Worst car I've driven in a while

[Sagalout]

Fiat Grande Punto 1.4. Had it for 2 weeks as a hire car in Spain.

Good Points:

Nice looking front end
Interior looks nice at first glance
Handling is quite good
Awesome aircon - labout 3 seconds from ignition to ice cold air.

Bad points:

So lacking in power I seriously thought I was driving with the handbrake on. I've had a few small cars as hire cars - corsa's, fiestas etc but nothing as poorly powered as this. It was almost dangerous at times, eg trying to get speed on an uphill motorway sliproad and being overtaken or tailgated by trucks. On a long enough run up, ie a few miles, you could actully get it up to a decent speed (came back from a 110 mile day trip to Gibralter at 150kph on the toll roads and it felt well planted and quiet) but its all about momentum with this car lol

Build quality - it only had 5000 km's on it but my god it rattled and crashed as if it had 300,000KM. The interior, which looks nicely styled at first glance, is actually very poor - had to really slam the glovebox to get it to close it was so badly fitted, and some of the switchgear felt like it might just snap off at any time.

Visibility - just badly designed - its airy enough but I couldnt get a seating/steering position where I could see the speedo needle above 50KM/hr. The A posts are huge giving massive blindspots and the rear window posts are even worse, making what should be an easy car to drive and park much harder than it should be.

Ground Clearance - ok, this wouldnt be a consideration on UK roads, but our villa was about 100yards up an unmade road and the car was continually scraping its underside to get up it. Again, we've done that same road with numerous other cars and not had a problem.

Overall, a car which just isnt anywhere near as good as it looks. A bigger engine would help, but even so I couldnt live with the rattles (worst rattles I've ever encountered, and thats saying something considering I've owned quite a few British Leyland cars!) and poor design/visibility. I'd go as far as to say a corsa is a better all round small car.

 

[agw_01]

Interesting post, especially as everybody raves on about the new Punto.

To be honest though, when I saw the thread title, the first thing that came into my mind was "Oh god, more MG/Rover bashing"

 

[shimy182]

wait until you see a lada.

 

[Nathan]

Not as bad as when I blew up a clio 1.2 hire car in the Canairy Islands in the middle of no where with my gf. Red line in every gear lasted all of 40 mins bless it

 

[barnettgs]

Hmm, I always know corsa is really that bad. My mum has one and I could never understand why people still buying it, it's sooooo basic and the ride is like 'jogging'!

 

[JRS]

I wouldn't have the petrol Grande Punto to be honest, I'd be going for the 1.3 MultiJet diesel which is a far better engine (and also one of the best small diesels around). I must say, I didn't have any of the visibility issues you mention when I test drove one. The one I drove only had 2000 miles on it, and there were no rattles or squeaks to be heard. Everything seemed to fit okay as well.

Leaving aside the lack of power (solved with the better engines in the range) and the ride height (not built for those unmade roads really is it?), you reckon that you drove one of the (made famous by BL) "Friday afternoon" cars while the one I drove was a "Wednesday Morning" build?

I'm still holding out for this version anyway:

Super 2000 Punto Abarth. 2 litre, turbo, 4WD, and they are throwing numbers such as 250 horsies around right now. Or maybe the Nuova 500 which is rumoured to have a 1.4 Turbo Abarth version on the drawing board....

By the way, you said that the Corsa would be a better car - not a chance. Leaving aside the diesel engines which are Fiat motors anyway, and the fact that the platform shares a lot with Fiat cars, the build quality on every Corsa I've ever come across has been shoddy in the extreme (again though, maybe all Friday cars?). The Panda, which shares a lot of it's tech with the Corsa, is a cheaper and better buy.


***edit***

Just looked it up. The 1.4 petrol has 77bhp and gets to 62mph in 13.2sec. So yes, avoiding the 1.4 petrol would be a very good thing for those wanting any kind of acceleration in a Grande Punto! The 1.3 diesel has 90bhp (I think?) and a good deal more torque than that unit, is very economical and if the GP is anything like the Panda then they fit better springs and fiddle with the suspension settings on the diesel models. The dealer that Dad got his diesel Panda from in Tamworth rates the diesels better for their handling as well as the increase in power and torque.

 

[OllyM]

The colour of that car is horrible!

Personally, I'd never own one - I'm not a fan of small cars, especially ones with breathless tiny petrol engines.

 

[Third Opinion]

Foreign hire cars are not a good example of any car. I have hired VW's that have brokendown and rattled like crazy. I had an Audi that the brakes failed and the clutch blew up on in Greece.

Hire cars are particularly in Spain and Greece are very poorly serviced. That are thrashed to within an inch of their life by just about everyone. Give any car to Spanish hire firm and it would seem worse than a Trabant after a few weeks.