Reply With QuoteSpeaking for myself, you're more than welcome. We have members of all ages, types and experience, so you should be able to get the help you need, as and when necessary.
As I've had some useful advice from some of you already, I suppose I'm obliged to explain why my questions may seem a trifle amateur.
First, I'm a pensioner, living in the south of France (it's for the sun, you know ....), and recently bought a Punto Mk2 HGT Arbarth, without knowing what I was buying. I was just looking for a smallish car for my g/f, and learned of this Fiat, stored in a garage not far away, looking for a good home.
Flat tyres and a smashed windscreen notwithstanding, I bought it for 200 euros ..... and once I'd had the screen replaced and the steering geometry corrected for the four new tyres, I discovered what I'd bought!!!
What fun: I've been driving diesel VW Passats and Renaults for the last ten years, and my previous experience was in Fords (albeit souped-up Cortinas).
The car is ten years old, has 116k km (= 72k miles) on the clock - genuine, as I have its service history - but no handbook, so I'm still at the stage of discovering what some of the buttons do or mean. (For example, what does the button in the floor to the left of the handbrake, labelled TCS or TC5 OFF do?).
Fragility of body and brain probably means I won't do much in the way of modding, but the car has passed its first test: a round trip from the south of France to Erith in Kent without any problems, a trip I shall be making fairly regularly.
This seems a very friendly set of forums, so I hope you'll be patient with an old man while he tries to get to grips with owning his first small nippy car, and resists the impulse to pretend he's back in his boy racer years.
No, I'm not going to post pics, as the car has been front-ended at some stage in the past, and has had a bad respray. This doesn't matter in France, where all cars are required by law to display their dents with pride - it shows you've learned the local technique of close parking.
Questions in the techy forums will follow shortly - please be kind to me.
Speaking for myself, you're more than welcome. We have members of all ages, types and experience, so you should be able to get the help you need, as and when necessary.
Welcome to the forum, I have also recently joined. I had a Punto HGT MK2 for the last 3 years and kept it standard. The TCF on & off button is the traction control, I kept it off most times and only used it in the wet or snow which prevented the wheels from spinning. My engine packed up and had the car scrapped and I recently purchased a MK1 Punto GT3.
Thanks for that info - it may sound dumb, but how do I know when it's on or off, as it's just a push-button. I don't have an owner's handbook, and finding such basic info is proving frustrating! Sorry to hear you had an engine failure; was the car not worth dropping another in from a scrappy, or are there not many Puntos going for scrap in the UK? I may be lucky in this respect in France, where they are quite popular.
Hi, it seems i have a very short memory span. Either the button itself should illuminate or a wheel should light up on the dash. You could test it perhaps up a hill and accelerate from start, you should be able to tell the difference whether it is on or off. I actually had loads of problems with my HGT as I bought a dud, two new radiators in a span of 6 months, had the cam belt, water pumps changed 3 months before the engine went. Also I had a new exhaust front to rear including cat, new brake discs & pads all round,new tyres. All of this in a span of a year, so i decided to cut my losses and look for something else and found my new baby
.
Welcome to the forum mate. I am sure you will get all the help you need here.
Welcome to the forum, I have also recently joined
great place to be and friendly welcome mate
Posting Permissions