[RX135]

Originally Posted by ipsanand

Now it's quite a diverse selection of cars... Personally, I would like a car which offers me power, driving comfort and handling, and decent fuel economy ( a tough combo for any car maker.. ) .... But more importantly, I would like a car which I enjoy being in, and is a good investment with durability at least for the next 5 years.

There are a few posts which suggest that people here recommend Fiat cars, but dont buy them. So let me clarify first, I am a Fiat owner, I had read reviews on this forum before buying Fiat Petra and I heavily recommend it after 6 months of buying it. I had stopped recommending it for a few months in between, because the company future seemed uncertain and not because I was not happy with the car or A/S/S. I have started recommending it once again, since there are quite a few +ve activities happening around with Fiat India.

Some people think that "Fiat boys" are vocal, but then everyone is recommending his car irrespective of customer requirements and not just so called "Fiat boys". (It includes Baleno, Swift, Wagon-R owners as well).

I would recommend going by merits of a car than all the hype or criticism surrounding it. Now that you have shortlisted few cars, drive and compare the cars under your consideration and then make a decision. And, if you need any specific data, people on Forum can assist you. Make sure that you do not fall prey to myths like "Petra is fuel guzzler" or "Fiat A/S/S sucks." (if you are in Pune/Mumbai). On later part, I can guarantee you that you'll get BEST A/S/S from Fiat, if you are in Pune (Based on personal experience).

Let us know your final decision, whenever you buy/book your car. Enjoy!

Note: Do not consider Fiat cars if you want good resale value. Or, if you dont like being asked, "Fiat what? errr..umm...Petra? hmm...".

[zaphod]

At the price the 1.6 Adventure is offered at now, it's the best deal around - excellent rough road ability, decent handling and performance and oodles of luggage space and it is the best looker among the lot.

Second choice would be the Baleno, again excellent value - fast,decently economical, excellent both on the highway and in the city but the suspension is a bit soft for my tastes.

The Palio GTX is a a good car as well but the Adventure is a much better allrounder.
(If you make even the occasional highway trip with your family or friends, you will love that car...)


To repeat - get the Adventure - it's one of a kind

[typeOnegative]

[quote=Steeroid][quote]From one more Petra Owner.. If you planning to go on weekend drives ... Go for Fiat ...
it will give ride quality of a luxury cars/SUV... you will feel like you are glidingon highways...

Bull, because it purports to give the impression that people with other cars dont go long distance or enjoy their drives. As for SUV ride quality - the chap who said it hasnt ridden on an SUV.....If everyone started bragging about how much they enjoyed their car, you'd have to make up your mind between a mind-boggling number of choices starting with the old man's Ambassador......Obviously you find a bunch of guys here who are happy with their Fiats (though I think its always the insecure ones who are the loudest and shrillest in any lot - hoping that they havent made the wrong choice).....From what you hear in this post you may even start thinking that everyone who doesnt buy a Fiat is mentally challenged, therefore be sure to separate the grain from the chaff.

Must you always be the Grand Provocateur? LOL

[amit]

Like you and many countless others, I also was in a zillion minds over whether to buy the Palio or not. Anuroop proved me wrong and the service i got from them was as good and sometimes even better then Hyundai. The car is brilliant. No amount of superlative words will do justice to the Palio. It has to be driven and owned to be expereinced. The car is light years ahead of everything in it's segment and even ahead of cars in higher segments! The palio is a no compromises car and is thoroughly engineered product. It is solid, gives you a big car feel , has ride and handling that will put bigger and more costly cars to shame and the 1.6 has performance that scares many other cars pants off! Take it from a Palio owner, just buy the car. Great product and good After Sales Service too.

[merve_extreme]

One has to understand what has made Fiat owners go Vocal(as u say) in the first place,it is because people who have never owned,driven or read a review about a palio or petra start saying "its a fuel gruzzler" , "A.S.S is pathetic" , "Quality is crap" etc etc.and there are a lot of people on this forum who have put forward such comments when they are a far distance away from even feeling how it is to own a fiat.

to put to rest such bad myths about Fiat as a company and its cars as a product,the owners have to become vocal or strong worded.Fiat owners are much better off with their cars performance and service that what it is thought to be.Fiat's service may have been bad some time ago but it is no longer the truth.

it is a sincere request to people to accept the fact that Fiat manufactures one of the better cars in their respective categories and offer reliable service wherever they have good dealers like in Mumbai and Pune( as i know).

And what is this about Palio,petra are great cars and Fiat is a Pathetic company.
"It requires a great company to make great cars".

