I wanted the best car in market…. Review on Fiat Grande Punto

I didn't know much about cars and Alto is the only car I can speak since I owned one. Other cars were just a short distance drive that I can really comment about. Now with this experience I started my research. Sources were from team-bhp, mouthshut, fiat forum, YouTube and googled many more.

What I wanted in my car?

I wanted the best car available in market for my budget.

It has to be diesel and should give me good mileage.

It has to be a smooth driving.

I should not hear the engine sound when the car is turned on.

It needs to have enough power to overtake in traffic.

It should be comfortable for me and passengers to travel long distance.

It should look good.

Did I get everything I wanted? Read on…

Test drove the below cars and the main reason to reject them:

Swift: Good car, but didn't even bother to research on this car. Every tom, dick and harry had it.

I20: It was the same as Swift but had great looks. Expensive and did not feel the car its worth that much.

Liva: Interiors did not appeal. Felt less powerful. No diesel variant at that time.

Beat: Looks dint appeal. And very small boot space.

Fabia, Figo and Jazz were not in my list at all.

Short listed Polo and Punto:

Points that mattered to me in Polo:

Looks are so simple and elegant. For me it was the best looking car.

The Volkswagen brand.

It had decent mileage. My friend has it and gave good feedback.

Low platform car and felt very comfortable.

Good plastic felt like a luxury car.

It had Great handling.

It had Big Boot space.

It was Solid Build.

There was less rear seat space.

Felt comfortable driving it fast.(It was due to the low platform car I am very used to.)

Cost of base variant.(Rs 6, 90, 000) No offers.

Cost of service or maintenance was unknown(expected it to expensive).

Points that mattered to me in Punto:

As per my wife the white Punto looked like Tata Indica.

It was very spacious. Rare space was not bad.

It has decent mileage as per reviews.(Now I get 16 km/l on my daily travel and got 24 km/l once on highway)

I had some good offers worth Rs 35, 000 during that time.

Low maintenance cost because of the service intervals.

It had Great handling and felt very solid in my hands.

It has a Solid Build same as Polo.

It has decent interiors. Though I dint like the silver dash in Dynamic & Emotion.

The word “Punto” somehow got registered in my mind and related it to “Power”.

I did not feel comfortable driving it fast. (It was mainly due to lack of experience driving different cars)

I heard very bad reviews about Tata Service(Fiat’s service Partner).(Now: Yes, they are still not great. But it’s only when you compare them with Maruti & Hyundai.)

Decision process:

Now I was so confused between Polo and Punto that I had spent sleepless night thinking about it. Polo was the one close to my heart and Punto is the one that seems to be good as per the owner’s reviews. Especially, the once in “Mouthshut”. I was surprised to see so many passionate owners for Punto. I did not find the same passion for other car owners who gave 5 star rating for their cars. However I was not too interested in Punto since Fiat did not do well in India. So I decided to book Polo and applied for loan, though it cost more. I was not sure if my loan would get approved since I already have a car loan running. I decided that I will not pursue Polo if the loan was rejected. And just as I though the loan was not approved. So I decided to give a try with another bank for Punto. It was the same with the other bank too, but I managed to speak with manager and got my loan approved. Got my Punto 1.3 MJD Active for Rs 6, 00, 000. Now everything was smooth from there and got my Red Italian Beauty before the promised date.

Happy ever after:

It was after that; I realized how lucky I am. I may have not got all that I wanted in a car, but it’s certainly a good car I could have bought. It became an integrated part of my family that my wife’s friends kept nick name for us. Me – Punto, Wife – Punti and my Son – Puntu. Now I like driving and know what it is to drive a good car. Now I can rip my car the way I want and would respond exactly the way I want. I can take it on bad roads and don't have the same probs as I had with Alto(but on very bad roads the ground clearance is not that good). But what I loved the most is the passionate owners for Fiat and I am proud to be a part of this passionate group. Now I have the car that is the closest to my original wish list and never regretted from the day I started driving it. I used to wonder why the% of people who have recommended this car is very high and now I know why this Italian is good. Even my wife who was not too happy about Punto is now, in love with it. She keeps telling me how smooth it is to travel in it and how we love the “thud” sound while closing the door. It feels very solid and secure. I like to drive my car very smoothly and very fast at times. I am sure that those who have similar driving habit would love this car.

Conclusion:

I am sure that there are many people out there going through similar experience of mine. What I have learnt is that, different people have different likes and dislikes. So do not take other peoples advice blindly(those who do not own the car that they are talking about). It’s not that they are wrong, but driving it daily is different from taking a test drive. There would be lot of issue that can be noticed only by prolonged use. And once that seemed to be an issue while taking a test drive, may not really bother you on the long run. Look what owners feel about the car and take long distance test drives. I got what I wanted and hope others get what they wanted too…