[prabuddhadg]

Guys, its not as bad as it seems. The finance guy called this morning and offered me a further lower e.m.i. though he is not giving me the finance discount anymore. Still, it is a better deal than any other deal. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed. Lets see how things stand.

[sreenivass]

Originally Posted by prabuddhadg

Hi guys, after months of deliberation and a lot of inputs from many of you, I have finally booked the Fiat Petra 1.6 ELX with Anuroop Goregoan. I am selling my current 800 DX and have received part of the money. Once the rest of the money comes in, I shall complete my down payment and hopefully within another week, the new car will be mine.
I have pm'ed many of you for your inputs and I would like to thank all of you for helping me choose this car.
It is a darkish shade of grey, called Moon Mist Grey. Fresh stock. After much nagging, the dealer has arranged the fifth alloy.
Not much of a discount; I get about 30k from the dealer. Some miscellaneous knick knacks like teflon coating and mud flaps.
I have made some feeble attempts at bargaining with the banks. What I found is that many banks try to take anyone and everyone for a ride. Rates offered to me varied from 13%(!) to 9.5%. In addition, some banks even offer discounts on the down payment. So, if you are going in for finance, speak to a number of banks and only then decide. Depending on the model, some banks offer upto 4% of the loan amount off from the down payment.
I must confess here, that I am doing all this with a twinge of remorse, somewhere deep inside. I know how most people sneer at the 800. My car is the smallest car in the office parking lot and on many days the only one. But still, the thought of selling this car is making me so sad, I often think of keeping it in one corner of the driveway.
That though is not an option. So, as in life, with happiness, there will be sadness. That is life.
So, when anything progress happens, I will post again. Thanks for the help once again, guys.

Petra is a great drivers car. You'll appreciate its stability, handling and ride on highways more than in the city. I own a silver petra petrol for 2 years, never regreted buying it.

Sorry to hear you had to go through lot of financing hassles, hopefully Petra will more than compensate for it.

[DRC]

Whatever happens with the Finance guys is ugly. Whether it is petra or anything else, Just that there is too much of fine print and no one wants to read it as a legal document. Please go through the advice section. GTO has a fantastic article on dealing with Finance people.

And about the Petra, its great drivers' car. I too have one in silver gray. in an year and a half I have done about 35K kms. I did have my share of problems but it always came up successfull. Things are a lot better now with Fiat. So enjoy your ride,.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by DRC

Whatever happens with the Finance guys is ugly..... .

I am a finance guy myself.
Anyway, this guy seems to be hankering to try and postpone the deal till November. I do not have a low down on what his targets are and what discounts he can afford, but that is the deal for me. Wait a while longer.

[DRC]

Originally Posted by prabuddhadg

I am a finance guy myself.
Anyway, this guy seems to be hankering to try and postpone the deal till November. I do not have a low down on what his targets are and what discounts he can afford, but that is the deal for me. Wait a while longer.

Good to have a inseder . Hope I did not offend anyone here.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by DRC

Good to have a inseder . Hope I did not offend anyone here.

I can not speak for everyone else, but with me, don't worry. I know exactly what you meant. And like I said, I agree with you about dealing with banks and financiers. In fact I had read a thread about someone's Skoda that had trouble with ICICI regarding insurance recovery.

[Travel-X]

Congratulations!

Me to thinking about to buy Petra but no deep information on this model. Please can you give some information on this model( top speed, pick-up, fuel economy, prise etc..)

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by Travel-X

Congratulations!

Me to thinking about to buy Petra but no deep information on this model. Please can you give some information on this model( top speed, pick-up, fuel economy, prise etc..)

I chose this car more for its driving pleasure, safety and dimensions than raw performance. The 1.6 engine is quite powerful- 100bhp, which of course, is not unequalled, with Aveo, Verna and Fiesta all surpassing it. The gears slot smoothly, which feels great when you drive in Bombay's stop go traffic. The controls are perfectly accessible (but that would be subjective).
Pick up is quite good, with 137 Nm of torque. Top speed is claimed to be 180 kmph though I have not got anywhere close on my test drive.
I have an 800 now, and what I can say is that driving the ELX over the same road I drive the 800 over, many bone jarring breaks in the road were just perceptible disturbances at the same speeds.
Some features though unnecessary to me, are there, like electrically operated outside mirrors and tilt steering.
Alloy wheels are also standard.
Plastics, such as the a/c vents are tacky, but the dials are sporty with red pointers on white base.
Overall, while interiors are not striking, it feels great to drive. Also, its not too big, so is quite easy to manoeuvre in traffic. The steering is responsive, but turning circle is pretty large, I think about 10m, which may be problematic in narrow streets.
So, that I guess is a reasonably unbiased listing.

