2001 Punto HGT

[JoeyMc]

So I picked this up last week as a little project.
96000 miles, in fair condition but nothing too serious needed just some tidying up really.
It’s recently got 4 tyres, new front discs and pads, new steering rack,rear shocks and an oil change.
It’s done very little mileage in the last few years so I’ll be doing all the fluids, belt and pump along with a new thermostat.
I bought the car knowing it had a bad O2 sensor (got one already)
The sunroof is acting up. It’ll tilt but not slide.
The sound system is toast so that’ll need some fixing too.
It drives very well and the only mods are a cone filter and back box.

Edited by JoeyMc on Wednesday 30th November 19:37

[xu5]

I always quite liked these, I think they good looking cars. When my sister emigrated to New Zealand she was looking for a car. She asked me what I would recommend between a nice yellow Punto HGT or a bland bogo Japanese car, can't remember what now. I tried to steer her towards the Punto but did warn her that being a European import down under could mean parts could be expensive... She ended up getting something else unfortunately.

[Squadrone Rosso]

Nice. 133bhp,rev monster of an engine

[Mr Tidy]

That looks really interesting.

Small Fiats have generally been great fun to rag around!

[Mercury00]

This brings back memories. When I was at college I used to see the yellow ones all over the place. I can't remember how long it's been since I saw one now. Great looking car.

[JoeyMc]

Thanks for the comments. They are very rare these days especially here in Ireland. I bought my first car which was a Punto sporting mk1 from a Fiat dealer and they had one of these in the showroom at the time. It’s the last time I saw one. This being a genuine Irish car too makes it one of only a handful sold new here.
It does really like to rev. I had a Glanza V back in the day and this is far more enjoyable to drive. And sounds very good at 6000 rpm 😁

[Mercury00]

I was looking at pics of the HGT after reading your thread, and was reminded of the facelift model. That's got to be one of the worst facelifts in history. It went from mini Alfa to Korean special.

[Mike1990]

Always looked good these.

Looking back, it was such a good era of light, little and affordable pocket rockets.

[5 In a Row]

Love these, I bought a black one brand new in 2000.
The cam belt tensioner (possibly) failed on mine at 40k miles so it got a top end rebuild at which point I realised the cam variator had previously stopped working - a fairly common thing I remember.
There should be a step up in the pull at, from memory, 4200rpm.

[nismo48]

Nice little Fiat there OP..
Good luck with the project

[Mr Peel]

Good choice. Small Fiats are such under-rated fun. Now rare too, which adds to the appeal. And a pre-facelift nose. Result!

[JoeyMc]

So i had a spare hour this morning to jump on the car. The stereo sounded awful so i started there. Had a look at the ront speakers and things didn't get off to a good start.

I think i've gone and bought a HGT Scuderia superleggera edition. No door speakers to save weight.
A friend of mine has some bramd new alpine ones that'll do the job.

[JoeyMc]

Rear speakers are goosed also

[JoeyMc]

And the “woofer”
I think I’ve tracked down the causes of the rubbish stereo sound ??????
Alpine speakers are going in the front
JVC in the back
And a small 3 inch woofer to replace the blown one.

Edited by JoeyMc on Thursday 1st December 11:01

[RC1807]

Good little cars, these. A mate had one from new, probably 2001, same colour as yours, too.

His had the Blaupunkt multi-disc CD player - I think it held 3 or 4 discs in the centre console.

Some numpty drove out of a side road and smacked it straight on the front wheel, which wrote it off due to high labor costs - body works, wheel/tyre, suspension, creased inner wing, etc.

[JoeyMc]

That’s the one. It’s got a 5 disc changer in the dash and it works perfectly. I’ll be removing it and storing it away. I’ll pick up a pocket to fill the hole. I’ve got a Sony Minidisc head unit going into the car. I can run my iPhone through it and the amp is powerful enough to run the speakers.

[Chunkychucky]

Good to see an HGT, as you say OP can't remember the last time I saw one.

Had a 1.2 16v as my first car years back and now have a 1.4 16v as a run around, quite good fun to chuck around (until the ESP starts grabbing at the front brakes...). Look forward to seeing further updates

[8bit]

Nice! My first car was a 1.2 Punto Mia, have some fond memories of that. There was a chap on here I think, few years back, had one similar to this and was doing a turbo install - bonkers PH stuff

[5 In a Row]

8bit said:

Nice! My first car was a 1.2 Punto Mia, have some fond memories of that. There was a chap on here I think, few years back, had one similar to this and was doing a turbo install - bonkers PH stuff

When they were current there was a supercharger kit available as well as a longer 5th gear cog.

[ReverendCounter]

OK, I've edited m post because after reading your properly I can see you've got plans for upgrades.

Should be good fun at just over 1000Kg and 129bhp - keep us informed.

(there is/was a PHer called, IIRC LiquidKnight who loved all things Fiat + funky - bet he'd have some good tips for you, but haven't seen him post recently)

Edited by ReverendCounter on Thursday 1st December 12:50