Fiat Grande Punto 1.4 Tjet (and others) opinions?

Robbo

Robbo

Robbo

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Hi all,

I have been looking around a lot recently as im looking to get a new car, I have my list basically narrowed down to the following - (New)

Vauxhall Corsa SXi (probably a 1.2)

Fiat Grande Punto Tjet 1.4 (120BHP model, not Abarth, will rocket the insurance)

Ford Fiesta Zetec S (probably 1.4ish)

After looking a lot today at the Fiat I am extremely tempted to go with it, due to the fact it is priced a lot better considering the amount of extra kit you get (cruise control, cheaper climate control) Its quite a lot faster too, which factors in somewhat as im 20, but the insurance price for the 3 are not that far apart.

Im basically wondering if anyone has any opinions or personal reviews or anything like that which could help me decide.

As above I am very much leaning toward the Fiat due to it being faster, equally good looking and having a lot of extra kit for the money.

I'll also be able to get a decent scrappage deal (spoken to the dealers about it) :p

Oh and - Are there any cars I may have overlooked that are similair to the above? And for a rough price outline, around 13-14k is the maximum really.

Any advice/opinions/input would be appreciated

Cheers ;)
 
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Oh and - Are there any cars I may have overlooked that are similair to the above? And for a rough price outline, around 13-14k is the maximum really.
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Lot's if you consider buying 2nd hand.

I'm sure the entire motors crew will be along shortly to advise you, good luck.
 
Exactly, the wrong place to ask if you want a new car...


With 14k I'd buy a 6-10k 740i or so and use the 4-8k difference on driving/maintaining/insuring/fueling it.

Or this one, for 3k:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1180257.htm

Then you have a whole 11k+whatever you planned on spending on running the punto to run it which should be enough for years and years.
 
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snowdog said:
With 14k I'd buy a 6-10k 740i
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Are there any 6-10k 740i's left?! Surely they are all either E38's, too old to be as much as £6-10k, or the later E65's whcih are not quite there, you must been a 745i.

That or you are making stuff up based on a lack of real knowledge ;)

OP - Fiesta. Best car in the class, end of.
 
I'd cry myself to sleep if I had a £14k car budget and ended up with an E38. On that note, I didn't realise you'd bought an E38, I presume the one in the sig is yours. Have you any more details?
 
considering your young, why not spend more like a 1/4 of that, and save the money till you can buy insurance on something that you wont grow out of.

Be it subarus, bmws, jap turbo stuff or whatever, you'll quickly outgrow cars like these. There "my first cars" and are slow and not particularly enjoyable to drive.

Honestly,why exactly do you think you need a brand new car ? and crucially, do you have the raw cash to pay for this ? or will it be financed.

As financing a car that isnt particularly enjoyable to drive, means your stuck with it, and generally with negative equity too. Why tie yourself down to this when you could spend a 1/4 of that, and save up, and take out finance on your dream car, whatever it may be ?

incidentally, if insurance wasnt a concern, and you were older. What would you have for 14k ?

think about it.
 
[TW]Fox;14640319 said:
I'd cry myself to sleep if I had a £14k car budget and ended up with an E38. On that note, I didn't realise you'd bought an E38, I presume the one in the sig is yours. Have you any more details?
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I wouldn't, and no it isn't mine it's just a car in my sig I like. I'm not planning on buying anything myself for a long time ( too expensive, cheaper if I just wait and drive whatever my parents have) unless my parents tell me not to use theirs any more... If I would be forced to buy my own car, it'd likely be a small (light) saloon, a heavy one like the 7 series is just too much in tax ( € 1108,00 a year) and insurance ( over 1500€ per year). As I, unfortunately, don't have 14k, in fact I'd have trouble getting together 3k in the next 3 months or so.

MrLOL said:
considering your young, why not spend more like a 1/4 of that, and save the money till you can buy insurance on something that you wont grow out of.
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I'd have to agree, makes more sense financially.
 
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I'd say spend less and keep the rest in an ISA or other savings accounts.

How about a nice Fiesta or Focus? Get something decent, spend a bit of it on insurance, then the rest in savings.

Buying a new car in this day and age is (mostly) a waste of money. Don't make the mistake.
 
Honestly, don't buy brand new unless a relative is offering to buy you it or help out.

I was in your shoes funnily enough last summer. I test drove the Punto T-Jet and thought it wasn't bad. Seemed a reasonable amount of kit for the price, and the insurance was extremely cheap considering the performance. I was going to get an ex-demo one for over £8k with my parents helping me out a bit. Insurance was £800 and I was 19 with 0NBC.

However, I realised that although it'd be nice to have a brand new car - saving my money and waiting till I'm older would enable me to get something much nicer. I'm now almost 21 and not far off being able to buy a decent, used Golf GTI and insure it. I currently share a Mini and a Golf with my mum (I get a lot of abuse for doing so on here!) so I'm never without a car and everything has worked out nicely.

The decision is yours fella, one of my mate's got bought one (the sporting trim but NOT the T-Jet) just over a year ago and he absolutely loves it, but it is relative... I'm sure if he were to get behind the wheel of a premium hatchback he'd realise it isn't as 'good' as he thinks. Have a look at the new Fiesta, there was a brand new one parked on my street at uni with monstrous alloys on it (not sure if they were ST alloys) and it did look rather nice. Mind you I personally think the Punto Sporting with the optional two-tone alloys are easy on the eye too!
 
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If you haven't got the £14k up front and plan on financing the car then don't is my advice. We all know someone that's done it. It's a bad move.

If you must buy a new car, the Grande Punto isn't a bad choice. See if you can buy an 08 plate (if there are any) that will be cheaper at the showroom.
 
It isn't a good choice! Fiats suffer very heavy depreciation.

I'd really recommend getting one that's a year to 18 months old if you must, let some other fool suffer the huge hit as soon as it's driven off the transporter.
 
Of the above I'd take the Punto with the Fiesta in second place. But as other people have said buying brand new cars is a mug's game. You could either get an older small car and save some money, or buy a better car for the same dosh.

But then, ordering a brand new car is something I so want to do at some point in my life. Dunno why, just do.
 
having had a brief look on t'internt, it would appear that used ones (barely run in) are half the price!

no brainer really, unless you want to **** £7,000 up the wall
 
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