Confusion over hatchback to buy; Booked Fiat Punto Diesel Emotion

[sanjayg_007]

Hi,
I am looking to buy a hatchback car within the next 2-3 days and am totally baffled by the options out there.
I have test driven most of the cars out there but it hasn't helped ease any confusion. Here are the parameters for me:-
- Your Budget
Around 6.5L, but should be value for money.

- Your Location?
New Delhi

- Top 5 Priorities
Comfort, styling is the top most priority. Other than that the only other factor in my mind is low running/maintenance cost.

- Monthly Running?
Probably around 600-800Kms per month. There would be many weeks where car wouldn't be used other than the weekends.

- For Which Purpose?
Family usage, inside city mostly.

- Max. Seating Capacity
4+1 kid.

- Priority of Fuel Type
Confused between diesel and petrol(details below)

- Body Type
Hatchback.

Below are the cars I have considered(along with reasons for rejection or pros in my opinion)
Swift (rejected)
Long waiting period, low sitting position--not exactly "tall boy design"(my mom didn't find comfortable).
Ritz (rejected)
Just hate the looks.
i20 (kind of rejected, willing to reconsider)
No reason, except that my parents don't like the look(which i find very surprising)
honda Jazz
loved the car, but just too costly considering that i could get a sedan for lesser![sedan is out of question for now]At that price I doubt it could ever be a value for money car!
grande Punto (extremely confused here)
i discussed with a fellow who used to work at a tata showroom before and he said that i should go for punto if i am considering diesel as its the best engine in the segment(and also most of the other providers use the same Fiat engine]; but he also added that if I am considering petrol then I should stick with the trusted providers like maruti and hyundai(both of which i have sort of rejected ]
Also, I found the acceleration a bit delayed, as in the pickup started very slow then after a bit shot up. Is that normal from the diesel car? And I was told its the least noisy car in this segment but from the outside the sound was still quite loud(maybe coz it was a TD vehicle??)
skoda fabia
i had a bit of a legroom issue with this one( i am a bit tall and hence really picky about this issue) but I have been told that it could be because of the driver's seat's height was badly adjusted for me. will be redoing a TD for it tomorrow and judge the leg room factor accordingly.
nissan micra (more or less rejected)
only 1 dealer and that not at all responsive and also i believe the spare parts could be very expensive.
ford figo
kind of seems like a smaller (~i10 sized) car and since i m upgrading from santro, doesn't seem right.As you can see I am totally lost. Any tips, suggestions, recommendations with reasoning would be very beneficial.

Thanks in advance!

@mods: I know there are already quite a few discussions on hatchback variants, but most people already seemed to have narrowed choices to either diesel or petrol or just confused between 2 models. I on the other hand am totally lost, so decided to add a new post. Apologies if its redundant.

 

[ilango[speed thirst]]

Book a punto 1.3multi jet

happy driving and lighter on pocket.

 

[sanjayg_007]

Book a punto 1.3multi jet

happy driving and lighter on pocket.

petrol or diesel?
is petrol punto worth considering??

 

[safire90]

From the very outset, your running of 600-800 odd kms doesn't warrant a diesel car as it would take you almost 5-6 years to recover the difference between a diesel car and petrol car.

Now according to the options given by you:
i20:
PROS:
this is a very good car, is a looker and a premium hatch. You will get a lot of bells & whistles. It offers decent interior space. Performance is fine.
CONS:
plagued by Steering rattle problem and feels underpowered as well. Moreover the EPS given in this car makes it scary to drive.

Punto:
Pros:
Excellent build quality, again a looker. The EMotion pack offers lots of features(although check whether 1.4P emotion(pk) is available or not). Very good ride quality. You will love the handling of the car and the steering is quite good. It offers decent interior space as well. The 1.4 Fire engine is one of the most refined engines.
CONS:
FIAT_TATA A$$(although improving but still), lack of storage spaces in car, larger turning radius

FORD Figo:
Pros:
nice car, good interior space, good AC, cost and good AC
CONs:
Low ground clearance, cabin noiseetc.

