General Are they all this awful?

Currently reading:
General Are they all this awful?

I can see some of the points that the OP is making, after the outside of the GP being so stunning, the interior is abit of a let down, especially considering how good (i think) the Mk1 and particularly Mk2 Punto interior designs were for their time. The Mk2 had a storage area for everything, coin rack, mesh above the door pockets on early ELX & HLX models, 3 storage areas in dash top, cup holders & storage area behind - most of which the GP does without, so from an interior 'packaging' point of view, the GP is a backwards step i think.

However, whilst the plastics look and feel cheap, that appears to be the point at which Fiat kept prices low. Many makes, like Renault & Peugeot use much materials with a higher 'perceived' quality, but give it a few miles and itll still squeak and rattle as much or more than a Punto. And alot of other manufacturers also keep prices low by using poor mechanical components, which can leave you totally standed with a nearly new car - think how many Clio owners have had coils fail or the car go into limp mode due to poor componenent quality - you VERY rarely hear of a Grande Punto leaving its owner totally stranded. GP faults, as with most latest generation Fiats, are minor and annoying faults but hardly ever something that prevents you using the car. To me, that seems the right way to do things. Fiat have spent their budget on the important bits - keeping the car running, theyve saved money on the nice bits that make something feel all 'oooooh....aaaah' but dont actually do anything else.

As for the question regarding storage areas, i believe all GPs have the same cabin storage. The exceptions MIGHT be rear door pockets & a map pocket on rear of passenger seat on higher spec models (as was the case on the Mk2 Punto) but other than that, theyre all the same. The Sporting model does have a more expensive 'looking' carbon fibre effect to some of the trim, along with beefier seats, but that's pretty much where the differences end.

Obviously though, the engine difference between an Active 1.2 and a Sporting Multijet will be immence. The 1.2 is a base model, for the odd long journey and mostly pottering around. The Sporting model engines will suit your needs far better. However, i dont quite understand 'finding the limiter' on a 1.2 - you wont make quicker progress & itll just bugger the car eventually. If you want to fly, you need an Impreza - and youll pay Subaru great amounts for that privilege!
 
Last edited:
In response to the above. I think it's also because a friend had a MK2 Punto. The large hole / dip in the dash and various storage areas were great.

I know the 1.2 engine is the baseline, but compared to my 1.1 (even when it was std) the engine is not an improvement. I know it has to meet tighter emission laws, but the lack of response was worrying. It's not grunt / power, it's lack of connection. Floor it and it thinks before taking off.

As for the limiter. It's a hire car. That's what they're meant to do!

Seriously though, i found myself siting at 5k+ just because the power delivery is soo flat there's no real difference between 2K and 5K. + the limiter is very very harsh.

Main point is that the evolution of the FIATs was not as good as i was hoping.
 
It's a love-hate relationship and i'll focus on the love tonight.

It was parked up outside the lab where i was working today. As i was messing around with various chemicals i could look out the window and see her. I found myself staring at the sweeping lines, the cute nose, the pert arse. To be honest i got far to turned on looking at it. ;)

It's a great looking car.

People who passed it by were having a glance as they passed. Mainly at her nose.

I'd have one parked on the drive. 3dr, slightly lowered, nice wheels and a Caribbean orange paint job. Wouldn't dare open the door though.
 
It's a love-hate relationship and i'll focus on the love tonight.

It was parked up outside the lab where i was working today. As i was messing around with various chemicals i could look out the window and see her. I found myself staring at the sweeping lines, the cute nose, the pert arse. To be honest i got far to turned on looking at it. ;)

It's a great looking car.

People who passed it by were having a glance as they passed. Mainly at her nose.

I'd have one parked on the drive. 3dr, slightly lowered, nice wheels and a Caribbean orange paint job. Wouldn't dare open the door though.
There you go... the magic has started working then ;)

The 1.2 looks a lot more beasty and sports car-ish once its lowered too :) In Fifth gear review of the Ferrari California at the end he said its got a punto front end :ROFLMAO:.

