If you go for the lower end petrol engine (i.e. 1.2 8v or 1.4 8v) the weak headgasket is still there, its esentailly the same engine with a few improvements added on. Fiat have improved it, so they are not as bad as the mk1's but still weaker HG's than some other cars.
Electric power steering systems have been a problem on the mk2/2b and pandas but again this will be improved on in the grande too. Its worth noteing that electric systems in most cars are weaker than thier belt driven hydraulic counterparts and most manufacturers have had problems with its reliablilty.
The grande uses a different chassis to the mk1, (shares it with the new corsa) so existing problems with subframes and bearings should be no more. Only time will tell as to how strong the new design is though.
The gearboxes are not the strongest in puntos and the grande either but if its looked after it will serve you well. They do not take kindly to alot of wheel spinning and BIG wheels.
As for quality of finish/build quality the grande is much better than any of the puntos before it.
Test drive one and see what you think!
Ive recently swapped by car, i had a 1.2 8v mk2b. so i have been looking into all the ins and outs od the grande and other cars of a similar price/size.
What i would say is the grande is a bigger heavier car than the mk1. Going from my mk2b into a 1.4 8v grande for a test drive, i thought the grande felt slow and cumbersome, a larger engine (1.4 16v, Tjet or one of the diesels) would cope much better than the 8v imo.
Just to add ive now got a Peugeot 207 1.4 vti (ive moved to the drak side
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