Hello FIAT family!

Hi all,

This is Natraj, from OMR, Chennai. I own a 2018 Fiat Avventura Urban Cross - like most of us here - truly, deeply, madly, and of course, last, but not least, passionately. It's been almost 5 years and 90K with this beauty and I am looking for more. I am happy to connect with this extremely rare breed of FIAT owners & enthusiasts. If there are meets & rides planned, you can count me in as number one! Virtual namaste to everyone!

 

You own a very rare format of the Punto. It had good reviews then, sadly it was launched too late.
Do post some pictures of your car.
Also do share your experience of maintaining your ride.

 

Sure, @gpunto75, will do shortly!

 

Ownership & maintenance review:

My chariot UC (unfortunately, I didn't name him - I just refer to him as my chariot) will complete 5 years this coming June!

Across these years, my experience of owning this gentle giant has been one of low maintenance and a lot of AHA! moments. My teenage son prefers any drives we undertake only in my chariot though we own a 2022 Honda Jazz CVT (for my spouse) - he loves the turbo kicking into action on the third gear and throwing him back in his seat, even if it is within the city!

Purchase experience: Like most TFIans here, having owned the Palio Stile 1.1 SLE before this, I did not even take a look at any other manufacturers - went straight to Ramkay FIAT, Nungambakkam (much to the annoyance and irritation of my spouse) to look at Punto & Avventura, but fell in love with Avventura UC! Only eyed the Jeep Compass for a second, but knew it was beyond my budget at that time. Completed the booking then and there, and got my chariot handed over in 15 days from booking. Got the seat covers and floor mats as freebies from Ramkay FIAT - as usual, not much on offer and discounts with FIAT dealerships!

Driving experience: I clocked 35K kms within the first year itself, i.e., between Jun 2018-19 and reached 45K before Dec 19 - even when my office offered flight options to Bengaluru, I staunchly told 'No', so I could enjoy the travel on my chariot, many, many times. I had to travel outside India for work between (Jan-Sep) and with COVID restrictions for most parts of 2020, I guess I slowed down clocking even further miles. After Nov 2021, I restarted regular work commute as well as longer trips. And, nothing like a 3,500 kms drive from Chennai to Chatthisgarh (Chitrakote Waterfalls) covering coastal Andhra & remote parts of Orissa, to celebrate the freedom of driving once again (responsibly, of course, with masks and sanitizers )!

My daily work commute is ~50 kms, 4-5 days of the week, so I clock ~800-1,000 kms on a monthly basis, just from this. Coupled with regular weekend trips to nearby temples (Cuddalore, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, and Vellore) and long weekend trips to Kumbakonam, South Tamil Nadu (Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Tenkasi) & Kerala (Trivandrum & Kollam), my periodic maintenance time table comes up roughly once every 6 months

Two of the heartening aspects of driving so much has been, one mileage - I've not experienced any ups and downs on this front - a standard 18 kmpl output - I drive painfully consistently between 60-80 kmph in the city and 90-110 kmph on the highway (knowing fully well that the gentle giant keeps goading me to open up the throttle and experience his power!) and two, driving comfort - even on week-long trips, I've never felt tiredness creep in, due to the more-than-sufficient thigh and lumbar support on offer

Periodic maintenance: With FIAT moving out of India in mid-2019, I was fortunate to complete the first 3 free services with Ramkay Fiat, Chennai, post which I switched to Expert Spanners, Semmencheri, OMR. My experience with Expert Spanners has been a good one - they've experienced & knowledgeable technicians who have sufficient awareness of FIAT-specifics plus access to genuine, OEM spares. I usually get the periodic maintenance done every 10-12K kms, so there have been no issues with the mechanical or electrical parts until now

I needed to change tyres only at 70K kms as the company-provided Apollo Alnac tyres held up really good, considering the miles I put on them in those first 1-1.5 years - in fact, not a single puncture until I replaced them! I switched to Yokohama Earth 1 205/55/R16 94V tyres (replacing all 4 of them at INR 34K), with a slightly thinner profile that has improved my driving experience, especially on bumpy roads. The thinner Yokohama tyre profile, coupled with Rogerab suspension support, has helped maintain the suspension in top shape. Also, around the 75K mark, I replaced the entire clutch kit as the gear shifts started to become tight - although first time I approached the technician at Expert Spanners they fixed the issue with lubricating the clutch lever, but within 1-2K kms I started experiencing the tightness again, at which time we replaced the entire clutch kit, which costed INR 16K

So, if we consider maintaining the vehicle cost-wise, the tyres & clutch kit costed around INR 50K, in my fourth year and 10-12K kms periodic maintenance on average was INR 10-12K (after 30K kms), this is what I spent approximately throughout the period of ownership

Replacement tyres (4):   INR 34,000
Replacement clutch kit:   INR 16,000
Periodic maintenance (4): INR 45,000
Miscellaneous:          INR 5,000
Total maintenance cost:  INR 100,000

Cosmetic upgrades: For his 5th anniversary, I wanted to deck him up a bit, as the cosmetic upgrades bug bit me as well! I added DRLs (Genome premium DRLs - white for running and amber for indicators, costed INR 8K) and upgraded the headlights to projector LED lights (Genome Bi-Xenon 5500K Warm white, costed INR 22K), getting those angel eyes look! I also had to repaint the bonnet due to an accident with a boom barrier, so that he always looks smooth and sauve as ever (paint job was INR 7K for same quality as company provided finish)

In conclusion, it has been a pleasure and matter of pride to own & drive this gentle giant!

Though it sounds cliche, I can only repeat Robert Frost's words, tweaked slightly:
"The roads are smooth, lengthy, and bumpy,
But, I have my UC promises to keep,
Miles to go before he sleeps,
Miles to go before we sleep!"

 

Nice pics of nicely maintained ride.
This was the colour that FCA used to promote the Urban cross.
As you said its a gentle giant. Improved gear ratio, increased ground clearance, new shape were the advantages added to the already superlative drive and good mileage. This was very desirable to the old generation Punto owner like me.
70k kms on one set tyres is too good for a heavy car.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 22, 2023 ---

Thanks for the drl link

 

Hello @NatrajFAUC1820
Please provide details on the installation of the drl.
Thanks

 

Hi @gpunto75 , Genome, the company which manufactures the DRLs has tie-ups with local automotive lighting experts. In my case, I reached out to DJ Car Decors in Semmencheri, OMR to arrange for Genome company technician for fitting the DRLs.

Technically, we dummied the OEM indicators only in the headlight assembly (while retaining the indicator setup on the OVRMs) and added the DRLs instead. It is a plug and play setup literally - only one thing to note is since the indicator setup has been dummied, we get a indicator malfunction alert everytime the vehicle is started. Once we apply the indicator and the DRL setup is identified by the system, the alert goes off

Other than this one alert, rest of the system works really well. Please let me know if you need any further information, happy to help!

 

@NatrajFAUC1820 Welcome to TFI.
You have a nice looking car. Your passion reflecting in it.

One question, even if you keep 90-110 in highways, you get only 18 km/l?

 

Hi @limraj thanks for your kind words!

I have observed that on some of the highway drives, I get 20-22 kmpl, where 90+% of the driving is on NH type roads, but where there's a mix of NH, SH, etc. it's mostly around the 18 kmpl mark only

Since 70% of my driving is within the city and I get a more than decent 18 kmpl, I didn't really think of it as a concern

Please let me know if you've had a different experience

 

These numbers are fair.
In fact, getting 18 for 70% city driving is awesome.