Hyderabad-Panchgani-Pandharpur-Hyderabad

Hi Folks,

First long drive in my 1.2 Fiat Punto.... did 1590 km on this trip and totally done 3300 km in 2 months and 20 days.

Feeback on the "machine"

Just lovely .... a treat to drive
Vibrations .... none
Dealership experience.... Got my first service done at BU Bhandari Auto at Pune....good experience.... given the fact that car had a few teething problems with a back door, fuel cap, rear power window and some vibration from the rear boot panel.... all well sorted.
Fuel efficiency .... got as high as 18 km/l with a minimum of 12 km/l....not very borthered about average though
Pickup improved after first service.... before the first service had a little trouble in overtaking the long trailers on the highway.... felt some lack of power....or may be i got used to the car more.
Driving on hills ... Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar- Tapola..... excellent car handling

Overall I have tested the car to a great extent... a good feeling....though initially had a very unpleasent experience with the dealer in Hyderabad. Malik Cars....Got a showroom piece.... which had been abused in a lot of ways
Got both the rear bearings changed before 1000 km as they had manufacturing defects, alignment was totally out.

I would like to know if there are any maintenace tips from the Punto owners after a long trip on some rough roads...
I am planning to get a the wheel alignment checked as there is a still a drag towards the left... apart from a through cleaning of the car.

Look forward to good suggestions.

Abhinav
Punto 1.2 Dynamic

 

Hey Abhinav , good to see a guy from hyderabad here ... I've heard malik cars service is not good though never went, i used to go to concorde but there are too many cabs in there. I now go to Tejaswi motors it's newly opened and in madhapur on kukatpally road very near to cyber towers.I've posted my experience with them in Service centre thread.. you can meet SA Narsimha .. he is very helpful.

 

Hi Atul,

Nice to hear from you and thanks for suggesting Tejaswi Motors. I have also been thinking of visiting them as it is close to my residence in IJM Township.

Cheers Abhinav

 

1.2 is real fun car to drive.

 

Good to see another Hyderabadi here. Sad to see that that Malik cars duped you this way. I got my Car from Malik too. He was after me too take the Bossa Nova White ... but i totally refused and he had to order a Medium Grey from Pune. Had some problems with the registration of the car , but as far as service is concerned , Malik has been decent if not great. No complains there. They've their own share of good and bad people.

Good to know about this trip, I myself have been planning to hit the road this month to Bangalore and beyond.

 

@ Sumit...Yup atleast I found the car to be good.....
@ Pramit...Yes i agree, from a service point of view I did not have a bad experience with Malik. Infract when the bearings needed replacement, they got the spares from Concorde and fitted it. So not too bad... but as suggested by Atul I am going to try Tejaswi as it is close to my home.
Even we are planning a Bangalore-Ooty sometime....close to Nov/Dec...lot of info on the route on teambhp thread...in case you have not visited already do check out.

Happy and safe driving,

Cheers,

Abhinav

 

Hi Abinav,


I am planning to visit Mahabaleswar and Panchgani next month ,regarding the trip i want to know some details,please sms me your no# on my mobile # 9885678663,thanks