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Old 17th January 2010, 20:56   #31
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Got it!

Mods: Please change the title to - Performance twins on a budget - Fiat palio 1.6 Gtx Vs Ford Ikon 1.6- its a Gtx!
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Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-022.jpg  

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Old 17th January 2010, 21:16   #32
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Congrats makesh. You finally got one. More pictures and details please.
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Old 17th January 2010, 23:01   #33
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Congrats buddy. So finally you bought the GTX. Please write a detail narration about the buying process and post some pics too.
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Old 17th January 2010, 23:06   #34
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Congratulations

Congratulations and welcome to the 1.6, the best bang for your buck on the road!

Are my eyes playing tricks or is it 15K I see on the odo? Phew man are you lucky a GTX with 15K on the odo is to die for.

Eagerly awaiting pics and a detailed account of the acquisition and initial report.

Cheers,
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Old 17th January 2010, 23:14   #35
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I was going to reply to this thread without reading the last few posts!

But great choice Makesh. I must add that I had a 2000 Ikon 1.6ZXi and it was a fantastic, superb car till the odo-meter read 50,000 kilometers on it. We had to spend almost a lakh after it hit 50k! We had to replace the entire exhaust system and the brake assembly. We even had to get the clutch overhauled and get the bushes and the springs replaced!

An Ikon with a lot of miles on it would've probably given you sleepless nights and unnecessary headaches! It's a good thing you decided to go in for the Palio GTX!

Having said that, few cars have engines and steering wheels as responsive and communicative as the Ikon's! It has a fantastic, well sorted suspension and a talkative, sublime chassis and a sweet engine mated to a superb 'box!
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Old 25th January 2010, 21:54   #36
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Finally I have time to write!

First of all I would like to thank all the wonderful people I met in team-bhp as well as PUG for making this dream of mine a reality.

Especially, Benny (Beejay), Ravendra (Raveendra), Vignesh (Vigneshram) of team-bhp and MN, Bala Murugan of PUG of which Bala took all the pains to travel with me back to forth from Coimbatore to Mumbai.

Also a special note of thanks to Jasvinder (Diesel maniac) who I approached to help me getting a Jeep and was more then willing to also assist me in my travel to Delhi to get a palio which sold before me booking the tickets.

Last but not least, Jignesh for posting this ad in classifieds and Mr.george for a transparent and fair deal, thanks guys. I really appreciate it.

First : Pictures are a million words!, so enjoy!
Attached Thumbnails
Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-001.jpg  

Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-002.jpg  

Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-003.jpg  

Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-004.jpg  

Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-005.jpg  

Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-006.jpg  

Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-007.jpg  

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Old 25th January 2010, 22:35   #37
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At first when I saw the ad in classifieds section I was a bit skeptical about it, A 2002 model, Gtx and that too only 15K on the Odo its !@#$%^&*(

Its been three months that Ive been searching for a Gtx, it started with a Yellow S10, Bhavit's to be precise and then got in touch with Beejay for a Galaxy black which he has picked it now. During these times I have spent hours and days just searching all of all for just three words "Gtx" anything which says For sale with it will attract my eyes. Numerous calls some encouraging and some disappointing, some came close but none close than 8264 which finally won over me. Meanwhile during the search I got numerous good hearted gentlemen who just made it possible for me to writing this today!

Jignesh had mentioned in the ad that the person named Mr.George was trust able and he had done business with him, so just by the confident words of a fellow T-bhpian I bit the bullet and made the call to Mr.George, He was as calm and composed and spoke well and appreciated my desire to get a Gtx and requested me to wait till new year and then to visit him to see the car. Ten days in December had passed by and by the time 2010 came I again called him and told him my intention to visit him in the first week of January which he duly aggered upon, Meanwhile I convinced Bala to travel with me to take the car back if we licked it else I had collected enough 1.6 16V database in Mumbai that I was determined to pick anything which is good to drive.

As luck would have it, out tickets for 9th January did not get confirmed. Mine got confirmed at midnight and bala's cancelled by which way we lost 3k is a different story altogether. I called Mr.George on 8th and with fear gripping my thoughts that he might think we are a Hoax, but true to a businessman he trusted the other. Finally with a mighty effort my my Travel agent we got tickets for 12th. As its the first visit to Mumbai for both of us we were not adults but kids with a beam of joy and expectation thought the journey, we started on 12th January from Coimbatore in Lokmanya Tilak express and reached Mumbai or to be specific Thane on 13th afternoon 2 Pm, One Kid who traveled from Bangalore to thane helped us getting tickets from Thane to Dadar without standing in Que using his smart card thanks man!

Mr.George agreed to meet us in Dadar, as we traveled from Thane to Dadar fearing whether we would miss the station the display in the train aptly guided us. Dadar - I must say, In my life I have never seen a station so huge and crowded that we got completely lost and went the other way towards east and down the bridge we rushed into kamath as we were hungry as vulters. After grabbing a quick bite we rushed back to the other side to meet Mr.George Whom by this time has searched us all the way into the station, after a long commotion of who was were we finally met! and he took us to Hotel Vivekanand close to Dadar station to get us rid of all the #$%^ we had accumulated over two days in our lovely Indian railways, but 2nd AC was good anyways.

Our Initial plan was to see the vehicle within evening and finalize all the documents next morning and start within evening and reach satara by night, but what do they say about proposing and disposing that's what happened. Mr.George took us all the way to Vasai road to his home where the vehicle was parked, Mumbai local is a Pandora's box I must say all full of life!. once we reached Vasai we took a rick to his home and there it was my beauty, all flesh. We took a quick spin and Me and Bala checked all the finer points which point the fact that the car is done only 15K, back in his home we excused him for and went for a tea and discussed the finer points.

