Ford vs Fiat - Not Quite Le Mans ''66

Being a car enthusiast I have to admit I was rather spoiled by the car I learned to drive in, sure I passed my test in my instructors “so-so” diesel Suzuki Swift but really it never held a light to what I class as my first real car.

The first car I properly learned how to drive in was my mother’s 2012 Ford Fiesta Zetec. It had three doors to make it extra difficult to squeeze your 6ft friends and their girlfriends in the back, and the tiniest little rev happy 1.2 petrol engine underpowering the front wheels. It was woefully underpowered with 82bhp but in all honestly at 17 that was exactly what I needed in a first car.

I never appreciated it at the time but my god. That was a hell of a car. And the reason I came to appreciate it so much is because last year I decided it was time to give the fiesta keys back to my fairly car-deprived mother and buy a car of my own. So, I got a 2009, 1.4 litre, 16 valve, 95 horsepower (sounds alright so far) … Fiat Punto (and there’s the bombshell).

Now at the time I just saw it as a car, immaculately maintained and ready to go and in my teenage brain I thought “well its just a car, sure everyone says the Fiesta is best in class, but it won’t be that much worse surely?” I was very wrong.

Fiat Punto’s are not drivers’ cars and I can honestly say it scares the life out of every microgram of Northern blood inside me every time I get in it. The biggest, and most unnerving difference is the steering, the Fiesta uses an amazingly intuitive hydraulic steering set up meaning when you turn the wheel or go over a bump you get direct feedback from the wheels to your fingertips. Direct cause to effect.

Meanwhile the Punto uses an early version of electric steering meaning that when you turn the steering wheel, you aren’t directly moving the wheels. You’re telling a computer to turn the wheels for you. And while there’s no discernible delay in the movement of the wheels it just can’t provide anywhere near the feedback that the Fiesta can.

And I’ll tell you now it’s a horrible experience to go from something that communicates every bump or change in surface to effectively playing with the force feedback from a PlayStation 2 wheel. It almost feels like losing one of your senses, imagine only being able to smell half of what you can currently.

There are some good things about the Punto though: the engine is alright, it’s smooth and relatively quiet for motorway driving because unlike the Fiesta the version of the Punto I have does have a 6th gear, a gratefully spec’d option only available for the 16 valve model.

But even that is offset because the centre armrest is in such a weird position that it blocks the drivers access to the gearstick which is a major gripe of mine when you’re driving three and a half hours up the A1.

Although mine is the 5 door model which is perfect, lugging camera gear around or packing up to go home for Christmas with the almost-fold-flat rear seats and on the occasion when you do have to shove people in the back taking your Uni pals to the shops there’s a good amount of head room because of the boxy rear design.

There are some elements of the design that just strike me as poor or cheap engineering

though. For example the wing mirrors make SO. MUCH. NOISE. Especially when you’re driving on the motorway where it can often interrupt conversations, the centre console has several rough edges that you can cut yourself on if you’re not careful and the footwell clearly designed for the left hand drive European market has absolutely no room for your left leg to rest but an abundance of space on the right between your accelerator leg and the door meaning if you’re on a long drive you have to sit with your leg at quite an awkward angle.

And the SINGLE most annoying thing about the car? The boot doesn’t have anyway to open it that isn’t the button on the key or on the dashboard. Yes it gives the boot a clean look but when you have two armfuls of shopping or your friend tries to put something in the back they cant open it because you have to faff around with the keys or hit the button on the dash that I guarantee you will always forget about.

So, if you’re a parent thinking about buying your expensive child a first car, just stay clear of the Punto and stick with what everyone knows is the best. Go for the best-selling car in the UK. Buy a Fiesta, after all I’ve already done the hard work for you.