USED Fiat Grande Punto Hatchback (06 - 11)

My car

I purchased a Grande Punto Sporting with delivery mileage on the clock. The Grande Punto is an attractive car, and in Sporting trim looks at its best. It's spacious, reasonably comfortable, and quick enough to keep up with most other superminis. However, I have since sold mine, and would never buy another Fiat.

With just 600 miles on the clock, it broke down. Then the CD player broke. The engine ran rough, and 'fixes' only cured it for a few months at a time. From new, the car often didn't start first time, and when it did start, clouds of black smoke came out of the exhaust (and despite going to 3 Fiat garages, this was never fixed). The rear window leaked on and off over the two years I owed it (it was often the only car in the car park misted up on the inside in the mornings). It spent weeks off the road in the Fiat dealer awaiting repair. The roof trim needed replacing. The window seals needed replacing. The servicing costs were astronomical - The first service was £205, the second an eye-watering £405! The fan for the heater broke. Blue&Me went on the blink periodically, and the Bluetooth phone connection was not to be relied upon. With such a heavy engine up front, it went through front tyres for fun. The warranty in the third year covered precious little, and during the time I had it, the car certainly needed its warranty.

Was I unlucky? The fact that a friend had the same model and had many of the same problems makes me think that I wasn't.

My car

I bought this from new. It has the higher power 90bhp diesel unit, which gives it excellent acceleration from low revs, though it's hardly smooth. It's also spacious - a long-standing Punto virtue and a good selling point compared to other superminis.

After that, there is little to recommend it. The ride is shockingly bad (far worse than the last Punto and the current Panda) - it crashes and bangs over every bump. Noise levels generally are high (road noise, engine noise etc). The interior is very poorly put together - every seat belt creaks constantly, the trim in the driver's footwell is permanently coming loose and the whole thing feels so low-rent. One key reason for buying the Punto was its excellent economy stats and low CO2 emissions. OK, the £30 road tax is great, but the economy is a real let-down. 45mpg from a supermini is nothing to write home about - our Grand Scenic 1.9 did that easily! Real-life stat

After owning a Panda Eleganza 1.2 which had a really supple ride and was nicely assembled, we expected much from the Punto - we have been sorely disappointed and will be changing it as soon as we can afford to.

My car

I've had my Punto for just over 2 years now, having covered 48,000 very happy and trouble free miles. I've regularly done 200+ mile motorway journeys in it and I usually manage to do over 40mpg without driving like a nun.

The car has had a few niggles, a new radiator, door trim and battery replaced under warranty, but certainly not the horror story expected of Fiats of old.

So much more stylish than any other supermini, every passenger I've had has been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the interior and ride.

Good points - solid chunky feel, comfortable seats, lots of space, good kit.

Bad points - battery had to be replaced, apparently a common fault on MK1 GPs.

My car

I bought this car about two years ago.It still only has 20k on the clock. From the start this car has been a nightmare. Great to drive when it works well which in all honestly is not often. The car has suffered from knocks and squeaks to actually braking down on the motorway three times! I bought it from new and since then it has had 2 drive shafts, 3 drop links, 2 EGR valves and one cleaned out before replaced, new electric window switch on the passenger side. horn connections re greased as horn stopped working, knocking noise from front suspension looked at twice no idea what they did (do not provide you with paperwork reassuringly!) Creaking from the rear suspension three times solved and now just starting again! Blue and me flashed 3 times and still not better. The radiator replaced and thermostat housing something replaced aswell? A loose clip on the engine pipes replaced and a phantom fault which tells me the engine temp to high when the car has been off all night on start up??? Service? Spoke to FIAT who say speak to finance company FGA a questionnaire later and then passed onto dealership who says seen worse and so long as they keep fixing faults they are doing there bit and providing good service! Really? Not what I expected from a new car! Seriously do yourself a favour stay clear of this nightmare and I'm not the only one this is not a one off I wish I checked it out first!