The Palio 1.6 GTX

[anoops]

hi GTO,
you hane a cold air intake in your honda, what do you do during the monsoons?? i assume you also have the option to change it to the short ram. anyway my question is, is there a difference in performance between the 2?...on the palio forum on yahoo there is a big dispute about the short ram K&N intake. apprantly the engine tem is so hot with the AC on or otherwise under the hood that the intake might not really work well. the intake takes the air from the engine bay which is really hot..and a large amount of hot air in the engine isnt all that great....cool air will make a great diff....what are your thoughts??..the other option is to change your current OE filter with the K&N replacement filter.
to ans a few of your questions...i have a fern green 1.2 ELX....i dont have headers...not going to get them till i can get my hands on a hi flow cat con.
i dont want to get rid of my cat con (thats what they normally when you get headers fixed here...its not good for the enviornment)..i only have a freeflow muffler...and widening your pipes might loose you lowend grunt.
ive also started using 93 octane gas (any car with a comp ratio of over 9:1 can..the palios is 9.1:1)...the ride is a lot more smoother and the car responds a bit quicker.
anoop

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (anoops @ Mar. 23 2004,11:48)]i dont want to get rid of my cat con (thats what they normally when you get headers fixed here...its not good for the enviornment)..i only have a freeflow muffler...and widening your pipes might loose you lowend grunt.

Hey Anoop,

Spot on there about the wider pipes moving around the powerband and the possibility of loosing low end power.

and good call on saving the enviorment vs. 3 more bhp ;-]

cheers

[Rudra Sen]

Hi.
Why there’s such a huge debate on Palio 1.6?
As far as the construction goes, it’s the sturdiest small hatchback.
As far as the power goes, it’s a real ripper. I’ve driven this on Bombay- Pune
expressway. No mistake, I’ve touched 160+ and it could have gone even further
(at least the gas pedal under gave that vibe). Steering was pretty accurate in terms of feel and confidence. I only held back and came down to 120. You guys can really question my guts but that’s the way it is. Another reason for me to cut down the speed was the brakes.. It’s surely not as sharp as Hondas and others (Shan2nu are you there?).
This complaint is there for long time and I don’t know why Fiat is not addressing this.
Fantastic AC with a damn good blower fan. Inside does not feel like a small hatchback.
Huge boot space. Lovely 14" footwear, though It could have been broader (forget the rolling resistance). But that seems to be the standard practice across the car makers which I fail to understand. Only problem in this country is that by and large the so called customer looks for a better mileage and everything under the sun with lowest possible price tag. Hence a product like Palio 1.6 failed badly despite having a real competent package. I travel Bombay- Pune expressway regularly driving a Honda City 1.5 and on an average I can comfortably maintain 120 kind of speed but trust me, another car (highly under rated), Maruti Baleno gives me much needed confidence on the highway. Only problem is it’s skinny 175 footwear (alas, same problem all the way)
There’s really no point to get into any debate if Honda VTEC is better than…
(Shan2nu don’t get me wrong). The fact is in a country like India anything more than Maruti 800 is a question. How often we check the real potentials of all these new toys?
Let’s also get real. India is a dumping ground for all the car makers. We’re yet to experience the true sense of power on the road. Well within 9 lacs we can pick up a Mitshubishi Lancer but can we pay for an Mitshubishi EVO? In my knowledge it’s around 45 lacs!!! You get it and push it to 100 within less than 5 sec… but where?
Rudra.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Why there?s such a huge debate on Palio 1.6?

The real question was, how come an under 5 lac performance car never really caught up with the Indian enthusiasts fancy...and that it was rarely discussed in car talks.

I agree with you on the superb qualities of the Palio 1.6 GTX, absolutely love that car

GTO

[Shan2nu]

yeah i get the idea, we've been through this "which car is better" topic a 100 times and every time it ends with no productive result.

i guess there's no practical way to solve this problem.

It doesn't make a differnce as long as you're enjoying your car.

Regards...
Shan2nu

[need4speed]

I have a friend who has the Palio S10 which he got with a mighty good discount from Shaman. He has dumped the stock Bridgestones and put on Potenzas. No other mods on the car. He has toured the whole of South India with his family. Bombay to Goa, Bangalore. Mysore, Ooty, Chennai and back all the way via Periyar wildlife sanctuary with not a complain abt the car. No breakdowns nothing. Says a lot abt the car, doesnt it. I have a 2 year old Siena 1.6 myself and there are no problems regarding the car except for the squishy brakes. Had asked the chaps at the service centre to have a dekko but nothing had come off it. There is ample power under the hood for Bombay roads when u need it. Just dab the accelerator and the car lunges forward willingly. Even the engine gives out a glorious roar. The ac works fine. It is a good car let down by mismanagement by Fiat.

[Kinetik]

Palio 1.6 awesome automobile .. and the engine is a gem it is a direct box packed import unlike the other engines in which the pistons and other engine components are outsourced from indian vendors .. not that indian products are bad on any aspect but there is something special about an italian thoroughbred motor

[vishnugnair]

hey paliio is cool .i mean what else is there in that range that can beat the palio. zen, wagon r, indiaca.. hmm no way.. these cars just cant cut the palio out. palio is good but hey a car is not a car if not maitained properly and this where the after sales team come in. yes fait india is improving dramatically. they have more service stations than before...but not enough like their competation.. maruthi, honda or even hyundai. they have to better than that.. so all we ca ndo is wait for more on fait. hope they launch the panda here in india. heard it the car of the year..lets see if its gonna be car for india now!!!!!

[Rehaan]

I guess the palio was kicked in the shins becoz of two things
-claims of bad fuel efficiency
-fiats bad sales service & after sales service (as well as initially huge waiting lists) killed a lot of prospective buyers

Rudra - "Maruti Baleno gives me much needed confidence on the highway. Only problem is it’s skinny 175 footwear "
and it comes stock with 165s !!!

cya
Rehaan

[Rudra Sen]

Yes Rehaan, I'm sorry about that.
Advice a nice size for my Optra which has 185/65 R14.
Phew!!! I'm at least right this time.
Regards

[Rehaan]

Hey Rudra,

We had given some tyre suggestions to another member for his baleno (i know you want suggestions for ur optra) but read the thread as it should give you some insight to which brand and tread patterns are peoples favourites.
Also, create a new thread in the modifications section regarding this as tyre discussions are always fun.
At the provided link ignore the sizes, concentrate on what type of performance&comfort u want from the tire.
Anyway, let not get into this too much in this thread.....waiting for u to make a new one
cya
Rehaan

Baleno Tyre discussion

[Rudra Sen]

Rehaan,
Do you think 205/60 may go well with OE alloy? Not sure about the tyre noise though.
This car is pretty silent in its current state. Advice.
Regards

[Rehaan]

Hey Rudra,

205/60 is manageable works out to theoretically 3mm higher than 185/65...
The tire noise depends a lot more on tread pattern than tire width. The sporty tires with "aquaducting" tend to produce considerably more road noise.

cya
R

[Sam]

Well ok i have a new found respect for the palio GTX. My friend is buying one coz its just such good value if you not worried too much about the fuel factor.So we took it for a test drive i took it around the worli sealink bend at 140+ and it held on to the road with minimal roll compared to my ford. This is a real hot hatch on indian roads. I too really dont understand why it didnt take off???

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Sam @ April 29 2004,06:09)]. I too really dont understand why it didnt take off???

Milage kya hai ?