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Old 8th October 2009, 13:39   #106
Ice
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Great review, Architect! Happy to see that she's behaving herself. A couple of points:
1. About the beige interiors: I had a huge issue with sweat and grease stains when the AC was not working. IO decided to put down Rs.6,000 on G-Sport seat covers, and its working well so far.

2. Parcel tray rattle: I've used wire sealing tape along the edges of the parcel tray, and also heavily taped the 2 metal bits at the far right and left corners that keep it fixed in place. This has helped.

3. Another rattling opportunity is when the metal seat-back hits the rear suspension mounts. Open the boot and you'll notice that the gap is minimal, so if someone's sitting in the back, the seat back is bound to strike the mounts occasionally. Remedy: stuff old newspapers into the gap between the mounts and the seat back. Works wonders.

4. About the uneven wear. Prerana didn't get the wheel alignment done at any point in time during my first four services. So I've started getting the inversion, rotation, balancing and alignment done at a Good Year tyre specialist in Bangalore. I suggest that you get all these done outside as well, since most service stations (even the excellent ones) don't have the patience to do an end-to-end job when it comes to tyres.

All the best and happy motoring!
Also,
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Old 9th October 2009, 22:13   #107
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Quote:
Originally Posted by architect View Post
If I drive like crazy, I get 13.xx with AC even in the worst of traffic. If I drive sedately, I get 15.xx in the same conditions. So there's not much variation. On highways, I have managed 20.xx with AC even after doing triple digit speeds for long.
Thats pretty decent,in your next highway run keep your speed below 80kmph, engine ticking between 1600-1800 in overdrive. That should pretty much expose the inherent thriftiness of the multijet hidden underneath the performance veil.. 26-28 kmpl should be a breeze...
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Old 19th October 2009, 16:50   #108
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Palio is indeed good...

Architect, great review. As pointed out by many, to the point and honest. I own a Palio Multijet myself for more than a year now and have clocked 20K kms.

I should say I have been lucky enough not to face any major problems with my car except for a rare minor rattling noise in the steering column. Also, I had some shuddering when the car is at 2.5 RPM in the fifth gear. This has subsequently been solved. Just mentioned it during the regular service. Not sure what they did.

Have gone on quite a few road trips, longest being Chennai to Coorg. I happened to meet an automobile enthusiast by name Tom there. He owns two willy's and a 123 Mercedes and takes care of them by himself. He is also part of the Coorg wildlife society which explores the forests. We wanted to go to one of the highest points in coorg and was planning to do it in his 4X4. Instead in the morning, he chose to take the palio and said, if at all any car can do it, it is this. Trust me the car never faced any strains over the steep climbs or the bad roads. He is a die hard fan of FIAT cars himself.

I have done 160km/hr in this car and trust me you would'nt get a better feedback from a car upto 7 lacs or around at 150lm/hr. I have owned a swift vxi and felt the steering gets light after 120 or 130km/her. This car also manages to accelerate pretty well till 140 or 150.

The handling is something i need'nt mention as it has been discussed to death here.

I should say VST motors in Chennai have been very helpful and attentive except for the initial blurp in the beginning when taking delivery.

I am happier with this car than the swift. Swift has its merits, i do not deny it, but palio to me rocks. (personal opinion)

I agree that the cabin noise can be pretty loud and so is the tyre noise. I am yet to replce my tyres.

I would like to point out two accidents that the car had to take, one was when a stupid biker wanted to overtake me on the left when i was trying to turn left with my indicator on. He was travelling at around 40km/hr and hit me on the front wheel arch. All the car had with the collission was a small dent above the wheel arch which is not very apparent. (Is this what we refer to as tank like build? ) The next was when my dad had to break heavily to avoid hitting a car at front who stopped suddenly when the signal turned red. A two wheeler from behind hit the car at pretty good speed. I was amazed to see that the bumper had broken only around the place of impact but was still held pretty well by the clamps in it s place. The hole i think has helped to give away the impact and not hurt the car more. A little dent on the 5th door due to impact with the handle bar. I would say this is not much considering an accident with my swift where a splendor bike had hit the car on the side from front and the whole emtal sheet on the front left from the headlight to the body was ripped off and folded when the guy in the bike only had a simple fracture.

One crib i definitely have about this car is on the interior fit with gaps in the steering colum below the key holder and the parcel shelf in the co driver's side. The AC is pretty good too.

I have no repents of selling a Swift VXi to buy the palio MJD after 15 months of owning this car.

Sorry for the long post, no intention to take your ownership report.. just my thoughts on the car too....
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Old 21st November 2009, 19:57   #109
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Hi architect,

Today my car took a hit at the bottom. The tarmac was unusually high above the ground level and the left wheels went down, while giving way to a truck, at about 45 kmph. After some time I could hear a metal brushing metal kind of sound from the front left wheel. I jacked up that wheel to see that it is not revolving freely. Before taking the car to the service station it would be nice if I could hear your advice.
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Old 21st November 2009, 23:50   #110
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If there is nothing protruding into the wheel well from the outside, then it could be a suspension component or part of the disc brake or caliper. Metallic brushing sound could mean something hitting the disc brakes.