[typeOnegative]

Priced at the level that it is, though, the Petra comes up on top. Atleast in Mumbai and Pune.

The 1.6 engine is quite powerful- 100bhp, which of course, is not unequalled, with Aveo, Verna and Fiesta all surpassing it.

BTW, when are you getting the car?

[prabuddhadg]

Type O Negative, you have struck a raw chord. I made the mistake of going through ICICI Bank and a further mistake of choosing a DSA of the bank. I booked the car on 13th October and started loan proceedings the next day. Everything is in place, just that the DSA is playing truant and I have to wait and wait. I have placed a complaint with ICICI Bank and their representative calls daily with updates. But net result is, the DSA still has to pay some money to Anuroop.
I am waiting for the whole process to conclude, and then I shall post a detailed report on my Financing experience, complete with names of individuals, their statements and disclaimers, and let everyone decide just how wonderfully this mammoth bank runs its show.
You can't imagine how irritated I am getting playing this waiting game. I am an extremely patient man, and my patience has been tested to the core.

[mcrash2005]

Dear Prabuddha,
These DSA of Pvt. banks only provide home service of filling forms and give rosy picture of your requirements and at that time seem to have all answers / solutions to your questions. Once you sign up you have to face the employee of the bank who will tell you all the rules (quoting some obscure RBI guidelines) and harrass you like anything. I had a very bad experience with HDFC bank DSA.

[himanshugoswami]

OK, why is this thread in shifting gears?

Mods, please note.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

OK, why is this thread in shifting gears?

Mods, please note.

That is because apart from driving the mods also like table tennis (ping pong). It has lived on the "What car" and the "Indian Car Scene" threads. This is its second visit to this forum, but never mind.

[prabuddhadg]

Hi guys. On Monday, 20th November, I finally got my new Petra. The colour is Moon Mist Grey, in simple English, dark grey. I have only driven from home to office to home to... and so on, which is about 200 km till this morning.

The first thing I noticed was its pick up. Without the rev counter even touching 3000, the car leaps from the traffic signal. All you GTX and Zen owners will probably have experienced more of this, but after my 800, this feels phenomenal.

What I noticed next was the smooth steering. By the second day, I was manouevring between auto richshaws like I used to with my 800, only now the Auto wallahs slow down thinking this is a big car, better stay away from trouble. Speaking of big, this is really a pretty roomy car, and elbow room is nice. Haven't really tried the back seat, so...

The service guy told me not to rev beyond 3000rpm, which is good enough. I touched 100 on the Andheri fly-over on the 5th gear and the tacho at exactly 3000.

One feature I noticed, was that at a reasonably hign speed, if I go over a bump, the shocks steady the car in a hurry, while in say, an Optra you get the feeling of sailing first over the bump, and then that up down motion continues gracefully, two or three times. I am not sure which I prefer, though getting settled quickly is preferable at high speeds.

As of now, FE seems to be less than 9-10kmpl, though I am not sure. Why I say that is because the fuel level needle is at half and the car has covered over 200 km, and I do not know whether the needle at half actually means I have consumed half of the 47 litres. Anyway, its too early to bother about FE.

The electric adjustability of the outside mirrors, particularly the left mirror is a boon, since I have to park alongside a brick lined flower bed at home, and I can very conveniently change the angle of the mirror.

The AC is nothing to write home about, though I was surprised to note that even with the blower at zero, it works if the compressor button is on.

Many had warned me of niggling "Fiat" issues, and true to form, my car has an issue. The central locking from inside is operated by pressing either of the front door handles. In my car, from the second day, the right door lock has stopped functioning. Of course, the key lock from outside is working fine, so I am not complaining. I shall get it rectified when I visit for the first service at 1500km.

I know it is too early for a real response, but I must say, I am a happy man now, and even though I have not installed a music system, I am look forward to every moment in the car, and though I hae not taken it beyond 3000rpm, the serious thrum of the engine does clearly indicate what lies in store for the future when the engine is run in and can be taken to redline.
So, cheers: .

[greatDrive]

DOn't worry about the FE for first 1-1.5K, FE will get stabalized to around 10kmpl in city after 1st service.
Enjoy your Drives Dude...

Cheers
GD