Fiat Punto 1.2 ELX Review

Overall Rating

She's got some go in her. Handles well and looks Gorgeous! I have the light blue model and its a stunner. Cup holders are always handy in the front. And the City button is amazing! Plenty of room in the front of the car! Seats are comfy and the boot is a good size. Also when moving alot of items the back seat spilts into two which is handy if you have more than two people in the car!

On the 3 door practicality is lacking, to get 2 grown adults into the back is a fight! Seats lean forward but do not slide! you have to get your hand right underneath to move the seat forward and even then its still a struggle! The nearside headlamp is awful to change as you cant get the bulbs out due to the fuse box being in the way! The cluster has to be taken out just to change the bulb!! And the one thing ive never understood about puntos...theres no light in a very spaceous boot!

My first Punto was an L reg 55s, I bought the car for £80 as it had some damage to it and 125,000 miles on the clock! I had the car from May 2005 to Dec 2005 and made numerous trips back and to from North Wales to Manchester, clocking up around 6,000 miles on her. Unfortunatly I had the car through winter and the car didn't have a heater in it which pushed for a newer Punto as I'm a Punto nut!!! A week before I got my new car my old Punto got written off by some business woman in a BMW!! tut! I got the new Punto and on the first day noticed the warning light on the dash for one of the head lamps, I went to Halfords for a new bulb but no one could fit it because the fusebox was in the way! So I took it to a garage who took the whole cluster out to put the bulb in. What a pain for a new bulb! Then the door bracket was broken which meant the door wouldn't stay open, it either swung open or slowly closed. Luckly I had that done under the warranty. I then questioned the tracking as the steering wheel isn't straight if you're driving in a straight line, the garage just swapped the tyres over but this hasn't solved the problem!! Next on my list was a vibration when I was braking off the motorway. This came down to the brakes and I had to have new disks and pads on the front. Then came the bombshell! I could hear a ticking noise in first and second and took it back to the garage. On inspection of the car they told me the gearbox was on it's way out along with the clutch. In total to have them replaced as new I was looking at nearly £800-900 with labour. Luckly I managed to find a 2nd hand one and put a new clutch in and got a friend to do the work which meant it only cos me £500. At the moment there's a suspicion of the bearings going. I'm looking for a new car as I'm deeply saddened as my trust and love for Puntos has been seriously damaged. I love my car to bits but I can't keep spending money on things that just keep going wrong! Brilliant car Fiat, Just use some common sense and better parts!!!

Members' Comments onbeanqueen's Review

• Ieuanfawr on 16th Jun 2006

  There should be a courtesy light in the boot of the ELX. Has it failed?

• Ebonygpg on 6th Jul 2006

  I agree with most of the comments on this review regarding the repair issues, a couple of months after purchasing my Punto the head gasket went, there was also a hole in the tank, the clutch needed replacing & one side of the hand brake had gone so to be on the safe side I just replaced the whole engine....my boot has a light in it and my seats slide which does make it alot easier for getting into the back!! It is an enigma though as to why even the models from 2000 have cassettes players instead of a CD?