ABARTH GRANDE PUNTO 1.4 Turbo 3dr (2008)

Abarth Grande Punto - Lots of fun, quite cheap for how sporty it is!

My wife and I bought the Abarth Grande Punto after the last of our brood left home - call it a joint mid life crisis! We wanted something with a bit of oomph, but for not too much money, and this is exactly what we were looking for. The Abarth Grande Punto is a nice little jitter bug, it jumps up to 60mph in about 8 seconds - hardly a drag racer but a good deal faster than the people carriers we had before. The dealer offered us some sort of upgrade or mechanical tweak that would have beefed up the power even more, but on the test drive it was perfectly sufficient for our modest (ageing!) desire for speed. I mean we really have to remind ourselves that it's just a 1.4, it's always got more to give. And it always makes us smile to climb inside a car with racing seats!

Another thing that's fun is that it's got six forward gears, which we really weren't expecting. And all six gears have got plenty of power in them, loads of fun on the motorways.

It's reasonably comfortable to drive, although not quite as comfortable as some. As we get a bit older that will probably what makes us sell it eventually, but there are some nice touches to increase comfort. The steering wheel and driver seat can be easily adjusted up and down which is very handy when you've got two drivers of different sizes.

What made us lean towards the Abarth Grande Punto as opposed to some other fun cars we were looking at was that, when we got over the fun of it all, this car was still nice and practical. It has got funny racey seats, but it's also got a really good sized boot to put things in, and overall it's just fine for taking three grandkids around with their things. The back seats fold easily enough as well if it's just us and we're taking lots of stuff away for a trip.

The grandkids also approve of the stereo which plays 'MP3' files or some such from their CDs. It's all a bit noisy, but keeps them pleased! It's also been nice for us to have a car with air conditioning. It really doesn't need to be on long to make the car lovely and cool in the hot weather, then it can be turned off again to save fuel.

We haven't had the car long so it's tricky to recommend it based on reliability, but it has been perfectly reliable for us so far. And after all, it's got a lot of Fiat stuff inside so it should be fairly straightforward to get it fixed up.

Another reason we plumped for the Abarth in the end is that it's not too expensive to run. It gets about 40 miles a gallon, which we thought was a fine compromise for all the power we're getting. However, probably because it's so sporty, it is insurance group 30, so that's a bit of a sting in the tail. This is kind of a mid-life extravagance for us anyway so we're ok with that, but it's worth bearing in mind.