FIAT Mk2 Punto HGT

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FIAT Mk2 Punto HGT

FIAT Punto HGT Mk2


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blu73

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I give you the mk2 Punto HGT & HGT abarth. But is that a good thing or a bad thing???
 

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Uncool.

I say some cars try "too hard", but the HGT didn't try at all!

It was nowhere near special enough...and nowhere near good enough that it didn't need to try to be.
 
Mk2 and mk2b have serious style compare to the other hot hatches of the day.

The HGT Abarth unlike the Mk1 GT lived upto Mr Abarth's rule: "if the car needs a turbo it hasn't got a powerful enough engine in it" Therefore the GT wasn't an Abarth and most or even all original Abarths upto the new 595/696 don't have turbos because of that principle, from what I've read anyway.

Indeed the HGT wasn't very popular in the old Top Gear review,.. but if you watch it she does give the car many compliments, however in the end she says she prefers the classic 500 Abarth as it has that classic and seasoned appeal.
And without being overly sexist the 500 was particularly popular with the ladies back in the day and still now with the new 500, which doesn't help the HGT in the review as such.
 
While it's isn't too fast and it drinks fuel I think they are cool, not sub-cool but close enough. Although HGT Abarth looks 100x better then a normal HGT. Also HGT's are also a bit of a sleeper, especially when you remove the HGT badge
 
The Abarth looked the biz but havent driven one so not too sure.

I had a Mk2 Abarth with body kit and liked it. The snag was I used it before swapping the cam belt. Then had to rebuild the engine. What sort of plonker makes that daft mistake. ;)

It had excellent brakes the traction worked well and the engine had good midrange and top end. The Panda 100HP 1.4 midrange is nothing special and it uses about the same on petrol as the Punto HGT.

Ideally it needed a performance manifold with catalyst under the floor or at least short pipes to delete the pre-cats which stifled performance. I would have another but with "standard" bodykit - more of a sleeper.
 
Mk2 and mk2b have serious style compare to the other hot hatches of the day.


Indeed the HGT wasn't very popular in the old Top Gear review,.. but if you watch it she does give the car many compliments, however in the end she says she prefers the classic 500 Abarth as it has that classic and seasoned appeal.
And without being overly sexist the 500 was particularly popular with the ladies back in the day and still now with the new 500, which doesn't help the HGT in the review as such.

It's hardly fair to compare a circa Y2000 car with the 500 old or new. The old 500 was already a classic and the new 500 didn't exist until 2007.

The Punto HGT made much the same power as the Alfa Twin Spark engine HGT = 136bhp. 1.8 TS = 142. Nobody complained that the Alfa was slow.
 
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