A delightful piece of Italian Motor Engineering
Nothing as yet, although there is a loud squeaking noise made by the bearings in the transmission, this tends to go after warmed up.
Light and Spacious interior.
Quick goer for just a 1.1 engine.
Regularly serviced by Jaguar, runs very well.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 21st August, 2005
Roomy, but absolutely unreliable
Exhaust pipe replaced at 52000
Swing arms and "wishbones" replaced at 53000
Shock absorbers and brakes relaced at 53000
Gearbox broke in bits replaced together with clutch at 54000
Timing belt replaced at 57000
Original radio/cassette (Blaupunkt) was giving a horribly loud high pitch "beep" when out of town (could be the consequence of automatic TA search, as I was told at the garage). Proved to be impossible to fix, was replaced eventually.
Consistent erratic idle (sometimes will start going up to 5000 rpm and over!) from 55000, lambda sensor and idle valve replaced at 72000, but did not fix the problem.
Water pump failed at 76000, resulting overheating damaged the head gasket. This was the last drop - got rid of the car after that.
Totally unreliable car - a disaster to have one. I spent more on repairs than on the car itself at time of purchase
My advice: never buy a Fiat
Just two positive features: 1) economical on tax/insurance and fuel consumption;
2) very roomy for its class, can carry bookcases and two bikes at a time (without disassembling them)
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 25th January, 2005
Reasonable small car, but reliability questionable
Head gasket and cooling system problems resulting in no cooling water circulating in engine. Luckily short journeys prevented major damage as fault was not diagnosed immediately.
Seems to be a common problem from other comments on this site.
Otherwise just routine servicing items.
Performance is acceptable and cruises quietly at 70mph on the motorway.
Ride comfort not brilliant, but better than Uno owned previously.
Rolls too much in corners - worse than Uno.
Clean modern design if a bit 'slabby'
Cabin plasticky, but pleasant enough with headroom for taller people.
Reliable apart from recent overheating issue costing £450 to fix. Not acceptable given low mileage and gentle driving.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 12th December, 2004
High performance bargain
The injection light keeps coming on won't go off unless standing still.
This car is an underestimated sports car. I just bought mine and its running at 144bhp at the fly wheel and leaves cars behind in no time. I new I had to have this as soon as I test drove it, not only did it look stunning in white with 16" alloys, it took off with a nice note to its standard exhaust hissing its dump valve and being chipped as well it really takes you by surprise. If you want something which is fairly cheap insurance and sucks you back in your seat buy one of these little gems.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 27th February, 2004
Nice cheap cabriolet which is great fun to drive
Baffles in the exhaust weakened affecting performance and noise.
Lambda sensor was replaced due to wear and tear (usually should be replaced at about 60,000)
Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve required cleaning as it was suffocating the engine at low revs.
Electrics for the roof are a nice touch however the rear windows are manual requiring a trip into the back seats when having the roof down.
Cabriolet specific parts are hard to come by since the Bertone warehouses have closed a couple of year ago.
Rain tends to run off of the roof down the sides of the car causing dirty streaks.
Otherwise, this is a really nice car with the performance and economy that other Puntos provide.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 29th August, 2003
22nd Oct 2006, 07:39
Fiat Puntos I have found are a unique kind of car.. I first picked one up in feb 2006 with 104,000 miles on the clock.. Yes when I first got it something went in the engine with regards to the heater and I got a free of charge service to it.. Since then I am now on 115,000 miles (P reg 1997) and it works better than any other car I've had.
Admittedly the speed doesn't get there the fastest, but it maintains a nice smooth steady speed.. Overall this is so far one of the best choices in vehicles since having it.. Or did I get the lucky straw???