going to look at a fiat punto today anything i need to look for?

Inactive

mr_tickle wrote: »

I test drove a VW Polo and owned a Nissan Primera. Nothing went wrong with the Primera, but both cars were so incredibly boring to drive it made me want to cry.

Well if you are happy with your Fiat/s, that is fine, most people prefer a " boring " Primera that takes them from a to b reliably, in preference to a Fiat sat at the side of the road with the bonnet up.

Myself included..

aimee21j

Oh BTW I was once a member of fiat forum (and a few others!) and I had good and bad words to say about my punto.

judderman62

mr_tickle wrote: »

Apart from that scottish one...

Saying that people who post on a Fiat forum all love Fiats and won't say a bad word about them is rubbish. It's like saying people who post here won't say a bad thing about anything money-related.

Generally people are prepared to be quite honest and point out the shortcomings of a given model. Then it's up to you to decide how those shortcomings and potential failure points weigh up against other cars. E.g. Puntos may not be the most reliable cars in the world, but then again they are cheap. Someone said "buy something German or Japanese". I test drove a VW Polo and owned a Nissan Primera. Nothing went wrong with the Primera, but both cars were so incredibly boring to drive it made me want to cry.

In the interests of disclosure, I've owned a Fiat Coupe, which I had a love/hate relationship with, and I own a (new style) Fiat Panda, which is fantastic, and very cheap to run.

Much as I prefer not to get personal on these forums if you found the Primera " so incredibly boring to drive it made me want to cry." then I think that says a lot about you not the car.

Parkers described the Primera as "The Drivers car in this category" - I own a 2001 Primera 1.8 and there is nothing boring about driving it - road holding is amazing and I can throw it round corners n bends at 50% plus faster speeds than with either of the Toyotas I've owned or the Escort I had. If I push it above 4000 revs - it fair shifts - boring ? :eek::eek::eek::eek: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

this tells you a little about handling & performance

goldspanners

this thread is starting to remind me of the last thread this guy opened,he asked for advise,got it and didnt really like it,so he argued about it,go and buy the punto as the fiat forum says they are great,a spotless engine bay means it is great right? no it means it has been pressure washed,all that hot soapy water getting into the italian wiring and motors,should be good then.
why ask for advise and then question it until you hear what you like?

judderman62

I've changed my mind the Punto is an amazing car darned I wish I'd bought one instead of my Primera - yes go buy it without hesitation and ignore a significant majority.



there that better ?

Inactive

judderman62 wrote: »

I've changed my mind the Punto is an amazing car darned I wish I'd bought one instead of my Primera - yes go buy it without hesitation and ignore a significant majority.



there that better ?

Ditto, yes get a nice Fiat, you know it makes sense, the Italians make lovely Ice Cream, so there is no reason why they cannot make lovely cars, get one before they are all sold.:rolleyes:

mr_tickle_2

Inactive wrote: »

Well if you are happy with your Fiat/s, that is fine, most people prefer a " boring " Primera that takes them from a to b reliably, in preference to a Fiat sat at the side of the road with the bonnet up.

On the contrary, my Fiat Panda has had exactly the same reliability as my Primera, i.e. neither have gone wrong for me. (Panda is 2 years and 43k miles old)
In response to the Primera comments, my Primera was the previous version (1997) and a 1.6. Roadholding yes, performance no (I couldn't keep up with a 1.2 Corsa),. It was the only 16V I've driven that hated to be revved. I'm sure later ones are better

goldspanners wrote:

...go and buy the punto as the fiat forum says they are great

When they make comments like, "Fiats do go wrong more often than some..." and "the chance of failure on the 1.1 and 1.2 petrol engines is very high." they are obviously biased. :rolleyes:

FWIW I wouldn't buy a Punto (too unreliable! )

custardy

mr_tickle wrote: »

Apart from that scottish one...

Saying that people who post on a Fiat forum all love Fiats and won't say a bad word about them is rubbish. It's like saying people who post here won't say a bad thing about anything money-related.

Generally people are prepared to be quite honest and point out the shortcomings of a given model. Then it's up to you to decide how those shortcomings and potential failure points weigh up against other cars. E.g. Puntos may not be the most reliable cars in the world, but then again they are cheap. Someone said "buy something German or Japanese". I test drove a VW Polo and owned a Nissan Primera. Nothing went wrong with the Primera, but both cars were so incredibly boring to drive it made me want to cry.

In the interests of disclosure, I've owned a Fiat Coupe, which I had a love/hate relationship with, and I own a (new style) Fiat Panda, which is fantastic, and very cheap to run.

yeah Liams ugly

Inactive

mr_tickle wrote: »

On the contrary, my Fiat Panda has had exactly the same reliability as my Primera, i.e. neither have gone wrong for me. (Panda is 2 years and 43k miles old)
In response to the Primera comments, my Primera was the previous version (1997) and a 1.6. Roadholding yes, performance no

Wow your Panda is 2 years old and it hasn't broken down yet.:eek:

You are comparing a 2 year old Panda with a ten year old Primera that was under powered, you should have got the 2 Litre version, correct engine size for body mass.

mr_tickle_2

I can only compare on reliability based on what I know - I'm not going to make a ridiculous comment like all Fiats spend all their time "sat at the side of the road with the bonnet up."

I only owned the Primera for a year. I didn't have the luxury of finding a 2 litre (which was supposed to be pretty good), as I needed it at short notice.

As we're way off topic here, I should point out that the Panda is better for moneysaving, as it gets 65-70 mpg, when the Primera got me about 36.