Punto Essay! Vs Polo (Fiat Punto (1994-99))

Member Name: Alex

Product:	Fiat Punto (1994-99)
Date:	15/02/09 (238 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, attractive, good first car!

Disadvantages: tailgate rust, fairly rough ride, not the most sylish but a good contender

Most of these reviews are quite old now!
I have just bought my second punto, so getting back into the swing of fiats! I have barely driven it so I will review my first punto! It will have bits of comparing with polos in too!
I bought mine from a local lady.
The head gasket went on my polo, so I was desperate to find a cheap car having lavished thousands on my polo (purchased for £400)
The Greenflag man said he knew of a lady selling a small car and gave me her number, and it turned out to be a beauty! It was her mothers car since new, had 64,000 miles, and almost top of the range at a 1.6 ELX. It was dirty and had a few parking dings but seemed fine, and a bargain at £250, even with no tax, and only a months mot. The first thing I did was take it to the garrage and get it an mot which cost £300 for shock absorbers. I think this was due to the lady I bought it from living up a ridiculously bumpy drive! and something else. I drove the car for a several months, and it was just like a brand new car! It was really nippy, and surprisingly only group 6 insurance. The 5 doors are a godsend after 3 doors with my polo, as was the remote locking, despite having to point it very close to the window!
Driving the car is a little bit like driving a go kart! the windscreen feels huge and it feels like you are very high up. the ELX model comes with most things! mine had alloys as well. The remote locking, abs, power steering, airbag, and steering controls. For the age of the car I think its really well styled. considering when this was made in 1996, its rivals were the citroen AX, Peugeot 106, VW Polo, and Renault Clio. The interior styling of all these looks about 10 years older! and the only real rival for exterior styling is the polo, which has one of the ugliest interiors. Having owned 2 polos and 2 puntos (in my year of driving haha) I would and have chosen the punto over it. Both my polos have had fairly high mileage at 140k which everyone said they would cope with being volkswagens! They were wrong, and both of mine have not been worth repairing, but once youve spent a certain amount its hard to go back! Anyway! Back to the punto!
Mine was pretty much fine apart from me knocking the exhaust front pipe on a pavement, with my ingenuitive parking at college! This was relatively cheap to fix. Unfortunately, just the week after I had spent £170 on the exhaust and a tyre, disaster struck and my cam belt snapped!
This unfortunately took out all 8 valves in the process, and cost £400 to fix from a friend of the family!
The crucial point being here, so the greenflag man says, is that the cambelt must be replaced not just every 70k miles, but if not that then every 5 years, apparently this is a common misconception! hence my low mileage bargain became a bit of a silly mistake!
Eventually after 3 weeks (if you want a cheap mechanic you have to wait)
I got back on the road!
--- Another point, the valves are so rare to find for this model of punto, they had to be shipped from italy! which is another reason for the 3 week wait!
Finally once I was back on the road, I had slept very little the night before (not due to alcohol I assure you!)
and had lost some of my spacial awareness on the road! These two combined was a tragic outcome! and I hit a bit of the hedge sticking out, and rolled the car :( The barna-bus was gone!
Anyway! this has turned into more of a story than a review!
I eventually replaced this with the only thing I could find, an S reg polo, 140k, diesel (supposedly could handle the mileage) with 6 months mot and tax. First thing I discovered, The steering wheel was loose! resulting in a trip to the garrage which they diagnosed, to cost £400, needless to say I decided this would be a mistake and tied it up, so it barely moves... Safe...
along the line we had the cambelt and glow plugs done by a local garrage, I told them to not do anything expensive, as it wouldnt be worth it, and somehow they managed to cost me £700 . This was for glow plugs which I could do myself in an hour, and a cambelt which should take a couple of ours, I thought this was extortionate! They then told me the exhaust had burnt a hole in my bumper, I would need new suspension bushes, and several other parts! Not what you expect from a regularly serviced Volkswagen!
Ive finally decided, I hate this car, and I never want a polo again unless its got a low mileage, and feels like new!
So! while browsing the paper I saw a punto! £100, and 154k miles, for a start I am astonished a punto managed to get to this mileage! theyre good but not that good! And the price doesnt suggest brilliance!
I was pleasantly surprised! a 1.2 75SX Its got oomph and will easily nip round! and is only 15hp less than my 1.6 which is brilliant for such a small engine!
This also has the luxury of power steering and wheel controls for the stereo! which is not something you often find on the SX models. However being a pre 98 model, it has black plastic bumpers. I plan to paint these!
The car has worn its miles well, and still looks fresh!
My ELX had horrible Velour seats which looked very old and faded, this model has dark purple/black cloth uphosltrey which looks like new. The carperts are clean and the body is in good condition! I am very surprised at this for the mileage! The car also had a file with every single bill or piece of service history since new! I thought this was amazing, and coupled with the low price bought it without even driving the car myself! I know the guy vaguely through other friends, and he was very honest with me! he said the exhaust was blowing a bit and would need some welding for the mot, Im going to take the car to a garrage and ask whether its worth having this done. He said his friend of his, an mot tester said it shouldnt have much trouble passing the mot. I've driven it round a bit at home, and it drives like new! The clutch bites really high, and the brakes are firm! it doesn't sound rattley at all! I just hope I dont get a nasty surprise! the only thing I did notice was the car has had in the last 4 years, the brakepipes changing upwards of 8 times, as has the cam belt tensioner! I cant find the cam belt as the writing of the mechanics all fairly poor! theres a sticker which has annoyingly rubbed off just over the date and mileage!
Anyway! the car is similar to my last one, and I should point out puntos have an incredibly hard ride! this was the one thing the polo has over the punto! However the punto is still more pleasing to drive if a little loud...
I'd definately go for SX over the S level trim.
However, these days when your buying an mk1 punto theyre so old now the trim barely affects the price! So look out for an ELX as it is a much stronger feeling of quality (much as you get for a punto)! look out for the post 98 SX's as well as theyll come with the body coloured bumpers which transform the car!
I recently test drove the equivilent model of MK2 punto. The mk1 feels stirdier, and less plasticcy, and the new one seems more designed to be cheap... This could just be me being mentally biassed! and obviously given the choice Id have the newer one!

Looks wise, the punto is attractive from the back, from the side its relatively ok, and from the front it looks cross eyed because of the small lights and old style fiat badge! I put on a new style round badge which somehow transforms it! another point for the interior would be that the stereo on anything below ELX is quite poor. It comprises of two tweeters in the dash, and two 4 inch speakers in the parcel shelf support... nothing else. Handy for putting 6x9s into a parcel shelf but it laks oomph. The ELX is a big improvement, it has 6 inch speakers added to this in the door. This also has a more stylish door card and looks less like the door of an austin metro!
For value for money, and a good first car, a punto is a safe choice, provided nothing major is likely to fail i.e cambelt or head gasket.

Essay over! I cant think of anything else to say!
Rest assured of this punto comes to be a costly mistake my oppinion will lower somewhat!
However I remain adament polos are not very good, though the most attractive, exterior wise, of their generation of superminis!

Summary: Great value for money provided you find a fairly low mileage one, service history shows its been car

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