly well treated, they have been reliable and surprised a few people.

french bean said:

Just remember that most people come onto these sites because they do have problems and that goes for all manufacturers. Fiat are no worse than any other major volume manufacturer when it comes to build quality

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:yeahthat:

VW, Mercedes, Honda... to name a few

if your talking about a new punto you wont have to spend any money on repairing it cos it will be in warranty lol

but really, my sister had a 95 punto for years with minimal problems, shes had an escort for few months and its well, lets say bits are falling off, its making squeeks, and noises, no way would i want one lol.

and i know 2 people who have had corsas, a old and a newer one, both had problems, 1 ecu went and something to do with emmisions on the other.

person i sold my 75 to, has been running it into the ground for several months, crashed it several times, revving it to the limiter all the time, poor thing but... its still running fine!

french bean said:

Just remember that most people come onto these sites because they do have problems and that goes for all manufacturers. Fiat are no worse than any other major volume manufacturer when it comes to build quality

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living in denial!
my years in the motor trade have taught me that fiat's reputation is well deserved. go to your local garage and ask them. or even better tell them you own a fiat and watch their facial expression.

jug said:

as a general rule of thumb, dont ever buy an italian car unless you're married to a mechanic.

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Does the mechanic have to be an Italiano as well?

But seriously, like others have implied/said, unless you have luck on your side then cars will have its problems, BMWs, Toyotas, Mazdas, Fords etc etc. Just hang tight for the ride

I agree that all cars have problems, my step dads ford mondeo st220 has just turned 3 yrs old and he's had to have 4 new tyres (about £150 each), new wiper motor and now the central locking has stopped working.

My punto mk2 i had for 1 year the zorst fell off (replaced under warranty) and that was all the problems I had.

My Stilo on the other hand well.....

If you buy a FIAT it's a love/hate relationship. and yes I would buy another FIAT, but thats because I look for character in a car rather than reliability.

If you want super reliability, buy Japanese or Korean. Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Mitsubishi Colt, suzuki Swift. Hyundai getz, and Kia Matiz.

Andy.

They still have problems

But are more reliable then most

sumplug said:

If you want super reliability, buy Japanese or Korean. Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Mitsubishi Colt, suzuki Swift. Hyundai getz, and Kia Matiz.

Andy.

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BUT.

there soooo boring!

sumplug said:

If you want super reliability, buy Japanese or Korean. Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Mitsubishi Colt, suzuki Swift. Hyundai getz, and Kia Matiz.

Andy.

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the punto is a bigger more spacious car than all of these

And looks better

But you cannot look at a Grande Punto much, as it spends most of the time in the garage being fixed. Its turning out to be another Stilo, and so either a good or bad car. Shame as its potentially a nice car.
As for the Jap and Korean cars being boring, arnt all modern euro boxes boring with no character?
The Grande Punto is the third generation with clutch problems and that in my book is disgusting. They are basically the same running gear and this problem should of been sorted when it first manifested.:bang: :bang: :bang:

Andy.

katielew12 said:

Hey i'm thinking of buying a pnto preferably a dynamic cos they have a biggish boot for a new car, do you honestly think i should buy one? as I wont have a lot of money to keep repairing it! if not does anybody have any other idea of a small 5 door car with a biggish boot preferably not a corsa!
Thanks
Katie

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gotta be honest if you aint going for a grande punto i would consider the suzuki swift. As its japanese it will probably last for ever,its good looking,and i havent seen any bad reviews about it yet. but each time you see a gp you might wonder if you have done the right thing, in the end its really your choice .....good luck with whatever you decide on.:tempt:

you could listen to people say they are crap,dealers are bad,electrics are awful,buy this/buy that etc etc...or you can drive one yourself & use your own judgement!

Fantastic car, don't listen to jug he stoned all the time

Have you sat in the new corsa? We looked at the 5 and 3 door last week, both can be had with the Fiat/GM multijet award winning 1.3 Diesel engine. Look at the rear styling of the corsa 3 door and compare it with the GP. ( food for thought for Fiat)
Its just nothing like the the old corsa and the interior plastics seem better to me.
There is also the advantage of course of *lots* of Vauxhall dealers compared with Fiat.
It would be a close call if SWMBO was up for a replacement car right now.

Fiat win with the 2 year manufacturers warranty though, 1 year with Vauxhall.
Fiat 8 yrs perforation, Vauxhall 6 years............
Its down to how good the Fiat main Dealer is really, we have a good one.
That would swing it with me....but SWMBO is into perceived interior quality and that plastic really matters. She looked at a GP recently but the plastic door cards seemed cheap to her compared with the full cloth cards on her Mk 2b Punto active........... Even more embarrassing perhaps for Fiat is that our humble Punto van, a commercial vehicle, has full cloth door trims and a seemingly better quality dashboard plastic.
Same with the Panda, she could not live with the full interior of what looked like scratchable grey plastic.
Under these circumstances the new Nova looks great inside. I hope Fiat go and sit in one and then reconsider their trim, in particular the plastic.
Regards