[rishi7777]

plz suggest what make of freeflow exhaust should i put on my 1.6sports Palio

[Firebird]

Hi Guys,

My Palio is now 14 months old.
I am close to completing 12900 km. I think it is high time I should provide my ownership experience at this point.

The performance
The performance is as good as it gets...
My most of the commute is in city limits in bumper to bumper traffic. The torque keeps me ahead of other cars.

The FE is still the same as it was when car was 3 months old. The city FE is in the range of 8.5 to 9.5 kmpl. The highway FE is in the range of 15 to 16 kmpl. These figures are on 100% AC.

The diet is regular petrol. No idea about the oil as oil has been regularly changed in the authorized service station. Here I need your help to decide on synthetic oil.

Last month went to Ratnagiri and Sindhudurga district from NH17. I tried the highway figure with 50% AC and it was a fabulous of 18.2 kmpl on NH17 Mumbai - Goa highway. The car is rock solid and agile. Did some cornering at 75 kmph in Poladpur Ghat. The Palio was in total control. I faced one instance when I had to stop from 70 to 0 in an emergency. The Palio handled it very well without letting me down.

The mods
The only mod carried out is Yoko ES-100 195 profile tyres. The ride comfort has improved to a great extent. Got these for 3050 per tyre = Rs 12200 minus 3000 for old tyres. So spent Rs 9200 on mods. The snaps are available in garage.

The future mods planned are Door Pads in art leather. Still did not find any place to get them done in Mumbai. Do let me know if there is good place to get them done.

The ICE
I had initially installed an amature ICE, but later on ICE got enlightened due to ICE section and now has Blaupunkt Amp MKII, JBL Sub GT4, Infinity Reference at rear and Blaupunkt 3 way co-axial at front and Kenwood MP333 head unit. I am happy with the setup. Planning to add CD changer in near future.


The issues faced and resolved
At 5000 Km reading, the brake caliper got dislocatated, was fixed on the same day by Shaman Automobiles.

The left headlamp assembly was replaced due to faulty connectors and fogging problem.

100.16V badge was missing on the right side. That was provided in the first service.

All above were covered in the warranty, so no extra cost involved.

Later on no issues what so ever.

The service
I am one of the happy Fiat and Palio customer. I am not saying that my palio was totally trouble free, but when I needed, the service was available for me.

At one instance, I was in UK for 3 months. During that period the Shaman people arranged to pick up my Palio from my residence for 3rd service and dropped it after servicing and all that at no extra cost. The service billing has been in the range of 600 to 800.

The overall verdict

The initial impression by most when I decided for Palio was FITE (fight) rather than PEACE. The current impression or the truth is it's all Peace of mind.

The Palio has Power, Torque, looks. The only drawback I foud is the suspensions to be on the stiffer side. But that's the characteristics of the sports version I guess. The interiors are although aged but I have no issues with that. Then serve the purpose well. The leg room, shoulder room has been great. The boot is big. Atleast I feel that after seeing Swift, Indica, but lesser than Getz.

In all I feel its a complete package at a great price.

This Car does not have a H badge nor a great service back up like MS or other H, but it has everything else that all these does not have, this has great Handling, great looks, the horses from European stable specially made for durby. The name Palio means Horse race. Palio di Siena - Siena's Palio Horse Race – all about the Palio

I am sure this review would have given you a true picture than the Rose garden.

[finneyp]

Firebird, Nice crisp Review!
Will be good if you can post the above Review on a New thread!

It is a delight to see another very happy owner of Fiat Palio!
Good days ahead for Fiat fans in India!

[Firebird]

finneyp,

Just thought that I will continue the same discussion by providing the initial impression then as the age progresses further reviews at regular intervals.

[s0uljah]

Nice review firebird, good to see your enjoying the italian horse! Seems like your managing to extract a fair bit of mileage to on the highways.

The tyre upgrade makes the world of difference and makes the Palio the complete package.

