|
What you are likely to notice instead is the slightly slicker cabin, with the two-tone, grey seats getting some sporty red stitching. This immediately livens the interiors up and, along with improved fit and finish, you get the impression that you’ve stepped into a better car. Some niggles continue to remain, however. The interior door handles feel flimsy, the gear lever is still too tall and set too far back and the stereo and AC controls have too many buttons. The Blue&Me system recognises very few mobile phones, making the whole exercise a bit pointless. The shift action through the gears is still a little on the sticky side, especially while downshifitng; I really can’t understand why Fiat cannot match the slickness of, say, the Swift diesel’s gearbox.
On the whole, what we have here is a Punto that’s more complete, but not one that offers significant performance benefits in the city. It now backs up its sublime ride and impressive handling with better highway driving ability (and better highway mileage) and slightly classier interiors. Fiat offers the 90HP in the top-end Emotion Pack trim level, while still selling the 75 bhp model alongside. The 90HP will set you back an additional Rs 34,000 over its sibling, but is it worth the money? I would have to say that it is — it’s the car the Punto should have been in the first place. Here’s another line of thought, though — for Rs 28,000, you can plonk a Pete’s Box from Pete’s Performance into the 75 bhp engine, get another 15-20 bhp out of it and still saveabout Rs 5,000 over the 90HP in the bargain. Food for thought, eh?
|
