Team-BHP - Anuroop Fiat dealer visit

I visited the Anuroop Fiat dealership at goregaon today. Purpose of visit was to test drive the Palio D.

Unfortunately I reached late. The showroom was very much open, but the salesperson told me that he did not want to risk letting me test drive the car after business hours/sunset as these were unregistered cars with only a dealer registration. If caught I would be unwantedly harassed by cops. (I am specifically mentioning this since I read another member's post on his experience with another Fiat dealer while test driving a vehicle with incorrect registration. )

Anyways, the salesperson was quite friendly, well informed and had good communication skills.

He immediately offered to send over a Palio D to my place the next morning for a test drive, which I very much intend to take up on.

One point of concern which I hope some of you guys will throw light on:
He mentioned that the new Euro III / Bharat III emission norms come into effect April 1 2005. All vehicles registered before that obviously have no problem. But if I purchase a Palio D after that date, I will need to conduct some modifications to ensure it conforms to the emission norms. These modifications will cost around Rs.8000 and the expenses will have to be borne by me. His technical explanation of the modifications were vague though.

I asked him what FIAT intends to do with the stock of Palios in that case. He said they will offload the ready stock in the interior areas where the regulations have still not been tightened up.

So, my specific queries are:

1. Is what this guy said true, or was he trying to get me buy the car quick ?

2. Will I indeed need to make any modifications to the Palio D if I purchase it after April 1 or whenever the norms come into effect ?

3. If yes, does anyone know what exact modification is involved to make it compliant ?

4. How much will this modification cost and who will have to bear the cost, me or the dealer ?

Anyways, I will be test driving the car tomorrow, hopefully. Although I did sit inside the car at the showroom.

I had just test driven the Indigo a few minutes before. I found the interior and general fit and finish quality of the Indigo very primitive. However, interior comfort, space was quite okay. It was not as noisy as I had expected it to be, in fact it was quite quiet.

After that sitting inside the Palio D immediately tells precisely where the extra money is going. I am just in love with the build quality of this car, and I have not driven it as yet. !!!

Will update you folks after my test drive. hope to get a few pointers from you in the process.

Meanwhile the new confusion for me is the Petra which is terrific value for money and in the exact same price range as the Palio D. Thats another major debate, which I will come to later if at all.

ciao for now ;-)

hell_rider

yup,

according to fiat sales, they will be complying to the new norms for the palio and the palio d - by adding the extra fitments/filters etc that are required to trap excess emmissions - as all other cars will be doing.

of course - what drifter said is right - you shouldn't modify the car yourself - moreover, you cannot buy a non euroIII car after the 1st of april. i know the anuroop guy (is he sunil jomraj?) decent chap - i don't think he will try to cheat you - maybe you misunderstood.

once you drive the palio d, there's no going back to the indica - i know, i just picked up the palio d 20 days ago from anuroop!

of course - you can't compare the palio d to the petra 1.6 - except for the price - there's a whole difference in performance - 100bhp from the petra and 62 from the palio d. it's a question of how much you drive every day.

that said - the palio d is a great car - superb, limitless torque, which allows effortless 120+ cruising on the intercity highways without any struggle...been there, done that - an excellent piece of machinery.

and btw, the fit and finish is just the beginning of where all the money is well spent in comparison to the indica...just wait till you step on that 1.9L engine accelerator

hello all...

i finally managed to test drive the Palio D today (just back home after the test drive in fact).

I called up the Anuroop guy, Sunil Jomraj, whom I had met the other day when i had visited the dealership. He remembered me and the car I was interested in. He said he will immediately send over a person with the car in 45 minutes and the guy was at my place as promised on dot. full points there. It was a golden Palio D EL PS.

now comes the surprising part....

as I had mentioned in the beginning of this thread, I had just test driven the Tata Indigo the other day before visiting Anuroop. I had mentioned that I found the NVH inside the Indigo quite decent. In fact diesel clatter was almost absent. (Okay, accepted it was a brand new car. This Palio still had the plastic covers on the rear seats, but it showed 57 kms on the dial, but the dials were not working anyways...only the tachometer was working.)

