I seem to never run out of issues with my Stile. The car is now 3 months old, and had an underbody impact in its first month of use - whose service/ replacement handing was slow, and left much to be desired. Having done extreme follow up with the FIAT parts dept. at Pune, and having been assured of faster turnaround in the future - i see that not much has changed with how issues are dealt with for this car.
I had the misfortune of having another minor accident because of the heavy rains in Bangalore, and the related water logging on the roads. It was last saturday, and the roads around HSR layout were choked with traffic, because most primary roads were cut off due to the water logging. I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, and was making a right turn around a circle. In this slow moving traffic, we had a genius on a bike, who had decided that the wrong side of the road was a much better option, rather than following all the other vehicles on the proper side of the road. What was worse was that he was doing 60-70kmph, and couldn't even brake in time when he saw my car making the turn around the circle. The next thing i know - he's hit my front, and i was instantly worried that those 16K beauties up front were done for.
I still had some share of good luck on the day i suppose - because all the lights were still intact, but the bumper was well and truly broken. The biker was severely apologetic, begged forgiveness - and all that, but the next phase is more interesting.
Took the car to Manipal for repairs on Monday - and was told that the bumper was not in stock, but would be ordered immediately. I was told that someone would be giving me a call in the next 2-3 days, so i could get the bumper fitted. Brought the car back home, with a broken number plate, torn bumper, and to curious looks of people on the road. Waited until Thursday - no word from Manipal, so finally decide to follow up directly with FIAT. I get a response back on 21st morning, which says that Manipal has placed an order for the bumper on the 21st - and in parallel, i have the service advisor call me to inform that they have placed the order on 17th itself, and expect the part to come in by the 25th.
An incredibly frustrating scenario - where the dealer has wasted 5 days just to place an order, knowing full well that they didn't have the part in stock (i trust FIAT on this one, because the person responding back from FIAT had the order number from the service center with the date)
So there you have it - a company trying desperately to establish a toehold in a market that's pretty much given up on them, and a dealer network that firstly refuses to stock parts locally, and then wastes a ridiculous amount of time in ordering them from the factory - I don't see how Fiat will be able to sell any more cars then they do currently - even with the linea, punto, panda and what not...
The only satisfaction is from the fact that with every passing day, the Palio is becoming increasingly endearing as a car to love and have, but no thanks to the A.S.S for that.
Sincere advise to others in similar situations - do not hesitate to mail
service@fiat.com, which is incredibly responsive on mails, and doesn't miss a chance to follow-up with the TATA motors regional officers (I guess that's one good thing of selling only 300+ cars a month - the service dept. can afford that personal attention for each issue)