General Buying a Punto

[Cig]

Hi guys.

First post here.

Well unfotunately my wee Corsa blew a head gasket thing, so its away to the scrap yard in the sky.

I have been offered a P reg Mk1 1.3 Punto SX75 (I think) in dark green with only 67k miles on the clock, half that of my Corsa. It has one or two dents in the bonnet, but I cant afford to be fussy.

Can anyone give me any details, tips, info on the car, and how much would I expect to pay for this?

Cheers guys.

 

[Cig]

Anyone?

 

[jay_mz89]

well for one its a 1.2 being the 75 its qhute high range, giving the number of miles and age, no more than 500 id pay.

 

[Cig]

well for one its a 1.2 being the 75 its qhute high range, giving the number of miles and age, no more than 500 id pay.

I was told it was a 1.3, and 75 bhp.

Ah well no matter.

Cool, asking for £275 full tax and MOT.

How do you mean high range?

Is it 3dr or 5dr, I cant remember.

 

[dibbers]

a "p" plate would make it 96-97 model year. around then the punto had a "midlife" mild update, one of the updates was the engine blocks, moving the 1.1 units up to more powerful 1.2 8v and 16v - very modern units for their day.

the mk1 range - as far as i can recall - goes, roughly upwards,
"s"
"sx"
"elx"
"sporting"
"gt".
a "cab" version is basically a ragtop sporting.

elx onwards should give you , amongst others, a rev counter, electric windows, digital clock, more indepth interior trim, front fogs, remote locking, etc. i think they were all five door but someone else may be abloe to confirm / correct.
the numbers used in a punto model name refer to a rounded hp figure.

as for the cars themselves, you'd be best doing a search for year / model known issues / pointers to look for. i'd suggest headgasket symptoms, rear bush wear, body corrosion, exhuast rot and all other typical 2nd hand car items.

good, cheap fun cars - i ran the sporting for 9 years until mothballing it. i did over 130k in mine but did spend £££ on it on servicing and giving it the very best of everything. in all fairness, cars not so well maintained could be absolute dogs.

the car you've mentioned - is hard to value with so little info but in today's market and being a 12 year old car is probably worth no more than £400. £275 seems a little low to mefor a car with full tickets and may suggest something hidden?

do a bit of research on here and buy with knowledge!

 

[Cig]

Thanks a lot.

Its low because its my girlfriends sister who is selling it to me. Its getting MOTd this week so I'll know the ins and outs.

I've found out it is a 5 door. What comes as standard with that?

 

[JTD_Liam]

Sounds just like my first Punto

Model: I think the easiest way to check if the car is a facelift model or not is to see if it has body coloured bumpers - ones without are pre-facelift & ones with are facelifted! The SX model is kinda mid range model, the 75 SX came with either 3 or 5 doors.

Equipment: SX models come with drivers seat height adjustment (be careful when raising the seat as the handle was quite flimsy on mine). It also has lumbar adjustment, steering wheel height adjustment, central locking (not remote tho, thats on ELX models), elec front windows, sunroof (not electric), front fog lights, digital clock up by the sunroof, rev counter & temp gauge (doesnt sound exciting but the lower models didnt have these!). The 75 models specifically might also have steering wheel mounted stereo controls for the radio casette.

What to look for: The only thing that wore out / went wrong on my Mk1 was the rear radius arms. They can be spotted by a knocking noise from the back of the car when moving, but they go gradually & not all of a sudden. mine knocked for about 3000 miles & i saved up to get them replaced. They cost me £150 to be done at a Fiat dealer. The head gaskets can go on 1.2 8 valve Puntos particularly, tho i think the 75 is less vulnerable to this than the 55 & 60 models. Either way, check the oil filler cap & coolant cap for mayonaise like white stuff. Also, the temp gauge should usually sit between 1/4 and 1/2 way when driving, once stationary, on my mk1 & another couple ive driven, it's risen to just under half way and then the fan came on to cool things down. Another thing i used to notice is that my Mk1 didnt like being rushed when starting up. I used to turn the ignition on, a pump would start & an icon that looked like a shower head wud light up below the rev counter, when the pump stopped & the light went out, id start it up. If i started it before this point it wud sometimes turn over for longer & sometimes the CODE imobilisor light wud stay on, so i just decided to give it chance to do it's stuff & it was happy as larry, didnt have a wink of bother in 18 months & 25,000 miles.

Hope that helps!

 

[Cig]

Fantastic help guys.

Considering I've only been looking into it since about 6pm your help is invaluable.