Regarding interiors I would take your interiors ANYDAY compared to the Stile and Getz CRDI. Black with brushed aluminium/silver inserts is still very hot!

[Firebird]

On 11th Jan 2008, went to Pune.

On 12th Saturday night when I went to drop my friends bro and Bhabhi at there place, got shock of my life. When reached the complex at 11.50 pm, missed the accelerator padel. Could not find it. I got sh*t scared, the accelerator cable broke. Yes at 13400 km the cable broke.

This is the first time when I was trying to use the 24 hr service. I was not sure how good would it be.

Searched for contact numbers from the booklet. Called up BU Bhandari. Got a number of mobile service vehicle. Called them up. The person said he will reach in 40 mins. Exactly after 45 mins a Sumo came with the "Tata service" written on it. I did give him an idea that looks like the cable has broken. The guy said, he doesn't keep this spare as its highly unlikely something might go wrong with that. He inspected and enlightened me that the accelerator cable needs replacement. I said geat and thanks and said now what should be done. The next answer was, its Sunday, store will not be open, so I said then what. Seeing my mood he said, I will arrange from Pandit Auto and he left.

The next step - I called up Pandit auto. They said they are open on Sunday. He promised that a person would come next morning. I had no other option to stay at friend's bro's place.

Next morning 9.00 am called up the Pandit auto guy. He said he has passed on the message and I would get a call from them. As expected after few followup calls i got response from them that, they have the cable in stock and they will get it here and fix it.

The blunder - The service guy came in at 12.30 pm with cable. I got the second shock to find that he was carrying a 1.2 accelerator cable which can no way fir there.

To summarize, we towed the car to Pandit auto, reached there at 2.00 pm. The cable was available. They took almost a hr to fix it due to the tricky position of the cable.

The charges
Towing - 1250/ -
Cable - 750/-
Labour - 250/ -
Total - 2250/ -

Could not claim the warranty as systems were down being Sunday.

At 4.40 pm my Palio 1.6 was up and running. I have a mixed feeling here.

The issue got resolved - I am happy
The way it was handled - I am not happy
Turn around time (with issue resolution) - 15 hrs - too much I guess.

As a Fiat brand vehicle owner, I am not saying that the spare was costly (Well it may be), but Fiat should also pay attention the way these issues are resolved.

They seriously need to rethink about the 24hr service along with normal A S S.

I wrote to Fiat, yet to hear from them. Made them very clear that if this doesn't improve, then neither GP/Linea nor GOD can save them.

So guys, what do you think, should the Cable give up so early. People at Pundit auto admited that its a manufacturing defect. But there i no way I can make this realize to Fiat India.

[finneyp]

Accelerator cable giving up in 13,400 kms is really surprising!

Yes, 24 Hrs Support is not upto the mark, it is Tata ASC's mostly who respond to such calls and though they attend promptly, but most of the times the Technician who come over have no clue about the issue or they don't have ready stock to address it.

[gemithomas]

Originally Posted by Firebird

Made them very clear that if this doesn't improve, then neither GP/Linea nor GOD can save them.

Sorry to hear your experience. Probably you should try to get a reimbursement from FIAT since it needs to be done under warranty. Did you ask them for that.

Is it actually possible to check once in a while for a possible faulty cable. I mean. can we check for any wear and tear of the cables. so as to avoid such incidents where it gives up just like that in the middle of the night

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by Firebird

The performance
The performance is as good as it gets...
My most of the commute is in city limits in bumper to bumper traffic. The torque keeps me ahead of other cars.

The FE is still the same as it was when car was 3 months old. The city FE is in the range of 8.5 to 9.5 kmpl. The highway FE is in the range of 15 to 16 kmpl. These figures are on 100% AC.

The diet is regular petrol. No idea about the oil as oil has been regularly changed in the authorized service station. Here I need your help to decide on synthetic oil.

Last month went to Ratnagiri and Sindhudurga district from NH17. I tried the highway figure with 50% AC and it was a fabulous of 18.2 kmpl on NH17 Mumbai - Goa highway.