Skoda will never be a Mercedes no matter what they offer and try to do and what the hell people in Britan still buy old stock Rover and MG cars(definately lesser than before) even when the manufacturer is offcially bust,atleast FIAT is still alive and another thing Fiat owners are know to be passionate about their cars throughout the world,its not a new phenomenon in India.Hence the official fiat advert line says...
FIAT-Driven by Passion.

[vivek.singh.73]

Merve Extreme - Very well said !!!

Three cheers for you...I think BHPians needs to be pragmatic and be objective in their reviews. I see lot of "I like it period" types of comments nowadays rather then specifics.

For example ..Fiat cars are pathetic. Wake up guys to reality of life and then make your choice

[vivek.singh.73]

Hey Zaphod, at what price are you getting Adventure Sports in delhi, are you getting any discounts?

I am also re-evaulating my choice for Adventure sports..any feedback would be welcome.

FYI : I am getting 10k discount 5 k cash and 5 k in accessories that too after offering mega deal to Fiat.

Do you know anyone in Fiat of substance or do you have mail ID or phone number of their national sales manager Ricky Walton?

Look forward to your reply

[sandeepmdas]

ipsanand (who?... hey thats the newbie who started this),

Please go buy a car (fiat or whatever) ASAP; god bless you...!

Guys, I am taking a break till he buys one or till this thread perishes -whichever happens first.

and I will be watching cricket videos of Kenya vs Bangladesh instead....

no flame intended....

[zaphod]

Hey Zaphod, at what price are you getting Adventure Sports in delhi, are you getting any discounts?

I am also re-evaulating my choice for Adventure sports..any feedback would be welcome.

FYI : I am getting 10k discount 5 k cash and 5 k in accessories that too after offering mega deal to Fiat.

Do you know anyone in Fiat of substance or do you have mail ID or phone number of their national sales manager Ricky Walton?

Look forward to your reply

I don't really know what price it's at these days but I think my dad was told 5.6 ex showroom in Noida - we bought ours 3 years ago at 7.35 !!!

You can check out my long term review in the reviews section.

Overall it's a great car - you wouldn't chuck it around corners like a GTX or Baleno and parking can be a hassle if you're short but it's a great allrounder and the perfect weekend getaway car. It's comfy apart from the upright and massive headrest at the rear. And it'll go just about anywhere a Qualis or a Sumo will go, besides beating Accents at the stoplights at least.

I've heard good things about Sanmati Motors but stay far away from Vivek Auto on Mathura Road - a bunch of pathetic wankers who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

A.S.S - the acronym says it all - well our car's battery died after we didn't drive it for a couple of weeks as my folks were out of town(supposedly a common fiat issue - along with ridiculously high tyre wear and mysteriously lowered levels of power steering fluid adfter lomng drives ) so Dynamic (Noida) sent a palio service car to try and jumpstart it - unfortunately even it's battery was dead and we had to push start it before getting to work on our car.- we just couldnt manage to push start the adventure - it's a heavy beast. And those Pirellis , while very good in the dirt won't last more than 20-30k's - We have to change ours and let's see if they're even available in the market.

Don't let that discourage you, at the price it;s offered now - it makes a very good car - you get the practicality of an estate , the looks of a soft roader or rally car, performance ain't too shabby either and handling is decent while the ride is far better than a Petra or Palio.

[Buffetfan]

BTW..Satish...did you find out if you had 100mm PCD alloys as OEM fitted on 98 mm PCD nuts....let me know if that was the reason your wheel did not come off

[Buffetfan]

Originally Posted by vivek.singh.73

Hey Zaphod, at what price are you getting Adventure Sports in delhi, are you getting any discounts?

I am also re-evaulating my choice for Adventure sports..any feedback would be welcome.

FYI : I am getting 10k discount 5 k cash and 5 k in accessories that too after offering mega deal to Fiat.

Do you know anyone in Fiat of substance or do you have mail ID or phone number of their national sales manager Ricky Walton?

Look forward to your reply

fiat ids in general are firstname.lastname@fiat.com...you can try using this tactic...

[sivadas]

Any new buyer would like to have the best car among available ones(This doesn't mean that his car is far superior in all aspects or he is having any heavenly experience inside the car compared to other ones). Then they will have their own likes/dislikes/parameters/restrictions which will eventually lead them to their decision. During this course they will have to sacrifice or compromise on few of their expectations as well. On top of everything, most of the people will have some kind of initial impression on each car brand which will many times prevail over other aspects(like I like this car or I don’t like that car feeling).

And after buying any car, it is natural that people talk more on the positive sides of their car and ignore negative aspects. This doesn't mean that they are feeling insecure (that is applicable for people who cannot judge themselves at all and are fully dependent others opinion) or trying to justify their decision. This just means that car is good as per their parameters, and other parameters are not so important to them.

