Fiat Punto Evo 1.4 Multi-Air Dynamic (M) Review
16 Apr 2010|28,442 views
At least that's what I thought when Fiat contacted me some weeks back to take their latest addition to their showroom out for a test drive.
After all these years, the word Evo has become synonymous with a certain brand in particular - Mitsubishi. So you'd be forgiven to think that the Fiat Punto Evo was the Italian brand's formal war cry into the more performance area of the market is currently occupied by another Italian, the Alfa Romeo MiTo.
Far from it, as I would embarrassingly find out a few nights before my date with the Punto.
With the awkward conversation I could be having with the Marketing staff playing on loop in my head, I received the car with much anticipation, having learnt about some of the systems Fiat has throw into the car to make it a much greener vehicle than its colour might suggest.
Exterior
Fiat has made some changes to the car, but you've got to keep a keen eye to list them down without comparing it with the previous car.
That's because they've decided to keep with the silhouette of the previous car. Designed by Italdesign-Guigario in partnership with Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat's very own skunkworks design crew, the shape can be described as pleasant on the eyes.
After all these years, the word Evo has become synonymous with a certain brand in particular - Mitsubishi. So you'd be forgiven to think that the Fiat Punto Evo was the Italian brand's formal war cry into the more performance area of the market is currently occupied by another Italian, the Alfa Romeo MiTo.
Far from it, as I would embarrassingly find out a few nights before my date with the Punto.
With the awkward conversation I could be having with the Marketing staff playing on loop in my head, I received the car with much anticipation, having learnt about some of the systems Fiat has throw into the car to make it a much greener vehicle than its colour might suggest.
Exterior
Fiat has made some changes to the car, but you've got to keep a keen eye to list them down without comparing it with the previous car.
That's because they've decided to keep with the silhouette of the previous car. Designed by Italdesign-Guigario in partnership with Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat's very own skunkworks design crew, the shape can be described as pleasant on the eyes.
 |
The redesigned badge of Fiat, backed in red, sits less prominently in the middle of a thin chrome strip and works very well to blend into the car rather than interrupt the calm and collected design philosophy.
At the rear, the Evo gets a brand new tail light that has been blacked out at the edges and clear coloured in sections.
Apart from the brand new bumper at the rear that see's the same treatment as the front (with the plastic insert), what I'm very pleased to see is the red Fiat logo sitting prominently above the re-designed Punto nomenclature. I don't normally get excited by red coloured logos but this one actually is functional.
 |
A brief depression will ring out a satisfying 'tick' from the boot catch, accompanied at the same time by the hatch door popping out slightly.
With the unlocking of the fifth door being aided by the Fiat badge, the doors surroundings are kept free from any protrusion or handle gap below. It's by no means any more functional that the typical unlocking sequence in other cars, but the novelty of having a car's badge depress or pivot up (as in the case of VW) is incomparable in my opinion.
On a whole, not a lot of changes on the outside. Which prompts you to assume most of the 'evo'lutionary changes have taken place on the inside.
Interior
And you'd be right if you assumed as such.
The console area and seats have been given a thorough overhaul, with tact perforated rubber finding its way on the horizontal portion of the console facing the driver.
The steering wheel, with the sizable Fiat logo finding its way in the middle, has a much more expensive feel to it with the additions of the sculptured sporty thumb at the three and 10 O'clock position. It's actually quite meaty and tact as well.
In the centre, the air conditioning vents that sit at the top and the section below that where the car's audio unit will be has been highlighted in glossy black which adds to the quality feel of the car. Talking about the vents, the two circular air con vents on either side of the front section looks exactly like those in Audi's car. And they even feel as firm as those in the German car.
Climate control buttons have been grouped way below the centre portion of the Evo's console in hard plastic that surprisingly, doesn't feel cheap to the touch.
I say surprising because these generic grey plastics are notorious for sounding hollow when knocked and prodded.
The fabric seats in the Punto Evo we took out came in a grey and dark grey dual tone but is also available in a red and dark grey trim. Onto the business of supporting its occupants, the fabric seats do hold them in place but over long distances, the relatively firm seats could be a minor concern for those long trips to Malaysia. You could opt for the leather upholstery instead, but that'll be fitted locally.
