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What is it?

The reworked Fiat Grande Punto, sampled in full-on ‘Eleganza’ spec, bringing all the trimmings.

Power comes from the 119bhp version of Fiat’s familiar 1.9-litre ‘Multijet’ diesel engine. Eleganza trim adds ESP, cruise control, rain sensing wipers and tasty-looking 16-inch alloys.

There’s a new ‘Blue&Me’ entertainment system now fitted as standard, giving the Punto hands-free phone and MP3 capabilities.

But the most compelling addition is a...Read the full article

Old stager? Showing its age?? It was only launched in 2005!

simon_ingram:

Old stager? Showing its age?? It was only launched in 2005!

Doesn't alter the fact it's now one of the older cars in its segment after the Fiesta, Corsa, Jazz, Mazda 2, Fabia, etc... And the interior has always shown its age. About 1995 in terms of plastic quality.

I'm with you Simon- they're making out like this car has been around for 15 years or something. Weird. The fact that it was released about 9 months before the Corsa (which is based on the Punto after all) doesn't make the Corsa sprightly and the Punto an OAP.

I've had one for two years and the plastics aren't great quality but do we have to be so utterly obsessed with dashboard plastics being soft-touch? Does it really enhance your life that much? I don't think so somehow but so many of you believe it does.

The warranty is amazing- it's about time other manufacturers followed the Koreans lead.

The Ka Mk 1, now that's a car that warrants the title 'old-stager'...

although some contenders are newest, the Punto is still looking very good. I'm just asking why Autocar tested the 1.9 multijet instead of the 1.3 or the good 1.4 turbo gasoline... With these engines and with this warranty the Punto really is a good choise.

I agree with simon and Kerrecoe. I mean Grande punto!!! come on, its the oldest among the new crop of hatches but i dont agree that it has started to loose its sheen a bit...Look at the Clio or even a corsa, and just put a GP in front of these so called, class leaders... even a layman will admit that GP is better looking than any of them... The problem with GP here in UK is that its a fiat.... thats why being a fiat, we must and should  cry for some niggle or other....We are British afterall... I agree with Kerrecoe totally that the plastics are hard, therefore the quality is poor....it may be just the theme of the interior...

I must admit just one fact about fiat and that is, its dealerships. I happen to be there, because a friend of mine wanted to drive the Bravo. Now these guys (Colliers in B'ham), share a fiat dealership with some other manufacturer ( I think mazda and seat), the salesman barely knew anything about bravo and how things work on it, its usps etc etc and to top it up, the dealership was shabby considering the fact that 500 was yet to be launched in the Uk and was standing there wrapped in covers....That was shocking to me as we are hearing so much about fiat overhauling fiat alfa dealerships.. I was shocked to see that they didnt even have a demo car... I agree with the woefully managed dealerships but i do not agree with the fiat cars being bad than the others.... Being the most reliable, read and oldest, autocar's roadtest should rather reflect fiat's dealerships rather than reflecting something like "GP has started to show its age" as even a layman can see that GP is still the prettiest among all of the current hatch-crop and if you include the new fiesta, G punto is equally good looking if not better.. The new Fiesta's Rear quarter looks stubby and cluttery while GP's rear/front and all the angles looks proportionate to rest of the vehicle.....