A Fun Drive with VFM too

There is a lot of truth in the thought that the more power you have at your disposal, the more confidence you have. That is a given in life but it is certainly true about certain cars – take Fiat's Grande Punto hatchback for example. Being an Italian means it is brimming with stylishness. It's certainly one of the most attractive cars on Indian roads today. It has aggressive looks that are sexy as hell too. But – the last time I drove one of them, actually two – petrol and diesel – I came away thinking that Fiat had played safe, they wanted to cater to the 'kitna deti hai' types. In other words, I wanted more power.

I distinctly remember thinking that 1.4L petrol needed a turbocharger to give it more grunt and the diesel was unimpressive. I also remember that while the diesel had more torque than the petrol and was much better at overtaking on the highway, it sounded flat and monotonous and it didn't excite me as two other Indian car manufacturers used the same engine and frankly, it seemed they had done a better job of integrating it into their cars at the time. So I actually asked somebody else to drive it while I went to sleep at the rear.

Now though, there is a new Grande Punto out and it has undergone a heart transplant – well, a new turbocharger actually with variable geometry vanes. Cutting through the techno-gobbledegook bluntly, what that means is that the power and torque figures have been bumped up significantly. While the earlier version developed 75bhp at 4000rpm and 197Nm of torque at 1750rpm, the new car has figures of 90bhp at 4000rpm and 209Nm of torque at 2000rpm, taking the Punto closer to the i20 diesel.

The looks have not changed but they didn't need to. The Punto still has sporty and muscular lines and that exciting Maserati-like front end as well as the grille that seems to remind one of the venerable Fiat 1100D. Whichever angle you view the car from, you will not be disappointed. The Punto always stands out whether in a parking lot amidst a whole lot of other cars or on the highway. It makes you feel good. The dimensions and other figures have not changed – it is still 3987mm long , 1687mm wide and 1495mm tall and the 2310mm wheelbase is also unchanged (obviously). The kerb weight is 1144kgs, there is ample ground clearance at 171mm, the boot capacity is a healthy 280 litres and there is a 45litre fuel tank. The Grande Punto comes in two tyre sizes, 164/80 R14 for all but the Emotion Pack variant which gets 196/60R15 tyres and the same goes for the rims – steel with full wheel covers for all variants except the Emotion Pack which has 15inch alloy rims and add to the looks.

Fiat has included a lot of features, safety wise, comfort wise and convenience wise in the 90bhp Grande Punto – there are dual stage Air bags, ABS with EBD, automatic climate control, Blue & Me, integrated CD/MP3 player with USB along with steering-mounted controls, red stitching on the seats. There is an accessory pack too that includes a rear spoiler, chrome exhaust tip, stylish body decals, sporty aluminium pedals, leather seat covers & Punto-branded door sills.

As I had the car with me for a few days, I was able to drive both in daytime and experience Bombay's horrendous (at times) traffic and cruise comfortably at steady speeds at night when the roads are absolutely empty. I discovered a lot of Bombay as I drove around and even got hauled up by a cop for a transgression but I got away scot free after explaining I was a journalist, not from the city and hence didn't know the roads at all. I went up and down the Worli-Bandra sea link several times and it was strange to be driving over Arabian Sea which you can see through the gaps on the side. Cars are a privileged lot on the sea link – no other form of transport is allowed on it which has Bombay's biker boys and girls pretty upset. I was upset too – there is a 50kph speed limit on the sea link and there are at least four sets of rumble strips between the two end with 50 painted on in big numerals. I did go the regular way too and I have to say the Rs 50 toll (Rs 75 return) is definitely worth it in terms of time saved. I also cruised up and down the Worli sea face but finding a suitable spot for photography in Bombay is a bit of a nightmare, especially for one who doesn't know the city and I got lost a few times too.

The sea link allowed me to gauge the performance though – At 40kph in 4th gear the Punto's Multijet is turning over at 1500rpm and 50kph it is just a tad under 2000rpm. 50Kph in 5th gear which feels like you are moving at a snail's pace on the sea link by the way, has the engine doing about 1200rpm. Take it up to 80kph and the engine is at 2000rpm where torque is maximum and at 100kph the engine is doing 2500rpm. The Punto feels rather peppy in traffic and it accelerates decently from 40kph. When accelerating hard, it's at about 3500rpm that you feel a surge and from 3000rpm to 5000rpm, the Punto has a very nice sound – very different from the 75bhp one! Each time I got off the link at the Bandra end there was massive traffic so I spent the time sitting in traffic listening to Adele Atkins on the music system which was quite a decent one.

The Punto likes spirited driving as evidenced from the handling and tracking if you find a suitable road like say the Bombay-Goa route. It is a very decent car with good VFM but it has to fight a negative pre-conception floating around – at least two prospective car buyers in Faridabad and Calcutta I recommended the car to simply said, and I quote here, “but the service is by Tata Motors” and “I don't want Tata service”. The Tata-Fiat combine needs to find a way around this. The 90BHP Punto starts at Rs 6,79,000 ex-showroom Delhi and comes in five colours - Bossa Nova White, Exotica Red, Medium Grey, Fox Trot Azure and Tuscan Wine.