A punto not-so-grand

Designed by people who gave us the Maserati,the Grande Punto,quintessentially Italian,is really quite attractive on the outside,mildly challenged under the hood,and really quite exasperating on the inside. The Indian Punto comes with 1.2 Litre and 1.4 Litre Fully Integrated Robotised Engine FIRE in petrol and the 1.3 Litre multijet diesel,all with five-speed transmission. According to Automotive Research Association of India ARAI,the 1.2L returns a mileage of 14.3km/l,the 1.4L of 13.8 km/l and the 1.3 of 19.2km/l under standard driving conditions.

The 1.2L petrol engine leaves the Punto,which is nearly 200 kg heavier than the Swift,underpowered. One doubts if Fiat actually expects to sell very many of this particular model and the company admits to looking at it as a teaser for the real thing. Chances are they felt they needed to position themselves in the 1.2L segment to compete with the likes of the Ritz.

So,you really get a feel for what the Punto has to offer only when you get behind the wheel of the 1.3L diesel or the 1.4L petrol.

With the ubiquitous 1.3L diesel,Fiat hasnt been able to extract the kind of performance that you see with the Maruti Swift. Though the Punto is otherwise an extremely silent car,blocking out most sounds on the noisy highway,you cannot escape the constant din of the engine,a distinctly unpleasant sound that reaches its absolute zenith at 130kmph,when the car begins to lose steam.

Restricted by tight emission norms and the extra weight the car has to carry around,the engine has a pretty obvious sweet spotthe smallest change in speed or gear before it hits 2000 RPM makes an unholy din and beyond 3000 RPM it simply stops responding giving us a maximum speed of about 140kmph.

While this may be Fiats ploy to make the car safer by avoiding any unexpected surges in power,the reality is that with the 1.3L everything from pick-up to overtaking is a challenge; it requires a constant change of gears to get a response especially on tricky mountain roads.

If one must buy a Punto,then the 1.4L petrol engine is a decidedly better deal. Unlike the 1.3L,this is not an engine in love with the sound of its own valves,making for a much smoother and sonorous ride. One can also attain a higher top speed with the car making it to 140kmph before pushing it with some effort to 155kmph. However,the pick-up again is quite sluggish with the car only really kicking in around 4000RPM.

Despite the shortcomings of its engines,the handling is impressive. The cars manoeuverability,responses and steering are sharp and allow you to easily weave through city and highway traffic. Straight-line stability is adequate and its cornering characteristics are equally good.

The car has excellent braking responses and there is the added comfort of being able to feel the ABS,a standard feature,kick in. Ground clearance at 165mm is sufficient to handle the bad and the ugly of Indian Roads and it takes an especially lethal pothole to break the equilibrium inside the cabin.

Driving the car you cant help but wish Fiat would be really bold and introduce the car with a 1.6L engine. In fact,you constantly feel that the Punto could,with just a few minor adjustments,have done much better.

Though built on the same platform as the Linea,its large proportions havent translated into very spacious interiors. Leg space in the back can be cramped for the taller than average and seating isnt very comfortable up front either,making for a fatiguing ride over long distances. Fit and finish,though greatly improved by Fiat standards,are not of the same quality as the competition. However,the boot is spacious,even if it doesnt look that way at first.

The dash,identical to the Lineas,sports a built-in Blaupunkt music system,climate controls,and the top-end Emotion Pack variant gets the Microsoft-developed Blue amp; Me Bamp;M technology that enables an occupant to synchronise their phone to make and receive calls,and have the car read out SMSes.

Here the car betrays its European heritage,as everything from seating to gadgets has been designed to cater to the comfort of the driver almost at the expense of everyone else. The Blaupunkt music system isnt the best that this segment has to offer given what the i20 and Ritz have. It is wildly user-unfriendly and difficult to master even for the most technologically sound and has all the makings of a minefield of disasters.

An exasperating example is the USB/AUX jack. One could go an entire lifetime owning the Punto and never realise that it actually has a USB port,hiding somewhere in the upper right hand side corner of the glove compartment. Fiat,in its wisdom,has also ensured that music from the USB are controllable only from the wheel and the USB stick has to be reinserted every time the car is restarted. In addition,while there is a display on the central console,the details of music being played from the USB are only available to the driver on his separate console.

The Bamp;M technology,though the most user-friendly of features,is limited by the scope of its operating system,as it was unable to read music off a standard iPhone.

Equally confusing is the air-conditioning system,which apart from sporting a wide array of buttons and knobs that do wholly contradictory things,also varies in its effectiveness depending on whether you are in the 1.3L Diesel or 1.4L Petrol engine. There is no sure way to know if this was a phenomenon unique to the two cars that were test driven,but it was found that while the 1.3L car holds up magnificently to the scorching summer sun,the 1.4L,even when set to 16.5 degrees Celsius,never quite managed to comfortably cool the car.

It is difficult to predict how the market will react to the Punto. Though spread over a large part of the premium segment with competitive pricing between Rs 3.99 lakh and Rs 6.11 lakh over seven variants,its competitors have an edge in a number of parameters. Yet there may be many who take to its idiosyncratic ways. No doubt,Puntos progress will be interesting to watch.