However, there are hardly any changes under the hood. The petrol variants include the 1.2-litre 68-PS engine offered in Active and Dynamic trims while the 1.4-litre 90-PS mill comes in the Emotion trim. As for the diesel variant, the 1.3-litre Multijet engine produces 76 PS in the Active, Dynamic and Emotion trims while in the top of the line 90 Sport trim, it churns out 93 PS at the same engine speed. The 90 Sport is a heavy car, though, and its torque output of 209 Nm is achieved at 2,000 RPM. Thus it has a sluggish bottom end and requires frequent gear changes in traffic. Speaking of which, all the variants of the Punto EVO are mated to the same five-speed manual gearbox. And there is no improvement in the rubbery feel and lack of precision in the gearshifts. According to FIAT, the final drive ratio has been altered and there is a five per cent improvement in the fuel efficiency of the 1.3 Multijet engine, but we can verify the changes in performance only after testing the car.
As for the driving experience, the Punto EVO is a spacious and comfortable car that offers good all-round visibility, has the right suspension set-up for Indian roads and handles quite well. Coming to the price of the car, the Punto Evo range starts at Rs 5.33 lakh for the base petrol variant and goes up to 8.37 lakh for the top end diesel variant (prices on-road Pune).
