Forget the Ferrari and the Armani...Grab Yourself a Punto

As students we like to congratulate ourselves on being at the very forefront of style and dress sense. Every shirt we buy is an instant classic. Every hair style we boast as being “just got out of bed”, is something of beauty. But with cars, we’re generally stumped. On the street, on our feet, we’re cool, swarve and sophisticated. But get in our cars, and it’s a different story. The problem, as I explained last week, is that most students are so deep in debt the last thing on our minds is how good our cars look. But for once, I think I have a solution, one car that, on the outside it seems, is both stylish, and affordable. A big hello then to the Fiat Punto, the cheap Italian hatchback for the masses.

Now again, unless you have a spare £10,000 lying about under your bed somewhere we can pretty much throw new models out the window. However, as with the Fiesta last week, five minutes on Auto trader will set you up with a 2007 1.2 Punto for about £4,500, and that’s not bad. And I know that a 1.2 engine doesn’t seem like much, but Fiat have truly worked to squeeze every last drop of power from within and so have managed to give you a frankly applause-worthy 65bhp. Now whilst that may not be enough to get you into the next race at Le Mans, it’s certainly enough to get you around and more importantly, it’s enough to get you noticed. And don’t worry about the horsepower problem, because here’s a sneaky hint. There are more than enough turbo’s for the Fiat to go around. Enough said.

So essentially then the Punto is a small car, with excellent leg room all round, a good starting price, and more add-ons and accessories than you can shake a stick at. So it would seem then we’ve found the perfect student car, well; no actually. You see, there is one flaw with the Punto, one feature that will forever, in my mind, place it far beyond the reach of any student hands. It is hideous.

The styling looks like it’s been done by somebody with a lot of brains, and a lot of knowledge in wind resistance and engine management, and not by someone with a social life. What Fiat have done is build this car from the ground up as an everyday-man’s car. And that’s not what we students want, we don’t want average, we don’t want an endless succession of grey and black. We want style, we want flair, we want...to be noticed. What Fiat should have done is build the car, and then hand the designs over to an eight year old, and let him go crazy with the crayons, drawing spoilers and exhausts at every possible angle. Because that’s the sort of car that’ll get you noticed. Let’s face it, we’re not at this stage going to be looking at a BMW or Mercedes, so instead we need to focus on what is practically doable. There are only a very few problems with the Punto, and this, I’m sorry to say, is one of them.

I’ve found it difficult then to come to a conclusion on the Punto. On the one hand, I like the engine, and the price, and the steering, and the power, I even like the seats. But the styling? No, I’m afraid not. What Fiat has made may well be a very good car, but for a student, where style is everything, this doesn’t quite cut the mustard.