I am really amazed to see the confidence of these dealers on the brand Fiat,as one has to invest crores of rupees to set up an automobile dealership, but with just a 2 model line up i wonder when will these dealers reach their break even point.
FIAT need to launch many models to make the dealership septn so much money worth. else time will be not far away that we might hear closing of few soon.
Fiat already has inaugurated 16 exclusive dealerships so far and Cochin and Thrissur will get a showroom each in the first week of February. With the new exclusive chain of dealerships in place, Fiat is assuring a better after sales experience for both new and existing customers.[/url]
I also went to the inauguration party and Enrico was also there, along with Mr. Saurabh Shrivastav (VP FIAT), Vikram Keire ( Don't remember the post) and many more officials from FIAT, not to mention Mr. Rajinder Kashyap with family.
It was really an awesome experience talking to Enrico. He cleared that their first priority is to establish service stations and dealer networks, then they'll be launching other models as well.
It was great .
No turbo lag felt at all.(best tuned crdi in 90 hp )
I asked him twice that if it is diesel.
Driveability in city is best .The punto 's FE claimed by fiat is 20.5 kmpl while vista and swift etc. claim~22.9 kmpl , but during TD I felt that one need not bother about it such was the level of pleasure I got through it.
Fit and finish is awesome.
Only drawback I felt is non availability of the beige interios.lt is the black /gray or plain black interiors.
But the pick up , steering response , suspensions , fit finish and stock music system hardly allowed me to think of interiors.
The increased GC experience (185CM) led me to label it as India's if not world 's smallest and VFM SUV!!.
Price difference between Swift and punto base diesel models is approx 10 k INR. This difference further widens when we look at the 53 kINR discount offered by fiat on new 2013 models .On the top of it punto comes with fiat's music system , front power windows , central locking which is not available in swift.base model.
Back seat comfort is little less as compared to swift
Strange. Most Punto 90hp owners who I know talk of serious turbo lag under 2000 rpm, poor driveability in the city owing to wonky gear ratios, abysmal fit and finish here and there, and an absolutely useless stock music system/speakers.
@jayadev/Raj: Maybe you'd like to comment on this.
@ Tornado, my friend's 90hp gives consistently above 20kmpl on highways. Infact it outscores 75bhp mill in mileage when it comes to highway drive as the engine is much more relaxed at higher rpms. If driven within 100-110, it easily returns 22kmpl+ But who can drive this monster in a sedate fashion!
Rear seats are slightly firm and designed for comforts during long drives. Leg room is on lower side but the angle of rear seat rest inclination is perfect. Of course, it cant beat your Manza rear seat inclination angle; which is the best I have found in sub 10L category.
Strange. Most Punto 90hp owners who I know talk of serious turbo lag under 2000 rpm, poor driveability in the city owing to wonky gear ratios, abysmal fit and finish here and there, and an absolutely useless stock music system/speakers.
@jayadev/Raj: Maybe you'd like to comment on this.
All of what you have heard is due to the setup of gear ratios. Firstly its not a drag car, not at all. But Its an all rounder as you won't need to do frequent gear shifting while in city in most of the cars. But in punto you can roll from standstill in 2nd gear without any problem and and can drive in city without much gearshift.
Once you are on highway i don't think your are gonna drive right from 1st gear, obviously you would be in 3,4 or in 5th gear, which are very strong in any of the punto, if you start drag from 30+KMPH then you would would surely win in a punto doesn't matter if its 75 or 90.