With the unlocking of the fifth door being aided by the Fiat badge, the doors surroundings are kept free from any protrusion or handle gap below. It's by no means any more functional that the typical unlocking sequence in other cars, but the novelty of having a car's badge depress or pivot up (as in the case of VW) is incomparable in my opinion.
On a whole, not a lot of changes on the outside. Which prompts you to assume most of the 'evo'lutionary changes have taken place on the inside.
Interior
And you'd be right if you assumed as such.
The console area and seats have been given a thorough overhaul, with tact perforated rubber finding its way on the horizontal portion of the console facing the driver.
The steering wheel, with the sizable Fiat logo finding its way in the middle, has a much more expensive feel to it with the additions of the sculptured sporty thumb at the three and 10 O'clock position. It's actually quite meaty and tact as well.
In the centre, the air conditioning vents that sit at the top and the section below that where the car's audio unit will be has been highlighted in glossy black which adds to the quality feel of the car. Talking about the vents, the two circular air con vents on either side of the front section looks exactly like those in Audi's car. And they even feel as firm as those in the German car.
Climate control buttons have been grouped way below the centre portion of the Evo's console in hard plastic that surprisingly, doesn't feel cheap to the touch.
I say surprising because these generic grey plastics are notorious for sounding hollow when knocked and prodded.
The fabric seats in the Punto Evo we took out came in a grey and dark grey dual tone but is also available in a red and dark grey trim. Onto the business of supporting its occupants, the fabric seats do hold them in place but over long distances, the relatively firm seats could be a minor concern for those long trips to Malaysia. You could opt for the leather upholstery instead, but that'll be fitted locally.
On top of having storage area in the predictable glove compartment and in the centre arm rest, they also find their sizable way on all four door panels, providing for some impressive amount of storage space.
Overall, the car's interior satisfies the evolved notion that is the Evo, over the older Grande Punto.
One problem I had with the car though was the inability for me to control the rear passenger windows from the driver's console on the door. Don't think it's an optioned feature on the car, rather an isolated mechanical problem with our test car.
Driving impressions
The Fiat Punto Evo, being recently evolved, has been steered towards the greener side of the automotive product plans. And there's no place better to realise that than under the bonnet.
Equipped with its brand new Multi-Air Dynamic technology (it's basically a system that adjusts the valve's timing and lift, and cam profile to ring out more power from the engine but cutting cusumption levels and carbon emissions while at it), the 1.4-litre Naturally Aspirated engine manages to produce 105 horses and 130 Nm's of torque, matching the horsepower figure of the 1.6-litre Mazda3.
Want to know just how much more power is being produced? The identical Evo without the Multi-Air Dynamic technology only manages to produce 77 bhp and 105 Nm of torque.
The Evo we tested managed to pull willingly from low down in the rev range all the way up to 6,500 rpm without sounding abusive.
Then we've got Start&Stop system. Something I've been wanting to trying out for some time now, the system on the Evo functions as you would expect it to.
At the lights, the engine is cut off when your foot is off the clutch and on the brakes, and turned back on when you've depressed the clutch pedal. Not the most comfortable feeling when your engine abruptly grinds to a halt at the lights, coupled with the fact that taking your foot off the clutch on a manual ride is just unnatural, the system works towards cutting down on your consumption further and your contributions to the ozone layer widening.
Overall, the car's interior satisfies the evolved notion that is the Evo, over the older Grande Punto.
One problem I had with the car though was the inability for me to control the rear passenger windows from the driver's console on the door. Don't think it's an optioned feature on the car, rather an isolated mechanical problem with our test car.
Driving impressions
The Fiat Punto Evo, being recently evolved, has been steered towards the greener side of the automotive product plans. And there's no place better to realise that than under the bonnet.
Equipped with its brand new Multi-Air Dynamic technology (it's basically a system that adjusts the valve's timing and lift, and cam profile to ring out more power from the engine but cutting cusumption levels and carbon emissions while at it), the 1.4-litre Naturally Aspirated engine manages to produce 105 horses and 130 Nm's of torque, matching the horsepower figure of the 1.6-litre Mazda3.
