Fiat PUNTO HGT RANGE
Old-School Hot Hatchers May Warm To Fiats Punto HGT. Jonathan Crouch Tries It
Were often told how different hot hatches are these days. No wildly spinning wheels, peaky turbocharged engines, terminal torque steer. Instead well its all a bit boring really. The letters GTi once meant shopping rocket.
Now, once more, they stand for Grand Tourer. Or at least in some showrooms they do.
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Fiat, where theres a tyre-smoking Punto that will bring happy memories flooding back to all old-style hot hatch fans. The HGT models are the fastest, costliest and wildest Puntos you can buy. Petrol fans will tend towards the 130bhp 1.8-litre 16v unit purloined from the Barchetta sportscar and also available in the larger Stilo.
Although, theres now an oil-burner for buyers with half an eye on their bank balance - the 100bhp 1.9-litre Multijet JTD. Whichever HGT you choose, theres sure to be fun on the cards.
"The stiff set-up will certainly be familiar to old-school hot hatchers"
True, theres traction control to prevent all that burning rubber, but you can turn it off and be just as much of a hooligan as ever, if circumstances permit. Sixty is 8.6 seconds away en route to 127mph in the 1.8-litre petrol with the diesel taking 9.
6 seconds to reach 60mph before topping out at 115mph. These figures for the JTD might not sound too impressive but its worth taking a test drive because the extra torque makes for abundant pulling power from low down the rev range in almost any gear. The stiff set-up will certainly be familiar to old-school hot hatchers: keep your fillings clamped in on bumpy B roads. Still, all that means you can throw the car about with abandon, free from fear of roll or wallow. When it comes to the transmission however, its a case of paying more and getting less. The £11,095 1.
4-litre Punto Sporting may only put out 80bhp but its arguably a more complete product than the £12,195 1.8-litre HGT or even the £11,945 JTD HGT. Though on paper, the Sporting is slower (sixty in 9.9 seconds on the way to 111mph), in reality its performance is much more accessible, thanks to a snappy six-speed manual box.
Despite its exalted status (and hefty price tag), the HGT cant offer this gearbox. Instead, its saddled with a conventional (and rather notchy) five-speed manual, again borrowed from the Barchetta. Apparently, the six-speeder wouldnt work with an engine this powerful and the management in Turin didnt think that the HGT would sell in large enough numbers to justify developing a new transmission exclusively for it. The HGT models go about justifying their larger pricetags with dual-zone climate control, a rear spoiler and a multi-disc CD system with MP3 player and subwoofer that you dont get on the Sporting.
Not to mention 15" alloy wheels, sports bumpers, a special grille, sideskirts and a leather-covered steering wheel that you do. As far as safety equipment goes, theres quite a lot of it. Twin front airbags, ABS, side airbags and curtain airbags are all standard as is the ESP traction control system we touched on earlier. The steering's good too, with a power-assisted set-up tuned to react more quickly to driver inputs. Nor do you have to struggle with it when you're trying to park the car in a congested street: as with all Puntos, youve only to press the 'City' button on the console and at low speeds, the assistance becomes finger-light. As for practicalities, there's more space in the back of this three door-only model than you might expect - and a decent capacity boot. The switchgear feels much tougher than Puntos of old though its still not quite as solid as the kind of thing you find in German rivals. In the actual interior design, the accent is on user-friendliness, with useful storage compartments wherever you look. Small items will always be safely tucked away - but easy to lose.
Theres also clear evidence of Fiats drive to endow the Punto with a more upmarket ambiance. Two-tone dashboards give the car an airier feel than its predecessor and dual-zone climate control is now available. A fascinating piece of electronics is the Connect OBN system, an optional off-board navigation system. Rather than rely on the more usual CD-ROM of information that invariably fails to mention a newly-built motorway or terminates as you cross a national border, Connect OBN instead uses information stored centrally.
Users pay a nominal fee every time they download a route and it keeps costs down. The Punto isnt a car that Fiat can afford to gamble on. The Barchetta yes, the Multipla maybe but the Punto represents the financial lifeblood of the company. Its been a success story to date with over 375,000 pounding our streets, but in order to keep pace with the latest generation of supermini challengers, a number of changes were necessary.
The styling job is just one constituent part of a raft of changes designed to bring the Punto right up to speed. Most will notice the larger clear-lensed headlamps and the three-part under-bumper grille that have received mixed reviews and the rather neater treatment to the rear end. The HGT models will be an important part of the Puntos success or otherwise and they seem to have the wherewithall to at least compete in the lucrative hothatch market sector. In summary then, the HGT is worth considering if youre after a wild hot hatch for short-term thrills.
If not, there are other cars that would do the job better notably the cheaper Punto Sporting. If its a Punto you want, try both these Fiats before signing on the dotted line.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Fiat Punto HGT
PRICES: £11,945-£12,195 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 14
CO2 EMISSIONS: 140-197g/km
PERFORMANCE: [1.8] 0-60mph 8.6s / Max Speed 127mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [1.8] (urban) 24.6mpg / (extra urban) 44.1mpg / (combined) 34.0mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side/roof airbags / ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height mm 3800/1660/1480mm
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