My buying and ownership experience of Palio 1.6GTX

bkishore_77 · 13th July 2009, 00:40

After the fiasco in my search for a second hand gyspyhttp://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/60533-bank-repossessed-cars-fraud-alert.html
I shifted my search to look for a small car as my second car. The need for a second car arose as my wife started preferring my safari 2.2 rather than her Kinetic. ( This is the official reason how I smooth talked to my wife in agreeing to purchase a 2nd car. But the actual reason is, our company has withdrawn the company transport to employees who have availed the company leased car

. I did not like taking the safari daily for the office commute. I wanted some vehicle which I don't have to clean daily and basically for a rugged use.)

So my initial search revolved around a gypsy and mahindra classic. Both were very hard to be found in the 2nd hand market. Even if I find one, like a well maintained classic, dealers were quoting not less than 2.5 lakhs for 98 model. I was completely unaware of the market price of a used gypsy and classics and I smugly believed I could get one for 1lac. Once this realisation dawned upon me, I upped my budget to 1.5 lacs but to no avail. In the process I was almost got duped by a car dealer but thanks to timely intervention of the fellow BHPians(please check the above link) I was saved. That was the final nail in the coffin in my search for gypsy.

My wife was always insisting on buying a small car thinking it is she who is the primary user. Yeah, It's true. It's just that I'd be borrowing this car for my daily commute and will return it in the evening. That's all...

. She was favouring zen, santro etc . But like a true petrol head, I wanted a small car which is powerful, good handling with not much concern to the fuel economy since my daily travel would be only 36KMS. This thinking veered my decision in looking for a Palio 1.6.

Around the same time, I was fortunate enough to see an ad by the fellow BHPian in the classifieds. Though this car is in Pune, the owner of the car was in B'lore for few years and had paid the LTT here in B'lore and moved to Pune recently obtaining the NOC from B'lore. The pricing also was in my range. I inquired at the RTO here and they said there is no problem in getting the car back from Pune since LTT is already paid and the prev owner have not yet asked for the refund.

So with the initial hurdle cleared, I had further talks with the owner Mr Kumar(Handle: cannedcarrot). He is very affable and a reasonable chap and we agreed on the price front in a couple of calls. He also sent me a few pics of the car and I was impressed with the way the car was maintained. The car had run 43k and 2001 model with a new battery and good set of tyres.

The deal was finalised and I was supposed to get the car delivered to B'lore through some Movers& packers. I was never interested in this mode of transport and there was always this idea in the back of my mind to self-drive the vehicle from Pune. But the look my wife gave when I expressed this idea made me hurriedly call some of the movers& packers and none of them quoted less than 6k. Around the same time, there was also a thread started by some fellow BHPian on how his Civic was damaged in transit from Delhi and also some warning by the BHPians in that thread saying how some unscrupulous transporters who actually drive the car instead of transporting the car in a container truck. This promptly convinced my wife to think to let her hubby drive the car rather than some unknown person laying their hands on her car.

I gleefully go ahead and book the flight to Pune in KF and inform my friend about my plan. He goes berserk and demands to know why he was not informed about this plan. He is the "Live to Drive" type. He goes ahead and makes his own booking in the same KF. We flew to Pune last Saturday at 6:00Am and were received by Mr Kumar at the airport. We head to his home and inspect the car.

The car was in immaculate condition with no dents and some minor scratches near the bumper. We complete all the formalities of signing the forms and I do the balance transfer to his A/c. It was a pleasure and a hassle free experience dealing with a fellow BHPian. Thank You Mr. Kumar.

Mr Kumar was kind enough to carry out all the preliminary check up of the car so that we didn't have to take the car to any service station for check up before the start of our journey back to B'lore. We started our journey at 9:30Am from Pune.

Initial driving experience: I was so used to Safari's north pole to south pole gear shift , I had to re-confirm if I have slotted the gear properly. very slick gear shift. In the initial part of our journey we were cruising at 100KMPH to get used to the car and it felt ridiculously slow. We thought we were doing 60KMPH. Gradually we upped the speed and were cruising at 130-140KMPH at ease.

Niggles: The A/c works only at 2.5K rpm and above. This issue was told to me upfront by Mr. Kumar and told it costs around 8k to set it right. He had changed the compressor recently spending some 25k but the issue is still unresolved. So Mr. Kumar was told to change some electrical part (which he doesn't remember now) which is costing around 8k, that is when he decides to sell the car. This gave us a serious problem when it rained during night driving near Chitradurga. There were bad stretches from Davangere to Chitradurga and to compound our misery the windscreen used to get misty coz of rain. Since it was a bad stretch, we couldn't reach 2.5k rpm and as result A/c was not working. It was a nightmarish experience for 1 hour or so. Finally the road got better after Chitradurga and it was smooth drive all the way to B'lore. We reached B'lore at 11 . It took 13.5 hours from Pune to b'lore with a break of 1 hour for lunch and some tea break.

I will keep this thread posted on my experiences. I still did not get to service my car since the Service Engineer from concorde(I service my Safari here ) advised me against leaving the car for service on Saturday due to heavy workload.
Anyone here could recommend a good engine oil other than Mobil 1. Is Fiat engine oil good enough?

last but not the least sincere thanks to Raveendra, Akbaree(Ananth) and Lohith Rao for their valuable inputs which helped me in deciding this car.