Want to know just how much more power is being produced? The identical Evo without the Multi-Air Dynamic technology only manages to produce 77 bhp and 105 Nm of torque.
The Evo we tested managed to pull willingly from low down in the rev range all the way up to 6,500 rpm without sounding abusive.
Then we've got Start&Stop system. Something I've been wanting to trying out for some time now, the system on the Evo functions as you would expect it to.
At the lights, the engine is cut off when your foot is off the clutch and on the brakes, and turned back on when you've depressed the clutch pedal. Not the most comfortable feeling when your engine abruptly grinds to a halt at the lights, coupled with the fact that taking your foot off the clutch on a manual ride is just unnatural, the system works towards cutting down on your consumption further and your contributions to the ozone layer widening.
 |
It's something that will see application in most cars in the future, so we'll have to get used to the idea of stalling our engines at a lengthy stop. If you're wondering how it'd be like in a traffic jam, well, just don't take your foot off the clutch and it'd be as per normal.
Not liking the system very much? Turn it off.
Inside, three buttons have been placed neatly to the left of the hazard button. The nearest one, which has two arrows running a circle around an 'S' controls the Start&Stop system.
The middle one controls the overall locking mechanism.
Furthest from the hazard, the last button with a steering wheel imprinted above allows for the driver to either drive as he normally would with his steering slightly weighted, or only fractionally weighted by hitting the button. Basically it loads up the power assistance for steering.
Driving a manual car and you're not sure if you're driving economically enough (you constantly seem to be matching the wrong gears at the wrong speed)?
Fiat has solved that as well with an indicator system that lights an arrow pointing up or down within the gauge cluster - essentially telling you to shift up or down to keep yourself in the eco zone.
Not liking the system very much? Turn it off.
Inside, three buttons have been placed neatly to the left of the hazard button. The nearest one, which has two arrows running a circle around an 'S' controls the Start&Stop system.
The middle one controls the overall locking mechanism.
Furthest from the hazard, the last button with a steering wheel imprinted above allows for the driver to either drive as he normally would with his steering slightly weighted, or only fractionally weighted by hitting the button. Basically it loads up the power assistance for steering.
Driving a manual car and you're not sure if you're driving economically enough (you constantly seem to be matching the wrong gears at the wrong speed)?
Fiat has solved that as well with an indicator system that lights an arrow pointing up or down within the gauge cluster - essentially telling you to shift up or down to keep yourself in the eco zone.
Suspension setup has been tweaked for comfort and the pliant ride helped by the MacPherson struts, telescopic shocks and stabiliser bar in front and telescopic shocks and a torsion beam in the rear keeps the loftiness down to a minimum.
Steering doesn't reward the car with much feedback but that's like saying a Ferrari's handling is too direct.
Should you even consider this?
You could.
It undeniably has a distinct character, sharing nothing with any generic in-between car we're all too familiar with down in the more affordable smaller car segment.
And with all the technologies that have been adapted into the car to fight the good and mainstream fight against pollution and everything else bad in this world, the gleaming chrome stylised 'Evo' that sits at the rear represents the evolution of Fiat's offering rather than a performance version of the car.
What's better news for the aesthetically concerned buyer, Fiat's local agent is planning on bringing in the more sporty Evo rims as an option.
At $102,900 though, it won't be the choice of the masses but the impressive 17.5 km/l consumption figure could be a draw from the usual suspects.
Steering doesn't reward the car with much feedback but that's like saying a Ferrari's handling is too direct.
Should you even consider this?
You could.
It undeniably has a distinct character, sharing nothing with any generic in-between car we're all too familiar with down in the more affordable smaller car segment.
And with all the technologies that have been adapted into the car to fight the good and mainstream fight against pollution and everything else bad in this world, the gleaming chrome stylised 'Evo' that sits at the rear represents the evolution of Fiat's offering rather than a performance version of the car.
What's better news for the aesthetically concerned buyer, Fiat's local agent is planning on bringing in the more sporty Evo rims as an option.
At $102,900 though, it won't be the choice of the masses but the impressive 17.5 km/l consumption figure could be a draw from the usual suspects.
At least that's what I thought when Fiat contacted me some weeks back to take their latest addition to their showroom out for a test drive.
