Fiat fails to deliver with latest super-mini offering

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Friday, September 03, 2010

Time was when Fiat were the absolute berries when it came to the production of small family cars and even laid down the guidelines which so many other manufacturers followed when it came to the production of such machines.

If time was, then it no longer is, and Fiat no longer rules the roost in the super-mini segment and while it gained many kudos with the fantastic 500 revamp recently, its grip on an area it once commandeered is no longer.

The Punto may have sold over seven million units worldwide since we first saw it in 1993, but it is certainly no longer the powerhouse it once was in terms of the super-mini segment.

That is something which saddens me, I have to say, because down the years I had great fun in very many of the Puntos which emerged from Turin.

The latest version is aimed at rectifying that situation and the new ‘Evo’ (representing evolution’) Punto is intended to re-establish Fiat as a Supermini kingpin. It may not, I’m afraid, be good enough to do so.

Back in the day the Punto often set the style parameters in its segment which so many followed blindly — on the simple basis that the Italians had them beaten into a tin hat when it came to eye-catching and emotion- grabbing designs.

That is no longer the case and if you look down the long list of the super-mini contenders, there are very many which outdo it — the Fiesta, the Jazz, the Mazda 2, the Corsa and the Polo spring to mind.

We tested the ‘dynamic’ spec. version of the car and I have to say that while it was very impressively kitted out, what with air con, leather steering wheel and gear knob, a start/stop system, and steering wheel stereo control, there was plenty more which disappointed.

There was the 1.2 litre 8V petrol engine for a start, which was gutless and lacking in any of the brio which is so evident in Fiat’s excellent ‘Multiair’ range. It may return 5.7 l/100km, but the other figures tell their own tale — 65bhp, 14.5 second 0-100kph and top speed of 155kph.

On the road, it is not too bad, although I felt it to be very jittery over rough surfaces — of which we can boast many in this country — and while the steering was light in town (and could be made even lighter thanks to a dashboard-mounted button), overall it was very numb and offered little or no feedback as to what was actually happening on the road.

Grip levels were good, but the steering never really communicated that fact.

If this car is a ‘major reinvention’ as Fiat claim it to be, then I must say I was terribly disappointed by it.

Sure the cabin is stylish and comfortable, but I did not think that was enough to make up for the lack of driving dynamics.

I wanted to like this car, but it didn’t allow me to do so.