General Advice Buying a New Punto

[keithodulaigh]

Hi,

I'm undecided between getting a new Fiesta or a new Punto. The Punto I'm looking at is a white 2015 Easy model with a 1.2 engine. It was registered by the dealership in the first half of the year and I can get a decent deal on it. The Fiesta will also be new (although unregistered with choice of colour) and will probably be the 1.25 Zetec with the manual air con and Bluetooth package added. Both cars have a similar spec and 5 year warranty although the Punto is about €2.5K cheaper.

I've test driven 2 Puntos and 1 Fiesta (all were 2010). One of the Puntos had a creak in the rear passenger side (which also happens on my MK2B and posts here suggest is common) and the other had an intermittent noise in the front driver side. The Fiesta seemed flawless but it's too small of a sample to make a judgement.

Anyway, I suppose my question is how long should I expect to have a Punto before the common rear creak develops or has anyone avoided it? Any other thoughts or opinions would be welcome.

Also, the Fiat dealer asked me about whether the head gasket and clutch had gone on my MK2B and then said it was a common problem with those models (my head gasket did go before!). Is the 1.2 petrol engine in the new 2015 Punto completely different to the MK2B?

All the best.

 

[JimbbobW1977]

Fiesta - it is better built, nicer to drive and not as slow far more reliable.

The Punto is a ten year old car now, though I know the Fiesta is old now it's still on top of its game.

 

[JPeake94]

If you can get a 1.0L ecoboost go for it, my dads focus has the same engine, 125BHP from a 1.0L brilliant engine.

 

[keithodulaigh]

Thanks for the advice.

I'll talk to the dealer tomorrow about that Eco engine. I keep hearing great things about it.

 

[JPeake94]

Thanks for the advice.



I'll talk to the dealer tomorrow about that Eco engine. I keep hearing great things about it.

Well it has been voted the #1 engine, cheap tax, low insurance, very nippy.

 

[JimbbobW1977]

The 1.0 Eco boost is a very good engine even in 99bhp form. Punches above its weight and contrary to claims can easily sit at 45mpg.

 

[Super Uwe]

Hi,

I'm undecided between getting a new Fiesta or a new Punto. The Punto I'm looking at is a white 2015 Easy model with a 1.2 engine. It was registered by the dealership in the first half of the year and I can get a decent deal on it. The Fiesta will also be new (although unregistered with choice of colour) and will probably be the 1.25 Zetec with the manual air con and Bluetooth package added. Both cars have a similar spec and 5 year warranty although the Punto is about €2.5K cheaper.

I've test driven 2 Puntos and 1 Fiesta (all were 2010). One of the Puntos had a creak in the rear passenger side (which also happens on my MK2B and posts here suggest is common) and the other had an intermittent noise in the front driver side. The Fiesta seemed flawless but it's too small of a sample to make a judgement.

Anyway, I suppose my question is how long should I expect to have a Punto before the common rear creak develops or has anyone avoided it? Any other thoughts or opinions would be welcome.

Also, the Fiat dealer asked me about whether the head gasket and clutch had gone on my MK2B and then said it was a common problem with those models (my head gasket did go before!). Is the 1.2 petrol engine in the new 2015 Punto completely different to the MK2B?

All the best.

Hi Keith,

The current Punto is pretty old in the tooth (nearly 10 years old now as it is basically just a updated version of the Grande Punto). But having said that, I do really like ours (2012 1.4 Easy in Brit Pop Blue).

The 1.2 unit in the current Punto can no doubt be derived back to the old 1.2 units, but it is honestly a very solid, proven engine these days. Otherwise you would expect to see the 500/Panda section full of people complaining about them as a) it's been around for in excess of 10 years now, and b) the 1.2 unit in the 500 has been by far and away the most popular engine since it was introduced.

The only thing you should be aware of regarding the latest 1.2 engines (and I am guessing this Punto you are talking about will be Euro 6 compliant) is that some UK 500s have had issues with hill starts and throttle response. There is an EPIC thread on the 500 section which I have linked here for you (don't spend all night reading it lol:
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/33982...sponse-hill-start-issues-watchdog-report.html

The general consensus now is that these issues have (supposedly) been sorted out, and to be honest it seems to be an issue that you will notice immediately when test driving the car on a hill, for example.

As for general creaks etc, there are a few weak points (such as the rear light cluster steaming up), but I don't think there's anything too bad these days as it has been around long enough for things to get ironed out (as much as Fiat can be bothered too!).

Other than that, the current Punto is pretty good. It's certainly worth considering, especially if there is a real price premium to pay for the Fiesta.