gear kereta

Fiat cars are known for their composed ride and agile handling. The Grande Punto is no different from the rest of its siblings in this segment. If you’re a driving enthusiast looking for a hatchback, there is no need to look further. The Grande Punto is the car where your search will end.

The Grande Punto has a firm and composed ride at low and high speeds. As the Grande Punto shares its platform with the Linea it shares the same hardware of struts at its front end and torsion beam at its rear with double acting telescopic dampers. The hatchback’s suspension has been tweaked well enough to give the occupants a fairly smooth ride.

The Fiat Grande Punto outclasses most of the hatchbacks sold in India in the handling department. No wonder Abarth chose the Grande Punto chassis for rallying. The Abarth Grande Punto S2000 is still being used and was lately driven by Kimi Raikkonen in the Rally of Finland 2009. The Grande Punto can be confidently driven on winding and straight roads. The car sticks to the road with no signs of body roll and crosswinds barely bother the hatch’s road grip.

The steering of the Grande Punto is fairly accurate. It is light and easy to steer at lower speeds and the steering weighs up well at higher speeds. The large wheelbase of 2510mm and the 14 and 15 inch tyres (165 / 80 R14 for Active & Dynamic, 175 / 70 R14 for Emotion, 195 / 60 R15 for Emotion Pack) reduce the understeer effect prominent on front wheel drive cars. The Goodyear GT3s on our test car gripped well with almost no tread noise on cement and tarmac roads. The GT3s have moderate hardness and don’t squeal or tend to give up while taking tight corners.

The brakes on the Grande Punto don’t just feel good but even bite well. The antilock brake system on the Emotion and Emotion Pack further ensure that the hatch stays under control while hard braking. In our brake test, the Grande Punto came to a complete standstill from a speed of 80kph in 36.2 metres.