Fiat Punto 2013 Review

Fiat Punto Pop, Easy and Lounge

What we liked:
>> Still a great looking car
>> Low fuel consumption numbers
>> Now truly affordable

OVERVIEW

Now that distribution of the Fiat brand has settled down at a new base of operations in Australia, it was time for the importer to take stock of the situation -- and expand into other market sectors.

Fiat already sells into the VFACTS light-car segment, with its 500 model -- but with just two doors the 500 is not practical enough to sell in large numbers. Bringing the Punto back (and reintroducing the Panda towards the end of this year) was imperative for a company determined to produce better sales figures than it has up to this point.

This 'new' Punto is actually a very subtle facelift, with daytime running lights and changes to grille and tail lights. Fiat is not planning to offer a diesel variant of the Punto as it did in the past, either.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT

Fiat advises that the drive-away pricing that applies to the base-grade model is not just a limited time-only offer, and that it will be held "for the foreseeable future".

A mid-range model, the Punto Easy, is priced from $19,300, but you pay extra for the on-road costs, as you do for the model that caps the range, the Punto Lounge at $21,800. Both these models are fitted as standard with the Dualogic transmission.

Standard features across the range include: air-conditioning, Dualdrive electric steering, a height/reach-adjustable steering column, heated exterior mirrors, remote central locking, electric front windows, height adjustment for the driver's seat, a split-fold rear seat, an MP3-compatible six-speaker CD audio system, and Bluetooth connectivity.

The Punto Pop at the entry level comes with cloth seat trim, six airbags and 15-inch steel wheels.

Moving up to the Punto Easy brings with it an additional airbag (for the driver's knee), premium dash design, cruise control, leather-bound steering wheel and shift knob, front centre armrest, electric rear windows and wider tyres on 15-inch alloys.

Punto Lounge offers leather seat trim, dual-zone climate control, 16-inch alloys, front fog lights with adaptive cornering function, aluminium mirror caps, chrome exhaust tip, electrochromatic mirror, ambient lighting and privacy glass.

Fiat Australia is still awaiting arrival of the Punto Easy, but the base model (Pop) and the flagship (Lounge) are already here.

PACKAGING

At the other end of the spectrum, the Punto Lounge flagship came with patches of Piano Black Gloss at strategic points throughout the interior, but in and of itself Piano Black Gloss does not a premium hatch make.

The instrument binnacle in the base-grade Punto is actually a little easier to read than the set-up in the Punto Lounge. It's a matter of graphics and colour scheme. There's more contrast in the Punto Pop and it's more immediately informative at a glance.

The driving position was acceptable, although the relationship to wheel and pedals is compromised. Put enough distance between you and the pedals (particularly in the case of the manual variant of the Punto Pop), and you're too far away from the wheel. The seat was rather flat too, but comfortable enough for the sort of driving program undertaken.

If you like to adjust the driver's side mirror to cover the blind spot behind, the Punto provides insufficient adjustment -- the mirror apparently failing to make the jump from left- to right-hand drive.

There's good and bad news in the rear. Granted the Punto is a Light segment car, but knee and legroom is marginal for those sitting behind a driver of average height. This is where the Fiat's age begins to show. Against Peugeot's 208 -- in the same segment -- the Punto is a little squeezy, although headroom in the rear will actually accommodate tall adults. But the legroom is only going to be adequate for kids and younger teenagers, and there are plenty of competitors in this segment that offer more.

The rear seats fold flat, as Fiat claims, by tipping the seat base forward and drawing down the squab. To achieve this, the headrests must be in the fully lowered position and the driver's seat may need to be shifted forward. This will liberate 755 litres of additional storage, added to the 275 in the boot, for a total of 1030 litres.

A 15-inch spare tyre mounted on a steel rim in the boot will be fine used in conjunction with the same wheel and tyre combination for the Punto Pop, but will be mismatched against the wider tyres of the Punto Easy and Lounge variants.

MECHANICAL

In the case of the Punto, there's just the one engine type, a 1.4-litre petrol engine developing 57kW and 115Nm. It drinks 91 RON ULP, which is a blessing, but not unheard of in this segment, and returns combined-cycle fuel consumption figures of 5.7L/100km (manual) or 5.4L/100km with the Dualogic transmission. The pleasing fuel economy is offset by the leisurely acceleration to 100km/h in 13.2 seconds.

The difference between the two transmissions is that one is a manual with a conventional clutch pedal and shift lever, but the Dualogic is a 'robotised' version of the manual and can operate in an automatic mode, much like a conventional automatic with a torque converter. Sequential shifting is carried out by a simple process of working the lever forward for downshifts, back for upshifts.

