Punto Turbo debuts

FIAT has added a new turbocharged petrol model to its Punto range in Australia, priced below the equivalent turbodiesel Sport model and offering even better performance.

The three-door Fiat Punto Sport Turbo goes on sale from Thursday (January 10), priced at $25,990 with a standard five-speed manual gearbox.

With a light-pressure Garrett turbocharger applied to the base 1.4-litre Punto engine, the Sport Turbo model develops 88kW of power at 5000rpm (up from the non-turbo’s 57kW) and 206Nm of torque at a high 5000rpm (versus 115Nm), but Fiat says that 200Nm is available from just 1700rpm.



This allows the Punto Sport Turbo to accelerate from rest to 100km/h in a claimed 8.9 seconds – 0.6s faster than the six-speed 1.9-litre turbo-diesel Punto Sport, which is considerably more potent on paper with 96kW at 4000rpm and 280Nm at 2000rpm, but which weighs 50kg more.

Local Fiat agent Ateco Automotive claims that the new Turbo Sport is one of the fastest hot hatches at the price and also one of the most economical, with a combined fuel consumption figure of 6.6L/100km.

“The new Fiat 1.4 litre T-Jet really is the engine of the future,” said Fiat’s local general manager David Stone.

“Normally a performance car needs a significantly larger engine to gain a high performance output (but) the already highly efficient 1.4 gains a turbocharger to produce power and torque levels the equivalent of a 2.0 litre engine.

“As a result, the Punto Turbo Sport is not only one of the quickest sub-$30,000 hot hatches, it is also one of the most economical.” Apart from the different engine and gearbox, specifications are the same as for the diesel Sport model, meaning the Turbo Sport comes with sports suspension, ABS brakes, electronic stability control, hill-hold function, remote central locking with remote boot release, follow-me-home lights, 17-inch alloy wheels, body colour spoilers and side skirts and a chrome exhaust.

Inside there are sports seats trimmed with sports upholstery, sports instrument panel, a leather trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, electric windows and mirrors, cruise control and air conditioning.

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