Got my red beauty this wednesday (Palio Stile MJD)

neoonwheels · 1st April 2008, 13:44

Welcome to the FIAT world...

jkdas · 1st April 2008, 13:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by venki7744

Thank you All!!

Some more snaps. I will post a details write-up today evening.

bhavani?

Quote:

Originally Posted by redfire

Congrats Venky. It's a nice choice of color too. As everyone asked eager to know the OTR and other deals offered by Kulathunkal. BTW when can we Tvm-ians see this beauty? @JK - Where's the monster?

redfire check prices I posted.

Gave it for service, have to collect it later today. Will call you by eve if I can skip the meeting.

FERRO · 1st April 2008, 14:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by jagspabla

Congrats Man!

Waiting for you to post how much you are loving your new car. Hope this re-launch brings a change in fortunes for Fiat and Palio. Does anybody know how this car is being received by the general public(I mean non-fiat-enthusiasts)?

-jags

general public ain't interested in Fiats anymore. they lost the trust long back. Fiat can only be back in business by investing heavily in A.S.S. quality and spares issue.

finneyp · 1st April 2008, 14:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by FERRO

general public ain't interested in Fiats anymore. they lost the trust long back. Fiat can only be back in business by investing heavily in A.S.S. quality and spares issue.

Pls stop singing that old song again & again!

Even if Fiat tie-up with Maruti, people will keep cribbing about A.S.S. !
Post Fiat-Tata alliance, service has definitly improved, however there is scope for further improvement.

And reg Fiat MJD sales, it is doing pretty good, infact Concorde Motors, Blore alone has 40 bookings!

FERRO · 1st April 2008, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by finneyp

Pls stop singing that old song again & again!

Even if Fiat tie-up with Maruti, people will keep cribbing about A.S.S. !
Post Fiat-Tata alliance, service has definitly improved, however there is scope for further improvement.

And reg Fiat MJD sales, it is doing pretty good, infact Concorde Motors, Blore alone has 40 bookings!

given a chance tell me honestly how much are you willing to put your hard earned money on Fiat cars ?
40 bookings isn't anywhere near pretty good sales. (Maruti sells in figures like 5000+ )

I sincerely hope Fiat sells more figures then the ones quoted by you.
Fiat-Tata alliance haven't improved anything better infact my roadside mechanic can repair Fiats much better then them.

finneyp · 1st April 2008, 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by FERRO

given a chance tell me honestly how much are you willing to put your hard earned money on Fiat cars ?

Already have a Fiat, and my next car will be a Fiat too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by FERRO

40 bookings isn't anywhere near pretty good sales. (Maruti sells in figures like 5000+ )

Pls read my post carefully, I said a single dealer (Concorde Motors, Blore) has 40 bookings alone.

shebin · 1st April 2008, 15:41

Most of the people buy FIAT for passion rather than ***.when a person go for FIAT he should be aware that FIAT service is not well to do.So as a fiat lover i hope i wont face any issue in this regard.

There is shortage of SDX.FIAT buyers prefer full option and SDE is available OTC at least in concorde blore.I think no takers.

diffsoft · 1st April 2008, 15:54

Congrats Venki, the car looks absolutely awesome - a detailed review is desperately awaited. Do also let us know how your pre-sales experience was.

pentagan · 1st April 2008, 20:22

congras on your choice of transport venki . please post reviews as soon as possible . planning to go in for it.

venki7744 · 1st April 2008, 22:32

Hi Again,

As promised I will try to put into words my experience with the Red Beauty so far.

First the Dealer experience. Initially the sales guys were pushing me into booking the car even without see it.
But I waited till the launch (the interesting thing is that Kulathungal allowed me to book the car at just 5000/-).
The first car reached the dealer on Saturday (15th March). Test drove it that afternoon. Feeling satisfied with the car,
I went ahead and paid the full amount ~ 5.3 lac on Wednesday. Sunday evening I get a call saying that my car will come tomorrow.
I somehow managed to get all document ready by Monday noon. The guys as promised delivered the car on Wednesday (just one week after
I paid the full amount). Overall the dealer experience was very good. Nowhere in-between did I feel that they were trying to promote
tata cars over fiat. The Kulathungal MD came down personally to hand over the key and he even contacted me later to inquire about the car.
Per Kulathungal the expected mileage is 25Km/l (this is data collected based on the TD car). Hope I will get the same. There were no offers/discounts etc provided by the Dealer (I think its because it is just launched). About the A.S.S the Kulathungal MD did mention that there service center has a guy dedicated to Fiat (he sounded like the guy is from Fiat).

