GTX completes 6 years & the Cedia 31000kms Palio
The GTX has 78000kms on the Odo and over 6 years now. This is one exciting car. I can stick my neck out to say that the steering feedback and feel isnt too different from the 3 series!!!
I have taken the car to several places. Forgot the count of round trips Pune - Bombay (yea i will call it Bombay always); Pune - M'bshr; Pune - Lonavla. Noida - Lucknow, Noida - Lansdowne, Noida - Chail, Noida - Kufri.
Maintenance: has been on clutch cylinder; oil & filter changes;AC which is very effective one has been serviced once at nominal cost and no part replacements were required. I am planning to get the AC vents changed. Because i notice now that they seem to be broken. The only way this could have happened was when the car was at service;
Tyres- had moved to eagle F1's but they went thin specially the ones in the front fairly quickly. Then moved to Apollo Accelere sports (front) and apollo accelere (back). No there is no scientific reason for the mix, only that dealers couldnt source the sports and after waiting for a month i bought the plain accelere;
Odo- One freak problem with few Palio's is the odo meter and the odo blackout. The blackout happend a few times but then got irritating at 11000kms. I was on a trip to mussorie when this happened. For the uninitiated, the blackout really is where instrument lights just go off but the high beam light works and so does everything else in the car. So it isnt life threatning. As the car was under warranty at that time the service centre replaced the part where you push in the key to start the car. Post replacement the blackout was sorted once and for all.
Next was the odo meter. It simply stopped turning the kms. This time while i was in Pune. Aswamegh (if i remember the name correctly) said the entire console needs to be changed. So it was changed, 11grand.
Thats about it on the maintenance. I need to get V-cool for the windows. Heck, i wonder why i havent done this yet.
No modifications have been done on the car. I still use stock filters and everything stock. You dont really need to do too much to the setup. This car is fairly simple, you release the clutch, press the accelerator and the thrill will get taken care of by the engine.
The fastest i have gone is 155kmph on the Bombay-Pune expressway. And the hardest has been once inside Magarpatta city, Pune wile accelerating to 70kmph on 2nd gear. I was in an irritated state of mind and this one time stunt happened. Having said that, as a practice i never press the accelerator on the first gear (the engine revs take care of moving the car from stationary) it is only after moving up to second that i use the accelerator. Cedia
31000kms, a little over an year. 4 service trips. The fourth just 10 days back. I remember approx service cost in this case.
First service* - Rs. 0
Second service - Rs. 1200
Third service - Rs. 1700
Fourth service - Rs. 2000
* the first service was free because during the purchase of the car there was a delay in delivery and there was some muck up on the insurance (mix up on the exact amount and one of the sales guys got aggressive. forcing me to complain to the Chennai office). The service being free was to alleviate my temper.
Cedia has been to a few places too. Noida - Lansdowne, Noida - Lucknow, Noida - Ramgarh, Noida - Kandaghat-Chail-Kufri-Shimla & back. Softer than the Palio, nevertheless gives a positive feel to the driving experience. I have found the torque to be very useful during these trips.
Again, no modifications done. Everything is stock. Have not even got the USB adapter for the music system. |