1.Have to change tires as they are 8 years old, Hole in the pocket 16 to 17K

2.Engine oil, filter as it envied my hair color.

3.Wiper blades, K&N..et all.

we came to a conclusion that it would take atleast 30 to 40K to bring the car to back in shape and above that 15 to 20K for re reg..etc. After bargaining hard with Mr.George till 9 pm we aggred upon 1.20k.

to be contd..
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Old 26th January 2010, 11:38   #38
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Hey Makesh. Good to see another hot hatch nearby. We should meet next time while I am at Coimbatore. The problem is I hardly come down in the GTX. Now, this is encouraging maybe a spin around race course.
Hopefully I should, soon. Here is a picture.
Enjoy. Drive fast and safe.
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Performance twins on a Budget- Palio 1.6 GTX Vs Ikon 1.6 (Edit - Its a Palio 1.6 GTX)-image0035.jpg  

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Old 26th January 2010, 21:40   #39
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Contd...

Its was about 9.30 pm that we got a local from Vasai road back to darar, after a quick dinner and a late night walk we went to bed to wake up next day at 8 am. Got ready in a hurry as we had promised Mr.George to reach his place by 10 am, but late as we were, had breakfast and called up Ravveendra to get some expert tips on been there done that, He was really polite and healpfull also called up Vignesh out research head to confirm some finer points.

By the time we reached Vasai it was already 10.30 and all three of us went straight to the nearest Icici bank, I had carried two cheque leafs so that I couls take a DD in his name, but to my surprise Icici is a strange bank to deal with so I transfered the money to his daughters account, again he was very helpful and might have refused to accept anything than a DD. After all the drama wen back to his home and had a coffee and collected all the papers, Mr.George accompanied us to the city as we requested him to take us to a mechanic to check brakes and change oil.

Patil was a good guy and had good knowledge about palios, he immediately reamoved the disks and polished them and changes the brake pads and engine oil and filter, meanwhile bala was not feeling well and slept of in the back seat worried about his condition me and Mr.George kept on wondering how long it would take, exactly 8 pm thats long it took for patil to finish all the work and Bala recovered a bit and collected some spares for his car and mine with expert help on call, Vignesh!

After a long wait we finally left the garage and mr.George insisted us we see the Worli sea face and new wonder of mumbai, we aptly aggreed and drove through it. Finally we came to Darar and thanked Mr.george for Helping us all the way, without him we would be so lost in mumbai. Had a quick Dinner and went to bed as we had a long drive nest day.

Started the day by 6, had a good bath and left Dadar by 7am. Proceeded towards pune were we were to change tires in fellow Bhpian's store- The grip Store, reached pune by 10 am and contacted Gauvrav who guides us and sent a person to receive us till his shop, Tyres were already fixed in my mind - 195/60/R14 Yokohama ES100, haggled a bit with Gauvrav for the price and by 12 noon thw tires were finally on and me and bala were pleasantly surprised by their grip!, after having a small lunch in pune me and bala pushed the car as we raced against time to reach home, called up MN and he was real help for us in route guidance and as per his advice reached Hubli by 10.30 pm and stayed in Hotel Tirumala, good place rs.925 for a suite! pity that we left next morning by 6 am.

Next day was my B'day and missed much as I was not able to make it up to be with family, finally we crossed Tumkur got the NICE road out via Electronic city and reached Coimbatore by 10.30 pm after dropping Bala with a heavy hearted thanks!

This review is not all about the car, its an experience and due to shortage to time I am closing it only to revive it soon!

No time as I have already covered 3K in the wonderful machine called "GTX"
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Old 26th January 2010, 21:52   #40
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congrats on the car makesh.thanks for mentioning my name too.BTW i hope to see the car with a good paint job,good looking license plates(once u register in Kovai) and also good seat covers.Its my dream that your car gets all that.hope i see it that way.

Vignesh
ready for a Siena Diesel now.after the petrol being sold.
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Old 24th May 2010, 17:55   #41
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It was very nice reading through your experience Makesh! the GTX remains to be my favorite car. My friend took me for a spin in his S10 recently in Pune and I enjoyed the short drive to its fullest!

Congratulations on the buy! How's the car doing now? All good as new? Any plans on selling it? :P
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Old 28th May 2010, 16:51   #42
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Congrats on the car makesh.

I have also been searching for a GTX or S10 for a very long while now and have been unsucessful. You are an extremely lucky guy to have a 16k odo GTX. Very surprising that the person who had it hasnt driven it as much

i've been looking for a decent GTX for ages now. hopefully, i'll also get a lucky break like you.
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Old 29th May 2010, 11:48   #43
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Hi KwokFist, mail.jaiswal

It was a pleasure to drive to own and drive the pocket rocket! but sadly I have to parted with it to get a MJD.

cheers,

Makesh.R
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Old 29th May 2010, 15:18   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Makesh View Post
Hi KwokFist, mail.jaiswal

It was a pleasure to drive to own and drive the pocket rocket! but sadly I have to parted with it to get a MJD.

cheers,

Makesh.R
Oh! That's too bad! :( How much had your car clocked!?

Btw, can u confirm if the 4th and 5th gear ratios in the GTX was an overdrive?? Been reading up on that here. While on the S10, 5th gear ratio is overdrive.
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Old 30th May 2010, 01:08   #45
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I did 7k in it, 4th and 5th are overdrives in Gtx.
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