The driven front wheels are suspended by MacPherson struts, complemented by ventilated disc brakes and an electrically-assisted rack-and-pinion steering system. At the rear the Punto rides on a torsion beam set-up and the brakes are drums.

Wheels are 15 x 6.0-inch steelies for the Punto Pop, with 175/65 tyres, 15 x 6.0-inch alloys for the Punto Easy, with 185/65 tyres, and 16 x 6.0-inch alloys for the Punto Lounge, with 195/55 tyres.

In length, the Punto measures 4065mm, against a width of 1687mm and a wheelbase of 2510mm. At 1024kg, the Punto's kerb mass is acceptably light.

SAFETY

That said, we would expect the Fiat to meet the current ANCAP standard for five-star safety.

Safety features fitted to the Punto for the Australian market comprise six airbags for the basic Punto Pop (a driver's knee airbag is added for Easy and Lounge variants), anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and stability control.

In addition to the driver's kneebag, the mid-range and flagship models are also fitted with anti-whiplash headrests for the front seats.

COMPETITORS

That will pit it against the whole Light-car spectrum below $25,000, but it will also likely be cross-shopped against European cars that haven't traditionally been at the same price point. The danger for the Punto is likely to come from well-respected hatches like the Volkswagen Polo and the Peugeot 208. Don't forget the Volkswagen up! either.

No less competent than those mentioned already are the Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Mazda Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift, all of which pose a threat in the retail market. While they don't necessarily offer the same cachet, the Holden Barina and Toyota Yaris are fairly stylish and well equipped/priced. They're always a safe bet, as is Nissan's Micra.

ON THE ROAD

Then, as now, the ride comfort proved very good over smaller bumps, but firmed up over larger irregularities -- speed humps, for instance.

Steering was light enough in its default setting, but the Fiat's 'Dualdrive' system features an even lighter City setting for those occasions when you’re hauling on the wheel to park near the gutter. There’s not a lot of feedback through the wheel and it’s certainly no rival to the Ford Fiesta.

As far as could be determined, from the very sedate cruise, handling and roadholding were adequate, but a more thorough-going analysis of the Punto’s dynamic ability will need to wait for a seven-day test.

The 1.4-litre SOHC four-cylinder under the Punto’s bonnet is blessed with accessible torque, considering its displacement. That translates to easy driving for less experienced motorists, and pretty impressive fuel economy. Over on the flip side, the engine was reluctant to rev and sounded noisy from above 3000rpm. But higher still in the rev range it acquired a sportier induction-based roar.

The Dualogic robotised (five-speed) manual transmission is not as good as we remember, but that simply won't matter for some drivers. If you already know how to drive a manual, you might find that the Punto’s automated unit brings together the best of both worlds. It can be left alone to shift gear automatically, or it can be used for sequential manual shifting, which certainly delivers a little more fun and improved power delivery. If you're a dyed-in-the-wool autobox user you'll be happy to let the Dualogic transmission do its stuff without any interference.

But for me, the manual box is the better choice -- although it’s only available in the base-model Punto Pop. It doesn't provide a lot of fun shifting gears, but manual drivers will certainly extract better performance from it. Where the Dualogic box is careful about long-term wear and tear -- and blunts engine torque on take-off, for instance -- the manual box can be overridden completely for the driver’s own purposes. There’s more bite from launch, faster cog-swapping and more flexibility where shift points are concerned.

It’s not even about revving the ring off the engine by holding the manual box in a lower gear; quite the contrary if anything. The Dualogic box will hold a gear right through to redline -- and it will kick down as well, of course.

However, the manual Punto can deliver better performance simply by the medium of its mid-range torque... and changing up around 5000rpm. The manual box keeps the driver more ‘at one’ with the car, even though the shift lever requires long throws. Rarely has the distinction between manual and ‘auto’ transmission been so clear. The manual shifter is light and comparatively precise -- by the standards of other hatches in the same segment.

Both the Dualogic and manual boxes were five-speed jobs, which led to more drivetrain NVH at highway speeds, with the engine revving well beyond 3000rpm at 100km/h. Around town, with its 'Start&Stop' (idle stop-start) system, is where the Punto makes sense. We saw fuel consumption figures posted on the trip computer read-out ranging from 5.8 to 8.1L/100km.

As a stylish car that's also cheap to run (and purchase), the Punto is among the class leaders. And that was from a petrol engine too, not a diesel. In fact, Fiat has told motoring.com.au that it will not bring diesel variants of the Punto back to Australia. Clearly the price premium would make diesel Punto uncompetitive -- and the petrol Punto is achieving good fuel economy figures in its own right.

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