Year after year, I sit down and write about the past year with my car. Why do I do so? I don’t shampoo and polish my car every other weekend like some people. I don’t get a minor heart attack with every scratch and dent on my car—I might have been dead many times over even assuming every third heart attack was successful in finishing me off!. Just like me, my car has to be reasonably clean but a few battle scars only add to the allure, no? In short, I am not devoted to my car like many people I know are. Despite this, some people on Team-BHP.com, the Palio Users Group and MyFiatWorld.com take great interest in these reviews, so here it is.
84,000 km in four years—that’s between one and three hours in the car every day, depending upon the speeds you can average. A lot of driving, even for a vagabond spirit like mine. Now that we’ve got those figures aside, let’s get on with it and talk about the car.
The last of the 178 platform cars in India, this car mates perhaps Fiat’s oldest currently-produced platform with one of Fiat’s most recent masterstrokes in the powertrain department—the 1,248-cc Multi-jet Diesel engine. A small engine with a big heart, this “national diesel engine” is quite a performer both in the city and the highway. True, there are engines with lesser turbo-lag, wider power-bands and lesser NVH, but this one seems to have become a darling with manufacturers, especially with Maruti Suzuki, due to its generally trouble-free nature and economies of scale in production achieved by usage on multiple cars.
Save for the engine, most of the endearing qualities of the 178 platform remain almost unchanged (Thank God!). Excellent medium- and high-speed ride quality over bad batches, balanced handling and superlative steering feedback from a pure hydraulic unit. Capable of doing 150+ kph comfortably with more powerful engines, the 120-130 kph speeds that one can cruise at with the MJD engine is easily managed by this chassis. One may be at the limits of the engine’s performance (and also due to the drone in the cabin thanks to poor NVH) but the chassis is capable of more. Given the inherently fuel-efficient and torque-rich nature of this engine in the 1700-2400 RPM band, one can cruise at triple digit speeds all day on highway trips and shift at around 2200 RPM even in the city. Highway Fuel Efficiency ranges from 17 kpl to 23 kpl and city FE ranges from 15 kpl to 21 kpl based on the car’s odometer.
Why do I write “based on the car’s odometer”? Because my car odometer repeatedly under-reads as compared to my GPS trip meter as well as Pulsar odometer by 10% to 15%. Fiat probably messed up the odometer calibration again! In short, that 84,000 km is actually more.
The much-criticized short gearing in the first and second gear is actually quite a boon for crawling without any pedal input on all three pedals in bumper-to-bumper traffic. For those looking to smoke other cars off the traffic signal, there’s the Swift diesel with the same engine, tuned for better acceleration by Maruti Suzuki. What blows away the competition is the 50-80 kph and 80-120 kph in-gear acceleration figures—many a sedan driver has been surprised at the way this car can widen the gap. The operating range on the tachometer for such antics is small, but one doesn’t mind nice throttle input occasionally, does one?
This car was launched in India at a time when the amount of automotive real estate one could purchase with the money was a concern only for the Indica buyers. The subsequent years saw more and more tall-boy designs being launched, and people soon found the relatively long and low Palio to be cramped in terms of interior space. Personally, I have found this car to be spacious for four adults of heights below 5’10”. Anything beyond that upsets the “elbow-territory” equation. As a friend of mine pointed out, the third person on the back seat could end up falling in love with either of the two people on his or her side! The fifth passenger fits reasonably well in terms of seat design and can leave the car without a new attachment in life, but long trips are still a potential chance! Boot space is good, especially compared to current hatchbacks. I travel with my laptop bag, my gym bag, my shoe-bag, a box of spares and an electric air-pump all the time, apart from the amplifier fixed in the boot. There is still space for two more bags, at least.
The only criticism with this car in terms of design and engineering is the turning radius. This car needs more space than a Force Traveler and as much as quite a few SUVs to complete a U-turn. Still, if one knows it, then one plans accordingly. Like all cars with longer front overhang and shorter rear overhang, reversing into a tight space is easier than going head-on.
In terms of build quality, the Tata effect is seen in some issues with certain components. There is a rattling parcel tray. A minor rattle from the stereo created during its installation which the installer himself has not been able to rectify. Some minor squeaks and rattles have developed over time from the dashboard and the seats. There is some sound from the door rubber beadings in some seasons. The plastic cover over the engine has cracked. Some of these issues have arisen due to poor execution and fitting at the factory. The others could be due to the abuse the car suffers on the highways of this country, since nearly 20% of its time is spent on the highways.
