Fiat Palio - 1.2 - 28,500km Ownership Report

[sushanthr77]

Car: Fiat Palio 1.2 NV
Model: Nov 2006
Make: June 2006
Dealer: Manipal Motors – Sankey road.

Age: 18 months
Odometer: 28500kms

Driving conditions: Equal proportion of city and highways covered. Mangalore – Bangalore covered very frequently. Other less frequent trips include – Udupi, Ooty, Kasargod, Mysore, Madekeri, Vellore etc.

Complaints/Issues: None so far.

Service history:
1st: Prerana motors – Bangalore – Decent job.
2nd: Thribhuvan Motors – Mangalore – Good job.
3rd: Thribhuvan Motors – Mangalore – Good job.
4th: Green Tracks – Bangalore – Decent job.

Engine Oil: Regular manufacturer prescribed mineral oil.

Fuel Used: Premium only. I switched over to IOCL Xtra-Premium from Shell some time back for obvious reasons. The IOCL pump at BTM provides good quality fuel.

Tires: Bridgestone – 165/80/R13 – Tube type

Frequent punctures: Nails are the culprits every time. I suffer from a puncture every 2000kms!

Condition: May last another 3000kms only. The stock tires are very ordinary and there is considerable road noise from them. Grip levels are mediocre and they do a very ordinary job in rain. I still haven’t decided on their replacements.

Exteriors: Minor scratches on the left front and rear doors. I’ve learnt to live with them now. This is Bangalore.

Interiors: Art leather seats and leather steering cover and the rest is completely stock.

Ride: Excellent. It is a real highway cruiser and the best in its class. The soft suspension is ideal for Indian roads and simply hovers over bad surfaces. I love this aspect of the car. The brilliant build quality gives a great sense of confidence on the road.

Handling: It is very good and only limited by the tires. It is effortless on long distance journeys.

Engine: The 1.2 is still extremely refined and smooth. I actually find it more refined than the 1.6! How ever the good things end there. The power/torque is a major let down for a car of this weight/size. It is sometimes extremely frustrating in Bangalore traffic since the engine comes to life only beyond the 3000rpm mark. The region below this is referred as the “Numb Zone”. With the A/C on, you start contemplating whether turbo charging is a sensible option! This certainly is the weakest point of the car.

Gearbox: Still smooth and precise and a delight to use.

Breaks: Brakes are adequate if you are doing speeds below 100kmph. At speeds above this, I find the breaks poor compared to the Getz/Swift. One has to be very careful not to end up locking them as it could happen easily.

No break pads/disks have been changed so far.

ICE:
HU: Alpine CDA - 9854R
FS: Blaupunkt Velocity VSc 662 (6.5", Compo's)
RS: Infinity Reference - 9613i (6"x9")
Amp 1: JBL CS 60.4
Amp 2: Blaupunkt 280 (1x210w rms)
SW: JBL GTO1264 - Ported enclosure
Cables: EFX

The system has performed well so far and is definitely worth the money spent. This really helps me get rid of the frustration caused by traffic jams and bad drivers. I pump the volume very high, reduce my speed and stick to my lane with the music on. The great thing about Palio is that very little sound is heard outside even when you are on full blast. At traffic signals, I see bikers and other drivers, who are next to my car, completely unaware of the fact that every thing inside my car is vibrating! Very less sound protrudes outside.

Fuel Efficiency: When I bought the car, it used to return me about 12.5kmpl in city and 18kmpl on highways. Currently it returns about 11kmpl in city and 15kmpl on highways. The figures quoted are with 100% A/C on. And for the record sake, the drop in F.E is purely because of the change in the driving style. If required, I can still manage the old figures.

Maintenance: Since I haven’t faced any serious issues so far, things have been good to me. I am sure, if there is a need for a replacement, I’d be in for my share of Fiat A.S.S troubles. I really hope that I don’t get caught up in this web.

Conclusion: Fiat Palio is a fantastic cruiser and a great VFM car. I don’t think there is a better car in this category better suited for Indian roads. It is definitely let down by the low torque engine and the poor A.S.S.

Future: I only hope for two things:
01. Safe journeys.
02. No A.S.S issues.

[ravikn]

Nice writeup Sushanthhr77, good to know that you car is doing great, Also u should have got some huge discounts while buying this piece!!

[finneyp]

Nice review Sushanth!

