15th May 2006, 07:57

My car was purchased in Feb 2004 It has been back 6 times for the following.

Rear suspension mountings 3 times.

Gear selector cables required replacing. This apparently is a fault with this particular model.

Passenger door keeps dropping.

The gear-box has now gone at 21,500 miles. Unfortunately because the car was serviced 2 weeks late on the first service Fiat will not repair the gear-box under the terms for the third year warranty. Fiat are also not prepared to accept that a gear-box should last longer.

Fiat are also not prepared to accept my statutory rights are being infringed. The car is only used for driving on normal roads and no speeding offences against the vehicle.

12th Jun 2006, 13:25

Worth having the warranty checked properly. Most require you to get the services done within a month or 1,000 miles of the correct mileage, so you would qualify.

Why not ring another dealer and ask? You don't have to give them the story, just say you are getting your car serviced soon and want to get it right!

15th Aug 2006, 03:53

UPDATE BY THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR.

The Punto has now settled down and is giving trouble free motoring. The dealer did fix the passenger door, however I don't think it is lined up 100% correctly, but it does open and close normally.

I still like it after 14 months of ownership and hope it lasts a few years yet.

26th Nov 2006, 13:18

Honestly, if you've never driven/owned a car yourself before you aren't going to be able to determine if it "rides well". You really have no point of reference.

People generally like the cars they first drove when young. I grew up on small cars and like small cars. Most Americans like myself grew up on large cars and now drive SUVs.

You won't really know any difference between cars until you actually drive a bunch of them. And believe me, there ARE differences.

3rd Apr 2007, 11:03

I've just passed my test and I have a 1.2 fiat punto active sport 8 v which I purchased off my mum. She's had this car for 3 years now (2004 model) and now I have it. She brought this car brand new and has had NO problems what-so-ever, all I needed to do when I got the car was change the brake pads. In my opinion I believe the way you drive and treat the car reflects on what goes wrong with it e. g if you crunch your gears a lot then it will result in your gearbox breaking quicker, and if doors are slammed to an extent just maybe they will start breaking. What I'm trying to say is look after your car and drive properly and your car will last.

23rd Apr 2007, 17:24

Just brought 2004 active sport 8v after destroying my C2GT. I have had to settle for a slower cheap to insure moter!!

It only has 7800 on the clock, so hopefully I won't get any of these problems!

Any tips or tricks to getting the most out of my little automobile!!

Cheers.

14th Jul 2007, 19:02

Bought A 53 Active Sport 1.2 8V recently, only problem had so far is the battery dying. When examined by breakdown, it was apparently 'on its last legs'.

Meaning instead of regenerating, was dying all the time.

This I'm going to replace.

The airbag warning lights seem to be on all the time.

Plus the place where the passenger airbag is, doesn't look flush almost like the airbag has being dispensed already.

I'm not sure if this is normal.

Also driving in first and second slowly causes it to judder, and I'm pretty sure my speedo is slightly incorrect.

Other than that its one good looking car.

19th Jul 2007, 07:27

UPDATE BY ORIGINAL AUTHOR.

The car is running fine although I still get an irritating noise from the rear suspension. The Fiat dealer hasn't got a clue, they even tried to palm me off with saying it was the spare wheel loose in the boot and yet I know for a fact it was screwed up tightly.

Doors seem to be okay now. The person who wrote the entry on 3rd April is being a bit insulting quite frankly. I've looked after all my cars, washed, serviced, checked levels etc these problems have not been brought on by neglect, but by poor build quality or materials. The experiences of other reviewer seems to back this. I still like Fiat cars despite all this.

13th Mar 2009, 22:01

I have a yellow Fiat Sport Active Punto. I bought it in January 2007, and it was just over a year old with only 9 thousand miles on the clock.

I myself have only done 7 thousand miles in two years, I never go over the speed limit, never crunch the gears, never do racing gear changes or any of the boy racer stuff, I just drive normally.

So why is it that just after two years ownership of careful driving in my fantastic yellow car, which I love and cherish more than my girlfriend, does the gearbox totally fail, and because it was two months out of the warranty I have to pay one thousand pounds. Because according to Fiat head office, gearboxes can and will break whenever, even on a 16 thousand mile car.

So all this funk you read about gearboxes lasting for at least five years is just not true LOL.

My first car was an old Astra, which was about 14 years old, and it still had the original gearbox in it, I guess that must have been a miracle.

Fix It Another Time. Next car I get will be a Ford.

10th May 2009, 11:23

I have a Fiat Punto 1.2, 2005, not sure what happened but think the gear box has broken. The warranty ran out 7 months ago, typical. Does anyone know how much a new gear box costs?

29th Dec 2009, 08:03

I bought my mark 2 Fiat Punto earlier this year at a modest 55,000 miles on an 02 plate.

I had the car for 2 days, then the temperature gauge went off the scale, and the heaters only blew out cold air, which meant it had a coolant lock. I returned the car to the dealer, who cleared the air lock, and on the way home it locked its coolant again. I diagnosed the car with a blown Cylinder Head Gasket, which I was correct, they then repaired the car for the H.G.

However 2 weeks later, the power steering rack went; 2 weeks of owner ship and I'd had a blown HG and power steering failure.

I managed to get the car to 61,850 miles, then the gearbox failed and took the clutch with it, which cost quite a lot of money, and on Boxing Day the exhaust snapped clean in two. Punto mark 2's have a catalyst manifold, which means a new catalyst; it's a £2,500 car, and the amount spent would be coming close to it now.

The Fiat Punto is not a car I would recommend, when you're looking for a small hatchback with a 1.2 engine, please please look at alternatives, Vauxhall Corsa or a Ford Fiesta would be a lot better car to chose.

Thank you.

Richard Evans.