Fiat Palio - 1.2 - 28,500km Ownership Report Car: Fiat Palio 1.2 NV Model: Nov 2006 Make: June 2006 Dealer: Manipal Motors – Sankey road. Age: 18 months Odometer: 28500kms Driving conditions: Equal proportion of city and highways covered. Mangalore – Bangalore covered very frequently. Other less frequent trips include – Udupi, Ooty, Kasargod, Mysore, Madekeri, Vellore etc. Complaints/Issues: None so far. Service history: 1st: Prerana motors – Bangalore – Decent job. 2nd: Thribhuvan Motors – Mangalore – Good job. 3rd: Thribhuvan Motors – Mangalore – Good job. 4th: Green Tracks – Bangalore – Decent job. Engine Oil: Regular manufacturer prescribed mineral oil. Fuel Used: Premium only. I switched over to IOCL Xtra-Premium from Shell some time back for obvious reasons. The IOCL pump at BTM provides good quality fuel. Tires: Bridgestone – 165/80/R13 – Tube type Frequent punctures: Nails are the culprits every time. I suffer from a puncture every 2000kms! Condition: May last another 3000kms only. The stock tires are very ordinary and there is considerable road noise from them. Grip levels are mediocre and they do a very ordinary job in rain. I still haven’t decided on their replacements. Exteriors: Minor scratches on the left front and rear doors. I’ve learnt to live with them now. This is Bangalore. Interiors: Art leather seats and leather steering cover and the rest is completely stock. Ride: Excellent. It is a real highway cruiser and the best in its class. The soft suspension is ideal for Indian roads and simply hovers over bad surfaces. I love this aspect of the car. The brilliant build quality gives a great sense of confidence on the road. Handling: It is very good and only limited by the tires. It is effortless on long distance journeys. Engine: The 1.2 is still extremely refined and smooth. I actually find it more refined than the 1.6! How ever the good things end there. The power/torque is a major let down for a car of this weight/size. It is sometimes extremely frustrating in Bangalore traffic since the engine comes to life only beyond the 3000rpm mark. The region below this is referred as the “Numb Zone”. With the A/C on, you start contemplating whether turbo charging is a sensible option! This certainly is the weakest point of the car. Gearbox: Still smooth and precise and a delight to use. Breaks: Brakes are adequate if you are doing speeds below 100kmph. At speeds above this, I find the breaks poor compared to the Getz/Swift. One has to be very careful not to end up locking them as it could happen easily.
No break pads/disks have been changed so far. ICE: HU: Alpine CDA - 9854R FS: Blaupunkt Velocity VSc 662 (6.5", Compo's) RS: Infinity Reference - 9613i (6"x9") Amp 1: JBL CS 60.4 Amp 2: Blaupunkt 280 (1x210w rms) SW: JBL GTO1264 - Ported enclosure Cables: EFX
The system has performed well so far and is definitely worth the money spent. This really helps me get rid of the frustration caused by traffic jams and bad drivers. I pump the volume very high, reduce my speed and stick to my lane with the music on. The great thing about Palio is that very little sound is heard outside even when you are on full blast. At traffic signals, I see bikers and other drivers, who are next to my car, completely unaware of the fact that every thing inside my car is vibrating! Very less sound protrudes outside. Fuel Efficiency: When I bought the car, it used to return me about 12.5kmpl in city and 18kmpl on highways. Currently it returns about 11kmpl in city and 15kmpl on highways. The figures quoted are with 100% A/C on. And for the record sake, the drop in F.E is purely because of the change in the driving style. If required, I can still manage the old figures. Maintenance: Since I haven’t faced any serious issues so far, things have been good to me. I am sure, if there is a need for a replacement, I’d be in for my share of Fiat A.S.S troubles. I really hope that I don’t get caught up in this web. Conclusion: Fiat Palio is a fantastic cruiser and a great VFM car. I don’t think there is a better car in this category better suited for Indian roads. It is definitely let down by the low torque engine and the poor A.S.S. Future: I only hope for two things:
01. Safe journeys.
02. No A.S.S issues. |