What happnd to your plans to turbocharge? You should give a try!

[gods-envy]

Sushanth,
happy that ur car is doing good

hi ravikn, i think the discounts were only on the 1.6 model and not the 1.2 (I am not sure, I am just guessing)

[eclectix 1st]

Very good & precise review.
IMO for your profile of usage, you need to upgrade the footwear.
cheers:

[sanjaymugur]

Originally Posted by sushanthr77

It is definitely let down by the low torque engine and the poor A.S.S.

just plonk a iridium plug ( check my previous posts for the NGK part number) & use mp6ty... & castrol edge synthetic oil.. it will make a world of difference when u are driving with AC on...

nice review there, no issues no problems, thats what u pay for ...

FIAT, always...

[ravibhat]

Very neat report which shows you love this beauty, enjoy your ride! Palio 1.2 is really VFM and best in its class if we consider this car +vely.

Fiat cars are perfect ones for Indian roads. I suggest not to do much modification but you can try few with Keshav (tbhp id: Physco) who is excellant technical person and his garage people are very nice and do excellant job with lot of interest. I am amazed to see great pickup after he did FFE on my Matiz! with Ac on hardly any differance I can see now, so it has become my perfect City car.

I appreciate your guts to buy Fiat which is selling very less. I know it makes great cars but somehow public loving other few cars even though they don't come close to Palio.

All the best,

Regards,

Ravi.

[phamilyman]

Neat report man!

The palio was at a 72k discount in delhi at that time - when my bro ditched it to go for the Xeta purely on basis of torque response under CNG!

[ravikn]

@gods-envy,

This is what I thought as I had tried to buy a car during Dec-2006 and postponed it due to some other reasons!!

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Neat report man!

The palio was at a 72k discount in delhi at that time - when my bro ditched it to go for the Xeta purely on basis of torque response under CNG!

[kavesh55]

Great write up Sushanthhr77, more like an advertorial on a palio. Leaves me considering if I could pick up one.
How good is it in a city like Mumbai.

[sushanthr77]

Thanks for the response guys.

@kavesh55: Service should be similar in a city like Mumbai.

@ravikn: yes, I did get a huge discount

@finneyp: I think, buying a new car makes more sense

[iceman7]

i second the fact that the engine is numb in the lower part of the rpm. It just boosts and comes alive after the 3 k mark.

@ kavesh: i think driving in mumbai should be a similar affair as driving in bangalore. Bad roads (not sure of bangalore), and lotsa traffic. But take it for a spin on the EE highway, and it doesnt let you down.

Cheers!!

[gods-envy]

Originally Posted by ravibhat

Fiat cars are perfect ones for Indian roads. I suggest not to do much modification but you can try few with Keshav (tbhp id: Physco) who is excellant technical person and his garage people are very nice and do excellant job with lot of interest. Ravi.

Can you please PM me his number, I want to get my Palio checked with him

Originally Posted by ravibhat

I am amazed to see great pickup after he did FFE on my Matiz! with Ac on hardly any differance I can see now, so it has become my perfect City car.

This is the car that you beat me to right...glad to know that its a nice car and you are happy with it

Originally Posted by ravibhat

I appreciate your guts to buy Fiat which is selling very less. I know it makes great cars but somehow public loving other few cars even though they don't come close to Palio.

i think the main reason that people stay away from the palio is the fear of the bad A** that FIAT offers. Apart from that Palio is a great car in itself.
Contrary to the popular rumor, I have never had any issues with the FE of the Palio. My older 1.6 used to give me 11kmpl in city and my current 1.2 gives me 12.7kmpl. So i am one happy customer when it comes to a Fiat Palio.

Originally Posted by ravikn

@gods-envy,

This is what I thought as I had tried to buy a car during Dec-2006 and postponed it due to some other reasons!!

Ok, so that means even the 1.2 had good discounts during the december 2006 period.

[rippergeo]

@susanth- I used to drive the initial model 1.2 before i left the country.
agree with what you said- Its a brilliant cruiser! probably the best hatch for the highways. but the "numb zone" is a major problem in the city traffic.
used to dread the days I had to go into town with it.

it flies beyond 3000rpm, but the FE goes down the drain.

you're getting 11kmpl at what kind of rev range?

[sushanthr77]

Originally Posted by rippergeo

you're getting 11kmpl at what kind of rev range?

In the "numb zone" obviously