Fiat / Fiat Punto

The Punter Fiat Punto :

The Fiat Punto is produced by Italian automotive factory Fiat in the year 1993. This car is called as super mini car. Between the year 2005 and 2009, Grand Punto was released as the 3rd generation car. By the end of 2012 fiat produced a massive 8.5 millions Puntos. This car is the successor of Fiat UNO. The car has front wheel drive and front engine layout. The car comes with a different body style such as 3 door and 5 door hatch back, 2 door convertible and a 3door van. This is a super mini class car of the generation. The Punto became the defeating rival of the Volkswagen Polo and got the highest number of votes.

The step on test features:

The engine comes with both petrol and diesel. It is powered by 1.2L I4 petrol 3 cylinders to produce an output power of 75 HP (45kW) at 6000 RPM. With the diesel 1.7L 3 cylinders it produced an output power of 136 HP (100kW) at 7500 RPM. The convertible Punto came with fully electronic powered retracting roof. This was the world’s cheapest open top can. The car had 5 speed and 6 speed manual and a CVT automatic transmission. The top speed of the car turns out to be 200 KMPH (120 MPH) and the acceleration was 100 KMPH (62 MPH) which was the finest feature for any mini car in the world.

Many other versions of Punto had a 6 speed transmission which came with a CVT automatic gearbox. The Fiat Punto gave eco-friendly drive. The car has very distinctive body shell and interiors are completely overhauled. Production of the first generation cars was discontinued due to some emission issues. The car had deeper front and rear bumpers made out of plastic. Redesigning of the car gave new rear spoilers , fresh look on alloy wheels and side skirts. The car had dual drive electric power steering which was leather wrapped. There were two operation modes of the car that is the electric motor engine and hydraulic pump driven engine. This made the car environmental friendly with reduced fuel consumption.

The oomph factors:

Extensive changes were made when the car reached its 3rd generation. More importance was given on the safety issues. This brought the facelift for the car. The wheel base of the car was 2460 mm, length of 380 mm, width and height were 1660 mm and 1480 mm respectively. The curb weight of the car was between 860kg to 1050kg which helped the smooth motion of the car. The high end Punto had computerized functions like CD player, AM or FM stereo, CD changers, fog lamps and alloy rims. There were optional burglar alarm and navigation control.

When the car got the latest facelift it had more tech features likes side and front air bags, remote locking, window bags, electric power steering and front power window. It also had climate control with automatic defrost, and double zone heater. MP3 player came with a sub woofer. Cruise control, rear parking sensors and also climate control systems were added. As the days passed on the car became more successful.