Without making this another review or comparision of B-segment cars, I just want to provide a different view of the 1.1 Palio Stile (while referring quite a bit to the competition), primarily disagreeing on the performance and comfort fronts.
I also quote on-road price in Bangalore for variants of this car as well as the 1.2 Aveo UV-A and the 1.1 Getz Prime (road taxes, as well as property taxes, were hiked recently in Bangalore, hence the price mention).
This is a long post (as also my first one), so if you have any comments on it, I am all ears...
I just experienced a test drive of the 1.1 Palio Stile (at Prerana Motors, Lal Bagh Road, Bangalore) and the 1.2 Aveo UV-A (at Garuda Autocraft, Lal Bagh Road, Bangalore).
My brother is buying, and he had test-drove the 1.1 Getz Prime (at Trident Hyundai) earlier in the week; today was to check out the competition. We are both close to 6ft in height, and there were always 2 other people in the car with us.
Product:
Going for a test drive late in the morning between 11:30 and 12:30 (Bangalore is quite hot nowadays), the one thing that struck us was the A/C on the Stile - it cooled the cabin till the rear seats in under a minute, and in 2 minutes, we switched it off to avoid freezing! It's that good. On the Aveo UV-A we later tried, the A/C was not this quick (but not bad either). Having the A/C on does not impact the 1.1 Stile engine too much. But that's not saying much.
I would differ with GeekSrik, and say that the engine is quite under-powered in city traffic. In the 2-odd kilometres of city traffic we covered, it struggled to pull the car ahead in 2nd and 3rd gears. My brother is impatient with cars that require shifting to 3rd at speeds of 35-kmph+ just to overtake a bus, and that is exactly what this car requires the driver to do (with the A/C on, but as mentioned earlier, it does not make too much difference). I would not want to compare it with an out-of-production model like the 1.2 NV, but compared to the Aveo UV-A (and, as per my brother, compared to the 1.1 Getz Prime), the Stile is too sluggish. Cabin noise is not too much, but noticeable compared to the deathly quiet UV-A (and the Getz, I am told); this was another put-off for my brother.
Fuel efficiency is one area where the Stile may end up scoring over the UV-A/Getz, but I would think it would be maybe only 6-8% better than UV-A/Getz. I suspect that, in the B segment, being slightly less fuel-efficient is acceptable, but being less powerful may not be acceptable.
The front seats are spacious enough, but Fiat has got the driver position all wrong (if it was the same way earlier, they have done nothing about it and that's baaaad). The vertical distance between the steering wheel and the seat is small enough that your thighs scrape the steering wheel; if you pull the seat back a bit to overcome this, the deep-set pedals are out of reach. I am surprised that people who make cars for 'car lovers' can go so wrong with the 'car lover's driving position. Driving position is definitely not an issue with the Aveo UV-A (or the Getz Prime, I am told).
Rear seat comfort is missing! The seats are a bit hard, and there are no rear-seat headrests in the base model (SL) atleast. Legroom is a bit more than sufficient. That's the good news. Headroom is an issue for people sitting near the doors; I could not sit in a relaxed position near the door, but was comfortable in the middle of the seat. I suspect with 3 well-endowed people, shoulder room will also be an issue. After the Stile, the UV-A was paradise; the rear seats were simple and comfortable, with plenty of headroom and legroom ( and I suspect shoulder room). I am told the Getz too is good in this department.
I am not too much into other facets of cars (looks, upholstery, dashboard gimmickry, sales people, etc.); so I would just comment that the feature list on the lower end models of the Stile is slightly smaller than the competition - power-steering is standard on all base models, but the 1.1 Stile has only A/C while the Aveo UV-A and the Getz Prime have HVAC or A/C + heater; the Getz even has tilt-steering.
Price:
Fiat has got this one right - if you (and your passengers) are not very tall, you don't mind adjusting a bit in the driver's seat, and your profile tends towards Buddha more than towards Raikkonen, the Palio Stile should fit well under the typical B-segment budget.
How about on-road prices (Bangalore) of 411047 for the Stile SL (base model) and 457189 for the fully-loaded Stile SLX (no ABS or airbags).
Now forget the sluggishness (and the fuel-efficiency) of the 1.1 - how about 507183 for the 100bhp 1.6 Sports?
Compare this with the more comfortable, more powerful but potentially less fuel-efficient competition.
The 1.1 Getz Prime GLE is 448566. GVS is 485389. The 1.3 Getz Prime GLS is 564131, while the GLX is 609866 (with ABS).
The Aveo UV-A is 462058, the LS is 508420, the LT is 554137, the LT with option pack is 594424 (with ABS).
Fiat probably are trying to offer a less-expensive alternative in the B-segment with the 1.1 Stile, and a similar but performance-oriented alternative in the 1.6 Sports. But given the cabin noise, seat and driving discomfort, and the not-so-good interiors, I doubt they will succeed in either of their attempts.
On my brother's part, he had decided to go with the Getz Prime GLE 1.1, as power windows are not on his list of essentials. The UV-A was marginally more expensive and marginally better in driveability and space, but the spectre of higher spare and service costs with GM pointed him towards Hyundai (the GM sales executive showed a comparision of spares for GM versus Maruti and Hyundai, and GM was on par with Hyundai on most spares, but twice as expensive on the AC coil and suspension parts). |