But the Palio was *significantly* noisier !!! while the vibrations did not transfer to the gearshift like the Indigo, the noise definitely made its presence felt, almost as if the Palio was making it clear it was a diesel !!!! whats with that ??? I definitely expected better sound insulation in the Palio.

cream and lambhorghini...this is where I want inputs specifically from you guys, since you guys are driving Palio Ds. Did you test drive the Indigo as well ? and what is your comparison analysis with respect to the diesel clatter of Indigo vs. Palio ? Also Cream, you think this was an issue with the specific car I test drove ? Probably since you too bought your car from anuroop, it could be the same car you test drove as well.

Additionally :

1. FIAT have provided a foot rest right next to the clutch, but its too far recessed to the left. Problem being the clutch is at relatively higher elavation and there is something down there that comes in your way when you lift your foot off the footrest to use it on the clutch. So basically the foot rest is rendered useless. Now due the high elevation mentioned, this is quite stressful on the foot. you guys felt this ?

2. I may be wrong about this since I dis not test drive the Indigo and the Palio in similar conditions. I managed to get the Palio D out onto the highway to Borivali and back to Kandivali, but I managed to drive the Indigo only for a very short distance on S.V. road at Kandivali. Point is, I got the opportunity to race the Palio a bit and try some sharp overtaking maneovers. I found some body roll or whatever you call it, while the Indigo was quite stable, but I had not tried out the same stuff on the Indigo.

would really appreciate some inputs from you guys on above points...

Also any inputs from Indigo folks who can comment on noise insulation after the car has clocked significant mileage.

thanks,

hell_rider

i drove the same palio d golden colour el ps from anuroop.

i did not find the palio d bad in terms of the nvh at all - i think it was about as good / bad as the indigo.

the clutch foot rest - i had the same problem with the car when i test drove it - and it came in the way whenever i pressed the clutch. it was worrysome - but then i test drove the palio d which was lying with shaman - it didn't have any of these problems. i don't have any problems with my car, now that i'm driving it.

i think maybe it is the quality of fuel - shaman may be using turbo while anuroop may be using normal diesel -
perhaps.

the body roll is definitely due to the tyres - those stock 13" tyres on the palio d are quite bad - so factor an upgrade in into the cost of the car when you buy it.

also, i do have some issues with the cabin driver seat- which is very creaky and there is some cabin noise. though they have committed to do this when i bring the car in next week - i will keep u posted on how satisfactory that is.

what i don't like about the indigo - problem with city driving, no pickup or driveability, vague gearshift which had me slotting the gear into place more than once. . i assume it would translate into driver fatigue - i drive myself.

what i don't like about the palio - inside cabin noise, hope to get it solved immediately. rust on the front wheel cast iron drums - they say that's on all the cars - and i saw that for myself. but it's not good to see. i guess that's what happens when you have excessive stock lying around for months on end.

beyong these two issues - the palio is awesome - superb driveability, great dynamics and cruising - taken two long drives in it...one to khandala and the other to kelva beach. the capabilities of the car are something to respect. no loss of power with the ac on and 4 people sitting in the car - heavy ones at that. climbing, overtaking and crusing is a breeze - in traffic or in cruise control mode - hit 120 and it seemed that all i had to do was press that accelero more to get more juice - no struglle, no pain. but i won't venture above 120, that's my spped limit on any NH.

the average i've got throughout 13kmph - over the last 1600 kms. full ac. city and highway driving

i think, if you don't need a boot and you drive yourself, then the palio is a no brainer ( at least the car) - can't say the same about the apprehensions you may have for fiat.

if you are looking for a boot and maybe you have a driver to get you around, then look at the indigo.