[MileCruncher]

I had been asked by my wife's friend Varun to tag along to Concorde to help him decide between the Palio 1.6 or the Punto 1.4. We went there last Sunday after fixing an appointment. The Sales Guy who was attending to us was absolutely clueless about the Palio 1.6 and said something like this gives 12KMPL. Anyways Varun had already asked for TD over the phone and they had confirmed that the car was available and TD could be had. We told the same to the Sales Exec who was dealing with us and said "he'll arrange it, no problem." The car came and we sat, Varun in the front and me in the rear. The TD vehicle was the Emotion Pack and man it is loaded with goodies. Good Job FIAT!!!

After a little while Varun exchanged places with the driver and drove it for about 2 Kms on the Necklace Road but was unimpressed with the performance. We switched places and in true petrol head style started pushing the car in every gear, when suddenly I hear a beep at 4k RPM on the 4th gear and had "Engine Speed Limit Reached" or something like that on the display. All this while we were moving around with the A/C on and music at normal and the cabin was super silent. I immediately switched OFF the A/C, rolled down the windows and turned off the music system.
And there I find something I had immediately suspected after the beep. It was a MJD and I had hit the Rev-limiter.

I'm surprised that we were discussing about the petrol version and we were being given TD on a MJD which was not even being considered in the first place. We quiz the Sales Exec who had also accompanied us in the car and the guy says " I thought you wanted to know how comfortable the car is and all" . We both absolutely pissed but decided not to let off steam. Went back to the Showroom and blasted the Showroom Manager. The showroom manager was also zapped but didn't chastise the sales exec in front us and told us that the 1.4 Petrol will be sent to Varun's office.

This had happened last Sunday and Varun is yet to recieve a call from Concorde asking him about the TD or anything similar.

While we were their in the showroom there was a team of senior offcials from FIAT visiting various dealerships and taking feedback from staff. By the time we came back from TD, the team had left but I was wondering what would they have done if this had happened infront of them.

Varun is not much of a techie but loves to have a fast ride. All the effort of FIAT to get customers who were previously not so favourable had been bought to nought by the actions of the Sales Exective in particular and Concorde in general.

I hope FIAT people read this and train their dealer front end staff to improve their market perception.

[Seeler_Rebeiro]

. Its not restricted to FIAT only. My brother in law was told, Maruti Zen Estilo Zxi comes with tubeless tyres and alloy wheels.

[neotraveller]

Seems these TATA dealers only have diesel TD cars.
Same case with Autofin when I bought Linea(P). They din't have a dedicated petrol TD vehicle. They gave me a short TD of a car to be delivered. Sad, but true.

Let's see if they really bring the petrol TD vehicle.

And that "speed limit reached" beep is the feature in GP/Linea. You can set a certain speed limit above which it gives out warning beeps/messages.

[Ravveendrra]

You guys were actually in the car and were driven / drove for some 5 Km before you realised that it was a Diesel engine doing duty under the hood!

IMHO, good enough reason to plonk down the money for the MJD, for, if nothing else it says a lot about the refinement of the car.

Cheers,

[kiren]

One good thing I have realised is, Punto diesel is quite silent & smooth. Else you would have realised that the car is on diesel immediately it was started.

Regarding dealers I find most of them are the same. The executives are not at all trained.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

You guys were actually in the car and were driven / drove for some 5 Km before you realised that it was a Diesel engine doing duty under the hood!

IMHO, good enough reason to plonk down the money for the MJD, for, if nothing else it says a lot about the refinement of the car.

Cheers,

Bidisha's friend needs a Petrol car as the running is about 500 kms per month. So the toss was between Palio 1.6 which is a good 1.6 lakhs (including discounts) cheaper than the GP 1.4 Emotion Pk.

When I drove the GP MJD like a diesel should be driven (i.e. shift up when reaching the top end of the torque curve) the car just flew.

And yes the cabin is almost silent with windows rolled up and music.

[vitesh.b]

lord - thats funny.
but seriously is the MJD NVH levels that low - Good job Fiat..

[aadix]

you guys, just got off with a test drive.


furioussphinx (sagar), had a hell of a time taking delivery of his punto from them yest. they had his name wrong in all the documents for which they blamed him for not having a last name and later on the new computerised central method with which the rta issues the t/r !,fuel used was written as petrol, when the car was a diesel,details wrong in the insurance documents and so-on

on top of this, his was a full cash payment. he left the showroom with the car around 9pm, (a cool 5 hours after he reached the showroom) after they gave a proper letter on the letter head with proper elobarate details and the assurance to correct all the incorrect details in the rc book and the insurance documents.

the only thing +ve, if it can be said +ve point was thier ready incilnation to correct all the details once sagar put his foot down and was in no mood to take anymore stories from them.

[gemithomas]

Please do put this issue up with FIAT management. Its such issues at the dealer level that tamper the brand and does not allow any positive change in customer perceptio however bad the FIAT management tries to improve things. PLease put in a mail at the CEO desk on the FIAT website.

PLease also shoot a mail to mangesh.kodalkar@fiapl.com . He is the head of customer relations.

If nothing happens even aftr that. I think you can look at other cars.

[arun1100]

Pathetic service in Concorde Bangalore Too.. They are maintaining family tradition i guess.

[himanshugoswami]

Ani, I am amazed. when you guys sat in the driver's seat, did you not see the tacho redlined at 4.5 k that in itself is enough indication of a diesel.

Also, the following are a dead give away-

1. Mild shuddre at start up- this happens in the Punto diesel and the linea and EVERY other diesel in the market because of the inherent high torque of a diesel

2. mild vibration from teh gear shift

It seems to me that you were so enamoured by the car and so engrossed with the drive that you overlooked these obvious tell tale signs, not to metion the superb mid range of the car due to that slug of torque, which no petrol can match

Anyways, hope bidisha' sfriend gets a car that he wants finally.

[vnabhi]

Shocked to hear about this episode. However, of all the Fiat dealers in Hyd, Concorde was the only one who had stock of a Palio fuel cap in their Sanath Nagar workshop.
I had to run from pillar to post to get one, and no other dealer had it in stock, nor did they have an idea of how much it would cost.

[JVH]

Am not surprised. I had received a similar treatment by Concorde Bangalore. These guys just don't know how to sell a fantastic product.

In a separate thread, Rajeev Kapoor was interested in the feedback of the product and was visiting various cities and dealerships. Does he realise that there is very minimal fault with the product and the major fault is with the dealerships and their stupid salesmen?

I agree with Gemi that you write to the CEO. He needs to see the reality of the dealerships not the product

[SilentEngine]

I read that Concorde motors is a 100% subsidiary of the Tata motors. Does this mean Tata motors have more control on Concorde than an independent dealer?

Tata Motors - Associates

[ms001]

Its the same story all over india with concorde, they are the worst FIAT dealer in India.Iam saying based on numerous post in different punto threads recently .

Mods can we change the title to

"Is Concorde the worst FIAT dealer in India?"