Early Next day, Cleaned up the car thoroughly, and started to analyze every nook and cranny of the car.
It was obvious that she needed a paint job. Badly. There were no dings or visible rust, but the paint had been cut away in places. Anyways, did a light polish and detailing, and it was time for a photoshoot!
Dragged out the other cars(and bikes) in the garage mid afternoon. The other residents in the complex were wondering what got into these guys!
Photoshoot done, it was time to finally go for a drive.
Too it out on the ECR and headed to Pondicherry.
I had no experience with palios, but had extensively driven Rs's and Vtecs.
Initially compared to them, especially the Vtec, the s10 didnt feel fast. i wasnt pushing much, but still somehow, at the back of my mind, i had a feeling the vtec was faster.
About 50 km into my drive i realized what i was doing wrong, used to the high revving hondas, i was unnecessarily revving the car. This one had much much more usable power low down, and i realized i was shifting gears much lesser. Finally understood the powerband of the car, and started exploiting it to the max!! Felt awesome!!
Another thing was that, unlike the vtec and Zen steel in the family, this one actually felt planted, and not as though it was not connected to the road. The steering was well weighted, and the car was on the road! That too added to making the car feel slow, as in a zen or vtec, anything above 120-140 and you feel as though you are going 3 times that speed!!
After 2 weeks of use, these were my views
The good part
1) Engine- Oh what joy, she loved being pushed, and the engine/exhaust note was to die for. It had torque everywhere and was ready for action anytime.
2)Gearbox- The delightful s10 specific short ratio box was brilliant. I could potter around n town wit 3 people and ac even in 4th, and would pull cleanly away. also, the gears on this car are the primary braking tool. the brakes are nonsense. So the short ratio box helps really.
3) Interiors- Th interiors on 4460 are the best ive ever seen on an s10, and fully original too. hats off to varun for keeping her so well
4) Tires- The car came with an almost new set of michelins. No worries here.
5) Originality- No special edition car is complete without the limited edition bits. Thankfully, this car had all of them intact. most s10's have lost ateast some of the items over time.
The bad parts
1) Brakes- OMGG!!! The brakes on this car need a special thread altogether!! They have to be by far the worst on any automobile!! Spongy feel, slow bite and excessive fade!! What was fiat thinking when they equipped this monster with non existemt brakes like this?? Even my 1957 landmaster has better brakes i feel!
The reason i found later is that the palios abroad came with bigger brakes(indian advy spec) for the more powerful engines, whereas in india, all cars got 1.2 spec brakes!
2) Windshield- The windshield had a fair number of scratches, and visibility at night was very bad. It had to be changed, but that meant losing the excellent Vkool film on the glass.
3) Headlights- Palio headlights let in water. Its a time honoured problem, and my car had it too. Both the headlights were dull and visibility was horrible. Had to change it.
4) Taillight- One tail light lens had cracked and had to be changed
5) Clutch- the clutch was spongy and was not returning to the position properly. Master cylinder was changed by varun, slave had to be changed.
6) Rear Wiper blade- Someone had flicked it, replacement needed.
7)Intake hose cracked- Another common issue with this engine. replacement needed
8) paint- Had cracked in placed and faded in others, a repaint was on the cards, after sorting the mech work.