Ewwwww. you compared it to a Mondeo for a larger car.
That's not a fair example of a larger car, because of the Mondeo's hideousness. I feel nervous even having to shut the door or bonnet on a Mondeo, incase I snap a peice of super hard baked, ultra brittle plastic component. ( I am always a nervous wreck untill it leaves the shop ) lol.
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 6, 4:14am
LOL, smarty pants, in fairness the Mondeo does drive acceptably if it dosn't have the hideous auto and I would rather own one for reliability than a Vectra being Holdens badge purchased attempt.
The punto is also no large Mercedes although it is significantly more car than an A Series, to my great surprise when I drove my first A Series when they were new. The A series dosn't even come close. But again if you consider the Mondeo Eww the A series must be affluent effluent.
tgray,
Sep 6, 4:18am
Oh god, he's back. Ok, you have convinced me, the Fiat Punto is a better car than any Toyota could ever be. Just remember, the Ford Taurus was USA car of the year in 1996.
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 6, 5:11am
True, but Americans of the time had very low standards, it was likely best of a bad bunch. Plus they saw the error of their ways after a year. The Punto's just seem to get accolade after accolade and thats in an environment where they are competitively priced not practically given away like here. (Although the price differential is not what it once was, Puntos have seen zero depreciation for about 4 years now and the Japanese are catching up on value.
Glad you have seen the light, happy to be of service again!
franc123,
Sep 6, 5:15am
affluent effluent.quote of the day and a brilliant brief description of the MB A class there Jazz.
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 6, 5:17am
You know Brief has always been my strong point!
franc123,
Sep 6, 5:20am
You're dead right though, they really were s#%t those things, OK they feel a bit more upmarket than an Echo and had (what MB thought) were clever design and safety features, but small car buyers sure as hell didn't agree with them and they were stupidly expensive to buy and fix for what they were.
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 6, 5:28am
The thing is though that clever stability control was not added by design but by necessity. After the thing fell over when going through some cones for a stability test that old Lada's and Skoda's past with flying colors.
I found they felt just like my 80's Fiat Panda's through the bends. hardly a glowing testament!
sueh,
Sep 8, 2:52am
OK Jazz I am back, what should I be aware of please!
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 13, 1:03pm
O.K that one like many of them is a CVT. The CVT is an excellent unit, it dosn't suffer the performance/economy drawbacks of little cars with Auto's and it lasts very well. However. you must flush and change the fluid and filter every 40'000km and you must use the proper fluid (Dino Enterprises can send you what you need at a good price). Given the km's and price its probably worth a punt even if there are no service records but assuming there is no reciept for the last change I would get the transmission serviced straight away. Thats it really, that and like any cambelt driven car check when the cambelt was done and get it change if its overdue based on age/km. If it sounds like you and you want to check it out I can post a bit of a list of little Punto specific things I would check before I bought it.
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