The difference b/w city and highway FE is huge? Is this normal with the 1.6?

[Firebird]

extreme_torque - Yes these are the real figures. But in all long highway drives I have been geeting these figures.

gemithomas - How do we check the cable wear? I did write to Fiat a strong worded email. I got a response asking my Registration number. Later nothing.

I atleast feel lucky to be in Pune. What if I would have been at a place where there was no TATA FIAT Service network.

After this incident, I told my cousin to look for Hyundai and not Palio Stile which he was planning to buy. He finally booked Verna CRDi SX ABS. I really feel sorry that I drove away a prospect from Fiat.

[drpullockaran]

Originally Posted by Firebird

On 11th Jan 2008,

To summarize, we towed the car to Pandit auto, reached there at 2.00 pm. The cable was available. They took almost a hr to fix it due to the tricky position of the cable.

The charges
Towing - 1250/ -
Cable - 750/-
Labour - 250/ -
Total - 2250/ -

Could not claim the warranty as systems were down being Sunday.

At 4.40 pm my Palio 1.6 was up and running. I have a mixed feeling here.

The issue got resolved - I am happy
The way it was handled - I am not happy
Turn around time (with issue resolution) - 15 hrs - too much I guess.

As a Fiat brand vehicle owner, I am not saying that the spare was costly (Well it may be), but Fiat should also pay attention the way these issues are resolved.

The same happened in my GTX when it was at about 12000km when the family was traveling to grandma's place in the north of Kerala. Thankfully the cable did not break while overtaking. It was a sunday and about 100km from the nearest service station. Shoved in a piece of wood to jam the throttle actuator black thingy (below the idle setting screw) at 3500rpm at idle. Limped to the nearest inhabited place about 6km away. Went to an autorickshaw stand guy who guided me to an rickshaw mechanic. Made a short prayer and headed to his house about 150 meters away. The guy came over with his accomplice had one look at the cable and said he would do a juggad. The ingenuity of this mallu came through in a jiffy. He procured an rickshaw clutch cable and a monkey nut from a shop supplying BAJAJ autorickshaw parts which was luckily open on a sunday. He then removed the old cable which was broken at the neck which had a few shredded wires too. His assessment was that the quality of the cable was very poor and showed me the new 6 rupee rickshaw clutch cable which to him was better built. At that moment I could do nothing but agree with him. He slid in the new BAJAJ clutch cable into the old accelerator sheath after putting a few drops of oil. Used the monkey nut to secure the cable at the peddle side. Total time taken to change the cable was less than 10 minutes. He charged me rupees 20(twenty)only. I handed him Rs50 gave him my hospital card and left. That BAJAJ rickshaw cable is still going strong and its 4 years old now. I am carrying a spare BAJAJ rickshaw clutch cable in the glove compartment. Other than this I have not had a single complaint with the car in 4and1/2 years; nor have I taken it for routine service in 3 and 1/2 years.Touch wood. I change all the fluids of the car myself with help from my wife and kids. Toughest was changing the coolant.
The mileage I was getting then was 9.8 in the city and about 15 on the highway with the AC on all the time in first blower speed. Past 3 and 1/2 years I have been running on the STARGAS kit and its been giving 11 to 12km on the highway with spirited driving. Again no problems whatsoever.
Bye and wear your seat belts.

[WhiteAttraction]

The after sales service is sure bad...though it did make an attempt to look up for a few months..thanks to the TATA push....but sadly FIAT is just not able to supply the parts in time!

The hidden truth - Palio's have gone way below quality levels people experienced in the early years...what is being sold is sub-standard to cut prices...

Writing on the wall -the the Punto/Linea will be bought once again purely on passion...provided they meet the benchmark performance/features/quality levels set by the GTXs/Siena's

Passion will drive it's on course..FIAT or No FIAT...