After all these years, the word Evo has become synonymous with a certain brand in particular - Mitsubishi. So you'd be forgiven to think that the Fiat Punto Evo was the Italian brand's formal war cry into the more performance area of the market is currently occupied by another Italian, the Alfa Romeo MiTo.
Far from it, as I would embarrassingly find out a few nights before my date with the Punto.
With the awkward conversation I could be having with the Marketing staff playing on loop in my head, I received the car with much anticipation, having learnt about some of the systems Fiat has throw into the car to make it a much greener vehicle than its colour might suggest.
Exterior
Fiat has made some changes to the car, but you've got to keep a keen eye to list them down without comparing it with the previous car.
That's because they've decided to keep with the silhouette of the previous car. Designed by Italdesign-Guigario in partnership with Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat's very own skunkworks design crew, the shape can be described as pleasant on the eyes.
After all these years, the word Evo has become synonymous with a certain brand in particular - Mitsubishi. So you'd be forgiven to think that the Fiat Punto Evo was the Italian brand's formal war cry into the more performance area of the market is currently occupied by another Italian, the Alfa Romeo MiTo.
Far from it, as I would embarrassingly find out a few nights before my date with the Punto.
With the awkward conversation I could be having with the Marketing staff playing on loop in my head, I received the car with much anticipation, having learnt about some of the systems Fiat has throw into the car to make it a much greener vehicle than its colour might suggest.
Exterior
Fiat has made some changes to the car, but you've got to keep a keen eye to list them down without comparing it with the previous car.
That's because they've decided to keep with the silhouette of the previous car. Designed by Italdesign-Guigario in partnership with Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat's very own skunkworks design crew, the shape can be described as pleasant on the eyes.
|
The redesigned badge of Fiat, backed in red, sits less prominently in the middle of a thin chrome strip and works very well to blend into the car rather than interrupt the calm and collected design philosophy.
At the rear, the Evo gets a brand new tail light that has been blacked out at the edges and clear coloured in sections.
Apart from the brand new bumper at the rear that see's the same treatment as the front (with the plastic insert), what I'm very pleased to see is the red Fiat logo sitting prominently above the re-designed Punto nomenclature. I don't normally get excited by red coloured logos but this one actually is functional.
|
A brief depression will ring out a satisfying 'tick' from the boot catch, accompanied at the same time by the hatch door popping out slightly.
With the unlocking of the fifth door being aided by the Fiat badge, the doors surroundings are kept free from any protrusion or handle gap below. It's by no means any more functional that the typical unlocking sequence in other cars, but the novelty of having a car's badge depress or pivot up (as in the case of VW) is incomparable in my opinion.
On a whole, not a lot of changes on the outside. Which prompts you to assume most of the 'evo'lutionary changes have taken place on the inside.
Interior
And you'd be right if you assumed as such.
The console area and seats have been given a thorough overhaul, with tact perforated rubber finding its way on the horizontal portion of the console facing the driver.
The steering wheel, with the sizable Fiat logo finding its way in the middle, has a much more expensive feel to it with the additions of the sculptured sporty thumb at the three and 10 O'clock position. It's actually quite meaty and tact as well.
In the centre, the air conditioning vents that sit at the top and the section below that where the car's audio unit will be has been highlighted in glossy black which adds to the quality feel of the car. Talking about the vents, the two circular air con vents on either side of the front section looks exactly like those in Audi's car. And they even feel as firm as those in the German car.
Climate control buttons have been grouped way below the centre portion of the Evo's console in hard plastic that surprisingly, doesn't feel cheap to the touch.
I say surprising because these generic grey plastics are notorious for sounding hollow when knocked and prodded.
The fabric seats in the Punto Evo we took out came in a grey and dark grey dual tone but is also available in a red and dark grey trim. Onto the business of supporting its occupants, the fabric seats do hold them in place but over long distances, the relatively firm seats could be a minor concern for those long trips to Malaysia. You could opt for the leather upholstery instead, but that'll be fitted locally.
With the unlocking of the fifth door being aided by the Fiat badge, the doors surroundings are kept free from any protrusion or handle gap below. It's by no means any more functional that the typical unlocking sequence in other cars, but the novelty of having a car's badge depress or pivot up (as in the case of VW) is incomparable in my opinion.