I have had quite a few underbody hits but all of them by stones (big and small) flying off the wheels. I can't say... I would suggest take it to any service centre and just hoist it and take a detailed look. You don't need a Fiat guy to figure out this one. Don't ignore it.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 06:45   #111
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Quote:
Originally Posted by architect View Post
If there is nothing protruding into the wheel well from the outside, then it could be a suspension component or part of the disc brake or caliper. Metallic brushing sound could mean something hitting the disc brakes.

I have had quite a few underbody hits but all of them by stones (big and small) flying off the wheels. I can't say... I would suggest take it to any service centre and just hoist it and take a detailed look. You don't need a Fiat guy to figure out this one. Don't ignore it.
Thanks. I am taking the car to the mechanic who took care of our old M800. If any question of damaged parts arises then only I'll take her to the Tata ASC.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 10:07   #112
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tortoiseNhare View Post
Today my car took a hit at the bottom. The tarmac was unusually high above the ground level and the left wheels went down, while giving way to a truck, at about 45 kmph. After some time I could hear a metal brushing metal kind of sound from the front left wheel. I jacked up that wheel to see that it is not revolving freely. Before taking the car to the service station it would be nice if I could hear your advice.
It has happened to me when the car hit a crater on the back right side. I didn't have any issue in driving or any noise. But the very next day when i was reversing the car a noise came up as if the car was crushing a plastic bottle. Took it to the service centre and they detected it to be a bent spring in the back right side brakes. For this they changes the entire Break ASSY Rear as the spring was not available seperately and cost me 2000 bucks.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 10:40   #113
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As I was taking the car to my old mechanic the sound stopped after having driven for about a kilometer. The guy said nothing to worry; something might have got into the gap between the brake pad and disc which now went out. I am keeping my fingers crossed and might visit a wheel alignment shop soon.
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Old 22nd November 2009, 10:51   #114
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tortoiseNhare View Post
As I was taking the car to my old mechanic the sound stopped after having driven for about a kilometer. The guy said nothing to worry; something might have got into the gap between the brake pad and disc which now went out. I am keeping my fingers crossed and might visit a wheel alignment shop soon.
Along with the alignment, won't it be wise to check for any possible damage to the disc and drum too?
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Old 28th November 2009, 22:36   #115
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A small update on my ownership. I have joined the group of people whose clutch kit has been replaced due to gearshift issues.

While the gears are shifting marginally better, the earlier instances of gears just refusing to engage at times (esp after driving in heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic) has not happened since then. The wonderful difference is that clutch has become much much lighter, and not the super hard clutch as earlier. Also, the car takes off much later, earlier it would start moving even after a millimeter of releasing the pedal, now its much more controlled. This used to make B2B traffic quite a pain because of having to keep that super hard pedal close to the end of its long pedal.

So now I have a new clutch kit, the only major replacement, at 32,500 km and 21 months of ownership.

Last edited by architect : 28th November 2009 at 22:37.
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Old 30th November 2009, 05:22   #116
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A small update on my ownership. I have joined the group of people whose clutch kit has been replaced due to gearshift issues.

...

So now I have a new clutch kit, the only major replacement, at 32,500 km and 21 months of ownership.
What was the cost factor? Did the extended warranty cover the replacement?
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Old 30th November 2009, 22:05   #117
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What was the cost factor? Did the extended warranty cover the replacement?
Ahem... actually it's complicated.

I have only paid for the labour (which others have had to pay for replacement even under warranty) so far. Apparently the clutch kit is NOT covered under warranty. However, when I raised the issue, the works manager who is by now quite friendly with me has agreed to pursue the issue with Fiat. What it means is that:
a. My job card is still not closed and my bill has not been made, but my car is with me.
b. I have paid for the labour.
c. I still don't know whether Fiat will honour the warranty or not. Worst case I have to pay the full amount, best case, nothing for the part.
d. For the moment, I have decided to trust the WM for acting on my interests, purely based on my judgement of his character.

I am terribly regretting the fact that I did not notice the issue 2 months ago when the car was under basic warranty. I am not the sorts who would ask for a warranty replacement unnecessarily, and so I had not asked for it just because my clutch pedal was hard.

I could have created a huge ruckus with Fiat, but for the moment, I am hoping for positive action on the part of Samyak Motors.

In the worst case, I lose Rs 7500/- or so for the parts (labour will have to be paid anyways) and I gain the most expensive thing in life, hindsight.
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Old 30th November 2009, 22:13   #118
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This thread may be of interest , although not directly related. Clutch Slave Cylinder - Punto | Spares & Accessories | Car Forums - CarWale.com

What exactly was replaced ?
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Old 30th November 2009, 22:30   #119
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Quote:
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What exactly was replaced ?
Clutch kit consisting of clutch plate (don't know technical name), pressure plate and clutch release bearing set, the whole set costing Rs 7500/- and around rs 1700/- for labour.
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Old 1st December 2009, 17:58   #120
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Some good news.

The clutch kit has been replaced under extended warranty, but I have had to pay for the labour (Rs 1655/- including taxes, washing and cleaning complimentary).
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