As the title says they got a group test with a grande punto sporting 1.9 mjtd, VW polo 1.9PD sport and skoda fabia vRS.

1st place went to the Fabia vRS
2nd to the punto
3rd for the VW polo

The plus points of the punto were
+ Stylish looks
+ Price
+ Chassis balance
+ Roomy Cabin
+ Excellent standard kit
+ Attractive detailing
+ Service intervals

Negative points
- Less torque than rivals
- Springy clutch
- Some brittle dash materials
- No spare wheel
- No boot release

Fabia vRS plus points
+ Performance
+ Robust build quality
+ Sporty detailing
+ Five door praticality
+ Erognomic cabin
+ Good driving posistion

Negatives
- Less agile than the rivals
- More body roll
- Light coloured seats
- Basic fabia cabin is dated
- Smallest dealer network
- Soft brake pedal

VW plus points
+ Build quality
+ Well laid out cabin
+ Dealer network
+ Strong brakes
+ Sharp steering
+ Decent body control
+ 3 and 5 door available

Negatives
- High price
- Side airbags & stability control are extras
- Costly options
- Boring styling
- Hard ride
- One year recovery deal

The reviews summary says.....

"Great to look at, agile and fun to drive the punto sporting has a lot going for it. It's well equipped, comes packed with safety kit and offers a fine blend of performance, economy and refinement. How ever it lacks the mechanical robustness that characterises its rivals, has less torque and some cheap looking trim. This takes the edge off the car and means it doesnt win here. Neither does the VW polo, which finishes last. It handles well, but the plain styling is a let down and the price is too high. So the fabia vRS takes victory, narrowly ahead of the stylish, accomplished and great value fiat. It may be the oldest model here, but skoda hit the nail on the head with the vRS. Its combination of punchy performance and low costs has yet to been beaten.

Just needs 2 less doors and I'd be near to agreeing

Oh and it feels a bit too germanic for me too

I drove the fabia vRS and yes it impressed me and it is a very good car, but imo the interior on it as dull as a dull thing! I couldnt bring my self to go from the stilo to that, because i felt like i was downgrading

I ran a vRS for 12 months and yes its fast but I found the car too dull, just didn't excite me also no real toys on the option list other than cruise.

MattCupra said:

I found the car too dull

Click to expand...

Same with all VW Group cars i've found.....very capable but it doesn't stir the soul.

Cuore Sportivo

What was the bit about 'No spare wheel'

Do they really come without a spare wheel? If so are the tyres run-flats or filled with repair gunk? They say its a negative and in the most part I'd agree - however I'm the kind of person who would try to fix the car no matter whats broken... If I'd just bought a new GP I'd just phone out the RAC if it had a bad enough flat that it needed a wheel replaced.

Comes with an inflator kit

quite suprised there is no spare wheel.

Is this on the option list?

Nope

:woot:

AppleSei said:

quite suprised there is no spare wheel.

Is this on the option list?

Click to expand...

Bob in disguise said:

Nope

Click to expand...

I have taken the option of a spare wheel for my Dynamic. Could it be that you don't have this option on the sporting?

Over here the sporting and eleganza get inflator kits instead of a spare wheel. The rest of the range have steel spares....

I did ask about a spare for mine, as id rather have one but the dealer didnt reckon they could Will have to say now since you delayed my car so much give me a spare wheel!

having spoken to the dealer, there is no space to fit a 17" spare wheel in the GP Sporting.
To me it sounded more like cost too much.

Space saver will do me then

Screwy said:

having spoken to the dealer, there is no space to fit a 17" spare wheel in the GP Sporting.
To me it sounded more like cost too much.

Click to expand...

Does the spare wheel need to be 17"?

Smarts dont even come with an inflator kit as standard You have to get towed to the garage if you don't have one fitted as an option.

As for the GP Inflator kit, I'd prefer to get a tow to the tyre bay rather than use the infator kit - doesn't it ruin the tyre and make it unrepairable? Prefer the inconvenience and a £10 repair rather than the £100+ for a Bridgestone Potenza RE050A 205/45R17 88V

I think the problem is that the well under the boot floor is not sized for a 17 inch wheel (assuming they haven't done a Mini Cooper S trick and moved the battery from the engine bay to the wheel well just to shoe-horn the bigger motor in).

I had a look in the boot of a Dynamic, but couldn't tell whether you could get a 17 inch wheel in but the boot floor covering would stick up, or if the diameter of the wheel would be too big for it to fit at all.

Perhaps one of you lucky guys with a Sporting could measure a wheel and see.

Expect Fiat would try and charge you £400 or more for a single 17 inch wheel though.

I know its alittle of topic but i didnt really want to start a new thread, but ive notice that a petrol sporting is avaliable now in the 1.4 16v varient! From what i can tell its the same spec as the 1.9 multijet. Has anyone test drove one and your opinions? As diesels just arent for me but im quite tempted by the petrol... and it would make a lot of sence on the insurance,running costs and road tax for me!

Quite off topic :Offtopic: lol

The 1.4 16v hasn't arrived on these shores yet, it was only announced a week or so ago.

As for running costs, the mpg is 2mpg down on the diesel, the road tax on the diesel is £35 a year more thats only 67p a week more (ooh careful). Oh and the insurance in our case is £19 a year more on the diesel, thats 37p a week (eek, not sure my wallet can stand it).

Don't dismiss the diesel because it's a diesel, try one first, it's really worthy of the Sporting tag.

As for tuning, you may get 5hp off chip tuning on the 1.4 16v, but the diesel remap from Angel Tuning gives 40hp out the box for £300 - now thats the sort of figures you should be worried about