[geeash]

Muneemmk, i just read the whole thread. It just sends chills down my spine. I own a linea emotion pack myself. I really dont have words to say.

[muneemmk]

No need to get worried, my experience might have been a one off experience in the particular dealership that I worked in.And they are still in the same pathetic condition, nothing much has changed over there, a good friend of mine is working over there now and he too is fed up with the happenings over there. But the service every else looks to be pretty good and unlike before there are no reports of spare parts unavailability ,but that's just for the Linea. the condition of Palio is still the same.

[geeash]

And they are still in the same pathetic condition, nothing much has changed over there, a good friend of mine is working over there now and he too is fed up with the happenings over there. But the service every else looks to be pretty good and unlike before there are no reports of spare parts unavailability ,but that's just for the Linea

Muneemmk thanks for easing out my apprehnsions. Now i will sleep peacefully........

[VahanPujari]

Tomthump

I would suggest you & your sister take time out to have a test drive again for Linea. When you accelerate/ pick up the car, change gears faster than you usually do. In Linea you can reach 3rd gear at 20/25 kmph speed without lugging or jerking. Alo since cluth ply is long, release clutch slowly & simultaneously press accelerator. I initially experienced loss of power while changing gears as I was releasing clutch imdtly & pressing accelerator imdtly THEREAFTER (may be a second later but making a huge differnce). Silly me, but it was a habit due to earlier wonderful car.

Linea is too good a car to be discarded straightaway. It took me more than a month to realise that its not power which is an issue, its the agility in the 1st 2 gears. If you're not a speed freak, then Linea is THE car giving so much at a much lesser price because of FIat's compulsion of pricing it much lower.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by tomthump

.........
In the meanwhile, come this mid month of June, my Palio Sport will be all of one year old. No more limp modes, and having fun all the time. Fiat Palio are getting slighly more visible in my town, just a few more actually, but nice to see more people willing to take a risk though.

Have a good day.

There is no risk involved! Like Amit says..........

Originally Posted by amit

I suggest you read through the long term report of my S10 which at 72,000kms is as rock solid in reliablity as any Honda or Toyota. Even the interior light bulb is the original one that came when I took delivery. If that makes me a Fiat Fanboy then I am proud of being one and the car deserves a fanboy.

......., the car deserves all the adulation and admiration that it gets from me and it's not without reason. It has proven itself to be worthy of all the admiration.
.........
.

After a few years of not owning a Fiat, I bought a used Palio GTX in April and immediately did a 700 Km run. In spite of having several problems to be attended to, the car behaved impeccably and never missed a beat. The handling was spot on though 3 wheels were bent and had to be discarded as soon as I reached home. I cannot think of many other cars that can do this.

See the thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-2nd-hand.html

Best part about these cars is that THEY ARE FUN TO DRIVE! Part of this is what people scorn as the non-linear power delivery - heck who wants an electric motor in their car? Not me! Give me a snarling spitting petrol that screams like a banshee anyday.

Aah well, poor ol me - I am just an incurable petrol-head. I do get my kicks out of watching lesser mortals get out of the way when they hear the GTX approaching with it's engine singing merrily over 3000 RPM.

Cheers,

[tomthump]

It has been a while since I posted, but that is because I did not have any useful information. My Palio Sport was due for it's III service at 12 months (15,000 Kms) and though the dealership who sold me my car is good enough, my casual experience at Concorde Cochin made me want to give a trial there.

I had a good and satisfactory experience.

In my chainsaw dealership, it is a slightly painful experience when a customer casually walks asking for a check up and service, because we insist on prior booking so that we can do a better job. Though we somehow accommodate the customer, still it is a bit tough for us. I drove into Concorde at 8.15 A.M on Monday 17th Aug, without a prior booking.

The security person had an honest smile and his actions were courteous. I told him I was driving into town and wondered whether I could bring my car in for a free service. He answered that though booking was required, they did accommodate such requests. So I told him I'd be back in an hour, drove into town, dropped off stuff at my sister's and took the car back.

The same person welcomed me and gave me clear instructions as to where to go to register.

The receptionist was warm and friendly, and she too told me that indeed they could do the job. Jotted down the details and showed me the visitors lounge. She informed me that the service advisor would come to me, as the customers are each serviced in the order of entry.


