fiat grande punto - thoughts please

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Hey everyone,

I'm looking at a fiat grande punto for the missus.. any good? - probably the 1.9 sporting 3 door.

Good points.. bad points.. high milage a concern? When does the timing belt need doing?

Anyone seen any good ones around 5k?

Cheers!

[BigAlinEmbra]

Had one on hire in holiday and for a white goods car does the job just fine.
Decent mpg (although I am comparing a diesel to a fiat coupe 20vt!).

Didn't really do anything special, nor anything really wrong. Big A-pillars were a bit of a pain in the hoop on dolomite hairpins, but that was about it.
Nicely shaped steering wheel that felt good to hold.

I wouldn't spend 5k on one, but each to their own.

[BigAlinEmbra]

Oh aye, cigar lighter aka power socket is right next to the handbrake and got right on my tits as we were running on sat nav a lot of the time.

[Pooh]

I have had my 1.9 sporting for 15 months/30k miles and I am very happy with it. It is fun to drive, surprisingly quick, spacious, comfortable apart from a fairly firm ride and very cheap to run(group 6, 50 mpg, 18k service intervals).
As far as reliability/build quality goes, it does not rattle or squeak but it has needed an airflow meter and a door latch(a common problem), both were fixed quickly and easily under warranty.
The position of the cigarette lighter is a bit of a pain but that is about my only complaint with it.
Mine looks like this.

[Pooh]

BigAlinEmbra said:

Had one on hire in holiday

I am surprised you got a 1.9 sporting as a hire car.

[BigAlinEmbra]

Pooh said:

BigAlinEmbra said:

Had one on hire in holiday

I am surprised you got a 1.9 sporting as a hire car.

Neither of us can read! I didn't spot the sporting, and you didn't see me saying diesel.

Tbh even if it had an alfa V6 in it I'd still struggle to like it.
Diesel is slooooooooooooow.

[Pooh]

BigAlinEmbra said:

Pooh said:

BigAlinEmbra said:

Had one on hire in holiday

I am surprised you got a 1.9 sporting as a hire car.

Neither of us can read! I didn't spot the sporting, and you didn't see me saying diesel.

Tbh even if it had an alfa V6 in it I'd still struggle to like it.
Diesel is slooooooooooooow.

The 1.9 sporting is a diesel and with 130 bhp and 207 lb/ft it is certainly not slooooooow, in fact it is nearly as quick down a twisty back-road as my old V6 Alfa GTV. You cannot judge the sporting by driving a normal Grande Punto, the driving experience is totally different, I was given a standard 1.2 Grande Punto as a loan car and I hated it but I really enjoy driving the sporting.

[BigAlinEmbra]

I was never told what capacity it was, but I suspect it was the 1.3 multijet.

Tried nailing it past a big lorry on a flat road and mashing the throttle made lots more noise and not much more speed. Survived to tell the tale, but not fun.
Practicality isn't high on my priority list for a car, so personally I'd spend £5k on something more interesting.

That said, I don't have a lovely Maser in my garage like the OP.

[Pooh]

BigAlinEmbra said:

I was never told what capacity it was, but I suspect it was the 1.3 multijet.

It must have been the 1.3 because the 1.9 is only fitted to the sporting and it clearly was not one of those.
I use my one for commuting on a mixture of B roads and duel carriageway, it is very cheap to run but still fun to drive on the back-roads with plenty of punch for overtaking, so it suits me fine, if I want more fun I can use the TVR.

[GI Jnr]

I've just put mine up for sale after 8 months and 16k miles. Great car IMO. Nice amount of torque, comfortable ride and really good build quality.

Spacious, lovely design, sporty and economical.

Tuan