First car - MK2 Punto!

[CB125T]

Hi

Been meaning to show this off for a while, it's my first car and I absolutely love it

It's a 2001 1.2 8V, not the quickest thing in the world, but a brilliant thing to chuck around and get some experience in. I'm 18 and it costs around £1k to insure with fixed price telematics.

It hasn't been the most reliable of things, it has a misfiring problem and the injector warning light came on however I have since discovered that this is because of Sainsbury's fuel. Now use Tesco super unleaded and it's running a lot better. Tax is due at the end of march (£77) and it's going in to Halfords Autocentres for a major service.

I've done about 3.5k miles in it since getting it on on the 10th of December, and I have had all sorts of MPG from it. If I'm really careful it shows 62mpg, but usually averages out at about 45/50 however recently, even with economical driving it's been getting 37 for some reason however I am not actually sure why.

Anyway, here's a few pics -

This was the day I got it


A couple of weeks later when out with a friend

A couple of dealer pics -




The interior -


Will be uploading a few more pictures aswell as a few "mishaps" I've had soon

Edited by CB125T on Wednesday 19th February 12:34

[Neil G60]

Sharp looking little supermini, I've always like that shape Punto. Rare to see one which isn't covered in dings (although this somehow always seems appropriate for an Italian supermini)

[Coaster94]

Looks like a tidy example that, here's mine, Percy the Punto, exactly the same as yours too.

There great first cars, although mine's been far from reliable too, despite only having 42k on the clock when I bought it, 3 years quite harsh driving later it's now on 60k. Enjoy your ownership, there a hoot to drive and the 8v is quite gutsy, depsite running out of puff at 60+mph.

Also, please do tell me how you ever got 60mpg, I don't think i've ever done more than 45!

Tom.

[aspirated]

That's probably the cleanest Punto I've ever seen

[Synchromesh]

Have you considered servicing it yourself? After years of sending cars to the garage to have them serviced I finally plucked up the courage to have a go myself and it was surprisingly easy. If you can tighten a bolt you can service a car, and you'll save a load of money in the process.

[r1ch]

My brother has a silver 1.2 Punto and I think its quite a fun little car. Looks good in black.

[8bit]

Nice I had one of these as my first car too, a 52-plate 1.2 Mia. Mine was even less reliable though, had head gasket fail, along with a few other things over the 18 months I owned it... Still enjoyed it though

[chucklebutty]

Top tip - fiat 500 wheels fit. I bought brand new set of steelies with 500 hub caps for £130 with Conti EcoContact tyres when a chap kept them but bought alloys for his 500. Look great, tyres were 175/65 r 14 so a teeny bit wider.

[melvster]

Get some sporting wheels for it; will look tonnes better as you have the Abarth skirts. Tidy first car

[CB125T]

I am very tempted by the sporting alloys actually.

Some more pics


Just about to go for a test drive in it, took this pic to send to all my mates as I had already decided I wanted it THis was on the 10th of December, the day I bought it



Got it home about two hours after the test drive



Two days after and I was on TV transporting duties for my dad as we were moving house at the time. Very impressed with how much this car can hold.



A couple of weeks later, this happened Had a slight coming together with the kerb when pulling into the space.




It then spent a lot of time being absolutely filthy due to my 50 mile round trip a day


Managed to headbutt the rear view mirror off Still trying to source a genuine Fiat one as this is only a suction one and for some reason won't stay on for more than a few minutes!


Now spend a lot of time parked like this to protect my paintwork!


Bearing in mind I picked up the car on 70253, this is quite a lot of miles covered! Ticked over to 74k this Monday.

The handbrake has started to lose its usefulness so it's going in asap to get that fixed, at the same time I will be getting it serviced and getting the mechanic to take a look at everything for peace of mind. The tax is due soon (£77) so that's yet another bill to pay out

Still love the car though!

Thanks

[melvster]

Glad you are enjoying it; mine needs some TLC at present as there is a squeak coming from the front right and a slight knocking sound coming from the rear left when going around corners so i am suspecting bushes and possibly something else. It's not quick but it's enjoyable on a twisty road with the T1R's

[acd80]

My first car was a 2001 Fiat Punto 1.2 Mia in black with a grey cloth interior. Cracking little car which served me well for 3 years and 50k miles before I replaced it. Contrary to popular opinion about their reliability, I had no problems with it unlike other cars I owned (yes, I'm looking at you VW Golf.....).

[CB125T]

T1Rs?.. tempting! I've currently got some form of Pirellis but they spin in the wet so have been looking for something different.

Love the car though, brilliant fun to drive on the local A/B roads round here, I find that in 4th it does quite well on the country roads.

Hopefully I will get myself to some of the sunday services/meets and show it off

[Coaster94]

Just been back home over the weekend, so got to drive my Punto and put some new tyres on it incidentally. Can definitely recommend Falken; can't remember the tyre name though, although it's standard 165/70/R14 fitment. The difference is night and day with the ditchfidders I had on it previously.

Although, well worth joining www.fiatforum.co.uk - very useful forum, and lots of friendly and likeminded folk on there, coming from past experience, there great for offering advice on issues, or mods.

Also, fairly useful if you do buy some sporting alloys, they usually pop up on there every now and again.

Tom

[carinaman]

Little Fiats are such fun. As others have said, that looks very clean early on. Nice red interior too.

[higgsy18]

+1 on joining the fiatforum.

Had one as my first car too, stood up to all the abuse a 17 year old could throw at it and still drove exactly the same 2 years later

[CB125T]

Have looked at FF a couple of times but haven't joined yet, will do it soon though.

Went to a hand car wash the other day, called FS in the Homebase car park in Canterbury, amazing place. I pull up to a queue of about ten cars, one of the meployees spproaches me, offers me acup of tea or coffee (wasn't expecting this) then asks me what kind of was I like. Ended up going for a full inside and outside (jet wash and wax on the outside, hoover, fragrance, dusting, and windows on the inside) for £10, brilliant deal. The car was immaculate and will be using them again without a doubt.

Heres some pics -







Had an expensive drive to work the other day

[DannyScene]

Nice car OP

My mate had one exactly the same, served him faultlessly for 3 years until an MOT inspection threw up a few hundred quid of welding and he scrapped it

[Warw1ckHunt]

It doesn't matter what cars you buy in the future - they may be newer, shinier, faster and more glamorous, your first car will always occupy a special place in your heart. Enjoy!

[TAHodgson]

I had three of little devils. First was a 5 door 1.2 8V, after it's MOT needed to be scrapped, so found a 3 door 8v, about a week later found a lovely 1.2 16v Abarth replica so bought that! The 8v's are a good first car, not fast enough to do anything silly in. The sporting is still one of the favourite cars i've owned, yet probably the most unreliable. As a side note, it really doesn't matter how much you spend on tyres in these things, it WILL spin the wheels/understeer everywhere