If I had these needs as you have I would have plonked my money on an i20.
P.S. HAve a look at indica vista and VW POLO?

 

[Akash]

1.3 Multijet is the diesel engine doing the duty in Punto.

As far as the Punto Petrol is concerned, i do not like the sluggish response which disappoints hugely. Test drive one, if you feel it apt for your needs go ahead with it.

 

[sanjayg_007]

@safire90 : ya i read abt the steering rattle problem and that by far is the biggest reason for me to not "really" consider the i20.
i did TD polo, but didn't enjoy the feel of it much. lower sitting position and less leg room and a high cost were the big cons for it.
indica was never really considered coz its an old model and a common taxi these days.

@akash: sorry, i didn't realise that 1.3/1.4 technicality at first read. my bad. My confusion is, as safire90 rightly pointed out, would it be worth it to go for the diesel variant at all? If not, is punto petrol even worth considering? I'll try and TD it tomorrow.

overall, i liked the styling and build of punto but the petrol vs diesel confusion has me stumped. another option i am considering highly is skoda fabia. any remarks on that?
what about the spare parts of both these cars? is it sky high(as i have heard of micra) or comparable to maruti?

 

[ilango[speed thirst]]

Apart from tata nad maruti , all other spares are available only in authorised service station at the mrp plus the huge labour bill with the tax.

other thing is if they say that the particular spare is gone ! you have no other choice.

And 1.3 mutijet is diesel engine.
same thing is found in swift /vista/linea/manza diesel

 

[sanjayg_007]

Going by our daily running I believe diesel car doesn't make much sense for us(even though I had my heart set on the punto 1.3)
So now my confusion is whether to go for punto petrol(of which I haven't heard much good reviews) or Skoda Fabia.
Please suggest as I wanna finalize at the earliest.

 

[maximas007]

Go for a diesel buddy you will not regret .Myself and ilango both suffered from petrol vehicles it will spoil your fun .It will be a burden when you fill the tank it will hurt ,agreed that diesel is costly but your running will increase dramatically believe me !
Anyway if you decide petrol go for maruthi or Hyundai .
If diesel punto 1.3 mjd is the king.

 

[basis]

I had the same requirement and had same confusion.

After a very long analysis I zeroed down punto 1.3multi jet Emotion. (7.2 L on Road Bangalore)

Pl. have a TD for the same and let us know.

 

[RSM]

Even for 600-800 per month, Diesel make more sense. With Petrol price going up and up, the recovery will be faster.
Apart from cost, due to its torque, diesel engine is more easy to drive.

The low acceleration you felt at the start, is due to turbo lag. Turbo gets kicked-in ~15K RPM. It will not be tough to keep the car in proper RPM.

 

[sanjayg_007]

i hav negotiated a bit and facing a difference of 55k between punto petrol and diesel.
i think that would be recoverable in a couple of years.
but if i go for diesel and then there are many weeks in which the car will run only on weekends, then? will it have any detrimental effect on the engine? i know previously there used to be lots of issues but the sales guy said that new engines don't have that kinda problem. is that correct?

 

[RSM]

.
i know previously there used to be lots of issues but the sales guy said that new engines don't have that kinda problem. is that correct?

Yes he is correct, no issue if it is running on weekends only.
If the car is not running for long, say more than 2 weeks, there are some steps to take care, like disconnecting battery, no use of hand brake etc.
And this applies to both Diesel and Petrol car. No specific issues with new diesel engines.

 

[ilango[speed thirst]]

like disconnecting battery,

No , don't ever disconnect the battery in the punto
Ecm get feeds from them .

When parking for a long time , just slot in a gear and dont use hand brakes (in long parking duration like weeks and months)

use a stone to support the wheel . that is it

keep low fuel .

 

[RSM]

No , don't ever disconnect the battery in the punto
Ecm get feeds from them .

Though this is bit OT, but Iilango there is no harm in disconnecting the battery. ECU will get reset, and sometime it is advisable to reset this to have factory set-up readings. The manual also says to disconnect battery if car is not going to be used for long.