Morning all!

Just like to introduce myself on this section

Picked up our 62 plate 1.4 Easy last Thursday; it's in Brit Pop Blue which is one of my favourite colours in the entire Fiat range, if not my actual favourite.

Previously had a 500 1.2 Pop which me and the wife loved, then swapped to a Panda 1.2 Easy in 2012 which was very handy with our young children. The Panda never did anything wrong but we just never really fell for it - it's too practical for its own good!

Anyway, I spotted the Punto for sale a while back; it had just over 10,000 miles on the clock and was up for sale for £6995. Had to do a bit of jigging around with the p/x for the Panda but overall very pleased.

Have really enjoyed driving it so far. The 1.4 8v is performing exactly as I thought it would compared to our old 1.2s. It doesn't have much more in terms of acceleration off the line, but it is able to keep going up hills in fifth gear which is a revelation! And IMO it has a nice little growl about it, it sounds sportier than I thought it would. So far the indicated mpg over 200 miles is 44.3mpg, which again is bang on what I had hoped (been around 48-50mpg in the Panda for the past few months, so a 10/15% drop is no biggie for me).

Didn't actually realise it had S/S until it kicked in about 10min after picking the car up last week So far it's worked exactly as expected; can't say I'm too bothered either way about this, but it's another feature I guess...

Will get round to taking some pics in the near future - anyway, that's it for now!

Hello and Welcome in the Punto section

Yes the 1.4 8V is great. It has plenty of torque (for it apparently "low" specs) and is fun to drive. If you aren't to lazy with the gearbox, it's easy to drive even uphill.

I'm waiting on your pics, and happy motoring with the Punto

Hi and welcome

We too have a 1.4 Easy; ours is a 12 plate bought new with the full bluetooth and cruise fitted.
How is the gearing on the GP compared with the Panda.

Our Gp is basically 3000rpm for 60mph on the speedo. What was the Panda like?

Looking forward to the pictures.

Hi and welcome! I have a 2014 1.4 8v Sporting. I know what you mean about the nice engine growl

Thanks everyone for the comments!

I still haven't got round to taking any pictures yet, but I will try and sort it this week. The car was immaculate when I picked it up, now it is dirty after two weeks
hennabm - interesting you mention about the gear ratios, that's the first thing I noticed when I picked the car up. The Punto is doing approx. 3500rpm @ 70mph in 5th gear, whereas our old Panda 1.2 would be somewhere between 2500 and 3000rpm in 5th as it was a much longer gear.

Am I right in saying the 1.4 8v also has a six-speed version too? Almost seems like our car could do with a sixth gear for ultimate cruising, but it's really no big deal. Even at 4000rpm the level of cabin noise is still pretty good, and you have that extra power available in fifth. Anyway, these Fiat 8v engines are built to be revved, that's what I love about them!

Generally though, am very pleased with the car. Only slight "issues" are the lack of cubby holes/glovebox size compared to the Panda. Truth be told, the Panda excels in this particular area, so maybe just a case of the Punto being average rather than poor. And also us having too much crap rolling around in the car!

Never seen a 8V 77HP with 6 speed... the 16V 105HP has 6.

Hi superewe

Interesting to know that the overall gear ratio for the Pand is better than the GP

Like Mkala I have never seen a 6sp 1.4 8v.
I agree it could do with one just to get the revs down on a run (and help save petrol as well).

The starjet had 6 speeds but the Tjet only 5??

Ah OK, thanks for the info.

It's hard to say really whether the Panda gear ratio was "better" or not. Certainly it helped to keep revs down when in fifth, so in theory that would help to save petrol.

But - the flip side in the Punto is that you don't have to change down from fifth gear much at all when travelling above 30mph. So you don't have to hammer it in fourth (or even third) when going uphill above say 50mph, which of course will also save petrol

As I said above, I am really pleased with this 1.4 engine. Here in south Devon, there are a lot of twisty and hilly roads which really killed our old 1.2 Panda. Also, the indicated mpg on the A38 dual carriageway has been broadly the same (around 45mpg in both the Panda and Punto over an approx 25 mile stretch).

hennabm said:

Hi superewe
...
The starjet had 6 speeds but the Tjet only 5??

Click to expand...

The 105HP has 6sp because of low torque compared to a turbo version. You have to change gear more often, and with a longer 6 you can save fuel at steady speed.

With 135HP and 210Nm, you can have longer gear ratio to keep rev low on highway, with a correct acceleration.

And the 6 speeds box can not handle the torque of Turbo engine. It's quite a new challenge to have 1.4 engine with the torque of an 2.2 liters.

But the best would be Turbo and 6 speeds box, but at a cost to hight I think (reserved to Abarth for the Punto).

Mkala said:

The 105HP has 6sp because of low torque compared to a turbo version. You have to change gear more often, and with a longer 6 you can save fuel at steady speed.

With 135HP and 210Nm, you can have longer gear ratio to keep rev low on highway, with a correct acceleration.

And the 6 speeds box can not handle the torque of Turbo engine. It's quite a new challenge to have 1.4 engine with the torque of an 2.2 liters.

But the best would be Turbo and 6 speeds box, but at a cost to hight I think (reserved to Abarth for the Punto).

Click to expand...

Really???? the 6 speed cannot handle the torque in the turbo? then how is it that the Bravo T-Jets only come in 6speed configuration? Also the same gearbox The M32 is fitted to the Astra VXR 2.0 turbo ( a much more powerful engine)

And for your knowledge: turbo cars have higher torque all over the rev range.. and the maximum torque kicks in at around 1750-2000 rpm.


I have no idea why Fiat didn't put 6 speed boxes on the Punto T-jet... probably something to do with costs, or more likely because it would have taken sales away from some other more expensive model (Bravo ..Mito etc).

aurick86 said:

Really???? the 6 speed cannot handle the torque in the turbo? then how is it that the Bravo T-Jets only come in 6speed configuration? Also the same gearbox The M32 is fitted to the Astra VXR 2.0 turbo ( a much more powerful engine)

And for your knowledge: turbo cars have higher torque all over the rev range.. and the maximum torque kicks in at around 1750-2000 rpm.


I have no idea why Fiat didn't put 6 speed boxes on the Punto T-jet... probably something to do with costs, or more likely because it would have taken sales away from some other more expensive model (Bravo ..Mito etc).

Click to expand...

I speak for the 6 speeds box C514 version that is used for the 105HP.
Of course there are boxes like M32 on the Abarth that can handle a lot of torque. But the problem is the cost, only.

Thanks for the knowledge, but I think I know how an engine put HP and Nm over rpm range
But it does not change the fact that the gearbox has to handle this torque...