I had asked my nephew to pick me at the facility because I had an unhappy experience once at the Mahindra Scorpio service centre where I had to walk four Kms because they did not have a drop off facility at that time.


When he came, and we walked to the yard, my car was not there. The security person informed it had been driven to the basement, for transport to the service area which is located two floor up, by lift.
We were in time to remove my bags, etc before they transferred the vehicle upstairs.


When I walked back to the receptionist and informed her she promptly said it was a mistake, but the service advisor would be informed and we’d be taken care of. A short while later, the SA came and after apologizing for the confusion, invited us to accompany him upstairs. The car was being driven back to the lift when we reached the place, but as we were already there, it was moved to a parking slot. I had only one fault to rectify, the right side windshield wiper.


Siby, the SA told me that since I had done 18,000 Kms and as the car was already 15 months old, three months past the stipulated date, he would have to get concurrence from above before he could sate if I’d get the Free Service. As I knew I was at fault, I agreed and we waited back at the lounge. After about 10 minutes Siby came in and informed me that it would be free service, and I need only pay for the oil, filters, etc. Tentative delivery was fixed at 5.00 P.M. and he promised to call me.
At 4.00 P.M I called him, and he said that the job was told in progress and requested me to give him till 6.00 P.M just to be on the safe side. I got stuck in traffic, so at 6.15 he called me to enquire. After we reached there at around 6.30 P.M, I had a mere 10 minute wait before Siby met me and showed me my car. As it was already dark, I did not want a test drive.


Without bragging, I can say that I have taken my vehicles to enough service centers that for my personal satisfaction benchmarks, just getting in and absorbing the feel of my car tells me if an honestly good job has been attempted.

And sitting there in my car that evening two days back gave me one on the best such feels of my life, since 1998 when I bought my Matiz. I have taken both my Matiz and my Scorpio for every service in the book they gave me till both crossed 100,000 Kms.


And now when I sit here writing this rather long and maybe boring post, I am glad that I decided to buy my Palio, because I feel that I could indeed get good service, which I never really expected.


But then I have never had occasion to experience service at any Maruti, Hundai, etc facilities, so I am not venturing to compare… just giving my feedback for someone who is looking at just Fiat service.


The windshield was clear and sharp, which for me was a neat experience, because that had never happened before at any service centre. And the car smelled clean and crisp too, no odours or greasy smells. Another first.
Siby then guided me to the invoicing and payment windows, and handed me the feedback form while waiting for the processing of payment. As there was no cause for me to complain, I had to give approval to all the queries.


And when I drove out and back, the car did feel better, and it has got it’s hop back. There was a sad response lag earlier, but now it really responds as I’d expect it to.


I expect there are folks who when they read this post, will post back their experiences, but as of this evening, after covering 300 Kms after my III service, I feel Concorde did a good job.

[VahanPujari]

@ tomthump

Nice service experience there which will soothe many of Fiat's New customers & may be potential customers. Pretty neat which is what we typically expect, right?

[Ravveendrra]

Nice to read positive reports of Fiat A.S.S. they were a mere trickle earlier but in the past few months that trickle has increased. The Palio Users Group (PalioUsersIndia : PalioUsersIndia) also has seen quite a few good reports coming in over the past few weeks from owners of Palios and Lineas.

I hope that this is a sign of change for the better and that Fiat is finally doing something about the poor servicing.

@Tomthump: Nice to see you enjoying your beauty.

Cheers,

[amarprusty]

Prerana OMR Service center did a good job on my Palio MJD's 3rd service with great cost estimation and prompt sms that car is ready and a followup call in the afternoon to pick the car,took a test drive found few issues then left the car with the service advisor and went to Big Bazaar,got a call again that its fixed and it was dropped at Big Bazaar with another test drive at 6PM

Customer waiting room is AC and has lot of car magazines which suits my taste along with a TV.