On a whole, not a lot of changes on the outside. Which prompts you to assume most of the 'evo'lutionary changes have taken place on the inside.
Interior
And you'd be right if you assumed as such.
The console area and seats have been given a thorough overhaul, with tact perforated rubber finding its way on the horizontal portion of the console facing the driver.
The steering wheel, with the sizable Fiat logo finding its way in the middle, has a much more expensive feel to it with the additions of the sculptured sporty thumb at the three and 10 O'clock position. It's actually quite meaty and tact as well.
In the centre, the air conditioning vents that sit at the top and the section below that where the car's audio unit will be has been highlighted in glossy black which adds to the quality feel of the car. Talking about the vents, the two circular air con vents on either side of the front section looks exactly like those in Audi's car. And they even feel as firm as those in the German car.
Climate control buttons have been grouped way below the centre portion of the Evo's console in hard plastic that surprisingly, doesn't feel cheap to the touch.
I say surprising because these generic grey plastics are notorious for sounding hollow when knocked and prodded.
The fabric seats in the Punto Evo we took out came in a grey and dark grey dual tone but is also available in a red and dark grey trim. Onto the business of supporting its occupants, the fabric seats do hold them in place but over long distances, the relatively firm seats could be a minor concern for those long trips to Malaysia. You could opt for the leather upholstery instead, but that'll be fitted locally.
On top of having storage area in the predictable glove compartment and in the centre arm rest, they also find their sizable way on all four door panels, providing for some impressive amount of storage space.
Overall, the car's interior satisfies the evolved notion that is the Evo, over the older Grande Punto.
One problem I had with the car though was the inability for me to control the rear passenger windows from the driver's console on the door. Don't think it's an optioned feature on the car, rather an isolated mechanical problem with our test car.
Driving impressions
The Fiat Punto Evo, being recently evolved, has been steered towards the greener side of the automotive product plans. And there's no place better to realise that than under the bonnet.
Equipped with its brand new Multi-Air Dynamic technology (it's basically a system that adjusts the valve's timing and lift, and cam profile to ring out more power from the engine but cutting cusumption levels and carbon emissions while at it), the 1.4-litre Naturally Aspirated engine manages to produce 105 horses and 130 Nm's of torque, matching the horsepower figure of the 1.6-litre Mazda3.
Want to know just how much more power is being produced? The identical Evo without the Multi-Air Dynamic technology only manages to produce 77 bhp and 105 Nm of torque.
The Evo we tested managed to pull willingly from low down in the rev range all the way up to 6,500 rpm without sounding abusive.
Then we've got Start&Stop system. Something I've been wanting to trying out for some time now, the system on the Evo functions as you would expect it to.
At the lights, the engine is cut off when your foot is off the clutch and on the brakes, and turned back on when you've depressed the clutch pedal. Not the most comfortable feeling when your engine abruptly grinds to a halt at the lights, coupled with the fact that taking your foot off the clutch on a manual ride is just unnatural, the system works towards cutting down on your consumption further and your contributions to the ozone layer widening.
Overall, the car's interior satisfies the evolved notion that is the Evo, over the older Grande Punto.
One problem I had with the car though was the inability for me to control the rear passenger windows from the driver's console on the door. Don't think it's an optioned feature on the car, rather an isolated mechanical problem with our test car.
Driving impressions
The Fiat Punto Evo, being recently evolved, has been steered towards the greener side of the automotive product plans. And there's no place better to realise that than under the bonnet.
Equipped with its brand new Multi-Air Dynamic technology (it's basically a system that adjusts the valve's timing and lift, and cam profile to ring out more power from the engine but cutting cusumption levels and carbon emissions while at it), the 1.4-litre Naturally Aspirated engine manages to produce 105 horses and 130 Nm's of torque, matching the horsepower figure of the 1.6-litre Mazda3.
Want to know just how much more power is being produced? The identical Evo without the Multi-Air Dynamic technology only manages to produce 77 bhp and 105 Nm of torque.
The Evo we tested managed to pull willingly from low down in the rev range all the way up to 6,500 rpm without sounding abusive.