Cheers!
WA
2003 Sienna 1.6ELX|White|69000kms|top speed done 182kmph|BLR|
NCT5185/60/R14 tubeless@44K kms|K&N Universal-INSTALLED 1stFeb2007@53.5K kms|
2006 FORD ENDEAVOUR 4x4 XLT|BLACK| 11000Kms|

[mahadev_kc]

extreme_torque,

Yep it is so much difference in city and highway figures.

Worst I got was 8.78 kmpl in city and best was 17.xx kmpl on highway.

These figures are with 100% AC

Now a days I'm getting 11 kmpl in city (of course, less traffic), need to pass 3 signals during 10 kms journey to office (oneway).

[Firebird]

Now with this firsthand experience, I am now a bit skeptical to buy Palio 1.3 Diesel or even GP. I am now not so sure whether to go for long drives where there is no TATA-FIAT service station (Interior parts of Maharashtra).

The irony is I found Logan, Hyundai and Maruti service stations even at Ratnagiri but nothing for Fiat. Cmon FIAT, thats a big town now on Mumbai Goa Highway.

I am now slowing getting inclined toward Logan 1.5 DCi.

[Firebird]

Ok Guys, SO far So good.
After the Accelerator cable failure there was no problem observed.

The Palio is now 14K old. The current FE hovers around 8.75 to 9.5. The highest FE got in city 9.7. Had a punctured right rear tyre with a big nail passed till the head. Rattle was pissing me off and ruining the ICE fun.

The roughness could be felt as the palio had done 1700 km long drive in Dec-Jan for 8 days.

Got the 15K servicing done (Oddo - 14100)

Called up Shaman Auto on a Tuesday, asked for 22nd Feb 9.30 am slot. Was given that slot. Also was told about the AMC.

on 22nd reached at 10.15 am. due to heavy traffic. I was attended in next 15 mins by service advisor.

Issues which I reportred
1. Rattle from rear seat
2. Left Headlamp foucs problem
3. 1 screw missing at the rear - small one but was adding to rattle

Things I wanted to do
1. Injector cleaning
2. Engine waxing or coating / interior polishing
3. Engine oil Flushing
4. Greasing the Clutch cable

Things which would be part of service
1. Air filter change
2. Oil filter change
3. Fuel Filter change
4. Oil change (OEM PENZOIL)
5. Brakes Checkup
6. Electrical Checkup
7. Internal Vaccume cleaning
8. washing

I decided to opt for AMC at charge of 4800/- for a year. This would offer me 2 major services, 1 general check up, 3M waxing, Free Pick and drop from anywhere in Mumbai and Thane. So got all above covered as part of the AMC first service.

The delivery was promised next day 3.00 pm due to the additional work which I wanted to get done.

on 23rd Got call at 12.00 pm that the Palio would be ready by 2.00 pm. I told them would reach there at 4.00 pm. Reached there at 4.30 pm. Yes, she was ready to be redlined again.

paid for following
1. Injector cleaning - 1100/- (This is the machine process, sounds expensive affair.....Suggested by TBHP )
2. Engine waxing or coating - 1500/ -
3. Engine oil Flushing - 500 / -(Suggested by TBHP )
4. Interior polishing - 500/-
5. Coolent replaced - 400 / -
6. Light focus - 60/-

Total bill was 4300/- (Not able to recollect some other small charges, may be taxes)

The result - The seat rattle minimised to great extent. Light focus set as per the right side. The missing screw problem was fixed.

Complemetory services offered - Touch up for the small scratches at 3 places. They found the front right door speaker cover had a missing screw. That was fixed. Tyre polishing done.

In all, I am again a happy Palio owner and ready to forget the past.
The car felt really smooth with reduced cabin noise. The rattle has reduced to minimal, the music can be used to minimise it further.

This time I am ready to give them 8 out of 10.

Why not 10 out of 10.
The seat locks not changed but tried to fix them to reduce rattle.
There were some grease stains outside.
In all Shaman Auto has lived upto the expectations this time again.