Guys, thanks for all the kind words. Its all a bit overwhelming, you see I've lurking around these forums for the past two months. I must have read practically every Palio thread.
Pictures first. I think I take decent pictures usually, but I guess this time my mind was not working! But hey, the car looks good from any angle.
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First sight. Actually I caught a glimpse before that but she was hiding behind a few other cars
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Tata guys giving her a good wash
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Dad with the to-be delivered car
There are more pictures trapped in my work computer. I'll post them soon.
My review of the 1.6.
I've driven the Esteem, the old Zen, the WagonR and the Maruti 800 previously - all for brief periods or short drives. But I am still new to driving.
Looks: No complaints in this department. The alloys are simply amazing-retro-style telephone dials. And the beautiful Formula Red can just holds your gaze for any length of time. My car draws attention in a silver and beige sea of Maruti. I am in two minds about the black strips at the sides of the doors. Do they look good or not? But they are there for a purpose so I am not going to do anything to them.
Interiors: First the good points. For me, the color scheme works - Beige-red-light brown-black. But on closer inspection, you'll see a lot of small imperfections. There are thin plastic lips at places, the kind you see in the centre of new plastic boxes. Some of the plastic - especially the ones lining the bottom 1/3rd of the doors look so cheap, you wont feel like touching them. But overcome that and tug at the plastic, it feels and works alright! I can only imagine the pains Fiat-India must have gone through to source such material. To summarize however, let me give a comparision. When we went to look at the Swift, the sales person at Rana motors showed us a brand new car which was being ICE'd. That one look was enough to drive us away - not just the black, gloomy color but the cramped backseat. The Palio on the other hand feels roomy, is roomy and bright.
Functionality: There are a lot of little touches that come as a pleasant surprise (just like the manual says). For example, my friend and I were struggling to get the cabin lights to switch off when all doors were closed. Turns out, the lights stay on for a few moments and then slowly fade away. What a thoughtful feature. When you lock up the car for the day, the light stays on to let you see whether you are leaving anything behind in the car.
The 1.6 comes with fog lamps. Should prove useful in the winters.
The blower/AC have slider controls, so what? In two years, slider controls will be back in fashion believe me
Ride and comfort: When I went for the first test-drive, Mr. Tarun the salesman ripped the car over the Apollo flyover. The growl the engine makes will sell the car. God bless his soul. Later on the way back home in a rattling and bouncing auto, my wife and I were totally surprised at the roads we drove through in the car. Absolutely pothole riddled, and I couldn't even make out a single one. This is mainly because, you do feel the bumps but you dont hear any of them. The N(VH) levels are good too.
These are my first impressions. The car had done only 100 odd kilometers, I'll be back with more a little later.
@ srijit
I dont know exactly why SBI rejected my application. I have the following things going against me: no permanent address in Delhi, no permanent job in Delhi (Senior Residency is on contract basis). Nationalized banks are getting strict with car loans, I feel. Even my State Bank of Mysore attempt was probably successful only because my dad pulled some strings for me.
@ kanwal
Kanwal sir, I agree with you. Vivek is good. Although they said "no replacement needed" initially, they went back on their word and replaced my tire.The way I see it, it is a big thing. They could have stuck to their initial stand and put all their corporate muscle behind it (as has happened with many car owners) but they did not.
@architect
Yes, that was me on 3rd May. The first time around itself, I wanted to ask you about Team BHP. Then I thought against it saying there must be a large number of car users who would just walk in and pick up the MJD. Looks like it is not that way!