Then we've got Start&Stop system. Something I've been wanting to trying out for some time now, the system on the Evo functions as you would expect it to.
At the lights, the engine is cut off when your foot is off the clutch and on the brakes, and turned back on when you've depressed the clutch pedal. Not the most comfortable feeling when your engine abruptly grinds to a halt at the lights, coupled with the fact that taking your foot off the clutch on a manual ride is just unnatural, the system works towards cutting down on your consumption further and your contributions to the ozone layer widening.
|
It's something that will see application in most cars in the future, so we'll have to get used to the idea of stalling our engines at a lengthy stop. If you're wondering how it'd be like in a traffic jam, well, just don't take your foot off the clutch and it'd be as per normal.
Not liking the system very much? Turn it off.
Inside, three buttons have been placed neatly to the left of the hazard button. The nearest one, which has two arrows running a circle around an 'S' controls the Start&Stop system.
The middle one controls the overall locking mechanism.
Furthest from the hazard, the last button with a steering wheel imprinted above allows for the driver to either drive as he normally would with his steering slightly weighted, or only fractionally weighted by hitting the button. Basically it loads up the power assistance for steering.
Driving a manual car and you're not sure if you're driving economically enough (you constantly seem to be matching the wrong gears at the wrong speed)?
Fiat has solved that as well with an indicator system that lights an arrow pointing up or down within the gauge cluster - essentially telling you to shift up or down to keep yourself in the eco zone.
Not liking the system very much? Turn it off.
Inside, three buttons have been placed neatly to the left of the hazard button. The nearest one, which has two arrows running a circle around an 'S' controls the Start&Stop system.
The middle one controls the overall locking mechanism.
Furthest from the hazard, the last button with a steering wheel imprinted above allows for the driver to either drive as he normally would with his steering slightly weighted, or only fractionally weighted by hitting the button. Basically it loads up the power assistance for steering.
Driving a manual car and you're not sure if you're driving economically enough (you constantly seem to be matching the wrong gears at the wrong speed)?
Fiat has solved that as well with an indicator system that lights an arrow pointing up or down within the gauge cluster - essentially telling you to shift up or down to keep yourself in the eco zone.
Suspension setup has been tweaked for comfort and the pliant ride helped by the MacPherson struts, telescopic shocks and stabiliser bar in front and telescopic shocks and a torsion beam in the rear keeps the loftiness down to a minimum.
Steering doesn't reward the car with much feedback but that's like saying a Ferrari's handling is too direct.
Should you even consider this?
You could.
It undeniably has a distinct character, sharing nothing with any generic in-between car we're all too familiar with down in the more affordable smaller car segment.
And with all the technologies that have been adapted into the car to fight the good and mainstream fight against pollution and everything else bad in this world, the gleaming chrome stylised 'Evo' that sits at the rear represents the evolution of Fiat's offering rather than a performance version of the car.
What's better news for the aesthetically concerned buyer, Fiat's local agent is planning on bringing in the more sporty Evo rims as an option.
At $102,900 though, it won't be the choice of the masses but the impressive 17.5 km/l consumption figure could be a draw from the usual suspects.
Steering doesn't reward the car with much feedback but that's like saying a Ferrari's handling is too direct.
Should you even consider this?
You could.
It undeniably has a distinct character, sharing nothing with any generic in-between car we're all too familiar with down in the more affordable smaller car segment.
And with all the technologies that have been adapted into the car to fight the good and mainstream fight against pollution and everything else bad in this world, the gleaming chrome stylised 'Evo' that sits at the rear represents the evolution of Fiat's offering rather than a performance version of the car.
What's better news for the aesthetically concerned buyer, Fiat's local agent is planning on bringing in the more sporty Evo rims as an option.
At $102,900 though, it won't be the choice of the masses but the impressive 17.5 km/l consumption figure could be a draw from the usual suspects.
Car Information
Fiat Punto Evo 1.4 Multi-Air Dynamic 5dr (M)
CAT A|Petrol|17.5km/L
Horsepower
78kW (105 bhp)
Torque
130 Nm
Acceleration
10.8sec (0-100km /hr)
This model is no longer being sold by local distributor
All Used Fiat Punto Evo
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