To me its not a car for fast driving or sublime quality but the pure good design, inside and out.

Yeah the cars probably been thrashed about and carring all that stuff gonna add up some weight. Its true the power band is very flat but the peak is at 2800-3200, you can definitely feel it more when you punch it there.
 
I've had my GP for almost 2 months now, having had a 1.6 Focus Zetec Auto before. Honestly there is no comparison as far as driving pleasure goes - my Fiat wins hands down(the auto box ruins the Ford). My daughter has a mk2 Punto and had a Cinquecento Sporting before that(loved the cinq!) and I only sold my X1/9 in the summer, so there is perhaps a little bias (y)
 
Ok, just spent a hour unpacking bits into the garage and packing things back into the car.

As a daily driver how do you guys cope with the lack of storage space? Fitted four cds into the glove box, along with 250 grams of dried bananas (lunch).

A sat nav under the stereo.

Some tissues and a few snacks into the drivers door.

Ice scraper partly into the passenger door.

Everything else (demister , deicer, pens, chewing gum, note book, map, first aid kit, sun glasses, camera) was thrown in the only space left. The passenger foot well. . .

Punto Grande. Nice on the outside, lacking on the inside.

Took it for a sprint down the road. Willing to go, but lacking connection. 26.5MPG. :slayer:

Oh, and the screen wash doesn't work. Either National didn't put a winter mix in or FIAT gremlins have struck.

I'll give it a week, but i can't see myself looking at buying one in the future. Would rather go for a car that IS unpractical, rather than one that just falls into it a little bit. . .

Still crying here, how could Fiat do this to a car? :yuck:

If you have driven the 1.9D Sporting for a week and not noticed the noise and discomfort then I think you would be quite capable of owning one! I expect the 1.6D will be a more refined motor. My 1.9D Sporting routinely did 48mpg on my weekly (35mile) commute. It was attractive and reliable. And it went like stink....
 
This is what 4car.co.uk say about the GP, voting it as their number one supermini to run for costs etc.

"One of the prettier superminis, and while it isn't the newest on the block, it's getting ever-cheaper. There are currently a number of pre-registered but as-new 1.2-litre petrol models (an engine recently discontinued) up for less than £6,000, and large discounts are around for the continuing 1.4s and 1.3 diesels.

Though the Grande Punto does feel a little lightweight and flimsy, it's actually pretty well-built and it has proved reliable - reports suggest it's one of the more dependable European superminis. Equipment levels are generous, crash protection is good (a five-star NCAP score) and it's a pleasant drive. "
 
My main question is, does the whole range share all the features (or lack of?)?

As in, does every GP have a useless sized glove box and no space to store a biro?

The glove box is the same in all GP's, as is the storage space pretty much but the GP is no delivery van.

I love mine to bits (check sig below) I have done 41,000 miles now in 2 years in it, went to Reading yesterday and it returned 57 mpg and I didnt hang around!

Its been reliable, doesnt rattle and flies. No rust under the bonnet or anywhere, everything under there is set out nice and easy to get at consumables wise.

Build quality is as good or better than my sisters Polo and that rattles and looks cheap but was expensive!

GPS 1.9 MJet for me anytime, try a prper version and you'll forgive the few shortcomings. I have NO COMPLAINTS its a fabulous car!
 
I have the 1.9multijet sporting. its my second car and just about to enter my third year of driving. its a great car to drive the insurance is actully quite cheap and the roadtax will set you back 145 a year which isnt bad at all. my first car was a 1.2 active gp and again that car was great, i loved it to bits just as much as my current one. only got rid of it because a wagon decided to run a red light and smashed into the drivers side. it stood up really well to a lorry, only had to have the drivers side door and front wing replaced and a respray and it was good as new. no structual damage at all. as for the glovebox size, the sporting has blue and me so it takes up alot of the space. my car is compleatly stock and it pulls away quicker than alot of higher specd cars. now the real problams will start depending on which dealer you use if you buy one :O
 
