Question of the day: Fiat Grande Punto diesel or Hyundai i20 diesel?

Aditya Upadhya is planning to buy either the Hyundai i20 diesel or the Fiat Punto diesel and wants the community to help him decide which one he should opt for.

The base Hyundai i20 1.4 Era CRDi has a claimed mileage of 22 kmpl and costs Rs. 5.80 lakh ex-showroom Delhi. It has a 1,396 cc engine that produces 90 bhp of power at 4,000 rpm and 220 Nm of torque at 1750-2750 rpm.

The base Fiat Grande Punto 1.3 Active on the other hand has a mileage of 20 kmpl and costs only Rs. 5.18 lakh. Which makes it a whole Rs.62,000 cheaper than the i20. The base Punto has a 1,248 cc engine that produces 75 bhp of power at 4,000 rpm and 197 Nm of torque at 2,000 rpm. The i20 is the one with more power but when it comes to overall drivability and handling the Punto and the i20 are pretty close to each other. Fiat also offers the Fiat Grande Punto 90 HP Emotion Pk which costs Rs. 6.85 lakh and produces 90 bhp of peak power and 213 nm of torque.

The Punto however scores when it comes to looks and design. The i20 on the other hand benefits from Hyundai’s wide service network at least till Fiat sorts their service centre issues. Aditya may also wait for the next generation Hyundai i20 which will borrow the new Fluidic design theme, if he can wait till mid 2012. What would you suggest for Aditya? Share your views in the comments section below!