Feels good to get the extra attention from fellow Fiat car owners,met Bhpian Prajith who drives another Red MJD

It was nice seeing the happy smiling faces of Indica and Sumo Taxi owners for whom the vehicle is bread and butter unlike us who treat this as a luxury

Got update that all Tata-Fiat service center is getting upgraded to handle the Punto,Linea and Nano servicing

Looking forward to see few Jaguars & Land Rovers soon for service

[Shubhendra]

Everyone,
We bought Fiat Palio in 2003, this was from first batch of production. Nearest Fiat Showroom is around 300 kms from my home town. We were very impressed by Fiat's build quality (my family had 1100, Padmini), 10 days after buying "White Elephant" it started giving starting problem and required long self. Also whenever we give long self, fuel used to smell. We took vehicle to Service Center (300 Kms), they did some settings and also first servicing. At that time we were very happy with their Service unaware of what was in stock for us. While returning from Servicing my driver called me to inform that vehicle is stopped 250 kms from Service Center.
I called Service Center guys to inform, to my utter shock and disbelief they told us to wait for 2 days minimum. I had no other optin so we towed vehicle to our home. They took three days to reach our hometown. Initially they were unable to resolve problem. after some trial and error process they started the vehicle. They told us that there is some wiring problem and they have sorted out issue. We tried to forget this as a nightmare. But after one month same problem happened again, during morning time it used to take 15-20 long self to start and fuel smelling had increased .
We again sent our vehicle to Service center, this time they changed whole Wiring System and Silencer.
To Cut long story short, we used this vehicle for three years and we covered 9200 kms only. Out of this 9000 kms, car went to dealership for 5 time (5 X 600 Kms = 3000 Kms). So effectively we drove only 6000 kms.
Best Fuel economy (Without A/C) was around 10 kms/ltr.
After this bitter experience we decided "NOT TO BUY FIAT AGAIN"

P.S. - Its soleley my experience with my vehicle, people may disagree but its not a Fiat Bashing.

Regards,
Shubhendra Singh

[dumdum]

Well,
I'm pretty new to T-BHP and I always thought that FIAT was a reputed brand and there's nothing that would go wrong with something that has the brand name, fiat, backing it.
I was planning to get myself a Fiat Linea since I've heard a lot of good things about it but I'm pretty apprehensive regarding the purchase of a Linea.
Rather than having to go through all the "emotional atyaachar" that FIAT would shower upon me, I'd rather go for a dZire.
Well, thanks for sharing your views guys, I think it is definitely going to help me in making my decision.

[hollywoodhogan]

has any dealer appreciation thread got star rating ever on tbhp?

[psp62in]

During the 7 years of owning a Palio, till I sold it recently, I never faced major issues with the service, spares or the dealers in Mumbai. (There was a period of about a 1-1.5 years before the Tata-Fiat partnership evolved when it looked as if Fiat would wind-up the business & some of the nearby A.S.S. centers switched to other brands; that I had to take the vehicle farther away for service, a problem that later got resolved).

Dealer horror stories are abundant on this forum, with all car brands. Only, in this case we a have an insider story from someone from a Fiat-Tata dealer. I am sure we would find similar experience from other brand dealership employees elsewhere.

So it is important to see the issue in the right perspective.

[vinaydas]

my experience was really pathetic with prerana motors bangalore(old madras road)
i had given my car for a full service checkup.
they gave me my car a day later.
after i had gone home and few hours later my car stopped in middle of the road and refused to start.
i was late for college so i parked it there.
later some how it started and i bought the car back home.
a local maruthi service center guy whom i know from ages came to my place and checked the car and told me that the timing belt is worn out and is slipping.
he told me tat he can change it but it will be tough to source fiat authentic parts.
and suggested that i go to prerana.
i went there and left my car for a day and told him what all my garrage guy told me.
he took a day and then called me saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car.
i somehow belived him and went home.The same night while i was driving around the ring road the car stalled.
i called up prerana and gave him a piece of mind. I also asked him to get a towing vehicle to get my car to the service center as i live almost 15-20 kms away from there.
finally i lost patience and told my local garage guy to repair it. He did the job and car is fine now.
the thing that annoys me the most is that even after mentioning the problem to the service centre they did not do anything but wash the car and give it back to me second time.
i spent almost 400 bucks on auto charge going to and fro.

[amarprusty]

Surprise Free Palio Checkup camp at Prerana Hosur Road held on 13th Sept

With free oil,coolant,wash and vaccum of my red Palio Multijet.

Not to forget the complimentary gift

Long live Tata-Fiat