is a GP designed for storage? i dont think so! so therefore you cant really complain. The car is designed for a person/couple/young family with maybe a few motorway trips a year with the sportier models for hothatch petrolheads!
I have the 1.4 8v at dynamic level and in love with it! 28.9 mpg isnt right! as im averaging just under double that.
My only issue with my car is the cupholders in that you cant hold a single thing in it! cans of coke are jammed in and then the gear stick in 3/5th gears hits it and wel fast food ones just about get it but dont stay in.
Id test drive a sporting or higher up. the base model is that base... no extras no nothing.

id like to know how your getting that mileage, i can only get up to about 40-41 on the same engine, mines done 2300 miles average journey 20mins to work bout 55ish miles an hour
 
I want to know how Ffoxy is getting 57MPG, your driving must be brilliant

but yeah I often think when I get into my GP "****e Ive no where to put this pen"

Actually I dont because I have a leather interior with an arm rest, under the arm rest ins a slot for a pen :p

I actually love my GP its a 1.9 sporting with 41k on it and as I type my mate has it on the ramps changing the rear wheel bearing because it started to groan about 1000 miles ago, I dont resent it one bit though, its comfy, quick, very very good looking, and when I get the Eibachs on it should handle a bit better, the interior build is on par with my mates simmilar aged Audi A3 and exceeds the quality of another mates 07 reg Megane 130 DCi
 
Now, firstly i have to say the Grande Punto has been one of those cars I've wanted to own for a few years now. The 1.9MJ Sporting, or the newer 1.6oil burner.

Secondly, i own a N'Reg Cinquecento Sporting that i've had for 3 years. Tuned to 75BHP from the standard 1.1 SPI engine and lowered a bit. 85,000miles on it and used as a weekend run about.

Thirdly, i LOVE Italian quirkyness and own an Italian motorbike. Things that need attention to work are fine.

Fourthly, my daily run about for the last three years has been a Citroen Berlingo van (1.9D). Other cars have been a 2.0TDI passat, 1.1 Kia Pincato, Mini One D, Rover 214.

Now, my point. My company van was taken off me today as it's got to the end of it's lease. A 08 Punto Grande 1.2-8V was delivered for me to use for the next 3 weeks or so. 5,000 miles. 5 door.

The build quality and attention to detail is shocking. It felt like the boot was going to fall of in my hands as the weak hinges flexed. Monkey metal used in various components - i.e door catches. Poorly fitted interior that felt awful. Not logic in the way bits are set out.

Under the bonnet it's not neatly arranged. Washer hoses trail around. Rough edges on the metal work. Signs of oxidisation in a car less than a year old. Bits bolted on in odd places.

Performance. Didn't get a chance to fully stretch it's legs, but i did find the limiter a few times. Thankfully i had my mouth closed so i didn't loose any fillings as the limiter cut in soo harshly.

The throttle response of a diesel engine. The flat power delivery of a lawnmower. The smoothness when pulling away of a two stroke scooter.


For a new car that's had 14 years of development on from my bog-standard cheapo FIAT i'm pretty shocked about how crap it is. I know it's a base model, but it's pants. Feels like it wouldn't make the first service. Can't believe they're getting 18,000 miles out of the interval! (may be wrong though, the manual pretty poor read as well!)


So, should i remove all hopes of getting a Sporting or is it made to a different standard? Was thinking of getting one at the mid-end of the year to replace the work van . . .

