We own a Dec 2000 X reg Punto 1.2 8v ELX which we bought just over a year old with 13,000 miles on the clock.
At 18,ooo miles it was off the road for over 2 weeks for gearbox repairs, a new wheel bearing and a shaft for the electric power steering. A few weeks later we needed two new front tyres as the tracking hadn't be set correctly after the wheel bearing replacement and the electric motor for the power steering had come loose.
At 26,000 miles (just under 3 years old)it's been off the road for over a week since the rear silencer fell off when the paper thin exhaust pipe broke. We couldn't find a non OEM part so had to go to a Fiat dealer. They said there were two possible replacements and neither were anything like what was on the car so they asked for the old broken exhaust to find one to match. They eventually got one but when fitted to the car it wouldn't reach the existing front section. So an additional collar was required and they had to get one of those. We never got our old exhaust back - I wonder why? We now need rear brake shoes for the forth coming MOT, where do we get these from and will they fit?
Bearing in mind the inevitable head gasket or cracked cylinder head which will happen any time from now or the multitude of other things that plague Puntos, when is the best time to get rid of it and get a good make of car.
|
|
I should have mentioned that at 18,000 miles we were told that the clutch was over 60% worn and would we like to pay for a new one to be fitted? We asked if this meant that the life of the clutch would be less than 30,000 miles and they went off to have another look at the friction plate. When they returned they had changed their minds and the clutch was less than 40% worn. Certainly inspires confidence in a product doesn't it.
|
If it's made by Fiat the answeris "less than you have right to expect".. whether it refers to quality, life or enjoyment in driving.
What can you expect. It's a Fiat and Fiat garages are .. well .. carp..
madf
|
I have very fond memories of a Fiat 127 903cc, it was used by all the family and was thrashed mercilessly by some;-)
I rebuilt the engine and found it easy to strip down and rebuild without special tools.
This was eventually given to a friend of the family where it surprised everyone by lasting another 3 years and eventually expired due to gearbox failure (at 102k).
It would appear that component lifing isn't what it used to be - this isn't common to Fiat either, several other car manufacturers are having problems with reliability.
|
|
I agree Malcolm_L, just look at this technical discussion page, full of problems with all makes, particularly at the moment a well known German brand once famed for reliability!
|
I think you have answered your own question.
Get rid of it ASAP.
My friend has a punto, and has had endless problems. It eats oxygen sensors, head gaskets, gearboxes, driveshafts and shocks. Replacement parts are also ridiculously priced, with no OEM alternative.
The only good thing I could say about her Punto 55, is that when the timing belt broke (after 15,000 miles replacing previous), it didn't damage the head. Atleast the Fiat engineers got something right!!
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry to hear of your problems with the car The one thing I am puzzled about is what you mentioned about brake shoe`s.Assuming they had been correctly adjusted on each service.then they may possibly be worn.But are they to the point of reaching the metal.ie metal to metal with the drum.if not and I may be wrong here.But there aren`t many who.(And forgive me here to those that do).Actually remove the drum clean the dust out and adjust the shoe`s What I`m saying is if they are within the M.O.T standards for braking power.and there is no problems with rear brakes no need to replace for mot.Obviously if they are faulty or at a dangerous level then do so.should not be expensive
|
We have a local small garage which does all our car repair work when the car is not covered by a dealer service dependent warrantee. He says that he usually only sees his customers once a year for a service and MOT, breakdowns aside, so he looks over the car to be as happy as he can that it will go a year on wearable items.
The Punto has been service from new by Fiat dealers for what that's worth. Although there was no metal to metal noises when using the brakes, one rear shoe was just down to the metal. More surprising to me perhaps is that unless the front brake pads were replaced within the first 11,000 miles they have outlasted the rear shoes. I thought the front brakes did most of the brake and generally wore out first?
So we had a rear silencer section, a joining collar, a set of rear brakes shoes, a full service, a MOT and 4 hours labour for £270. If anyone is looking for a dependable garage in the south of Norfolk, I will gladly supply the telephone number of one that I can vouch for.
The Punto isn't a bad car to drive, is fairly economical and deceptively cheap to buy, but running costs and time off the road are the unacceptable other side of the coin.
|
|
|
|
