 Looking
back to the history of Fiat Punto, we can see how quickly the
automotive world changes. The original Punto was launched in 1994. Its
pretty Giugiaro design, space-efficient cabin and fine engines (the
Super FIRE family) won it the title European Car of the Year. It became
the best selling mini car in Europe and even once topped the overall
European sales chart by beating the mighty Volkswagen Golf !When Fiat updated the Punto to Mk 2 in 1999, it made three fatal mistakes: 1) It forwent Giugiaro and designed the car by itself. The result was an unattractive shape. That was made even uglier by the "facelift" in 2003, again penned by Centro Stile Fiat. 2) The Mk2 was derived from the Mk1 platform with all hardpoints unchanged. When its new Japanese and European rivals introduced better packaging with roomier cabin and flexible cargo space, the Punto suddenly became outdated. 3) believe or not, I suspect the gone of the 4-stripe lucky logo could be a reason for its fall. That logo was used in Panda Mk1, Uno and Punto Mk1 - all are the most successful Fiats in modern time. Since returning to the traditional circular logo, Fiat's fate has been worsening…  The
decline of Punto hit Fiat badly. It dragged the Italian giant into deep
financial trouble. Obviously, to save Fiat, the Mk3 Punto should be
successful. But Fiat did not have too much cash reserve to develop the
car. Also, it lost a lot of time due to frequent change of management.
Eventually, it decided to cooperate with GM - which was still its
partner then - and develop the Punto Mk3 and Opel Corsa based on the
same platform. This help reducing development time and cost. It also
saves purchasing cost because the two cars have 30 percent components
in common. This means Fiat can buy C-segment quality components at
B-segment price. The Mk3 Punto has added a first name "Grande", indicating its bigger size. Compare with the Mk2, the Grande Punto is really grande, being 165 mm longer, 27 mm wider, 10 mm taller and runs a 50 mm longer wheelbase. It is the only car in the segment that can compare with the new Renault Clio in size. Interestingly, its wheelbase is 65 mm shorter than the Clio but the overall length is 44 mm longer.  See the
pictures and you will understand why. The Grande Punto's front overhang
is unusually long for a mini car. The intention is to take it out of
the bulky shape of other mini cars. Together with a fast windscreen
angle and a pair of Maserati Coupe-like headlamps, the Grande Punto
looks really fresh and attractive. Who did the design? of course not
Centro Style Fiat ! officially speaking it is Giorgetto Giugiaro, but
in fact most of the car were penned by Bertone before Fiat handed the
design to Giugiaro, who reshaped the nose and transplanted the
headlamps from his own Maserati Coupe. At the rear, the elegant
tailgate is purely the work of Bertone. Interestingly, in one car you
can see the work of the two greatest Italian design houses. If the attractive exterior design is the first sign of revival, then the cabin is the second. The previous Punto was hampered by an unattractive dashboard, a strange, Italian-style driving position and relative lack of space and flexibility. The new Punto has corrected these faults. Its steering wheel and driver's seat are multi-adjustable so that finding a comfortable driving position is easy. Its enlarged body accommodates four 6-footers easily. The 275 litres of luggage space is also decent, and underneath it hides a useful storage tray for tools and trivial. There are still no MPV-like flexible seating arrangement - that should be fulfilled by Fiat Idea instead - but once the 60/40 rear seat drops down the loading area is quite flat.  The
dashboard design avoids the funky / overstyled shape of many Japanese
and French rivals. Instead, it employs a more conventional but driver
pleasing arrangement. The Italian mini car also questions why all other
cars have their cabin in either grey or black. Instead, it uses a
body-colored decorative stripe running across the dashboard and
surrounding the center console to brighten the ambience and smarten the
