[vipul_singh]

The ECU may be getting the speed inputs from the gearbox, but as far as I understand, the Palio's speedo takes the inputs from the wheels.

This was the stated problem in the "pre-NV" (OV?) Palios wherein they fitted larger sized wheel+tyre and forgot to recalibrate the speedo/odo. The the car would go further than indicated, and owners would feel that the mileage was poor.

[ahitdasgupta]

Hello,

I have an October 2001 Fiat Palio 1.2 ELPS which I bought last year, second hand. I have compared the Speedo Reading with my SatNav and they have both been dead-accurate. At 60 KM on the Speedo, the SatNav showed 60.

The milage I have got till now, with A/c Always ON in Mumbai city has been about 10.17 kmpl.

Kind regards,

Ahit Dasgupta.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

I read across forums and hear it from people that the Palio 1.2 NV or not is not fuel efficient. I wonder if its really true. I purchased a Nokia N82 which comes with GPS in April and I have been using this to see the accuracy of the odometer and the speedometer of my Palio and the other cars I drive.
First thing, almost all cars that I drove barring my 2002 Palio 1.2 have a speedo error to the tune of 10% or even more. My Palio is almost dead accurate with hardly a difference of .2kmph or .3 kmph @ 60 compared to the reading on GPS.
My cousin's Santro at 60 kph on speedo was actually doing 53.XX on GPS
My friends wagon-R at 60 kph on speedo was actually doing 54.xx on GPS and same was the case with Safari, Tavera, Indica, Innova et. all.
Secondly, the odometer on my car under reads by more than 3%. When the GPS showed the actual distance travelled as 32 kms, the odometer showed 30.7 kms. Compairing it with the other cars like the Santro and the Wagon-R, the odometer over reads by close to 10%. The same distance in the santro was 35 kms and so was the Wagon-R.
Now if I were to compare the Palio with other cars in the market, the speedo under reads by over 12% which is a huge difference becuase the fuel efficiency is calculated using the trip or the odometer in the car.
So if my Palio gives me an average of 10 kmpl, the average in any other small car would have been 11.2 kmpl!
My Palio has been consistently giving me 11-12kmpl with A/C which equates to 13-14 kmpl for other cars. Now you tell me, is it really in-efficient for a 1 tonne + car with a 1.2 litre engine to give you 13+ kmpl with A/C in city conditions.
I rest my case.

I would request other Palio owners to come up with their calculations if they can and post their fuel efficiency figures.

P.S. I dont really understand how FIAT can overlook this. We all know they didnt re-caliberate the brazilian version and that has hurt the fuel efficiency big time and hence a lot of potential customers.

[crackingride]

Originally Posted by ahitdasgupta

Hello,

I have an October 2001 Fiat Palio 1.2 ELPS which I bought last year, second hand. I have compared the Speedo Reading with my SatNav and they have both been dead-accurate. At 60 KM on the Speedo, the SatNav showed 60.

The milage I have got till now, with A/c Always ON in Mumbai city has been about 10.17 kmpl.

Kind regards,

Ahit Dasgupta.

I have a July 2002 ELX and it gives me around 10 with the AC in Bangalore. On the highways, it has gone up to 20 with the AC mostly on. So, I am not sure about how "in"efficient this is. Of course, compared to the current crop of say, a VW Polo, it is less, but then its an older engine and a heavy car too.

[mb_jg]

Sometime back I traveled Pune-Goa-Pune in my Palio 1.2 ELX NV 2006 model, a total of 1300kms (including going into Kolhapur & roaming around in Goa). The car consumed an approx of not more than 60 litres of fuel, i.e.approx 21kms to the litre average.
I was driving sedately, touching 100-120kmph at times but for most of the trip the average speed was approx 90kmph.
Now this car is almost 5yrs old & I have maintained it really well. The battery finally died after we returned from Goa, my mechanic was shocked cause the average battery life is only around 3yrs.
Point is, I have never ever ignored the slightest problem in the car & always got it fixed on time. I always did preventive maintainence on the car & never missed the service intervals. Infact, for the first time in 5yrs, I had to change the master slave cylinder to the brakes because of wear & tear.
If you take care of the car in the early years it will repay back the favor by running well. I have seen friends rip their cars in the city for no excuse, they don't bother checking fluids every week or fortnight neither do they take care of preventive maintainence etc. But, they will crib forever once the car dies on them when they need it the most.

