Looking at buying a Punto

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Looking at buying a Punto

Philip82

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HI

This is my first post I am looking at possibly getting a 2nd hand Punto and was just after some advice.

The one I am looking at is a 1.2 ELX W Reg 2000 with 54,000 miles on for £2095.

Firstly I was wondering is that a decent price?

But what I really need to know is about reliability of the Puntos. I am a bit cursed when it comes to cars and always seems to have things go wrong big time but have heard the Punto is a reliable car.

I was just after some general opinions to see if this is correct and also what things I should look out for.
I was reading a review where it said to watch out for suspension, cooling/heating system and clutch going at 40K and power steering failure are these common and if so can they be big costly jobs to repair?

I have just got a Skoda Fabia recently which I have had a number of problems with I then looked into it further and never realised they had so many common faults expecially power steering pump failure costing £750, Head gaskets going at an early age, suspensions going very early and want to get rid before something major like a head gasket, steering pump etc goes.

This time I have decided to do my research first and hopefully you people can raise my confidence in cars once more.

Cheers
 
One thing to look out for is headgasket failiures on these too especially if its the 1.2 8v engine, if its a 1.2 16v its alot less likley to go. £2095 is a tad pricey as usually barter as best you can, should be able to knock that down to £1900 if not less. Do the usual 'used car checks' as well as look for head gasket issues and you will be fine.

I too had bad experiances with Skoda with a Fabia vRS brake servo unit failing and the stupid idiots taking nearly 2 weeks to diagnose it :mad:.
 
You dont mention whether thats a private sale or a trader? for a trader it aint too bad, but for private id expect less.

Who said puntos are reliable?!! :p lol, in all fairness ive had worse, and parts are usually cheaper than similar models by other brands. powersteering is a very common and expensive failing point tho, and usually ends up in you buying a complete coloumn for £450ish, so be sure the steering feels light and responsive both in and out of city mode (button on the center console.)
 
Firstly I was wondering is that a decent price?
at that age and milage i would expect to pay a bit less.
you can get a sporting for that price, which is a much better car and definately something to look into.

I was reading a review where it said to watch out for suspension, cooling/heating system and clutch going at 40K and power steering failure are these common and if so can they be big costly jobs to repair?
clutch, steering and head gasket problems are common enough issues that you need to be aware of them, the cost can vary a lot depending on what you can do yourself and where you get things from, but at a dealer the power steering will cost you several hundred pounds. it is electric power steering and requires a dealer to set it up so even if you buy and fit a used steering column you need to go to a dealer.

airbag system faults are also common, as is rust along the top of the wind screen, the front wipers tend to pop off the linkages during use which is scary at 100mph in heavy rain i can tell you (i have a way to fix that if you need to), check for damp footwells as leaks are not rare.

you really need to check carefully for head gasket fialure. check for signs of oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil, check for mayo on the oil filler cap, do those checks with the engine cold. then let the engine idle for 20mins to see if it overheats or if the cooling system gets overpressurised and starts to vent steam.
 
hmm not sounding much different than the Skoda then

I was trying to avoid possible gasket and steering problems and you even have the damp footwells which my Skoda has.

The price was for trade I was hoping to part x mine in against it.

I am in a difficult situation at the moment only had my current car for 4 moths (and will loose out big time on trade in) had some problems but got them all done on my 3 months warranty but I have an ongoing steering problem somtimes which I think is the sensor.

However everyhthing else is Ok for the time been but I have lost confidence so do I stick with it and hope thats the end of the problems and the better the devil you know or change and take a gamble but could get hit with the same problems.

Cheers for your answers anyway.
 
"better the devil you know" is sometimes a good policy, once you have everything fixed on the skoda you know its been done, if you get another car it may be perfect or it may be far worse, its a bit of a gamble every time you get a car.
 
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