Fiat Grand Punto - opinions

[Eddie Twadds]

Looking for a replacement car for the good lady and that can also be used by my son to learn to drive.

I have found a 2009, one owner, 1.4 8v Fiat Grand Punto GP, 5 door, with 85,000 miles for sale privately at £1,500. Cam belt recently done and to be MOTed shortly by current owner. All working fine. Rear springs changed last year along with a service and only travelled 3,000 miles in last year.

The car looks good, and the price looks OK too, so interested in ownership feedback and what to look out for? I understand the front suspension top mounts often require changing and the PAS can play up but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Anything else I should be looking for or worried about as an ownership proposition?

Thanks

[Edible Roadkill]

The Mrs has one years ago think it was a 2007, plagued with electrical problems. Electric windows never worked etc. Check all the elsectics work.

[anonymous-user]

I had a Sporting 1.9 from new, I never had a single problem in 3 years ownership

[ilikejam]

I don't really know anything about them, but I sold my mother in law's 2008 of pretty much identical engine, age, mileage around 3 years ago. I noticed a knock from the driver's front wheel area when at full steering lock. If you looked down to the bottom of the engine bay with a torch you could see a lot of the pipes had started to split along their length - worth checking for.

[f00glee]

My other half had one 7 or 8 years ago for about 18 months. From memory it was an 07 with ~50000 miles. It was a nice enough car to be in, we both thought. Its biggest issue was its automatic gearbox. Massively long gear change times, indecisiveness, and then on the odd occasion it decided it wouldn't select any gear at all, or maybe only 1st. Multiple trips back to the dealer and never solved so was eventually traded in. The words "selespeed gearbox oil" are ingrained in my memory forever.

A colleague currently has one too. It stops working in the cooler months due to the immobilizer playing up. A suspected dry/intermittent solder connection which is proving very difficult for them to find.

[DaveTheRave87]

I had a 2005 Grande Punto (1.2 Active with more blanking plates than buttons) from 2008-2014. Had to change the driver's door handle as it broke (had to put the window down to open the door when inside the car) both top mounts, had to replace something (can't remember what) in the cooling system, possibly the thermostat housing as it was leaking all over the driveway. I would have had to replace the demister fan as it was only working in dry, non misty, weather but I got a good trade in price so changed the car instead.

Apart from that, it was reliable and never left me stuck at the side of the road.

Good looking car as well, mine was that dark blue that they were launched in.