Fiat will soon be launching the much-awaited Punto Abarth in India and we compare its specs against the Volkswagen Polo GT TSI to find out who’s the boss.
Exteriors – Both the cars look good in their own way. While the Punto Abarth carries a blend of fine Italian styling along with sporty elements like racing stripes, the Polo has a very elegant and premium design and the GT variant comes with black spoiler and ORVMs which add that minor contrasting touch to the vehicle. The Polo appeals to customers across a wide range of age groups while the Punto Abarth will be fancied by only youngsters since the styling is a bit loud.
Interiors – The Punto Abarth gets interiors more or less similar to the Punto Evo and the fit and finish and even the overall quality feels much better in the Polo. Both the cars have comfortable seats but the German has an edge over the Italian when it comes to ergonomics. The insides of the Polo feel much better than its rival and it remains our pick in terms of quality, equipment and feel good factor. Boot space is identical on both the cars and there is only a marginal difference.
Engine and Mileage – The Punto Abarth gets a 1.4-litre Turbojet engine that belts out significantly higher output than the Polo GT TSI. In fact, the Punto Abarth seems to be one of the most powerful hatchbacks in the country right now. Even when it comes to torque, the Abarth has a lot more of it than the GT. The Abarth is faster than the GT by almost a second when it comes to 0-100 km/hr. However, where the GT TSI trumps over the Punto is the gearbox. While the Punto has a 5-speed manual unit, the Polo has a 7-speed DSG gearbox which is lightning quick with its shifts. Fuel efficiency is again in a similar range for both the cars.
Service – While Fiat has an average service network and their service quality levels aren’t the best, the same goes with Volkswagen too, in fact Fiat fares better than VW in this regard. We have seen a number of complaints posted online by Volkswagen customers of how they’ve had poor experiences. This is one department where both need to work on.
Verdict – The Abarth Punto has almost 50% more power than the Polo and with the decreased ground clearance, Fiat has made sure that the handling is brilliant, just like the older Puntos. The vehicle also gets all four disc brakes while the Polo gets only two, thus braking performance is expected to be better on the Italian machine. So the Fiat Punto Abarth is not only the better looking car here but is also much faster, better handling with the steering offering more feel and feedback, the tyres generating more grip, the cabin having more space and the stability being superior too. The Punto might be a bit pricier than the Polo but when we talk about sheer performance and fun, the Punto Abarth wins eyes closed and hence is our pick of the two.
