Faults:

No faults so far.

General Comments:

The stiff suspension is great! The car corners flat with minimal body roll. Slightly more bumpy around town, but it's never bouncy; feels solid, much like a larger car.

Steering - Having read many bad reviews regarding the "steering feel", I really have to say I don't see what the problem is. If you're a normal person, you'll never drive the car fast enough to notice the apparent "dullness" or "lack of feel". I love to nip on in twisty country lanes. I've owned a mk1 MR2, famed for its great steering feedback, but I can hardly notice the difference. Unless you're on a track, I really don't think it's worth criticising. When I buy a car, I don't drive it on its limit, as I want the car to last, and I don't want to crash! To me the Fiat is confidence inspiring and fun at legal speeds ;)

The engine has a slight turbo lag, but personally I love the feeling of a turbo kicking in, so to me it's a positive aspect!

However when you're nipping on the 6 gears, make sure you're never far away from buckets of torque. Much less frantic than a high revving engine, and economical too.

The interior is lovely on the Sporting model; tasteful colour coding, stitching and cloth; feels more expensive than it is in reality. All in all, it feels sporty without compromising comfort.

Faults:

I was driving along, and stopped at a roundabout, when the gearbox started jumping around and grinding. I pulled over immediately. The gearbox has gone and I needed to replace it, along with the clutch. The car had only done 44,000 miles, and is well looked after.

The heater failed just a few months after I purchased the car.

If you buy the gearbox from Fiat, you would pay about a grand for it. I have paid 695 to replace the gearbox and clutch, and that is because it is my friend's garage. Gutted!

General Comments:

It is a good wee run around.

Faults:

I had one as a hire car from Drive Assist, as my Citroen C1 was in for repair after some muppet drove into it whilst it was parked in Tescos car park!

The Grand Punto was a pile of junk and was only a year old!

The car showed signs of wear after only a year, and switches were marked or did not work properly, and the air vent on the dashboard at the front by the windscreen has warped in the sunlight.

The first evening on the way home, it became a nightmare to get in and out of gear, and the AA were called out, who discovered that the clutch cable had jumped out of its housing due to cheap plastic fittings!

The diesel engine was superb, and the car's performance was good. This car was replaced with a 1.4 petrol version the next day, which was much slower, but had much of the same faults as the previous car!

Thank God it was only a hire car, as I would not have bought one myself...

The man who came to collect the car was dropped off in a new Fiat Panda, and I asked him if that car was better than the Grand Puntos the hire company had lent to me, and he said that they were Fiat, and they were still crap!!!