Which brings me to the three great lessons in Automotive Maintenance I have learnt with this car: “Keep your eyes and ears open”, “If there is a noise or an irregularity, find its source” and “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” Indian mechanics have a long way to go, both in terms of understanding the customer’s needs and even more so in understanding their complex cars. By following these three rules, you ensure proper identification and also avoid unnecessary heartache as a by-product of an over-zealous joint-effort between customer and mechanic to play Bob the Builder (“Can we do it? Yes, we can!”…. disaster.). This car has a good habit of warning you with uncanny sounds and behavior when something needs replacement. This is fortunate considering 90% of my highway driving is solo. The only time I have had to push the car was when the battery gave up. Touch Wood!
As far as highway usage is concerned, apart from the expressways and toll roads in town, I have travelled to Nainital and all its surrounding lakes, Khajuraho, Orchha, Kanpur (twice), Lucknow, Bikaner (twice), Jaipur, Bir-Billing-Palanpur-Kangra, Shekhawati, Sambhar Lake, Rishikesh and Lansdowne (thrice) in this car, apart from the usual runs to Mathura, Karnal, Neemrana and the like. There is a lot of travel left, but there’s so little time for it.
In terms of Fiat’s biggest Achilles Heels: Parts and Service, I have been reasonably fortunate. Elegant Cars and now Him Motors in Patparganj have taken care of this car very well. Mr O. P. Sharma (well-known to most Fiat car owners in Delhi NCR) knows Fiats inside out and also knows my car well, so I am in good hands. I only wish he was better supported by Fiat India Ltd themselves. Things can get a little trying with other Tata-Fiat Service Centres. Parts waiting time is about a week or two for parts which are not regular replacements. Filters, suspension components etc are usually available on the spot or at a day’s notice. When you consider that the chief attraction of this car has been its general reliability and zero down-time, you don’t mind a minor waiting period. This car has never had to spend a night at the service centre except for accident repair.
For those interested, there is a list of replacements attached at the end of this review. Warranty and Extended Warranty replacements are marked with a ‘W’ and ‘EW’, respectively.
So that’s about it. I am keeping this car for a while. I feel it will take another 1,00,000 km without much ado. Amen!
List of replacements: Electrical:- Combination Switch (changed unnecessarily) at first service. (W).
- Wiper motor due to timer malfunction (EW). Timer malfunctioned again recently.
- Four headlamp low beam bulbs, three fog lamp bulbs, one rear stop lamp bulb and one number-plate illuminator. My car does 50%+ of its mileage at night / evening, so a higher rate of usage of lamps.
- Battery (after 3 years, 63,000 km)
- Battery holder-clamp (a plastic part fixed to stop the battery from moving on its tray).
Mechanical and Drive Train:- Radiator water pump due to bearing noise (EW).
- Alternator Tensioner Adjuster due to bearing noise. This was valid for EW but paid due to urgency on a crazy Christmas day of 2010 when three A.S.C.s and an independent mechanic located the part which was wrongly labelled as a 1.6 engine part and finally fixed to make my Lucknow trip next morning possible. All this thanks to a Tata CRM server that is often down in some A.S.S. or the other.
- Clutch kit consisting of pressure plate, clutch plate and clutch release bearings (EW for manufacturing defect, not wear and tear). Clutch Release Bearings (second time) due to bearing noise.
Suspension and Brakes:- Left Front Shocker mounting.
- Disc brake rotors machined at 50,000 km and replaced at 84,000 km. Three sets of brake pads (currently running on fourth set put in with new rotors).
- Caliper pins (both sides)
- Lower Arm or Control Arm (left side)
- Boot lock clamp (EW), for an irritating rattle due to a bad spot weld.
Tyres:- O E tyres (Good Year GPS 165/80/13) replaced at 21,000 km. They were okay but too hard and too narrow. No punctures, though, and went for a good exchange price.
- Yokohama A-Drives 185/70/13 lasted from 21,000 to 51,000 km. They were good for more but one tyre developed a crack on hitting a stone and another developed a sidewall bulge. Sold off the other two which were in good condition and retained the best one as spare.
- Michelin XM1+ 185/70/13 have lasted since then. They have 10,000 – 15,000 km life left.
I am closing with two photographs of the car. One taken at the famous paragliding spot at Billing Top in Himachal in Dec 2009 and the other at one of my work sites in Lansdowne in Uttarakhand (the person in this photograph is not me but a site staff).
12th April 2012, 23:56
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