Now on to the engine; the engine is quite responsive. You can feel the power surge at around 2000 rpm (I think this is when the turbo kicks in). First time it happened it felt like somebody was pulling me back towards the seat (just Kiddin). I started liking this experience a lot especially while overtaking. The engine overall is not as "silent" as fiat says. You can feel the sound inside the car. From the sound you can definitely says its a Diesel.

Coming to the gear ratios, I felt this car is more suited for highway drive. I had to do a lot of gear shifting while commuting to office. This along with the clutch which I think is heavy made it more difficult to drive in heavy traffic. I could barely shift to 4th/5th gear in the 16km drive to my office.

A lot has been discussed about the clutch-brake-acceleration separation being too small. This is true (as you might have noticed from my first post).
But I could get used to it quite fast. The trick is to use the toe instead of the full feet. After couple of days of struggling with this, I think I found the reason why fiat did this. In heavy traffic where quick response is needed while braking or accelerating, the closeness of brake and accelerator made it easy for me to switch between the two without actually moving my feet (I could just slide my feet over to the brake and vice versa).

The steering is quite precise and responsive even though some might feel its a bit tough (not smooth, I think you got my point). But I like it because I feel this will give more control at higher speeds. The suspension is good enough to take care of all the potholes and bumps on road.The turning radius is downside for a hatchback (5.1 m I think).

About the interiors nothing special about the except that there are no rattles (so far). The plastics are ok. The car is spacious, ample leg room for the rear. The SDX comes with pre-wired speaker/power/antenna for the ICE (I am still to find the fifth and sixth speaker wiring as mentioned in the specs). I did find an area which can potentially hold the front tweeters but I am yet to find the wiring for that. The picture is attached for reference. The AC is really "cool"

, it cools down the inside pretty fast even at low fan speeds.

Overall a good car, fun to drive on highways. I think this car is worth the money spend (considering swift D is more costly, more cramped (back seat) and waiting time could be upto 6 months).
But fiat could have done more like ABS, alloy wheels (atleast optional on the higher end).

I hope I was able to answer atleast most of the queries. I am not an expert in car so my views are based on what I felt.

Cheers,
Venki.

venki7744 · 1st April 2008, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkdas

bhavani?

Its from -4 in Thejaswini building

Venki.

codemarauder · 2nd April 2008, 12:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by venki7744

Hi Again,

I did find an area which can potentially hold the front tweeters but I am yet to find the wiring for that. The picture is attached for reference.

Welcome to the world of Fiat!

Yes, that is the place for tweeters. Wires can be found when you pull this plastic fitting out (its push-fit). Installation guy will find it easily so don't worry. ICE in a Palio sounds really nice.

dhaval · 3rd April 2008, 13:47

Nice initial ownership review there Venki. So whens the car going to get the much needed ICE!!? and have you thought about upgrading the tires and rims? IMO, you should get that done first.

Cheers,
Dhaval

Karandeep81 · 3rd April 2008, 17:48

25km/l? naa. guess the manager is trying to make things up. not to forget this machine is heavy.

sanjaymugur · 3rd April 2008, 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karandeep81

25km/l? naa. guess the manager is trying to make things up. not to forget this machine is heavy.

overdrive magazine, Vol 10, no.8 April 2008, on page 91 says Palio MJT 1.3 delivered a phenomenol 26.7kpl on highway & 16kmpl in city...

i am damn sure if a FIAT engine is run-in properly it will return very good mileage consistently once it crosses 5K on odo...

Swift DDis is heavier by 10kgs to Palio MJT...

FIAT , always....

