30th Nov 2009, 11:17

I have had my Fiat Grande Punto for two years now. It has been back to the garage 8 times. Faults with the electrics - bulbs all blowing at once after two weeks of owning a brand new car? - no explanation forthcoming. "Hill Holder not available" warning flashes up all the time Passenger window switch works intermittently, they have attempted to fix these on numerous occasions, still to no solution. Then the steering went on a busy road - very dangerous. The yaw sensor apparently the fault there. Terrible customer service from Fiat Ireland on the whole. No interest in the fact that the car is patently unsafe.

Now today a letter arrives to inform me that there is a fault with the steering shaft tightening torque, and the car is being recalled for a safety check?

Fiat Grande Puntos are a joke, an absolute disgrace of a car, totally unsafe, shoddy finish on the interior. The biggest waste of money and time. Stay clear if you can!

15th Jan 2010, 17:26

I have a Grande Punto multi jet 09 plate. I have had a few problems so far. The main problem I have with it is that the temperature gauge is fluctuating, and it only gets lukewarm in the car. Does anybody else have this problem? The garage are trying to say this is normal, which I don't believe.

14th Feb 2010, 09:42

Just traded in my 53 Punto Active (60,000 miles, no problems at all from new) for a new Grande Dynamic, 3 months down the line and all is fine, inc performance spec. Let's face it, you either get a good Italian car or a bad one. Fiat = style, Ford = dull, you choose. Happy driving folks.

18th Jan 2011, 05:12

I have an '07 Grande Punto, bought as dealer demo, now have 97,000km of thrashing under its belt, much of it on my gravel road. Very happy with the engine, gearbox and handling, as well as styling, as well as holding up extremely well to a ford territory (large 4x4) rear ending me.

Problems:

Driver door unable to be opened from interior.

Both rear doors being difficult to open from outside. I've found pushing the door "more closed" while pulling the handle works, which probably means the locks just need adjusting.

One of the rear windows (manual wind-up) has detached from the winding mechanism, and must be pulled down while winding to go down or the winder will spin, but the window won't move.

I have replaced both the front brake pads and disks at 95,000km (at cost of AU$850). Probably attributed to my spirited driving and the Australian dust down my road.

Air con not working, even after Fiat Parramatta did a leak test and regassed the system.

Plastic strip at front of dash (demister vents) has partially separated from dash, as well as all the plastic casing for the seat belt buckle receivers in the rear breaking.

Have also noticed the bonnet has some small dents protruding from where the bonnet catch is (must close the bonnet very delicately!)

I think I may need new shock absorbers, but this would be my fault! (I have property and fancy myself a rally driver occasionally!)

So, lots of niggly faults, but as a driving machine it is awesome. Also great on fuel and the stock sound system was great, although I have upgraded it somewhat.

23rd Nov 2014, 21:06

I have owned an 06 Fiat 1.9 Mjet GP since 2010, and now I'm only just starting to get these knocking issues on the front end. Also vibration whilst accelerating, so now I'm going to give it a front end birthday (rack, drive shafts, strut top mounts, ARB links). I think it deserves it because it's been so reliable and never broke down. It could be a hell of a lot worse guys. I worked at a Volvo dealership in a workshop, and my god count yourselves lucky you don't own one of them.