I am writing this review after 6 months driving 3000 km Fiat Punto 1.2 Petrol
Pros: Great looks, good steering, instrument panel displays lots of information, servicing interval 15000 KM, price very competitive, strong built, suspensions are very good,
Cons: very poor quality of plastic, big turning radius, not convenient to reverse the car, A/C not good for summer :), rear boot opener, fuel consumption, engine response, starting car requires lots of effort, ground clearance, central locking not available
Let me discuss some points in detail, especially Cons,
Plastic quality: Its very bad, you can feel the quality at first sight, my glove box opens every time I pass through the speed breaker, I took the car to service centre, now they fixed it too hard, its very inconvenient to open, so I am not using the glove box as I know it will come out if I open 10 times.
Turning radius: Its very huge like Truck, it becomes very inconvenient when taking U turn, there would be a traffic jam if 2/3 punto’s are taking U turn, its really true, this car is not good at all for female drivers.
Reversing issue: you cannot reverse this car(I am not a new driver)), Its hercules task, once I hit parking wall while reversing this car in malls parking basement, then I decided to take help of family member to get out of the car and guide me to reverse the car, like truck drivers do:),
A/C not good enough to cool the big car, its not effective at all, in Delhi’s summer you will not feel whether A/C is on, as A/C has to cool so much area of the car and its not powerful enough, you have to keep your one hand free to grab the paper tissue ):
Rear boot opener: you will not able to locate the handle at the rear, there is small groove where you need to put the figures, once I injured my figure while opening the boot.
Fuel consumption: With A/C ON is around 10KM/L, its very low by any standard.
Engine response: Pickup is very sluggish, on red light even bicycle car overtake punto as its engine will not respond till 3rd gear, on 2nd gear there would be a de-acceleration and sometimes car gives jerk in 2nd gear.
Difficult to start the car: when you insert the key you have to put lot of effort to start the car, ladies cannot start the car without proper guidance.
Ground clearance: Its very low, if roads are not good, it can cause huge damage to your Punto.
Central locking not available: At the time of purchase dealer promised that it would be available soon but after 6 months still its not there, now Fiat has launched 1.2 dynamic and emotion model with central locking so I feel they will never launch central locking for this 1.2 active model and user have to suffer each time they will board out of the car.
Pros I already mentioned in points no need to describe them.