Truly upset about my 25 mile drive home. :cry:

mate when i first got my hands on the car i was thinking exactly the same as you.after time i got used to it. i drove a corsa,tones of better quality,no comparison with the 207 in any level.
but in the end if you check closely you will find that the corsa doesn't really have soft plastics but rather hard one(like the punto)covered with exactly the same material as a small amount of the dashboard is in the grande.i mean the central dashboard trim.imagine the punto's whole interior covered with this , then you would find an overall ''devine''built quality. what i don't like is the way that the plastics hold together.ckeck the ones under the steering wheel.if you pull them off you will probably end with broken clips.it gives the impressionn that everything hangs on air.then check the rear pillars covers.my god not even one screw.only with clips and if you pull hard to extract it the you will need a new cover.that's for sure.and then there is the thing with the costruction.i mean the rear covers don't exactly match with the rear side trims.anyway what i find very interesting is that there are few plastics on the interior.i mean you have the door covers,pillar cover,dashboard and that's it.other cars have tones of more.pillar,bonnet,hood doors,rear hatchback.in the end i mean that you can easily eradicate any rattle,because you know exactly the amount of plastics and how to remove them.
 
My main question is, does the whole range share all the features (or lack of?)?

As in, does every GP have a useless sized glove box and no space to store a biro?


No they don't!! I had a test drive in a 1.3 diesel active and drove to another garage to check out the spec of the Eleganza it is amazing. Soft feel leather wheel ger knob climate control etc felt like a completely different car!! go to a dealer with a high spec car and just see the difference
 
I want to know how Ffoxy is getting 57MPG, your driving must be brilliant

My driving is good but not brilliant lol.

I feel the car and how it is working, keep it comortably in the power band, dont accelerate hard :)devil:) or brake much by using distant anticipation. I have checked the consumption figures from the computer by doing a full to empty and full again fuel fill up. The computer tells me 59mpg so is 2 mpg optimistic since my re-map. Itds easy really, no secrets.
 
The glove box is the same in all GP's, as is the storage space pretty much but the GP is no delivery van.

I love mine to bits (check sig below) I have done 41,000 miles now in 2 years in it, went to Reading yesterday and it returned 57 mpg and I didnt hang around!

Its been reliable, doesnt rattle and flies. No rust under the bonnet or anywhere, everything under there is set out nice and easy to get at consumables wise.

Build quality is as good or better than my sisters Polo and that rattles and looks cheap but was expensive!

GPS 1.9 MJet for me anytime, try a prper version and you'll forgive the few shortcomings. I have NO COMPLAINTS its a fabulous car!

My driving is good but not brilliant lol.

I feel the car and how it is working, keep it comortably in the power band, dont accelerate hard :)devil:) or brake much by using distant anticipation. I have checked the consumption figures from the computer by doing a full to empty and full again fuel fill up. The computer tells me 59mpg so is 2 mpg optimistic since my re-map. Itds easy really, no secrets.

:yeahthat: well said foxy.

Had mine for nearly a year and found it's the best car i have ever owned. I can quite easily get a return of over 50 mpg on a motorway journey taking it easy at a steady 60, mine is not remapped either.

Looks are fantastic, best looking car on the market for the price, power wise, has the potential to easily upset more expensive cars, build quality is far better than any other car i have owned and it has a 5 star euro ncap safety rating.

In all it's a really good quality car for the price, and i don't think you will get better quality anywhere for your money.

(y)
 
So, i've had the car for a week and a half now so a more balanced review.

Good points?

Washing it earlier today was a sexual experience. Noticed that under all the dirt it's a similar colour to my Cinqy. Smooth lines and lack of crevices for dirt to hide. If i had more time and was keeping it for an another week or so i'd treat it to a clay bar and some wax.

The City button. Gets switched on each morning while i maneuver out of the bay parking space. With the car spending 2 or 3 days a week in central London the button is a great treat. Shame the turning circle is nothing special . . .

The real time MPG function. I've found that the car only really feels nice (ok? / balanced?) to drive when you're trying to keep this reading >50mpg. Can't get it to drop below 11mpg though. Best i've managed is just over 60mpg @60mph on the M25.

The stereo_Ok, so i hated it at the start, but a long traffic jam allowed me to explore it and re-program it. Amazing sound from the std set up (however, comparing to my 4" fronts on the cinq) and a fair amount of power. The way it mutes down as you change the station / settings. CD player is too picky for damaged cd's though.