Frankly speaking, I had never thought any thing beyond Ikon, Accent or NHC(which was above my budget) initially(never heard of Petra). This site has definitely influenced my decision, but I am solely responsible for my decision to buy a Petra and feel really happy about it. I clearly remember that who ever promoted Petra were also giving warnings on Fiat ASS and company’s future. I did my bit of investigation on this aspect and understood that Fiat service here in Bangalore is not majorly different from that of any other car brand. Other aspects have been discussed many times, so I am not repeating it.

So please don't bother about whether some one is Fiat boy or anti fiat guy or things like that. Just list out your parameters and compare the cars. Other than major factors like Price, ASS, Performance, FE, Ride/Comfort, Looks (not in any order) also look into things like interiors, seating position, turning radius, boot space, back seat comfort, brakes, ground clearance, gear shift, availability of colours, delivery time etc. (any of these can be crucial for you). I strongly believe that this site is already having enough information(covering all mentioned aspects) for some one to make a decision. So decide and let us know the same. All the best.

[pingmepal]

Greetings folks,

Help me in deciding 3 PETRA ( Petrol 1.6 version) choices I have now.

1. All are from Anuroop Auto, Hyderabad dealer.
2. Maximum discount on any one of these I get is 20K (insurance or accessories or what ever) as per initial negotiations.

Chocie 1: Black ELPS model Bharat Stage II. 80 KM on it already. some customer already requested for upholstory change which has, light cream color covers for seats as well as for side doors. This one costs about 13K as per sales personnel. Bharat stage II model as power windows. The net price as per him is 564K - 20K (discount) - 13K(upholstory value) = 531K. For me the covers already provided are okay okay so not counting much on that value. so from my side the value is only 544K

Choice 2: Bharat stage III, ELPS model of my color choice. Stage III model does not come with power windows. They stripped off. I like rear spoiler which costs 9K that can be fitted by them. They can't fixing power windows for ELPS model which is bothering me more.The net price for this is 564K -20K (discount) + 9K spoiler = 553K.

Choice 3: Bharat stage III ELX model. Fully loaded of my color choice; rear spoiler, alloy wheels, stone guard etc etc. Net price 584K.


My initial thought was to buy ELPS and upgrade to whatever level I want. I am not particular about alloy wheels which costs 24K. Since power windows for ELPS can't be fixed, I am in dilemma what to do.

a) Is it worth to pay 40K for ELX model as compared to ELPS model for majority of cosmotic changes (except for power windows)
b) Do you think, sales guy is bluffing that power windows can't be fixed for ELPS model at extra cost? Did any of you got it done?
c) If I choose choice 1, I am feeling guilty that I am comprising on BLACK color and okay okay kind of seat covers already added.

If you are in my position, which one do you prefer? Any kind of input is highly appreciated.

thanks in advance

[HemantR]

Hi ipsanand,
When I started study to go for new car(petrol) in around Jan'05, I almost test drove all cars from price tags of 5 lacs to 8 lacs including Esteem, Baleno, corsa, swing, petra, palio adventure(5 months back it was palio adventure now it is Adventure Sport), Fusion, accent VIVA (petrol), marina, NHC, optra etc.
I was looking for a performance and reliability in a car.
And about FE, one thing I have observed by reading various review on teambhp and other forums that any DOHC engine(petrol) of around 100 bhp and around 1600 CC gives average FE from ~9KMPL to ~12-13KMPL .
Also western/european cars such as OPEL,FIAT,FORD are known for performance, build and superior handling quality and less FE as compared to Japanese or Korean cars but this difference is not very high and for some cars it almost same such as Accent VIVA(petrol), optra, gives same FE efficiency as that of Petra, Fusion. i.e. around 10-11 KMPL.
So choice is yours.
So after all statitics I finally bought Fiat Adventure Sport.At least in Pune , I experienced both FIAT dealers are helpful and co-operative.
Also FIAT company is redefining it's world wide strategy to stay in current competition. Acc to company's new press release, FIAT will launch aournd 20 new models till year '08 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/1191701.cms
Also If you want one more options then wait for next year, Fabia from skoda is definitely launching next year.( I got mail from Skoda India copmany Official Mr. Varun Mudgil and Mr. Nitin Ahire about Fabia launch saying it's launch is in planning stage). That would be a great choice.

Enjoy,
Hemant

[RX135]

@pingmepal, to me, that last option of ELX looks very tempting. I had to buy EL model and fit alloys etc, since there was no ELX Petrol at that time. But, ELX surely comes with a host of goodies, which are worth 40K. Are you sure, spoiler is part of standard EL model? I believe, it is not. Make sure it is.

A word of caution, there are couple of Hyderabad owners, who are absolutely pissed off with Fiat dealer there. You surely would want to check with them for dealer feedback.