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