The smoothness of the engine. You can hold it just off the redline in 4th and you wouldn't notice it from any vibes / noises. Hit the limiter and you're reminded that it can rough as hell.

The willingness / robustness of the engine. It's had a hard two weeks. In the minus 5 mornings it'd bounce straight off the limiter from start up. (Car got thrashed whenever i discovered a shortcoming - this one was the handbrake that wouldn't release and dragged the rear wheels across the ice).It hasn't used a drop of oil in the thousand miles of hard use though.

The lights are good - However, see note later.

The shortcomings, in no particular order.

The airbox has snapped in half. It's now floating around the engine bay. Not sure how this happened as there's no flex between the two points where it's (meant to be) bolted (loosely) down. The plus point of this is a nice throaty roar. The downside is a horrid flat spot at 4K when working through the gears. The other downside may be the amount of crap the TB butterfly is getting covered in. Will tack it back together before it goes back. . .

The wonderful way that the boot opens. Earlier in this thread someone mentioned it as a plus point. . . Yesterday someone (on forum) found out what happens when you pop the boot open while keeping the rest of the car locked. -> Keys looked in boot. . . . Poor cheap design. At least make it so the rest of the car unlocks when you pop the boot!

Cumbersome key fob. I know i'd get used to it in time, but fed up of popping the boot when trying to lock / unlock it.

Lack of cabin storage. I can easily spend 4 hours a day in a car. Up to 10 hours sometimes. All i want is somewhere to put wallet / phone / blackberry / drink / snacks / cds. What makes this worse is when you look at the amount of space that is wasted between the seats and the door cards. They could have soo easily increased the width of the pockets by a few cms. Or the centre consul area? How handy would it be to have a small thin (net?) pocket next to the footwells?

Following on from the above. The dash. It would have been soo easy to add a tray to the dash that you can just put a phone / pen on while driving. Or a flat spot to put a drink (ones that don't fit in those horrid cup holders - which is most things!) when parked up.

Following on from the above. The sweeping sexy screen. Need arms like a chimpanzee to reach the sat nav. Really struggled to find a spot for it that didn't block my view or was on the passenger side.

12V socket. Lead gets pulled out when you use the handbrake.

Handbrake. Heavy and worse than my Cinq. Sticks when cold.

Gear shift and cup holders hate each other. How about having one like a Civic or Panda? One out of the dash?

The way things are placed in just the way that they swallow items. Pens and phones down the side of seats. Forever trying to get them out.

The brightness of the main beam light on the dash. Sort of counter productive when you're trying to see down dark lanes.

Windscreen wipers. Thank you FIAT. Thanks for deciding that you will dictate that once i've used the screen wash you will wipe 7 seconds after i've finished cleaning my screen.

Windscreen jets. Maybe it's just the bog standard one? Having a jet in the middle would work wonders and i wouldn't have the smeared stripe across the windscreen. If this is a budget choice i worry what other tiny things have been removed!

Clutch foot "rest". How high do you want this? Found myself stuffing my size 8's up into the dash next to the steering column to get any "rest". (also allows you to jam the steering and relax on the steering). Other option was to jam my foot under the peddles, or fold my leg back round.

Engine performance. It's 8V 1.2L. However, throttle response is lacking when making progress. Low down torque is also none existent.

Build quality. Maybe it's to keep the weight down, but having given mine a good clean i was shocked about how thin areas of body work were and the damage / bending already sustained.

Road noise. Prob combination of steelies and hard rubber, but it'd clunk and thump over cracks and bumps more so than i'd expect from a mid sized car.


Oh, almost forgot. Understeer anyone? :eek:

Summary

I'd never buy a GP.

I'd recommend one for my mum to pootle around back and forth to the shops though. Something cheap and easy to drive. Cute and curvy.

I want another fiat, but i think i'd have to take a look at the new Bravo. However, wanted a 3-Door.

Hope my traumatic experience is of help to others.

(y)
 
Back
Top