First car - fiat punto 2000-2004

[Draeger]

We had one a few years ago, bought it from a main dealer, pre-registered with delivery miles. 2001 1.2 8v ELX. During ownership it didn't need anything spent on it bar run of the mill consumables. Incredibly reliable. Let me down once during the bad winter we had in 2010 due to a failed battery. That was it. Drove fine, reasonably good build quality but then again you have to remember what we are talking about - a Fiat so its build quality and dynamics are relative. I wouldn't say I'd rush out and buy another one but to say they are all without exception unreliable and awful to drive is incorrect IMO. That said, for a budget of £1 - £2k there are many other cars available which would be a better purchase.

One common issue is the airbag warning light illuminating. It's a known fault due to the wiring loom being too short and ending up getting stretched across the width of the car behind the dash. Costs around £60 to have it repaired and the warning light reset. Fiat do an extension plug which cures it, AFAIK they didn't fully admit that this was a flaw so it's probably likely that most Punto's will not have had this mod carried out.

 

[Janesy B]

Granted you could probably buy a car that drives worse, not that I can think of any right now. The fact is you can do better for the money.

 

[roadend]

My wife ran a 2001 year pinto 1.2mia as her first car,we bought it 2 years ago for £950, did the job, very few problems,apart from wiper linkage, and electric problem (when she braked indicators would come on lol) but these were easy cheap fixes, and after 18months we got £650 part ex,which I thought was ok.

Best buy for me was a mondeo 2.0 petrol on 2001 (not the old shape). Bought it for £1050, 3 years ago 86,000 miles, the car was in great condition, nobody believed it cost a grand, ran it for 2 years no problems whatsover, apart from new tyres,unfortunately someone ran into the side of it.

 

[uchuff]

Girlfriend loves her 2003 Punto Dynamic, I think they look pretty tidy with the sporty bumpers on.

As above I've had to replace the wiper linkage, also had to replace the wiper stalks as they weren't engaging reliably. Both common-ish faults I believe, neither is a big job however got a mechanic to fit the wiper stalks as it's an airbag and wheel off job which I didn't fancy.

Focus/Mondeo would be my choice around this budget though, likely to be less niggles and a much nicer place to be.

 

[233]

owned a few mk1 puntos over the years, first being a punto gt back in the 90's loved it to bits.

wife had a punto sporting 1.2 16v about 8 years ago and loved it to bits as well. both totally reliable with nothign other than servicing costs over a combined 5 years of ownership

but do yourself a favour, buy a focus or better yet check the insurance on the mondeo. more car for your money tbh and the insurance might surprise you as its not a young persons car it wont be loaded the same way any sort of smaller hatch will

 

[Liquidfox]

Had a 3dr 1.2 8v for about 18 months as a first car. I was on first name terms with the garage down the road. Nuff said.

 

[andrewdodd13]

Two of my mates had 2000-ish era Puntos, both 1.2L (don't know/remember whether it was 8 or 16 valve, though) and both suffered head gasket failure. We wrote the first one off as the owner being a moron (it had a stupid induction kit, etc.) but the second one was bog standard. As with all cars, YMMV.

My mum's ran fine but it was sold at 4 years old / 50k miles (for a Freelander, funnily enough with the 1.8L Rover K-Series engine that was prone for HGF...)

 

[sja360]

my mum's got a 2001 green 1.2 8v punto mk2 that's still running fine, think its about 66k on the clock. probably worth about 1k now. I personally think its pretty bullet proof but as said above mileage varies.

 

[Liquidfox]

my mum's got a 2001 green 1.2 8v punto mk2 that's still running fine, think its about 66k on the clock. probably worth about 1k now. I personally think its pretty bullet proof but as said above mileage varies.

Try half that unfortunately.

 

[red eye]

So I'm planning on getting first car around September.
I was thinking about merc e class but was told here that it would not be great car- money pit- drinks fuel due to its 2.5l engine.

Car I would like is Citroen ds3 150ps but that would mean getting a loan or finance.

So trying to be reasonable here
I quite like puntos from 2000-2004. Let's say 1.2 16v

Insurance on them is pretty low- seen quotes under £900 which for first time car buyer in London is really nice and low.

I've seen some on eBay for between £1000-2000 which would be in the budget.

Am I missing something with them?

Any other cars I should look at?
1.2 16v is maybe not fastest car on the road but should not be slow as well.

they have 1.2 16v now? the 8v are only good to get you to the shops and back.

 

[lemonade]

1.2 16v is maybe not fastest car on the road but should not be slow as well.

Unless your going to be doing a lot of motorway miles, you don't need anything 'fast' or powerful to drive around in a congested city like London so I wouldn't worry about that. Amongst the other cars mentioned in the thread I'd like to add the Seat Ibiza, basically a re-skinned Polo and the 99-02 models can be had for under a grand and they are decent little cheap run-arounds.