Fiat Punto Evo

Ricetta Italiana, means an Italian recipe. A few years ago Fiat India had launched the Punto in India which was a rather nice car. But the Italian recipe did not go very well with the Indians. It was a good car but an India-friendly ingredient went missing perhaps. Now Fiat India decided to bake a fresh batch of the Punto and behold the new Punto Evo is here.

You lay your eyes on it and you can sense an Italian classic styling that takes your breath away. Not a single thing on the car deserves a can do better stamp on it. Everything is just styled beautifully. Well, of course they are Italians and it has to look beautiful and only then will it get the pass. The head lamps now have an eyebrow going both sides making the Punto Evo look more aggressive than ever. The tail lamps are newly designed in Italian fashion, shiny and bright. Unless the bread is baked and risen perfectly, it will not be served as it won’t taste or feel as it should, no matter how much cheese you add onto it.

The 4 cylinder diesel powered churner churns 90Bhp and the flavour hits you with 209Nm of torque. As soon as you put a slice in your mouth, you don’t realise how good it really is, you have to wait just a little bit for the turbo to kick in the surge of flavour of the 90bhp which will leave you wanting more already.

The only downside in the Punto Evo is the drive unfortunately. The seating position isn’t very comfortable, the clutch pedal is too high and the steering rake adjustment doesn’t help much. The steering is on the heavy side to give a sporty feel but it just feels a bit too over cooked. What is also unfortunate, if you have big feet, your left foot will scrape the steering column when you use the clutch. It’s like a lot of paprika and chilli flakes over the Punto pizza making it a bit too spicy.

The design and the interiors of the new Punto Evo definitely have an Italian flavour to it. The swooping lines along the top of the dash, which is also backlit gives a very elegant look to it. The piano black finish on the centre console adds more bling to the interiors, the steering is big and chunky and the dials are also designed quite well with the hovering shed panel on top. The rear seat have adjustable headrests and loads of legroom along with a rear aircon vent which helps keep the cabin cool for the rear passengers with the automatic climate control. In terms of safety, the New Punto Evo has dual front airbags, engine immobiliser, ABS and EBD. The other cool thing about the Punto Evo is that it sits on large 16 inch wheels which add even more to the sportiness to the car. So we now have the cheese, the meat of 90 horses some spices and a beautifully baked hand tossed bread base so it’s like the perfect recipe for an Italian dinner.

Unless Fiat gets it recipe right for India, it will never be able to satisfy the Indian palates. It’s not that their cars are bad, Fiat designs some of the sexiest cars in the world from their big Fiat stable. The Punto Evo is a great car to look at, it’s got a sporty stance, but with loads of turbo lag, it hits your appetite. It’s not fair to a car so beautiful! The irony is that the Fiat 1.3 litre Multijet engine is bought and used by so many car makers. If they can make their horses behave smartly why cannot Fiat with its diesel powertrain? 

Fiat Punto Evo Specifications