Three years and counting with my Punto MJD E

I had been thinking of starting an ownership thread for quite some time and what better time than completing one year of ownership. :
Today I complete one year with my GP. It has clocked 13990km so far. In this thread I will share my ownership experience right from the point of searching for a new car early 2009.

Search and the confusion
It was early 2009 and I had just completed 8 years and 65K kms of almost hassle free ownership of my Santro and was looking for a change. The Santro had given me trouble free service, but of late the routine servicing cost which I religiously do every 5000 kms, had gone up from around Rs.1500-2000/- to Rs.3500-4000/- which was a rather disturbing trend, and I couldn't quiet figure out if it was due to the car getting old or the service centre fleecing me.
The thought of upgrading had been there in my mind for the past 2-3 months, but none of the models available caught my fancy. The i10 looked good, but I wanted a bigger one than the Santro and so was waiting for the launch of i20.
The budget I had was 5 Lakhs stretchable to may be 6 Lakhs if diesel.
I was checking out most of the new releases of the period.
I checked out the Indica Vista, but didn't fancy driving a car with the speedometer in the center console.
The A-star came, we went to the showroom, one look and felt it was too small for us. Got into the drivers seat, it felt so claustrophobic that I hurriedly got out without even thinking of a TD.
The i20 came, checked it out, it was big enough, the interiors had a luxurious look but it was just beyond my budget and there weren't any offers either. The sales adviser seeing my dithering offered the Getz, which was also there in the showroom within my budget and I was almost tempted, but then decided not to go for a model that is going to be phased out soon.
I also had a look and Swift Dzire and Aveo UVA, but wasn't satisfied.
Disappointed that none of the new vehicles suited our preferences or budget we started looking for a good deal in used sedans and so we looked at a number of Ikons, Accents and Optras but nothing came close to a deal.
The Honda Jazz came and it was horribly over priced that we did not bother going to the showroom at all, and to add to that I didn't like the looks of it either.
Then came Suzuki Ritz. We checked it out in the showroom and it generally matched our requirements space wise and budget wise. Though I wasn't really comfortable with its rear end shape, decided to postpone the decision till we do a TD. I knew Fiat was coming out with a small car after Linea, but was not really looking forward to it given the poor image that Fiat had. Heck! I wasn't even aware of the name of the car they were bringing.
Couple of weeks later I saw a new red car in the office parking lot with a really long nose and front overhang. Wow that's one nice looking car I thought to myself and went for a closer look... Fiat Punto. So this is it. That was the first time I saw this car, I hadn't even seen the pictures before that time. May be because I wasn't looking.
That weekend we went for the TD of Punto and Ritz. For both the TD my wife and kids were in the back seat and they unanimously voted for Punto. I too had fallen head over heels for Punto. The Ritz felt no different from my Santro with its very bumpy ride.

 

Analysis Paralysis
Then started the weeks of pouring over spreadsheets trying to decide on the model and engine. I compiled the FE figures from whatever sources available. From my experience with Santro, I would be driving around 800km per month and probably more. During the initial years of Santro I used to cover about 6.5K in a year and of late it had gone up to 9K. So the big question was whether to go for Diesel or Petrol and if so which model Active, Dynamic or Emotion. I had loan offers from SBI, HDFC and Union Bank and they too got their place in the spreadsheet.
Finally after days and days of analysis I decided to book the Punto MJD Emotion. I had not seen the BNW Punto in person before booking. My Santro was white so I decided to go for another colour. The HHB Punto floored me so it was the one I chose to book. Had I seen the BNW before, my decision might have been different.

 

The wait and the loan processing
As many would agree, the waiting period after booking has the longest days and weeks in your life. I had some worried moments in between while trying to ensure that the loan is cleared on time. SBI gave the best deal, but HDFC was faster and hassle free. I wanted to go with SBI, but was not sure of meeting the time-lines. So I gave the go ahead to both. In two – three days HDFC guy was ready with all the papers and was waiting for my 3 blank cheques. I gave some excuse and held on for a few more days, frantically following up with SBI. Finally I could hold back the HDFC guy no longer and so I said to SBI. "Look the car is waiting and I need to pay them tomorrow. If I am not getting clearance by today afternoon, I am going to go with some other bank."
The manager assured me that everything will be cleared today itself and I just need to reach the loan processing center and meet the concerned officer there with the cheque book by 2:00pm.
So I reached the place at the specified time, but the officer was nowhere to be seen. Others were not sure where he had gone. While I was waiting there, the HDFC guy called. I said I will meet him at the office by around 4:00pm. With the SBI loan officer not to be seen I reluctantly decided to accept the HDFC offer and started towards my office. I had driven for about 10 minutes when I received a call from the SBI manager. She asked where I was and the Loan Officer is waiting for me. She literally ordered me back to the loan processing office. Sure enough, when I reached there they were waiting for me. In another 10-15 minutes he brought all the papers and I signed them all. While I was signing the papers, the HDFC guy called ::OO and asked where I was and at what time I will be reaching the office to sign the papers!! I gave him some excuse that I was stuck at traffic and will be delayed, and completed the SBI loan process. After that I called up the HDFC guy and said that I am rejecting the loan offer. I could see he was aghast :shocked and I felt sorry for him.
Two days later I got a call from a senior manager in HDFC and asked about the loan. When I said I am not interested he waived off the processing charges and brought down the interest rate from 10.5% to 8.0%, the same rate SBI was offering, without me even asking for it. Before that they had adamantly refused to reduce the interest rate or the processing charges. Had they done this before, I would have saved about 5 days of wait. :irked
After another 10 days of wait, I received the car on 31 August 2009. The delivery process was smooth though I had to wait till around 9:30pm. Mine was the last car to be delivered that day. :car

 

I wish your Punto a happy birthday and many more happy returns of the day.

 

Congratulations on your great great 1 year of ownership. The whole family should be liking it as well, more than before Its like a baby 1 year old in your family..!

 

Many more happy miles with your Punto roy!

 

Wish your Punto a Very Happy Bday !!
Was the 1st red GP you saw in office mine ? I should be collecting some commission from Fiat now. I managed to sell 5 GPs so far :up

 

Thank you all for the wishes. :drinks

ThePunter, yes it is almost like a one year old baby. My daughter was saying the same thing yesterday.

Pran, this happened even before you got your car. I have sold 3 GPs, the first one taken by Roshin :wink:

 

Third service done

Its 22 months since I bought my car and has done over 26000kms so took it for the third free service last week.
Overall I am happy with the service provided by Mohandas Motors. They have resolved the door rattling issue I had. The engine now feels a little more rev happy.
Here is the bill. The total cost came to Rs.6013

 

Royj,

I have some questions regarding the engine oil change?

Is FIATOILDSLP part # for SELENIA WR?

The particulars mention "Engine Oil Diesel (Packed)", but they charged you for 3.2 liters? I guess the packed ones come in 1 and 4 liter cans? So what about the 0.8 liter leftover?