General Comments:
This car is not going to win any awards for speed, it is a capable town/city car that will happily cruise at 70mph.
The interior has faired really well for a four year old car the only mark is a scratch that I did whilst transporting a full length mirror.
This is a cheap car and as such you miss out on a lot of equipment, the standard radio I found was quite poor, but it was easily upgraded (with the aid of a faceplate). The "City" button is a nice addition as it makes the power steering even lighter to aid parking and narrow street driving.
I still think that it is a good looking car, the lights on it are fantastic, and not a single thing so far (other than tyres and exhaust) have need replacing, not even a bulb.
I have recently started traveling up to 650 miles per week and the Fiat has never once complained, it's as smooth as it ever was. One thing I did notice was that if you go over 70mph the fuel economy suffers rather badly, as the car only has a 1.2 8v engine this has to be expected.
Overall the fuel economy is quite good with 400 miles usually returned from a full tank. As a student this car served my very well, and I think it is an ideal first car.
Also another strong point in its favor is the fact that it achieved 4 stars in the Euro NCAP crash test, for such a small car this was quite impressive.
15th Dec 2007, 15:56
I have a jtd punto too and I know what you mean about it taking ages to warm up.
Can you post some information about the turbo on your car as mine does not provide any boost until the engine is at full operating temperature. This means that on short trips the car performs like a non-turbo straight diesel and therefore has very poor acceleration.
Does your punto behave in the same manner as mine?