Team-BHP - Ford Flair 1.3 or Palio Diesel 1.9

Hi virsingh77,

I have stayed in chandigarh for more than a year and have seen lots of Palio Ds there.

The car is indeed quite good and is very reliable. I think the fiat dealer is by the name of Ambrose and the owner's name is Ashwini.

Its one of the safest cars in its category and you will enjoy driving it on the GT road as well as inside the city. I would really recommend it.

I would suggest that you join the Palio users group and have a fair idea of whats going on !...
Ford also has a users group but its not that active....
As far as service is concerned,In Pune,The FORD service is quite decent and I purchased my car only after speaking to few of my friends who own a FORD...

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinhegde

I mean basic start segment...Fiesta,Aveo,Baleno are not in the same segment/category (I mean pricing)...:Shockked:
The ones to compare are Esteem,Ikon,Petra,Indigo ! For me,it was Ikon amongst these..again,its subjective !
Esteem(though a good performer - my wife along with me didn't like the looks - its a subjective thing,I know its not really a practical thing to compare the looks but afterall you shdnot regret later) and Indigo is better known for diesel models ! So,it had to be Ikon or Petra and I chose Ikon.

I won't ask why you rejected Petra. It is afterall your choice. I am just saying that Ikon was the right choice for YOU. Not necessarily a winner there.

Quote:

I want to know after How much running/no. of years did yr car start giving Maint. pblms ? and How long are we going to keep our cars...

I didn't talk anything about maintenance as such, but my car has run around 16,000 in last 1.3 year without any problem so far. Touch wood! I hope, your car won't face any issues either.

Incidently, I've suggested Virsingh77 to go with Ikon, so don't flame me :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinhegde

Dear virsingh77,

I think you have to first decide whether you have to go for a Diesel vehicle or a Petrol one....or else, you will be fully confused..

My decision to go for diesel will be based on the maintenance costs in the long run.

but my friend, when i bought the vehicle, the 1.9 D ELX cost me 4.8L or so ex showroom...but on road price came to around 5.3-5.4L. So if you are talking about the exshowroom price, they havnt cut the prices.

With regards to maintenance, I have had the car for more than a year and a half now. I have not spent even a penny other than the normal service charges. The build and make of the car is so good that even with the crappy Fiat service the car lives..and lives strong.

I am not too sure about the indigo, or for that matter any tata car. You would find owners here, who would be able to give you a better idea.

The sole reason for me to go for the Palio D was that I wanted a small car (hatchback) with all the luxuries. The palio D had all that I wanted and to top it it was diesel and giving decent mileage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by virsingh77

Basil,

How much do you spend on every normal service and after how many kms do you get the car serviced?

Can anyone give me the same info for their ford flair 1.3 which is more than 1.5 yrs old?

Normal service costs me around 1500 or less. The cost includes consumables like engine oil, coolant etc and the replacement parts like airfilter. I service the vehicle every 5000to7500 kms.

virsingh,
sorry for the late reply.
I would advise you to go for the Palio 1.9D as you plan to keep it for more then 5 years.
The Palio, offers better ride quality, safety, build quality then the Ikon.
The ikon scores over the Palio in terms of looks and Space but that would be it.
the Palio D would hold up better and since you plan to keep it for 5-7 years, makes more sense.
The diesel, if maintained well will not require much maintainance and is quite trouble free.

I've added another car to the list- The Hyundai Getz. The recent price cuts made me have a look at this car.
The GVS variant (power windows+power steering) is cheaper than the flair by 45k and also it has the same power- 1.3 engine plus the Hyndai A/S/S.
I test drove it a couple of days back and found the drive very smooth and the AC more effective than the flair. The flair was probably a bit more responsive to the accelerator (maybe coz its lighter).

I was in same situation in Feb-2005. Finally I decided to buy Palio because, I want to be head of a Rat instead of being tail of Lion (well, every one know the tail used to cover what!).

Palio is king of hatches available in India.

I finally decided on the car..... Just booked the Getz GVS today in a trendy scarlet sage colour!
I drove it twice again, just to confirm my doubts on power and the much criticised A-pillars. Well, power as not much of an issue esp. when compared to the Swift and the A-pillars were hardly an issue.
I got a good deal to considering that Hyundai has lowered the prices of the Getz- Rs 4.15 lacs (showroom price). Converted all the freebies (insurance, car stereo) into cash. I was also lucky to get the loyalty bonus of Rs 10k as we already had a Santro.
So I'm eagerly waiting for the 30th for the car to arrive and will definitel update the forum with the performance.

Now that the car is finalised, there was a small change I wanted-
Bigger tyres: The GVS comes with the foll configuration- 155/80 R13. These look quite small when compared to the car. What would a good upgrade and the cost differential?
Also, I've heard in the forum about a K&N Replacement Air Filter. Does this really give a boost to the power (without violating warranty)?

So please help me out here, thanks.