Garree001 said:

Hahahaha I get that all the time in mine too!

Is the steering set-up different in the Grande Punto Sporting, when compared to the rest of the model line-up?

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No its exactly the same (except for the steering wheel itself).

It is different on the Abarth (much better!)

OK, straying from the topic again sightly, is there anything different (apart from the cosmetics and bits of kit inside) on the Sporting? Like stiffer suspension? Uprated brakes? Excuse my ignorance on these matters - I am a new FIAT owner and have previously been interested in Ford/Vauxhall range :bang:

craigb244 said:

power steering is for girls

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What a crap answer, obviously your a bit macho man

There is no need for City mode, if you are weak enough to need the steering that light you shouldnt be driving.

I really enjoy cars without PAS and ive had many, its a pain when parking though so overall I prefer to have it, but hydraulic please, full electric PAS is usually pretty poor feel wise not to mention flimsy and vague. The only half decent one ive used is the Renault Megane, nice and direct, no slop around the middle like in Fiats/Vauxhalls etc and still pretty weighty.

Electrohydraulic is a better compromise but the latest Fords arent as good as older ones and VW much the same. But then I think every 'normal' modern car is sinfully dull to drive anyway.

auto_blanco said:

There is no need for City mode, if you are weak enough to need the steering that light you shouldnt be driving.

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so anyone with muscular disabilities or similiar shouldn't be allowed to drive

city button makes life easier, dont want to use it then dont swithch it on.

I quite like the city steering. As silly as it sounds it does make parking the car easier. I really noticed it yesterday when I was parking after driving into central London. I had to reverse the car into an extremely tight gap and when the city steering on, I noticed that I could whip the steering wheel round that bit quicker.

Sure, some may say I am being a bit limp wristed, but this is just what I found.

I agree, took an 04 TDCI zetec for a test drive and round the twisties it felt great, ride quality wasnt brilliant though.

Got back in the grande punto afterwards, and although it has a million times more body roll, it felt more refined with a better 'stance'

With regard to automotive development, in one respect I'm glad FIAT have tried to take PAS on a step or two. I'm inclined to think this is a fuel consumption reduction exercise rather than a genuine attempt to advance the art of power steering in as much as electric power steering almost certainly reduces the load on the engine in comparison with hydraulic systems.

But, if you're going to replace something, replace it with something better and I'm not at all sure they've succeded.

If they want to reduce fuel consumption then maybe they should have taken a leaf out of Ford's book and started with having a heated rear window that turns itself off after a set period of time.

The trouble is, the buyers are being treated as test drivers.

As an aside, when we bought Mrs. Beard's Stilo 1.4, I'd had a number of Focii both 1.6 and 1.8 models and was very impressed, but from an engine point of view, although I think the 1.6 had more mid-range than the FIAT's 1.4, overall I felt there was little difference. If you want to push on in the Stilo though, you do have to use more revs.

The Beard said:

If they want to reduce fuel consumption then maybe they should have taken a leaf out of Ford's book and started with having a heated rear window that turns itself off after a set period of time.

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Maybe yours doesn't, but mine does.

The Beard said:

If you want to push on in the Stilo though, you do have to use more revs.

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Yes its italian, you need to have the valves bouncing off the bonnet :devil:

The Beard said:

The trouble is, the buyers are being treated as test drivers.

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For minor 'operability' type mods Id agree with you, but also claim that its an OK practice to do that IME, assuming that you (as the manufacturer) can tolerate the consequences of said parts failing.

I can think of a number of situations where weve embodied modifications to products at work, only to have them fail in a similar manner as previous (which the mod was bought into fix). Engineers / Designers can't think of every possible way people can use things, every possible scenario that these parts may see etc., so the only way you'll learn how the part works in service is to put it into service after doing your utmost to learn what you can about it and 'derisk' it.

On topic, I quite like DualDrive on the Stilo. Its a little vague, but tolerable (IIRC the Mercedes ML has a massively vague system. Its horrible.). Doesnt beat the Cinq, or the Tipo before that (both no-PAS, and resulting in potentially heavy steering)