design. You might remember the late Fiat Coupe also did that.There are some places lack quality touches, most notably the door panels and grab handles, thus it won't threaten Renault Clio in terms of quality feel. However, the fact that Fiat can build a larger and higher quality Punto without asking a price hike like Renault Clio is already an achievement. On the road, the big Punto feels robust, refined and quiet. Its stiff structure - with a class-leading torsional rigidity of 19,700 Nm/degree for the 3-door and 16,500 Nm/degree for the 5-door - plays an important role here, as is the improved suspensions. The Grande Punto uses the same suspensions as the next generation Opel Corsa. All four corners employ thicker rubber bushings to insulate NVH from the bodyshell. The front MacPherson struts suspensions employ dual-link strut mounts to reduce NVH. The lower wishbones are made of pressed steel sheets instead of cast iron to reduce unsprung weight. At the rear, the torsion beam is now made of different thickness depending on models, thus saving the need for anti-roll bars for the more powerful models - a technique learned from Opel Astra. This save weight of course. Besides, the dampers are mounted vertically in order to absorb NVH better. When driving the Grande Punto, most journalists were impressed by its good bump absorption, even on broken surfaces, and the quietness of its ride. In this way, the Grande Punto has the same sweet driving manner as Panda.  The Grande Punto also feels
light and agile on the road. Despite of its bigger size, it is not
overweight. A 1.4-litre petrol Grande Punto undercuts the similarly
sized Renault Clio 1.4 by 105 kilograms. This allows the Fiat continue
to rely on some fuel-efficient and cost-effective 8-valve engines. Our focus is the 1.4-litre sohc 8-valve petrol. It is one of the two petrol engines offered at launch (another is the entry-level 65hp 1.2-litre 8-valve). Compare with the various diesel engines, it puts less weight at the nose of the Grande Punto and therefore has the most faithful handling. The long-stroke engine produces only 77 horsepower, but a relatively strong torque curve is useful in everyday driving. Plus, the engine is smooth and quiet, well match with the smooth 5-speed gearbox and the refined ride quality. Is it fun to drive? yes, for it is agile, smooth and easy to drive. Sporty? never. It takes more than 12 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph, it rolls a lot in corners and its electric power steering (succeeded from the previous Punto) delivers little feel. However, Fiat could change that in the near future. It said a new electric steering system will arrive next year. It will have a motor mounted at the rack instead of steering column in order to improve steering feel. Moreover, a 16-valve version of the 1.4 engine with 95 horsepower will be added next year. Then several really powerful turbocharged engines will join the range: 1.4 turbo 120 hp, 1.4 turbo 160 hp and 1.6 turbo 180 hp. And rumor has that a 220 hp 1.6 turbo Abarth model is also on the pipeline. It will use a two-stage twin-turbo system like BMW 535d… The Grande Punto's chassis is undoubtedly capable of handling more power, and the more powerful engines will mate with sportier suspension setup, so the future is promising.... To save Fiat, engineers rushed to put the new Punto into market in a record-breaking 22 months. Luckily, they did the fundamentals right – attractive styling, good packaging and capable chassis (also thanks to Opel). They focused resources to the bread-and-butter models first, most notably the 1.4 petrol and 1.3 Multijet, and successfully made them lovely cars. The next step will be to plug in the remaining puzzles, putting excitement back into the map. If they succeed, Punto will be the class leader again while Fiat will be back to prosperity. |
| The above report was last updated on 27 Oct 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
If
a line is an extension of a point, then Linea (Italian for line) must
be an extended and booted version of Punto (Italian for point). Fiat
designed the Linea mainly for developing countries, where 3-box compact
sedans are far more popular than in Europe. It will be produced in
Turkey, China, Brazil, India, Russia and eventually become the
company's second best selling car, just behind Punto.
To lower running cost, Linea is
offered with the smaller engines from Punto. At launch there will be
only the 77hp 1.4-liter 8V petrol and 90hp 1.3 Multijet turbo diesel.
With 4 people on board and the boot filled up, even the torquey diesel
engine could feel breathless. 0-60 mph takes nearly 13 painful seconds,
and the stressed engine sounds coarser than in Punto.
If you want more punch, you'll have to wait for Bravo's 120hp 1.4-liter
16V Turbo to join the range later on. However, Linea is clearly not
designed for great handling. Its softer suspension setup is tuned to
take on the poor roads commonly found in developing countries. As a
result, the ride is very supple and quiet, but the car rolls more in
corners than its hatchback sibling. The
dull steering doesn't promote driving pleasure either. 
