[GTO]

With 5 people in the car up a small gradient, with the AC off, the car practically was screaming its guts off in 3rd...and the accelerator pedal had to be pressed almost to the floor to build momentum...

Ouch! 57 BHP + Palio = Overstressed engine?

[sanjaymugur]

took the test drive of palio 1.1 stile at Manipal motors on KR road, bangalore..my feedback..

looks:
the front end of the car looks stunning.no car in that segment or nearly twice the money can match its looks.
the rear end in Flesh looks better than in pictures. really good job by fiat..really surprised ... just did not feel its a makeover..flows cleanly with the body line..
the dead pedal to rest the left leg is back in all models of Stile..
there is no stoneguard or running board for 1.1 stile but is available in 1.6.. i feel a stone guard makes FIAT cars look sexy.. thankfully i procured one from JAVALI, hubli for me oct-2006-PALIO 1.2..
the lesser ground clearance by 20mm( down from 190mm to 170mm) is hardly noticeable.
the bumpers look good both at the front & the back..

drive.
yes, it does not feel one bit sluggish.. u can easily rev the engine in any gear.. 2nd gear is slightly taller. & as usual 3rd can be driven from 20 to 100+ easily... u can almost drive all day in city in 3rd gear
the clutch & gear shift is as as good as a FIAT gets... brakes are really sharp & better than earlier PALIO's
with AC on it did not feel sluggish at all.. bit surprised b'cas in my 1.2 only after 1000kms run in stock K&N replacement filter, i felt it was not sluggish.. earlier paper filter used to cry with AC on... but there is a catch in 1.1 stile..AC is not good atall.. seriously it does not chill. it just cools.. after testing stile i just went back to my car & switched on the AC & put the blower in 1st slot.. & it just chilled the whole cabin.. there was a clear difference... ya FIAT has comprimised on AC.. i dont know the size of compressor. hope they would have kept atleast 130 cc compressor in 1.6 stile..

build:
just nobody can match a FIAT build car.. its a shame if try to review it.. brilliant as always...

planning to test 1.6 stile sometime soon, will post its feedback...

FIAT, always

[devarshi84]

TO be frank, its certainly underpowered. But to cancel it outright would be wrong. I was easily able to cruise in the city traffic without any gear changes.

What NHC did to the C segment, palio 1.1 is doing to the hatchback segment.

Its certainly not a car for the highway and I literally shifted into second gear to get the car moving.

PS: open the bay and you can see huge gaps due to the small engine in place. But the nice part is the carpetted inuslation that most jap cars dont have.

[extreme_torque]

Dunno how it drives but on paper its certainly poor..... but i am sure it would be on par with the new getz prime 1.1 if not better.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sidharth_j

Driving impressions:-
This is where the palio was a BIG let down!
For one, the pick up is absolutely abysmal! 57 Bhp is way tooo less for any car nearing a tonne in weight.
With 5 people in the car up a small gradient, with the AC off, the car practically was screaming its guts off in 3rd...and the accelerator pedal had to be pressed almost to the floor to build momentum...
It's like a deisel Indica this...come to think of it, all the specs are nearly the same...the weight, the torque, and the power!

Originally Posted by sanjaymugur

yes, it does not feel one bit sluggish.. u can easily rev the engine in any gear.. 2nd gear is slightly taller. & as usual 3rd can be driven from 20 to 100+ easily... u can almost drive all day in city in 3rd gear
the clutch & gear shift is as as good as a FIAT gets... brakes are really sharp & better than earlier PALIO's
with AC on it did not feel sluggish at all..

Are we talking about the same car here. How can test drives of the same car differ so much?

[Rtech]

maybe one of them was a 1.6 with 1.2 badging!

[MalluDude]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Are we talking about the same car here. How can test drives of the same car differ so much?

Maybe Sanjay went for a solo test drive and those where his observations, and that too on a very flat stretch of road(I'm guessing)

Me, shibujp and another friend was with sidharth in the car(with the salesman..that makes 5), and took turns driving. I can give you my word that in no way can "3rd can be driven from 20 to 100+ easily". I found the 5th gear an absolute waste if there is something as small as a bike in front of you. Quick downshift to third, or you're dead! And when the engine was revved, the back-seaters could hear a metallic whistle from the back...maybe from the exhaust? And the quality of the gear-shift resembled a Tata and not a Fiat.

