Bye bye punto

[jmcand]

It's time to say goodbye to my punto after 18 months of ownership. I've traded it in today for a 58 plate astra sport hatch 1.9cdti 150bhp, it will be nice to have a car that handles well for a change!

Cant wait to pick it up on friday

Thank you to everyone for the help and advice since i've been a member of the forum.

 

[JimbbobW1977]

It's time to say goodbye to my punto after 18 months of ownership. I've traded it in today for a 58 plate astra sport hatch 1.9cdti 150bhp, it will be nice to have a car that handles well for a change!

Cant wait to pick it up on friday

Thank you to everyone for the help and advice since i've been a member of the forum.

I had an Astra on holiday, and didnt think it handled much different at all to the GP. In fact the steering was a bit 'slower'

 

[middo85]

it will be nice to have a car that handles well for a change!

Take it you didnt test drive the astra then?

We have astras at work and i wouldnt have one if they paid me

 

[Ulpian]

Glad you've stuck with a Fiat engine at least.

 

[jmcand]

Take it you didnt test drive the astra then?

We have astras at work and i wouldnt have one if they paid me

I take it you dont have 1.9cdti 150bhp SRI models at work?

It's so much better than the GPs in every single way. The build quality, ride, handling, power delivery etc etc etc. The car is fantastic to drive much smoother and doesnt crash over bumps like the gps even with the 18" alloys on mine and very little body role compaired with the gps.

This is what you would expect from a car worth double the price of a gps.

 

[custard]

yawn here we go,my Fiat (insert model) was crap
my new (insert model) is the best thing ever


then surprise at the reactions......

 

[middo85]

I take it you dont have 1.9cdti 150bhp SRI models at work?

It's so much better than the GPs in every single way. The build quality, ride, handling, power delivery etc etc etc. The car is fantastic to drive much smoother and doesnt crash over bumps like the gps even with the 18" alloys on mine and very little body role compaired with the gps.

This is what you would expect from a car worth double the price of a gps.

They are a bit of a mish mash, basically 5dr SRI models with 1.7 engines.

I struggle to see how your test drive makes you more experienced with the car though, ive driven them daily for a few years so think i can comment on them.

Build quality is worse than Fiat (mine at least), we have 5 astras and a Vivaro van(with the 1.9 150 bhp engine) and on any one day usually at least two are out of action for some reason.

The astras suffer a lot of engine problems, which hopefully you wont have with the Fiat engine, but the interior is one of the worse areas of the car.

Poor quality plastics for most of the interior, really crap seats, more rattles and creaks than any other car ive been in etc etc.

End of the day its your money and if your happy with it then fair enough, but i can never understand the idea that vauxhalls are better than fiats, still a cheap volume car producer. Vauxhall just get away with charging more due to peoples perceptions

 

[jmcand]

yawn here we go,my Fiat (insert model) was crap
my new (insert model) is the best thing ever


then surprise at the reactions......

I've never said my gps was crap for the price i paid it's been a good car over the last 18 months but with it's fair share of problems and niggles, I've now moved on to what i believe to be a much better all round car (This is just my opinion remember).

I'm not here for point scoring, ok i've only test drove this particular car but we've had vauxhalls in the familly for years, My dad had the 1.9cdti 150bhp signum and now vectra c with same engine, mum had astra 5dr 1.7cdti 100bhp now she has the same car i'm getting astra sport hatch 1.9cdti 150bhp. I know of all the problems that can and have affected said diesel engine, such a swirl flaps, dual mass fly wheel and egr valve as these were all problem parts on my dads signum, subsequently these parts have mostly been re-designed. These parts have not been problems with any of the other cars i've just mentioned.

Maybe i'll have the same problems, maybe i would have had them with my punto who knows. The engine in the punto was a joint development between fiat, GM and saab and used in the early vectra c and now the punto. This engine suffers from the same problems too!

 

[karbineftw]

yawn here we go,my Fiat (insert model) was crap
my new (insert model) is the best thing ever


then surprise at the reactions......

Yawn, people saying Fiat is the next best thing to God too though.
works both ways, but then again it is expected on here.