Palio Stile 1.6 - Review - Updated till 3200 kms

[meremortal]

Hello,

This is my impressions on the 1.6 Sport. Have driven it for 1900 KMS now. Below is a travel log from Bangalore to Sulya, Dakshin Karnataka and back. We were 3 traveling together.

Friday 22:15 - Departed Bangalore and hit Mysore road. Drove for an hour and a half before stopping over at a Coffee Day for a Double Shot Cappa (kept me awake the whole time).

Friday 23:30. Doing a steady 80-90 Kmph towards Mysore. The car had undergone its first service the same day we left Bangalore. So the ride was very good and the brakes were tweaked to my requirement. I was very surprised by the handling part. I had read about the Palio handling, but experienced it for the first time. It just won't budge from the driving line. Just ease of the pedal on a tight curve; you are back on the line, quite amazing! (At least for me)

Saturday 01:30 - Reached Mysore only to get pulled over by the highway cops near the arch which welcomes you into Mysore. They check for all sorts of things. Liquor, WMD's, DUI the lot! Finally they spot my friend at the back, with his laptop, typing away an e-mail. They are convinced we are software geeks and let us go. Not before noting our license plate number and my name! I feel this is because of the election fever.

We do not enter the city of Mysore but take a turn towards Coorg. The road is pretty well lit and well laid too. So manage to touch 110 Kmph before being stopped by another check point. The same drill again. At this point I am a bit annoyed by these many checks. Along comes a cheerful cop and asks me my destination. "Blink" "Blink". I have gone blank. I ask my friend the destination. The cop is really happy to see a driver who does not know where he is going at 02:00 AM! Off we go.

After an "uneventful" drive we reach Madikeri at 03:00 we look for a place to sleep. No luck. We look for about 20 mins then finally land up at a place where the guy has a 3 bed room. Shell out 800 bucks for it and hit the sack. Thanks to my Double Shot Cappo, I manage to get about an hours sleep only. Wake up at 06:00 to get ready to hit the road again.

We start for Sulya at about 07:45 AM. Here is where things went REALLY wrong! As usual we were listening to some good music windows rolled up, a/c on, enjoying the drive (3rd gear). Even though the distance is about 50 Kms, the ghat section roads makes the drive slightly close to 2 hours.
Suddenly I felt the brakes vibrating. The road was a downhill ghat section for most part and I was worried that I was loosing my brakes! We shut the a/c and the music and listened. There was a sound more like a tin asbestos sheet being pulled on concrete. We decided to stop and investigate. I brake, the car simply veered off course to the right and pointed towards the guard rail, which was placed there to keep vehicles from flying off into the valley below. I steered towards the left and fought with the car for a couple of seconds and simultaneously down shifted to 2nd gear to slow down and finally 1st gear to apply my handbrake. Well I managed to stop. I was shaking and could not believe what had just happened.

My friend works for a well known German Automobile company here. He decided to investigate and got down to do just that. We found the left front was the culprit. We removed the wheel to find a clear circle on the left front disc. More like a metallic abrasion. The cause: Loose asphalt from the road somehow got stuck between the disc and the caliper and stopped the shoe from biting into the disc but held the asphalt onto the disc thereby causing the sound and the abrasion.
We poured some water over the disc to cool it down and then manually cleared the debris. After that we tested the brakes for about 2 Kms before we were confident of touching our intended speed.

How did we find out it was the left front? Simple. The car veered off course to the right when I braked. So that means the brake force was more on the right than the left making the left wheel turn further than the right, making the car go to its right.

Later during the day we went to a TATA-Fiat service in Mangalore to get the brakes checked. The service guy did a thorough check of all the brakes and gave a green signal.

We left for Bangalore at 17:00 hours and took the Hassan route. Along the way there was another ghat section. This time no loose asphalt but simply rough roads. On this particular section no buses or heavy vehicles are allowed, making life easier. Almost 60% of the road has been tarred. So I could really push the car. Believe me 3rd gear, 40 Kmph and then shift down to 4th gear at about 45 Kmph, all on an inclined ghat section with a near spiral road. That was the moment I knew the capability of the car. A great machine! Just kept the wheel on a particular axis and the throttle in a particular position, the rest was done by the car. In fact, Honda City tried his best to catch up but could not. He had to shift up to 2nd gear every now and then to get more power. Maybe he was more on luggage. Don’t really know.

Well after all the action we were back in Bangalore at about 02:00 AM.

To be precise 850 odd Kms in 28 hours.

Well that’s it.

Thanks for reading.

[finneyp]

Nice travelogue pal! Congrats on your new 1.6 Sports! What color is it?

Yes, you gotta enjoy driving a Palio more on the highways!

[vinit.merchant]

Any update on the FE it returned on the highway? I have read it in other threads that it returns between 13-15 on highways.

[neoonwheels]

1.6 is a real Mean machine... Enjoy your ride bro !!!!

[LongDrive]

Hi Dude,

How much did you got the average ?

