Great Car, Great looks and Great Features!

 I have booked Fiat punto Emotion Diesel. I need to tell you that i took this decision after lot of research and doing test drives of all vehicle competing this car like ford figo, maruti swift vdi, polo diesel, ritz disel, I20 diesel. I am a mechanical engineer and studied the cars by all engg aspects as well as their costing. I found Fiat punto the great deal among all the cars. Exterior of the car is awesome aero dynamic you will feel least force by air streams at high speed, finishing is great, there are no sharp corners so less chances of starting of rust as we know corrosion starts from sharp edges of the car first, paint quality is better than maruti and ford. Paint quality of punto, polo and I20 is best. But if you will see the gauge of metal used (thickness) then it is best in fiat and polo worst in maruti and ford. As per my experience and study in ford body parts become loose after 2 years, same as in maruti but little bit better than ford. I 20 metal is not that strong but fit and finish is good. Polo and fiat is having best fit and finishing and metal thickness. Wt. of the punto is near about 1200kgs same as of polo and other cars wt. is near about 1000kgs, this is because of stronger material used in punto and polo.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Interiors if you will compare you will find best in I20 but for diesel segment price of I20 diesel is more by 1lacks rs as compare to other cars so and i doesn’t found it cost competitive. some people may found Punto interior quality bad......but i will advice then to think ones again and inspect carefully you will find that plastic in punto is the strongest as compare to plastic of other cars they have given rough finish as they want to make it feel like manly and to maintain the strong image of the car. One must take test drive of the car and will find that dashboard of punto making least noise on bumpy road. Once you will sit inside the car you will be isolated from outside noisy environment. Also this internal is design for long lasting and one how wants to use this car for more than 8 to 10 years.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Ones again as a mechanical engg i must tell all you that fiat has the award winning diesel engine which is used for maruti swift, ritz, and indica vista diesel. This engine is great in performance, mileage and handling. Performance depends on the tuning of engine and gear box + transmition sys. and i need to tell you that as fiat mother of this engine definitely have done great job in same. Some people may find that punto little beat sluggish at start but after driving you will find that this is the best tuning for mileage and performance. We must take in to account the added wt. of 200kgs as compare maruti, figo and i20 which insures you more safety + good body quality. Fiat has done tuning as per the international taste of people, they have limited the RPM in 1st and 2nd gears so one may find it bit less powerful in 1st and 2nd  gears. Polo there is 3 cylinder engine compare to 4 cylinder engine of fiat, i don’t found it impressive and bit noisy too.  Because of longest wheel base and more wt + best tuning driving punto is most pleasurable. 

Ride Quality & Handling; As already stated ride quality of punto i found best, punto only has hydraulic steering mechanism where as in others it is electronic, I must tell you that Hydraulic system always more costly than electronic systems also more precise and accurate. One may find it little bit hard as compare to other cars with electronic gear mechanism, its true but this hydraulic system feel is uniform in high speed and more suitable to high speed, there are less chances of skidding and control is best.

As for the maruti cars this company is only charging premium over other cars because of their after sale service only, I am not against of this company my DAD is using same make car, but I don’t find those cars value for money, build quality not matching with other cars, less feature at same may be little bit high price.

As for I20, Hundai is the Korian brand which i never found appealing in terms of design and performance. They never had reputation in Diesel engines, they too charge some extra laks only for after sale service and i must tell you spare parts are very costly, same as that of Polo, during visit to their show room of polo for test drive i inquired abt spare parts and there people said that they don’t have list of spare parts how horrible the situation is, company should be punished by our Govt for fooling the customers, their manager said that they are offering 5 years guarantee for paint, when i asked what will they do if there will be any problem they were unanswerable and said such case never reported, also not giving a single free servicing. 

Final Words After lot of research i Finalized Punto diesel emotion. I know one will not find many Punto on road only maruti swift and ritz, but make sure that this is because of Indian Mentality only, as per my study maruti cars should be less costly by 1.5 laks for the quality they are offering. One might able to calculate that Punto is offering 200kgs of extra metal in less cost plus lot of additional features , stunning looks, great performance, best Engine tuned perfectly, more safety features at cost less than maruti, polo and I20 only because they want to establish in India again. You can still see the taxies of Fiat in Mumbai more than 25 years old still running this is what quality is.

Areas of improvement After sale service needs great improvement, as customers we found it risky to get servicing done from TATA motors as they them self are competitors of fiat.

style, handling, safety, and features to cost ratio is goodmay be after sales service