[crackingride]

Originally Posted by mb_jg

Sometime back I traveled Pune-Goa-Pune in my Palio 1.2 ELX NV 2006 model, a total of 1300kms (including going into Kolhapur & roaming around in Goa). The car consumed an approx of not more than 60 litres of fuel, i.e.approx 21kms to the litre average.
I was driving sedately, touching 100-120kmph at times but for most of the trip the average speed was approx 90kmph.
Now this car is almost 5yrs old & I have maintained it really well. The battery finally died after we returned from Goa, my mechanic was shocked cause the average battery life is only around 3yrs.
Point is, I have never ever ignored the slightest problem in the car & always got it fixed on time. I always did preventive maintainence on the car & never missed the service intervals. Infact, for the first time in 5yrs, I had to change the master slave cylinder to the brakes because of wear & tear.
If you take care of the car in the early years it will repay back the favor by running well. I have seen friends rip their cars in the city for no excuse, they don't bother checking fluids every week or fortnight neither do they take care of preventive maintainence etc. But, they will crib forever once the car dies on them when they need it the most.

Agreed; i follow the same philosophy. My highway drives ( and averages) are funnily enough en-route to Goa as well. My OEM battery was an exide and died on the dot of two years, the next was an Amaron that went for 5.
I just replaced OEM tyres in November not because they were overly worn, but because of the age factor.
All told, mileage run stands at around 52K (do the math, given this was bought in Juy 2002). Never ( touch-wood ) had to change anything major that wasn't a result of some fool two wheeler or driver or the other that caused the damage.
The Palio has been much maligned. The only reason I hold on to it so dearly is that there still is no proper successor to it in my opinion. The Polo comes close, but leaves too many boxes un-ticked in India spec.

[mb_jg]

I think the 1.6 Polo is pretty good. Even as much I will miss Fiat, I don't want to go back to another Fiat again (unless I can afford a Linea T-Jet). Just too many niggles!!
Earlier I had the enthusiasm & time to take care of the niggles, but not anymore. I need a car that is pretty much hassle free. I test drove the Polo & I really liked it. All I need is driving comfort & pleasure, not a fan of a.c.c or other gizmo's. The less the better!!

[Grafin]

I drive a '02 Palio ELX and I love the car.

Replaced the 2nd battery last december with an Amaron Din 50 battery and got the alternator rehauled.

The car still runs smooth and returns a consistent 12kmpl in the city with 40% A/C on.

I still remember how people used to tell me that I bought the wrong car, but I pity them because they don't realize how good the car is. Its got character that a lot of hatches lack and since it din't sell much, I'm quite happy to be one of those rare owners.

[architect]

The odometer still under-reads on my 2008 Palio Stile. On a recent trip I got an odo reading of 259 km but a GPS distance of 295 km. On my daily run, the odo reads 18.xx km for a GPS reading of 20 km!

[PM - B]

All

I have a 2002 1.2L Palio Petrol.
This has been actively run in Bangalore till late 2009 with AC.
Over these 7 years, the dear car has consistently returned atleast 11 KMPL.
On the highway, depending on how one drives, i have got from 14 KMPL to 18KMPL.

Do note that this car weighs in at 1250 KGs, that is more than the weight of the current Lineas.

[Klub Class]

A small correction :

Originally Posted by PM - B

Do note that this car weighs in at 1250 KGs, that is more than the weight of the current Lineas.

Fiat Palio 1.2 weighs 1015 kg whereas Fiat Linea 1.4 FIRE weighs 1180kg.

[PM - B]

@Klub Class,

Let me recheck with my Owner Manual. I distinctly remember it being over 1200 KGs.
I will revert.

Incindentally the earlier Linea MJD is at 1290 KGs, the current MJD Lineas are at 1210 KGs. I have reconfirmed this.

[Klub Class]

Originally Posted by PM - B

Incindentally the earlier Linea MJD is at 1290 KGs, the current MJD Lineas are at 1210 KGs. I have reconfirmed this.

You're correct regarding the weight of Fiat Linea MJD. I've quoted the weight of Fiat Linea FIRE in my last post in case you missed it.

Please do keep us updated once you're done with referring the owner's manual.

[PM - B]

@Klubb Class,

You are right about the FIRE engine (Petrol), i noticed that, hence i mentioned the MJD specifically, i will take some time to dig out the Palio 1.2 specs.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by architect

The odometer still under-reads on my 2008 Palio Stile. On a recent trip I got an odo reading of 259 km but a GPS distance of 295 km. On my daily run, the odo reads 18.xx km for a GPS reading of 20 km!

Well thats 10% again. Now compare that with other hatches which over read by 10% and you have a delta of around 20%.
In a market where fuel efficiency can make or break a car, Fiat has been absolutely stupid.

[architect]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Well thats 10% again. Now compare that with other hatches which over read by 10% and you have a delta of around 20%.
In a market where fuel efficiency can make or break a car, Fiat has been absolutely stupid.

Well, my Palio MJD is pretty fuel -efficient on its own, but MSIL 1.3 DDIS is usually better by around 5-10%. If you factor in this 10% error in reading, the Fiat MJD is actually at par with the Swift DDIS.

Of course, there is a 1% error due to my tyre upsize and also an HPS that consumes more fuel than an EPS.