I'm not sure on the bumpers thing, but I think its black ones. Green coloured car.

Head Gasket is what went on my Corsa so hopefully not have another one of them go.

TBH the stuff you have said it comes with seem luxurious compared to me bog standard corsa.

 

[Rich_65402]

i had a 75 sx was a proper nippy little car, left most 1.2s for dead corsas and fiestas, clios, id go for it, mine was a 95 it had colour codding , one prown fault on the 75's along with many puntos is the head gaskets, find a good one and its all good, its gonna have a rev counter nice trim, central locking, possibly colour coding depending if its a 1997.

 

[JTD_Liam]

No worries matey.

The Mk1 Punto seemed like a typical case of where 'if you look after it, itll look after you'. It was the cheapest car ive bought, and my favorite (possibly close joint favourite with my current Mk2 Punto). It won't put up with constant thrashing but few cars will. I had mine going up and down from Oxford to Birmingham, Nottingham, Brighton & Cardiff & never had any bother keeping up with much newer cars, it's quite a nippy little engine for its size & i used to get around 350 miles to a tank of petrol, doing mostly motorway speeds (70-85mph).

From what ive seen, most things don't cost too much to put right on them either so it's worth spending even £100 here and there on repairs (at least it was on my one). The SX is pretty well specced compared to the early Corsas, i suspect the corsa may not have had elec windows or lumbar adjustment for example?

 

[Rich_65402]

No worries matey.

The Mk1 Punto seemed like a typical case of where 'if you look after it, itll look after you'. It was the cheapest car ive bought, and my favorite (possibly close joint favourite with my current Mk2 Punto). It won't put up with constant thrashing but few cars will. I had mine going up and down from Oxford to Birmingham, Nottingham, Brighton & Cardiff & never had any bother keeping up with much newer cars, it's quite a nippy little engine for its size & i used to get around 350 miles to a tank of petrol, doing mostly motorway speeds (70-85mph).

From what ive seen, most things don't cost too much to put right on them either so it's worth spending even £100 here and there on repairs (at least it was on my one). The SX is pretty well specced compared to the early Corsas, i suspect the corsa may not have had elec windows or lumbar adjustment for example?

early corsas had um a wheel, seats and some glass, a dash board, basic as you can get early 1.2's had a 4 speed box too

 

[JTD_Liam]

early corsas had um a wheel, seats and some glass, a dash board, basic as you can get early 1.2's had a 4 speed box too

Hehe, even my sisters 56 reg new shape Corsa doesnt have a temperature gauge

 

[Cig]

No worries matey.

The Mk1 Punto seemed like a typical case of where 'if you look after it, itll look after you'. It was the cheapest car ive bought, and my favorite (possibly close joint favourite with my current Mk2 Punto). It won't put up with constant thrashing but few cars will. I had mine going up and down from Oxford to Birmingham, Nottingham, Brighton & Cardiff & never had any bother keeping up with much newer cars, it's quite a nippy little engine for its size & i used to get around 350 miles to a tank of petrol, doing mostly motorway speeds (70-85mph).

From what ive seen, most things don't cost too much to put right on them either so it's worth spending even £100 here and there on repairs (at least it was on my one). The SX is pretty well specced compared to the early Corsas, i suspect the corsa may not have had elec windows or lumbar adjustment for example?

early corsas had um a wheel, seats and some glass, a dash board, basic as you can get early 1.2's had a 4 speed box too

Hehe, even my sisters 56 reg new shape Corsa doesnt have a temperature gauge

It had nothing. Not even a clock.

I dont drive like a maniac, and I'm realy only looking for something to get me through my final year at uni.

I'm gutted about the corsa tbh as it was my first car. Buying this from my girlfriends sis and her man, and I'm coming round to the idea. Dont fany another head gasket failure though

 

[Rich_65402]

look after them and they don't

 

[Cig]

I drive fairly sensibly, not booting it from speed bump to speed bump etc, so should be ok.

Relatively low mileage for a car that age too I think. Just a few dents here and there.

 

[JTD_Liam]

You'd have to be very unlucky to have another head gasket go straight after the Corsa, but head gaskets are only a disaster if not caught in time, which is why its important just to keep an eye on the coolant levels & temperature gauge & be alert to the car behaving abnormally with regard to operating temperature etc.

Its only when the engine gets damaged from the overheating caused by a head gasket failure, that things start costing big money to repair, but caught in time, it's not a really big deal, so try not to worry.

 

[Cig]

Hopefully.

I'll be chuffed it I can get a good year from it.