[bottle]

The incident with the brakes was scary. Glad you got out of it safe.

[eclectix 1st]

Good stuff dude. Thats one hi-spirited drive.
You were lucky to have a technically competent person with you to help on the brake issue.

[meremortal]

Fuel economy avg was 14 Kpl. 60% a/c and 80-90 KMPH. I think the Palio would return better economy after 3 services. Mine has done only 1. So will wait and report the figures later on.


Colour: Formula Red!

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by LongDrive

Hi Dude,

How much did you got the average ?

14 KMPL. 60% a/c and 80-90 KMPH.

Colour: Formula Red!

[shadow]

Hey....

stuck between the Palio 1.1 SLX and the 1.6. mostly need for city use(mumbai) and weekending around the place (read malshej, kashid)..
considering the 1.1 cause of the price factor. the 1.6 is a good 50 grand more... is it worth the xtra dough??

[architect]

Originally Posted by shadow

Hey....

stuck between the Palio 1.1 SLX and the 1.6. mostly need for city use(mumbai) and weekending around the place (read malshej, kashid)..
considering the 1.1 cause of the price factor. the 1.6 is a good 50 grand more... is it worth the xtra dough??

If fuel bills are not an issue, go for the 1.6. It's a great car to drive, no doubt. In my opinion, the 1.1 SLX is too underpowered. If you can stretch your budget and are okay with a diesel, consider the 1.3 MJD. Though the SDX is priced about 45k more than 1.6, it is definitely more wallet-friendly to run than both the petrol versions. By today's diesel prices, I am running at Rs 2.00 per km. But remember, maintenance could be marginally higher than petrols and the clutch is heavier!

[bottle]

1.6 the mileage takes a hit during city running/ high traffic so consider that before your purchase. other than that its definitely worth the upgrade

[meremortal]

Hello,

I have run my Red hatch for 3200 Kms now. Bought it on 26th March, 2008. So this is her 3rd month with me.

Below is a guided tour about my experience.

Looks: Every time I wash the ride she seems to appear more beautiful. I end up spending 10 mins admiring her design post washing. Have been laughed at by my neighbour and folks for overdoing it. But I can live with that. Can’t you?

Interiors: Thoughstock, compliments the outer colour very well. The A.S.S Manipal Motors, Blr was so good during the first service, they let big grease stains on the front seats. Got them cleaned. Speaking of interior space, the max number of people sitting in the car stands at 7 fully grown male adult individuals.

Engine: Runs on IO Xtra Premiumand is a beauty. With so much power (100 bhp) under your foot, I am yet to push her to the limit. My estimate, I have used about 60 horses till date. Have planned to push her during my next outing to Mysore and Mangalore. Will post on that. Best part was during a head light alignment session. The guy parked the car as he wanted, forgot to switch the engine off and popped out the hood to get to work. All the while he hadn’t realized the engine is running! His remarks “engine chaloo hai !”. After the engine warms up (15mins of driving) it runs very very silent.

Fuel Economy: My pride and brag point. I got a 11.77 Kmpl in all city condition with <=20% A/C (I live in Bangalore if you hadn’t noticed). I try to shift to 5th wherever possible and believe me Bangalore has places where you can shift up till 5th. Plus I make sure I am in the range of 1800 – 2000 rpm with gear changes at 2000 rpm. I run my tyres at 30 psi Nitrogen.
I am reading that Fiats return better FE after 3 services. Well mine has done only 1 so far. Will wait and post on that.

Suspension: Awesome is the right word. I will just compare another bigger car. The other day I was behind an Octi and he happened to spot me in his mirror. Well as it went we were in a race without us even knowing it. We did about 2 kms when we had to slow down for a road hump. Well what do you know the Octi driver came to absolutely 0 Kmph to roll over the hump! I just took on it like I do on my bike. Later my friend explained that Octi’s tend to bottom out on any small Blore hump. Sad.
Other than this the high speed handling is exceptional, sits like a rock on wheels and in city I got a compliment from my dad that I drive like I am riding a bike! Well you know what I am saying.

Lighting: The head lamps do their job pretty well. However I upgraded to 90/100 Narvas for High beams. Plan to install Osram Night Breakers for lows.

The interior is a bit dim. I am wondering whether I can upgrade this as well.

A.S.S: First service done at Manipal Motors, Bangalore.
Verdict: They do not know their nuts and bolts. (Except for a bloke called Shivram who sounds well informed about Fiats)


Well that pretty much sums up my 3 month old marriage (she is my first wife) with her. Will post pics and more experiences soon.

Take care

[windsurfer]

You seem to be very happy with the car. Well enjoy the power and handling. There are very few cars that match up to this beauty in those areas.

[PankajP]

Nice review mate.

I have got one myself and completed 500 kms till now.

I agree with you on most of the points. The FE you have got is amazing.

Some people say it has got lots of power so it is really ideal for Highways. But its really good for city driving as well as you can just accelerate in some tight spots where you want to overtake.

Enjoy and keep us updated