[h14]

HI. This has been coming for quite a while and here I am with the initial ownership review of the my Palio Multijet.

Yes, I bought this car in the Dhamakka offer. Since I already had a Palio, a 1.2 Sport for over eight years, I hardly had to think on buying the MJD. It all started one fine day when fellow BHP-ian Makesh called me up and asked if I would be interested in an MJD if we get a decent discount. After discussing with my dad, I said yes to him for 2 cars. We had decided to replace both our Palio 1.2 and the Indigo.

After prolonged discussions and negotiations, the deal was finalized for Rs. 3,66,600/- on-road Coimbatore. The price was for 2008 Manufactured 1.3 SDX and only one color was available, the Ozone Blue. So we booked the car with 25k in the last week of may and took delivery in June.

The car came with free insurance, 4 yrs extended warranty and 4 yrs road-side assistance.

It was a tough decision to sell the 1.2 Sport since the car was trouble free and was as good as new, but had no other choice but to sell it since I already had a Spark LPG which was less than a year old and it would be just crazy to sell relatively new car and hence decided to sell the 1.2.

Upgrades:

One of the Palio was for my dad and hence gave it some upgrades while the 2nd car was just given a basic ICE.

Car 1
14" 98 PCD Veloche Alloys
175/75 R14 Michelin XM1 Plus tyres
Pioneer 4290 SD
MTX 6" Components at the front
Coustic 6x9 at the rear.

Car 2
Alpine MP3
Auditor 6.5" Components at front.

Both the cars have completed over 1200 kms and are doing just fine. Just did few trips outside city and was extremely happy with the performance. I've been planning on a decent highway drive for quite a while now and hope I'll be able to do one in a few weeks time.

Fuel Efficiency:

Both me and my dad are pretty light-footed drivers. We have been constantly managing 11 to 12 kmpl in our Palio 1.2 in the city and 14 to 15 on the highway so I believe one would get a clear picture of our driving styles.

The MJD has been constantly delivering 14 to 14.5 kmpl in the city and in the only highway drive done so far, it delivered 22.3 kmpl. All the above figures are with the aircon. I'm extremely happy with the returns especially considering the fact that these were achieved way before the 1000km mark.

Watch out for some pictures...

[anilisanil]

congratulations on your new car and a fab offer!! And here is wishing you many many happy miles for both the cars

And please do post some pics !

[h14]

The 1.2 which is now sold. It's in good hands though....





The 2 MJD's







The wheel up close



The stainless steel rings added in order to make the wheels hub-centric:





Pictures of the interior a little later...

[h14]

Originally Posted by anilisanil

congratulations on your new car and a fab offer!! And here is wishing you many many happy miles for both the cars

And please do post some pics !

Thanks anilisanil, I've added some pictures now.

[ByDesign]

Excellent. What beauties! The old 1.2 was beautiful too! Congrats on the new MJD's, I love the blue. The wheels look very nice too.

Please do explain why you made the steel rings? What exactly do you mean by hub centric? The new tyres should be hub centric anyway right?

[gemithomas]

WoW! Fiats are Rare... Palio MJD's rarer... And Ozone blue's are ones are the rarest colours on the Palio Stile...And you've got two of them!!!

Wish you a happy ownership experience.

[architect]

Congratulations. A rare car and a rarer colour, good going. Nice taste in alloys as well. Hope to see this review being updated frequently.

[avishar]

Wow that blue palio just does not show its age.Its looks beautiful and at the same time has that solid feel to it.Lovely alloys and have you covered your seats in white leather?

Oh an double congratulations!

[h14]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

WoW! Fiats are Rare... Palio MJD's rarer... And Ozone blue's are ones are the rarest colours on the Palio Stile...And you've got two of them!!!

Wish you a happy ownership experience.

Originally Posted by architect

Congratulations. A rare car and a rarer colour, good going. Nice taste in alloys as well. Hope to see this review being updated frequently.

Originally Posted by avishar

Wow that blue palio just does not show its age.Its looks beautiful and at the same time has that solid feel to it.Lovely alloys and have you covered your seats in white leather?

Oh an double congratulations!

Thanks a lot for your wishes gemi, architect and avishar. Will definitely keep this thread updated. And avishar, I have not changed the upholstery, its the OE. Haven't touched upon them.

Originally Posted by ByDesign

Excellent. What beauties! The old 1.2 was beautiful too! Congrats on the new MJD's, I love the blue. The wheels look very nice too.

Please do explain why you made the steel rings? What exactly do you mean by hub centric? The new tyres should be hub centric anyway right?

Thanks ByDesign. It was tough to part with the 1.2. It gave trouble free 83,000 kms in eight years before we had to part ways with it.

These rings which I mentioned were made in order to make the after-market alloys hub-centric, ie., the load of the wheel should be bared by the hub and not the bolts. If the entire load is taken up by the bolts, then chances are that the bolts might crack in due course.

You can find out the difference in size by measuring the alloy and the OE wheel. Most tyre and wheel dealers will be aware of this and you can get it done from them, else you can get it done yourself. Do get it done either in stainless steel or mild steel. I opted for stainless steel.

In fact I was never aware of this aspect until fellow BHP-ian vigneshram pointed it to me. You can also PM him for more details, I'm sure he would be glad to help. He's also done it for his Punto.

[anupam00]

Congratulation on your new cars.

Well the colour looks great with the alloys looks even better.

If I would have seen the colour before i bought Furnance Red - I would have gone for Blue.

Palio is a great car to own.

MJD is a wonderful NO Problem car,I have driven close to 60 k & it drives like new.

Thanks & Regards
Anupam00

[funkykar]

Wow! Excellent. It was a super duper offer that you got 2 cars. I am truely disappointed to hear from many that the 2010 Palio offer is more or less shelved. Have a great time with the MJD's

[vigneshram]

yeah any details on hub centric rings,PM me

[h14]

Originally Posted by anupam00

Congratulation on your new cars.

Well the colour looks great with the alloys looks even better.

If I would have seen the colour before i bought Furnance Red - I would have gone for Blue.

Palio is a great car to own.

MJD is a wonderful NO Problem car,I have driven close to 60 k & it drives like new.

Thanks & Regards
Anupam00

Thx Anupam. Good to know that your MJD is doing great! Congrats. Infact, even I would have not opted for the Ozone blue as first choice. The color just grows on you.

Originally Posted by funkykar

Wow! Excellent. It was a super duper offer that you got 2 cars. I am truely disappointed to hear from many that the 2010 Palio offer is more or less shelved. Have a great time with the MJD's

Thanks a lot funkykar. I just hope that FIAT delivers the Palio to you and the others who have booked.

Originally Posted by vigneshram

yeah any details on hub centric rings,PM me

Thanks for stepping in Vignesh!

[funkykar]

Please post some more pictures of the car and especially the alloys. The alloys look pretty good to me. How much do they cost?

I too will PM vigneshram for more details on the hub centric rings. I have bought myself a used 2008 Palio SDX last week and intend to install alloys and new tires in a month. I have started a thread on my car, visit it when you are free.

[h14]

Hi Karthik, congrats on your buy. Your car looks great. BTW, I got my alloys for Rs.14000 for a set of 4. It's 14" 98pcd from Veloche.