In short they could have launched it as TATA Stile, and could have found more fans. Certainly not a FIAT!

[devarshi84]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Are we talking about the same car here. How can test drives of the same car differ so much?

different driving styles. Also different traffic conditions.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by MalluDude

Maybe Sanjay went for a solo test drive and those where his observations, and that too on a very flat stretch of road(I'm guessing)

Me, shibujp and another friend was with sidharth in the car(with the salesman..that makes 5), and took turns driving. I can give you my word that in no way can "3rd can be driven from 20 to 100+ easily". I found the 5th gear an absolute waste if there is something as small as a bike in front of you. Quick downshift to third, or you're dead! And when the engine was revved, the back-seaters could hear a metallic whistle from the back...maybe from the exhaust? And the quality of the gear-shift resembled a Tata and not a Fiat.

In short they could have launched it as TATA Stile, and could have found more fans. Certainly not a FIAT!

Chill man.... How can FIAT make the gearbox worse than before? Agreed the engine isnt as good as you would like it to be, its no reason to shun the car as u have. I agree even i dont like the idea of a 1.1 litre 57 BHP engine in a 1 tonne car, but then its the need of the hour, all we care about is fuel average.

P.S My cousin too test drove the 1.1, and according to him the engine in response and drive was almost as good as his santro. The other review posted was also saying the same thing. May be something wrong with the car you drove.

[sanjaymugur]

Originally Posted by sanjaymugur

drive.
yes, it does not feel one bit sluggish.. u can easily rev the engine in any gear.. 2nd gear is slightly taller. & as usual 3rd can be driven from 20 to 100+ easily... u can almost drive all day in city in 3rd gear
FIAT, always

i dont know how many would have got a change to ride a engine which has everything same just a little bump in compression... same specs same everything just increase the compression the engine becomes responsive...i would not add tons of power but the driveability when you floor the pedal will be much much better.. i just got the feeling when i drove the stile 1.1...

my experience is derived from modifying my RX like that n number of times...

[bottle]

someone test drive the 1.6 already

[roms]

Originally Posted by GTO

Ouch! 57 BHP + Palio = Overstressed engine?

I hope its not as overstressed as the 1.2 NV engine.Man, that engine used to feel overstressed right from the word 'go'.I had one of those so I know.It was embarassing to see auto wallahs overtake at traffic signals.From what I can make out of the Palio 1.1 without yet test driving is-

1) The engine is certainly underpowered for the weight of the car, but its not 'under torqued', if you know what I mean. So thats good enough for city driveability and fuel efficiency.

2) People who have owned or driven the older Palio NV will appreciate this engine more than anyone else.

3) This is the NHC of the hatch segment.Has poor stats on paper,but in reality, its not that bad. Infact, I dont think NHC is underpowered for city driving.The engine is pretty torquey and thats what matters.

But what I cant understand is, we in India cry out aloud for having been given underpowered 1.1 or 1.2 engined cars.Even I cant think of the Palio without the 1.6 or atleast a 1.4 engine.
Then how is it that most small or midsize cars in Europe are driven by the same 1L to 1.4L engine options.Take for example the 1.2 16 valve engined Grande Punto or even the Skoda Octavia/Laura with a 1.4 engine!! And these people dont complain.How do these cars manage those autostradas and high speed motorways?

[swathyd]

The only problem with early 1.2 version was its poor pick up in between gears. If it is solved then this will sell like hot cakes. Any increase in mileage will be a bonus.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Are we talking about the same car here. How can test drives of the same car differ so much?

Maybe one guy drives a Ikon 1.3D and the other a Skoda vRS as daily drivers.

[sidharth_j]

Originally Posted by roms

But what I cant understand is, we in India cry out aloud for having been given underpowered 1.1 or 1.2 engined cars.Even I cant think of the Palio without the 1.6 or atleast a 1.4 engine.
Then how is it that most small or midsize cars in Europe are driven by the same 1L to 1.4L engine options.Take for example the 1.2 16 valve engined Grande Punto or even the Skoda Octavia/Laura with a 1.4 engine!! And these people dont complain.How do these cars manage those autostradas and high speed motorways?

Of course, you wouldn't be complaining about the car after you have bought it!

You have a point...the best selling models in the UK for example are these that you mention.
But, don't you agree that smaller cars always sell in much bigger numbers?