1st April 2008, 13:44	#46
neoonwheels Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 2,065 Thanked: 1,877 Times View My Garage	Welcome to the FIAT world...
	() Thanks

1st April 2008, 15:41	#52
shebin BHPian Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: cochin/bangalore Posts: 149 Thanked: 64 Times	Most of the people buy FIAT for passion rather than ***.when a person go for FIAT he should be aware that FIAT service is not well to do.So as a fiat lover i hope i wont face any issue in this regard. There is shortage of SDX.FIAT buyers prefer full option and SDE is available OTC at least in concorde blore.I think no takers.
	() Thanks

1st April 2008, 15:54	#53
diffsoft BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 773 Thanked: 404 Times	Congrats Venki, the car looks absolutely awesome - a detailed review is desperately awaited. Do also let us know how your pre-sales experience was.
	() Thanks

1st April 2008, 20:22	#54
pentagan Newbie Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: KOCHI Posts: 17 Thanked: Once	congras on your choice of transport venki . please post reviews as soon as possible . planning to go in for it.
	() Thanks

1st April 2008, 22:32	#55
venki7744 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 70 Thanked: 27 Times	Hi Again, As promised I will try to put into words my experience with the Red Beauty so far. First the Dealer experience. Initially the sales guys were pushing me into booking the car even without see it. But I waited till the launch (the interesting thing is that Kulathungal allowed me to book the car at just 5000/-). The first car reached the dealer on Saturday (15th March). Test drove it that afternoon. Feeling satisfied with the car, I went ahead and paid the full amount ~ 5.3 lac on Wednesday. Sunday evening I get a call saying that my car will come tomorrow. I somehow managed to get all document ready by Monday noon. The guys as promised delivered the car on Wednesday (just one week after I paid the full amount). Overall the dealer experience was very good. Nowhere in-between did I feel that they were trying to promote tata cars over fiat. The Kulathungal MD came down personally to hand over the key and he even contacted me later to inquire about the car. Per Kulathungal the expected mileage is 25Km/l (this is data collected based on the TD car). Hope I will get the same. There were no offers/discounts etc provided by the Dealer (I think its because it is just launched). About the A.S.S the Kulathungal MD did mention that there service center has a guy dedicated to Fiat (he sounded like the guy is from Fiat). Now on to the engine; the engine is quite responsive. You can feel the power surge at around 2000 rpm (I think this is when the turbo kicks in). First time it happened it felt like somebody was pulling me back towards the seat (just Kiddin). I started liking this experience a lot especially while overtaking. The engine overall is not as "silent" as fiat says. You can feel the sound inside the car. From the sound you can definitely says its a Diesel. Coming to the gear ratios, I felt this car is more suited for highway drive. I had to do a lot of gear shifting while commuting to office. This along with the clutch which I think is heavy made it more difficult to drive in heavy traffic. I could barely shift to 4th/5th gear in the 16km drive to my office. A lot has been discussed about the clutch-brake-acceleration separation being too small. This is true (as you might have noticed from my first post). But I could get used to it quite fast. The trick is to use the toe instead of the full feet. After couple of days of struggling with this, I think I found the reason why fiat did this. In heavy traffic where quick response is needed while braking or accelerating, the closeness of brake and accelerator made it easy for me to switch between the two without actually moving my feet (I could just slide my feet over to the brake and vice versa). The steering is quite precise and responsive even though some might feel its a bit tough (not smooth, I think you got my point). But I like it because I feel this will give more control at higher speeds. The suspension is good enough to take care of all the potholes and bumps on road.The turning radius is downside for a hatchback (5.1 m I think). About the interiors nothing special about the except that there are no rattles (so far). The plastics are ok. The car is spacious, ample leg room for the rear. The SDX comes with pre-wired speaker/power/antenna for the ICE (I am still to find the fifth and sixth speaker wiring as mentioned in the specs). I did find an area which can potentially hold the front tweeters but I am yet to find the wiring for that. The picture is attached for reference. The AC is really "cool" , it cools down the inside pretty fast even at low fan speeds. Overall a good car, fun to drive on highways. I think this car is worth the money spend (considering swift D is more costly, more cramped (back seat) and waiting time could be upto 6 months). But fiat could have done more like ABS, alloy wheels (atleast optional on the higher end). I hope I was able to answer atleast most of the queries. I am not an expert in car so my views are based on what I felt. Cheers, Venki. Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

3rd April 2008, 13:47	#58
dhaval BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 404 Thanked: Once View My Garage	Nice initial ownership review there Venki. So whens the car going to get the much needed ICE!!? and have you thought about upgrading the tires and rims? IMO, you should get that done first. Cheers, Dhaval
	() Thanks

3rd April 2008, 17:48	#59
Karandeep81 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: UK/Ahmedabad Posts: 192 Thanked: 0 Times	25km/l? naa. guess the manager is trying to make things up. not to forget this machine is heavy.
	() Thanks