Palio Stile 1.6 Test Driven....Nothing but impressed!!!!

[sankey]

I had driven the 1.1 Stile SLX on Monday evening and its apparent lack of power left me sad for that entire evening.
And while the praises for the 1.6 kept showering at this forums, I had to do something ASAP.
Today afternoon I called up the guy at Shaman Auto(whom roms referred...thanks roms) and told him to arrange a TD for the 1.6. He obliged and I couldnt wait to feel the car.
There she was the Black Beauty 1.6 waiting to be relished. :P
First thing I sat in the car and said to the sales guy "I test drove the 1.1 yesterday and want to feel 1.6's pickup ".
He said "You want be dejected".
I started the car and put in first gear and rolled off.
A BIG SMILE on my face. (My heart said 'buy this car')

With the a/c on 4 we cruised along some traffic with relative ease.Then diverted onto a stony road to check suspension. Very comfortable over the rough but suspension could be more refined.
We then came to business on the Marine drive. I had to roar the beast ....and so I did.... and I felt very happy...woohoo...
Really fast accelaration combined with a 'gripped to the road' feeling that I haven't seen in any other in this segment.
A little lack of power in 3rd but thats negligible considering overall peppiness of the engine.
Gearing smooth and sporty.Hydraulic clutch comes very handy during traffic and reduces need for constant clutch adjustment.
Braked from 80 at a signal in about 4 secs very smoothly.
The fun was not over yet.
The sales guy took to the wheel and showed me the following stunts

-> 0 to 60 in 6 seconds
-> Followed by braking hard to a stop in about 4 secs.
-> Speed turns at about 60ks

All this while we were kept chilled inside all nice and comfy and chatted and wowwed about how the 1.6 rocks on all fronts and is way ahead of the competition.

Some interesting quotes by the sales guy regarding competition...
"Xeta is if u just want a car to travel in the city and not for driving pleasure"
"Tata cars they tend to come in for service every 6 months for minor things like P/W etc"
"Estilo dabba car hai"
"UVA is also good but maintainence me problem aa sakta hai"
"990 kg ka wajan upar se paanch log aur a/c toh 1.1 kya khaak pickup degaa"

[Zappo]

Oye, bas ttheek hai. The guy is excited about driving the 1.6. He mixed up some figures...

Sankey, buddy its ok. You mistook the figures. However if you have your heart set on a Fiat, and only Fiat, I would say go for the 1.6 That one is a far better bet than the 1.1 As the sales guy rightly pointed out to you, with that close-to-a-ton weight and then a good few people and the AC on the 1.1 will be a laborious job to drive around. At least it won't be as much fun as the 1.6 is.

By the way could you please do a double check on those braking figures as well. They are a bit on the higher side mate. From 100 kms to a standstill in 4 seconds is fairytale territory. For that kind of stopping, even if it were to happen you (and anyone else in the car) will get thrown out of the car breaking the front windshield.

As a sidenote, if you extrapolate those figures its like 700 kmph speeds to a standstill in 28 seconds. You will beat the best of supersonic fighter aircrafts in stopping power. Many employ 2 'chutes, reverse thrust besides their phenomal braking prowess for that kind of deceleration on smaller airstrips.

However I am sure you misread those figures... koi baat nahi, hota hai dost.

Edit: 1> Braking figures are more meaningful when expressed in terms of distance travelled in braking to a standstill from a particular speed.
2> All said and done it was a nice TD review. It was brimming with your satisfaction and enthusiasm.

[aah78]

thats enough guys, now could we get back on track and not start another battle, please?

[hrag]

Nice to hear you enjoyed the test drive. You buying?

[greatDrive]

Originally Posted by sankey

0-60 within 6 seconds
followed by 60-0 braking in 4 seconds.

I remember seeing an Ad in Newspaper some time back. It claimed 0-60 in 4.5 seconds( for Palio 1.6)
And the old fiat official site(which was down for some good amout of time) claimed 0-100 in 10.8 seconds for Petra 1.6.

cheers.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by sankey

"Xeta is if u just want a car to travel in the city and not for driving pleasure"
"Tata cars they tend to come in for service every 6 months for minor things like P/W etc"
"Estilo dabba car hai"
"UVA is also good but maintainence me problem aa sakta hai"
"990 kg ka wajan upar se paanch log aur a/c toh 1.1 kya khaak pickup degaa"

Some more you forgot:

Santro: Football on wheels
WagonR: Bread box on wheels
Swift: Fat Aunty on wheels
Spark: Toy car
M800: Tin box on wheels
Alto: Matchbox on wheels

and so on......
Palio is the only car worth buying today.
Sorry for going OT.

[GeekSrik]

so deciete which of these you own? good review sankey. i m wanting to td the 1.6 once man. somewhere in the by lanes of bangalore.

[payam]

sankey,can you tell us about its FE and also how is the first gear??is it still sluggish??

[suman]

Originally Posted by GeekSrik

so deciete which of these you own?

Err, its actually DCEite - as in Delhi College of Engineering-ite

[sankey]

@Payam

1st gear gave me good torque but it was in the third that I lagged behind an accent on road for a while but plopped into 4th and could pass it easily. (Or maybe he slowed down to check the Palio's behind).

FE as told by the sales guy would be around 11 in city with the ac, around 13 without a/c and 15/16 on highways. He said some customers reported about 17 on long trips where much time is spent in 4th and 5th.

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by sankey

FE as told by the sales guy would be around 11 in city with the ac, around 13 without a/c and 15/16 on highways. He said some customers reported about 17 on long trips where much time is spent in 4th and 5th.

I can confirm that, but with a rider - I get such figures if I am careful and also I drive on the EEH through Sion upto Shivaji park. Driving on the WEH and on SV road (Western Mumbai) maybe a different story. At least for the Petra. Highway figures seem to be fine.

[mclaren1885]

Funny, because the strong point on the old palio 1.6 used to be the 3rd gear. How different are the ratios now?

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Funny, because the strong point on the old palio 1.6 used to be the 3rd gear.

Actually yes, that was the thing bothering me. The third gear is where most of the action used to happen. You got it out.

[finneyp]

Sankey, A very enthu Test drive report! Cheers!

Palio 1.6 is worth every penny! The Best Allarounder Car under 10 lacs!
Go for it dude and enjoy the drive on the Hottest hatch in the country!

[sankey]

Thanks to the mods for cleaning up the thread.