Faults:

Where to start?

ECU.

Door handles and locks.

Electric windows.

Hand brake lever.

Gear lever.

Gear linkages.

Bonnet catch.

Airbags.

Coil packs.

Rear wiper arm snapped.

Stereo broke.

General Comments:

The car looked to be a good economical little runaround, however within a few miles it started to run on 2 cylinders. Discovered the ECU was broken. This was repaired through a friend at trade prices, as the local Fiat dealer wanted well over £500 to resolve.

All the other things wrong with this car are very surprising and disappointing; it has the worst build quality I have seen on a car in a long time. We have even had cars from early 80s that were better than this.

There are sharp edges everywhere; even the interior door handles cut you; it's a really bad car. Has been in family since nearly new, and has always had local dealer service history, and even they admit it is one of the worst cars they have seen.

It has always been well cared for, oil checked every week, serviced on time, garaged, washed and waxed once a week, and it even has rust bubbles along every door and the wheel arches, and in random places. This is really bad on a 2004 car.

The Proton we had previous was a cheap car too, but so much better in reliability terms, and it had no rust when it went off to the scrap yard.

Everything seems to break: switches, electrics etc. This car has been back to dealer under warranty frequently when new, and still now requires work regularly.

It eats front tyres, despite being looked at several times and the tracking put right etc. There are several warning lights on that no one can find the cause of the problem.

It just feels as though it was built in a shed somewhere. They may look classy and smart, but they are utter rubbish.

I will never buy Fiat again; we have had a Fiat Uno in the past and it was a very good car, so naturally we were expecting the same with the Punto.

Not sure whether we got a bad one or not, but we'll just buy something Japanese next time.

Not a good buy at all.

Faults:

Throttle body, main dealer price to include new battery £580, beware Fiat owners

General Comments:

Was a good shopping trolley.

Faults:

Water pump developed a small leak around the 30,000 miles, and needed to be replaced. Very small mileage for such a failure.

Starter motor faulty after 50,000 miles; also very early failure, and needed to be replaced (not cheap), and hard to source a replacement.

General Comments:

Punto's are cheap and almost cheerful! You know what you are getting when you compare against other mainstream manufacturer's.

The Multijet is extremely frugal on diesel and regularly returns 60+ mpg, regardless of how I drive. 600+ miles per fill and reasonable performance when you get it over the 2000rpm range. (engine also used in Opel/Vauxhall 1.3 diesel models).

Faults:

Nowt yet.

General Comments:

Driven the petrol and the diesel HGT. Opted for the diesel for the high mileage I do.

I wouldn't call either of these cars fast though, better than average maybe, but not fast. Just a nice car with nice spec.

I plan to chip the diesel, but I've just gotta be a bit careful cos I've heard that the clutch and gearbox ain't that strong if modded.