Palio Stile 1.6 Sport - 700km review

[JishD]

Originally Posted by bottle

missed reading your post rahul , door job went ok paint job was atrocious alternator died recently and was replaced under warranty. will probably put up a 10k report soon

They have some serious issues with the alternator on the 1.6

Mine died on day 2 - was told by the service guys thats its quite common

[bottle]

yes there was one more stile 1.6 at concorde when my car was in at that time. dead alternator as well and seems some sensor as well had conked off which caused some errors and the whole fan assembly was jammed. so it was there waiting for all the parts to be replaced (alternator/sensor/fan assembly) they seemed to pin it down to some extensive electrical mods that the owner had done though. custom clock , parking sensors, dvd player and lots of other gadgets it seems

[rudrah]

Hi Guyz....

I've been regularly reading reviews of all the Palios lovers as in few months I would be ownin the Palio Stile 1.6 probably next month.

Just to let you and other Palio lovers know....Yesterday had been to the main Dealer here in Navi Mumbai - Fortune Cars, to check the Palio Stile 1.6.

I found that now the Leather grip for Steering wheel and Leather Gear knob cover is still missing as before.

[I had confirmed from Ricky Walters from the Sales dept of Fiat this month itself, who said they have now reintroduced it.]

The Dealer ppl said they dont provide it. Surprisingly the production manager (Balaji) also denied it on phone even when I told that i've the mail from Rickey Walters.

I'm thinkin to reply to Ricky Walters now abt this experience.

Even the brouchers they gave mentions tht the Engine Immobiliser is available on 1.6(thts never implemented thou)

What action do you think we shd take...to get this feature back on!

[Sorry I'm not sure if this is the exact thread I should be posting...] I see you guyz have long experience witht the Palio Stile 1.6 hence this post here...

Thanks....

[Thingummy]

Originally Posted by bottle

....they seemed to pin it down to some extensive electrical mods that the owner had done though...

Did they still cover it under warranty, despite the extensive electrical mods?

Originally Posted by rudrah

....
What action do you think we shd take...to get this feature back on!
.....

Hey Rudrah, welcome to the club (well almost :-) ) As for the action - the first thing i did after i got my stile was redo all the seats in leather, with the door pads, steering wheel, gear knob, gear boot and parking level too done up. I don't know what i can do - short of asking FIAT to refund the money i spent on the steering wheel grip and gear knob (which was almost a freebie compared to the overall leather cost!) If you have confirmation that these are things that are being provided now on the Stile, you should not let the dealer take you for a ride. Mail back Mr. Walters, and ask him for next steps at the dealer's end. As for the brochure - i wouldn't worry too much about that. When i bought the Stile, both the website and the brochure mentioned the leather items plus the immobilizer. Since then, it looks like the website has been updated, but they've still not fixed the brochures (Although some dealers have blotted out the particular elements for the stile in ink)

[michael schume]

Why can't they get their paint job right - its not rocket science is it! These guys broke a piece of my old bumper to get that "perfect" paint match, and still botched it up. The bumper is a much darker shade!! Am planning on getting the whole bumper repainted again at the third service (There have been enough nicks and scratches on it to justify the cost) The effects of having body colored bumpers, on a blazing red car ....[/quote]

arre u kidding me on this
as far as i know the right way to match the shade of paint with the body is to either use the front grill or the fuel filler lid
also local garages do insurance claims too

[bottle]

Originally Posted by rudrah

I found that now the Leather grip for Steering wheel and Leather Gear knob cover is still missing as before.

[I had confirmed from Ricky Walters from the Sales dept of Fiat this month itself, who said they have now reintroduced it.]..

Send another mail to ricky walter and cc to service@fiat.com. mangesh i think is the person who answers there.if they give the confirmation take a print out and show it to the showroom and make sure they give you the leather wheel and knob

Originally Posted by Thingummy

Did they still cover it under warranty, despite the extensive electrical mods?

yes they did.. concorde is pretty decent in that aspect. out of what they call 'goodwill' they replace parts (one thing they mentioned particularly is clutch) even if its the fault of the customer. and even if you miss service deadlines they are not too picky. i guess when you deal will all those heavy running sumos and indicas you cant be fussy

[rudrah]

Thanks for the advice, Bottle!

I've written to Fiat Service and Sales team abt the inefficient service here..just awaiting their reply! Will update you abt it.

Another query...How is the child lock feature in Palio Stile?
My frd who owns a Xeta said tht from the rear seat also...anybody can open the door while in motion! Hence really unsafe when a child is sitting. Is that true??

How does it work and is it insecure really??

[Thingummy]

That doesn't sound correct - on the Palio there is a small plastic thingie where the door closes, that can be turned with a screwdriver or even with long nails, that enables child locking. Once engaged, the doors cannot be opened from inside. I think there should be something similar on the xeta too. Its not an obvious sort of a knob, and maybe that's why your friend might not have noticed it on the xeta.

[ms_mahu]

Originally Posted by rudrah

I found that now the Leather grip for Steering wheel and Leather Gear knob cover is still missing as before.

[I had confirmed from Ricky Walters from the Sales dept of Fiat this month itself, who said they have now reintroduced it.]

I took a 1.6 here in Hyderabad two weeks back. It came with leather steering wheel grip and gear knob. The sales person even claimed that the 2008 model comes with immobilizer as well, but I don't know how to confirm it. All I got was a pair of normal looking Blue keys.

Regards,

Mahesh

[gemithomas]

Originally Posted by ms_mahu

I took a 1.6 here in Hyderabad two weeks back. It came with leather steering wheel grip and gear knob. The sales person even claimed that the 2008 model comes with immobilizer as well, but I don't know how to confirm it. All I got was a pair of normal looking Blue keys.

Regards,

Mahesh

1.6 does not have immobiliser.

[Thingummy]

Originally Posted by ms_mahu

I took a 1.6 here in Hyderabad two weeks back. It came with leather steering wheel grip and gear knob. The sales person even claimed that the 2008 model comes with immobilizer as well, but I don't know how to confirm it. All I got was a pair of normal looking Blue keys.

Regards,

Mahesh

Congratulations! Can you post a few pics, especially of the leather stuff? From your description, it sounds like you have a normal key with the immobilization chip. AFAIK, the 1.6 does not come with the immobilizer, because i was told it requires some engine changes - which are not being done at this time (It might have changed - after all my info is almost an year old)

[sameer551]

Originally Posted by ms_mahu

I took a 1.6 here in Hyderabad two weeks back. It came with leather steering wheel grip and gear knob. The sales person even claimed that the 2008 model comes with immobilizer as well, but I don't know how to confirm it. All I got was a pair of normal looking Blue keys.

Regards,

Mahesh

Please post some pics of Leather steering wheel and Gear knob. It was not there till december 2007 model.

Also would be great if you can post pic of Keys. It will become clear if it has Immobiliser chip or not.

[chetan]

guys what should i do to get the leather on the wheel and gear knob .....concorde did not give me this, my car has gone through first service ....i did inquire about this with sales person he said it was printing mistake.........any bangalore owners of 1.6 having this problem

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

1.6 does not have immobiliser.

I guess it does. At least the website tech specs say so

[ms_mahu]

I will put the pictures once I reach home.
The sales person told of having three changes
in the '08 model of 1.6.
steering grip, gear knob and immobilizer

While first two is surely present, there is no sign
of the immobilizer (fiat CODE ? ) present. No indication
on dash and the master key. Any idea on what keys we
get on 1.1?

Mahesh