Is it Worth to Spend money on Punto?

If you like the Punto, go-ahead buy it.
Not sure about the horror stories, but most of the time the stories are from non-owners. Yes there are some issues, some part delays, but overall service is good.

Check below threads/topics and see what actual owners feel about it -
viewforum.php?f=32
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=136&start=10

 

Hi Vaneet.
Firstly I would like to comment on the horror stories.
Skoda has the maximum no. of horror stories. 3-4 court cases and suspended dealerships. Those the the ones where the car had major mechanical faults.
Every Car has some horror story thread. Yesterday we were discussing VW Polo horror story on teamBHP.

Horror stories about Fiat
There are a lot of them dating back to the days of early 2000s when Fiat Palio was not backed up by proper service network. This led to Fiat's failure and then they started a JV with TATA to improve the A.S.S. network.

There has been two stories so far where 1 person Manikjeet was manhandled after he had an argument at the dealership as his car had a pulling problem and second is about "rajinbm" who bought Punto but it has AC relay problem that could not be resolved by dealerships though it has a solution.

Well, 1 Polo owner has a failed turbo and is running without turbo. So, no company can make a perfect car.
What matters is that there should not be any history of major faults in a car repeatedly.

Yes, Punto and Linea had some niggles owing to quality of material used for interiors. e.g. seat height going down automatically, falling plastic parts, door handles. This was because Fiat wanted to do some cost cutting so that they can keep prices to the minimum.
But, since 2010 most of these things have been taken care of and Punto and Linea cost some 40k more than what they used to back in mid 2009.

Why is it worth spending money on Punto:
- Ride quality, comfort and handling offered by this car is great.
- Features. This car is loaded with technology(unfortunately, brochure does not highlight all the features).
- Safety. A truck full of load fell on Linea but the family came out scratchless.
- SidIndica on teambhp has a thread. The guy may say whatever about this car but he himself bought this car and Punto saved his family. Even he now acknowledges that Punto/Linea are the safest cars under 10lacs.
- Looks and style. A sure head turner.

Punto is no doubt one of the most discussed car on various forums. The only thing is that I feel bad when I see so many people bash this brand. But then I feel happy that they are jealous of this brand and these cars. I've seen that many have a prejudice against this brand so that they can justify their own decisions.

 

Here is 1 Figo owner who posted the following on team-bhp(He is comparing Emotion pack variant of Punto with Figo Titanium):

In my reply I posted the following additional features found in Punto that he omitted. Should these many be missed by chance? He was trying to say that Figo has a lower price tag than Punto but offers same features. He forgot that lenght of Punto is 4000mm and has more features which he decided to omit.

A non-biased excel sheet will have fewer red boxes in Punto dynamic, much bigger list in Emotion pack and many more red boxes in Figo when Figo titanium is compared to Emotion pack like he says.

 

Horror stories are service center specific and not manufacturer specific (Skoda is an exception : there they are manufacturer specific)

Check out the reviews of good SC's in your area and then take your decision.

For your information : I also drive a Ritz ZXi. For the past one month I have been struggling to get a fog lamp from Maruti Service Center. In spite of everything being perfect with Maruti : fog lamp on a new Ritz ZXi is not working : and then it is not available for more than one month.

EVERY manufacturer has it's pros and cons. Do your homework : read reviews of service center SPECIFIC to your area : and then take a decision. Unfortunately, while buying a car there is no ONE SIZE FITS ALL approach.