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General poor performance

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General poor performance

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pekay

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:) Hello, first post on this site and i hate to say but its gonna be a negative one.
My wife owns a really nice lookin GP sporting 16v in red, now maybe she got a dud, but what an under powered, uncomfortable piece of crap this car is to drive.
we,ve had 5 punto's prior to this one and this one has got to be the worst.
now i know the suspension is stiffened to make it sportier and it corners and handles just fine, but alas it ends there. its gutless, bumpy and seems to drink fuel like its going out of fashion.
The ride... feels like its snatching at average speeds, say in 3rd or even 4th, as if it wants to pick its feet up, but if i floor it even in 2nd it goes nowhere, just a slow build up of speed (ha). even worse if its on a hill, god forbid i want to overtake anything it just wont happen.
If its opened up, say when joining the motorway, it gets to 4-4500k revs and then hits a series of flat spots, feels like fuel starvation.
in slow traffic it constantly lurches, i have to dip the clutch all the time to prevent this happening, if i drop a gear, say from 3rd to 2nd without feeding the clutch in slowly, there is a rather unnerving double thump from the box. The brakes constantly squeal both back and front and the hill holder not operational lights up on every journey.
Its going into the local service centre to have the brakes sorted under warranty but when i mention the running/fueling probs they just say" its not showing up any problems on the ecu/computer.
Is this unique or are there any other sufferers out there. i would be interested in feedback.
 
Fuel consumption is hit and miss i find (beauty of 6th gear sometimes though.) The flat sports are so, so, so, so, so, so, so horrible I agree there. Gettins somewhere and you ahve to change gear way below red. Mine tops out at about 92 in 5th, yet in 4th can do close to 100. I know the gear change your talking about, if you want to make a quick gear change, you have to grin and bare the awful noise (can't even describe it, you need to hear it!) Just feels like your going to brake the gearbox. Anyone know what thats all about?
 
:confused: 16 valver... is that a 1.2 or 1.4? If the car that was driven in the test drive you should have had did not demonstrate the same characteristics, your car has a fault the dealer needs to fix pronto. If they cant or dont try a different dealer IMO. Now then... I dont get you guys who do a 1st post and come out with vitriol like that before you had it looked at, or looked at by a competent dealer even? My 1.9 is a flyer with no flat spots, pulls like a train (even without a re-map) and has just returned 51.9 mpg on M6 at a steady 70 :D mph. Maybe you chose the wrong model for what you expected?
 
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ChrisUK said:
As for original post somethings not right it needs looking at.
Click to expand...

Im not so sure....

Ok, i dont have the 1.4 16v but the prblem witht the gear changes i also have, flat spots i also have (cant comment on the ride as mine is lowered).

As for out an out speed/acceleration, you have to remember that its still only 90hp in a heavy car. Im guessing that if you've had Punto's previously with similar if not more powerful engines they were in a much lighter car hence it feeling much faster.

(jus be thankful you havnt got a 1.2......then you really would be complainning)


Mark
 
MarkSims said:
Im not so sure....

Ok, i dont have the 1.4 16v but the prblem witht the gear changes i also have, flat spots i also have (cant comment on the ride as mine is lowered).

As for out an out speed/acceleration, you have to remember that its still only 90hp in a heavy car. Im guessing that if you've had Punto's previously with similar if not more powerful engines they were in a much lighter car hence it feeling much faster.

(jus be thankful you havnt got a 1.2......then you really would be complainning)



Mark
Click to expand...

Yeah it still needs looking at. it shouldn't THUD when changing gear. And I've drove the GP 1.4 16v Sporting and although slower than mine (due to the weight) its more than capable of shifting. The gears in the one I drove were fine? :confused:. Luck of the draw maybe.
 
ChrisUK said:
Yeah it still needs looking at. it shouldn't THUD when changing gear. And I've drove the GP 1.4 16v Sporting and although slower than mine (due to the weight) its more than capable of shifting. The gears in the one I drove were fine? :confused:. Luck of the draw maybe.
Click to expand...

Needs mapping and induction.;)
 
Ffoxy said:
:confused: 16 valver... is that a 1.2 or 1.4? If the car that was driven in the test drive you should have had did not demonstrate the same characteristics, your car has a fault the dealer needs to fix pronto. If they cant or dont try a different dealer IMO. Now then... I dont get you guys who do a 1st post and come out with vitriol like that before you had it looked at, or looked at by a competent dealer even? My 1.9 is a flyer with no flat spots, pulls like a train (even without a re-map) and has just returned 51.9 mpg on M6 at a steady 70 :D mph. Maybe you chose the wrong model for what you expected?
Click to expand...

Sorry, it is a 1.4!, as i said in the post, its the wifes car so i didn,t test drive it, and as i also said in the post, i have had the dealer look at it, they say there is no problem.
And with respect, your 1.9 is a totally different engine so is going to have totally different characteristics being a diesel.
its booked in next week to sort the brakes and hill holder, so performance will be mentioned again to the mechs!!.
just thankful its not my preferred mode of transport. you see, this is what happens when you let women choose a car:D(runs and hides behind the sofa)
 
I have Grande Punto 1.4 16v. I had the same problems and of course the dealers were telling me that everything is OK. I also contacted with FIAT in Italy and the same, answer: The car is OK. But I had an increased fuel consumption and at about 4000 revs I had the same problems. The sound of the engine was very loud and the performance was poor. Also the performance was depending of the weather! I changed two sensors that are related with the intake air temperature and the air pressure (temperature transmitter and pressure transmitter). After that the car seems OK. Check these two sensors, because it is very difficult to show some error in the tester.
 
I agree with OP I too have the poor performance for a 1.4 16V, flat spots at 3,500rpm, and clunky gear box when changing down but I just put this down to it being a cheap Fiat... I can't say I particularly enjoy being burned off at the lights by stupid shopping trolley cars like a Hyundai Atos though!(n)

The 1.4 sporting GP is definitely a sheep in wolf's clothing.
 
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Well, wife took the car in to get the brakes done under warranty, replaced pads apparantly as its a commom problem, i couldn't get to the dealers myself as i wanted to, so i wrote down everything that was wrong with the car, performance,mpg, etc, i even printed off Harskoufs reply(ta mate) re the sensors.
response from dealer:
The main fiat mechanic has been in today and cant find a thing wrong with it, MPG is excellent (showing av 39.2 on trip), yet it still has flat spots at 4k, nobody bothered to take it for a spin to see what i was on about, what happened to old fashioned service and a mechanics instinct, all done on bloody computers, so if the computer shows its ok then it must be, ********. watch this space!!.
 
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