By the way, Kumar is planning to sell his well maintained 1 year old Pajero. If anyone interested you can get in touch with him at kumarkanetkar@hotmail.com.

bottle · 13th July 2009, 01:49

Congrats on the new ride, sure you're having fun. Why don't you shift to synth oil. Ask Tata service to flush the old oil and fill up with Selenia that they use for Linea/Punto.

Ravveendrra · 13th July 2009, 02:09

Congratulations. The world is divided between the people who have driven a Palio 1.6 and those that have not. Now you are no longer one of the others.

That car looks pristine, not just immaculate or neat. I hope you get that A/c. issue sorted out soon, wish you all the best of luck.

It is with a sense of deja-vu that I read your account of the deal and the drive back. It is true, the GTX really feels much slower than it really is, you can be cruising at 140 and be under the impression that you are doing 80 - remember to keep an eye on that speedo! It also helps to master the knack of moving from 5th to 4th quickly through that slightly weird movement.

The GTX is really a wonderful car and let me warn you, it is highly addictive. I will not be surprised if you start using it almost exclusively instead of your '1st' car (I did). On the other hand, if your wife decides to stake her claim to the GTX, you my friend, will be in serious trouble.

One final note - remember that the 1.6 develps max torque at 4250 rpm and max power at 5500 bhp. Keep the revs there and watch that speedo needle rocket up (while the fuel gauge needle zooms downwards)!

Eagerly looking forward to updates on your experiences with this beauty.

Cheers,

arbind85 · 13th July 2009, 06:28

congrats. awesome car. very well maintained.

bkishore_77 · 13th July 2009, 09:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by bottle

Congrats on the new ride, sure you're having fun. Why don't you shift to synth oil.

Thank you. I'm not supposed to splurge on this car. This was the promise I made before buying this car. I'm an impulsive spendthrift.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

Congratulations.

It is with a sense of deja-vu that I read your account of the deal and the drive back.
The GTX is really a wonderful car and let me warn you, it is highly addictive. I will not be surprised if you start using it almost exclusively instead of your '1st' car (I did). On the other hand, if your wife decides to stake her claim to the GTX, you my friend, will be in serious trouble.

,

Thank You Ravveendrra. I forgot to mention, It was your buying experience which was an inspiration for me to go that way.

.

As of now I've managed to portray myself as a victim of my company transport policy and holding on to the car. I don't know how long before she calls the bluff.

akbaree · 13th July 2009, 09:05

Congratulations Kishore. I am sure, leaving other things aside, after driving a Palio 1.6 GTX, there are hardly any cars under 10lac bracket that can impress you.

comfortablynumb · 13th July 2009, 09:11

Many Congratulations Kishore, and welcome to the Palio 1.6 gang! :-)

Cheers,
Vikram

karizma_devil · 13th July 2009, 10:10

Another one .. yeh .. great man !!

Enjoy her .. 1.6 Palios are superb to drive be it S 10 or 1.6 TGX !!

Congrats Dude !

jp2u · 13th July 2009, 10:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkishore_77

I gleefully go ahead and book the flight to Pune in KF and inform my friend about my plan. He goes berserk and demands to know why he was not informed about this plan. He is the "Live to Drive" type. He goes ahead and makes his own booking in the same KF.

The same kinda experience happend to me when i bought a second hand esteem and this kinda reminds me of my friend who just goes mad by the sight of an esteem

kutlee · 13th July 2009, 10:21

yes..that's maintained to bhp standards. keep revving.

Seeler_Rebeiro · 13th July 2009, 10:29

Interior dashboard looks very well maintained. No degradation of plastic seen. Nice car. Nice Nice.

comfortablynumb · 13th July 2009, 10:51

What's that black knob like thing to the north-east of the ignition? Is it OE, 'cause it's not present in my 1.6 Sports.

Cheers,
Vikram

planet_rocker · 13th July 2009, 11:01

@Bkishore - congratulations on the 1.6 GTX - i am sure you will fall deep in love with this car once the issues are sorted out..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

One final note - remember that the 1.6 develps max torque at 4250 rpm and max power at 5500 bhp. Keep the revs there and watch that speedo needle rocket up (while the fuel gauge needle zooms downwards)!

well said ravvendrra - but don't we enjoy every bit of it??

@ Bottle - recently switched to Semi-synthetic engine oil at 50.7K on the odo of my GTX (previously i was using the mineral oil provided by FASS).

@ BKishore - congrats once again. enjoy the GTX like we do and wish you many miles

vigneshram · 14th July 2009, 18:36

The car looks really well maintained sir
Few of my advices
1.Get the interiors cleaned and put some nice seat covers
2.Replace the FIAT monogram at the tail gate
3.Get some good ICE.
4.Polish the dashboard and other plastics.

After that you are ready to vroom in the GTX.

Vignesh
1.2 SIENA ELX

finneyp · 14th July 2009, 20:53

Kishore, Congrats!
That is one hot hatch in prestine condition! Have fun!

13th July 2009, 00:40	#1
bkishore_77 BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Raleigh,NC Posts: 141 Thanked: 19 Times	My buying and ownership experience of Palio 1.6GTX After the fiasco in my search for a second hand gyspyhttp://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/60533-bank-repossessed-cars-fraud-alert.html I shifted my search to look for a small car as my second car. The need for a second car arose as my wife started preferring my safari 2.2 rather than her Kinetic. ( This is the official reason how I smooth talked to my wife in agreeing to purchase a 2nd car. But the actual reason is, our company has withdrawn the company transport to employees who have availed the company leased car. I did not like taking the safari daily for the office commute. I wanted some vehicle which I don't have to clean daily and basically for a rugged use.) So my initial search revolved around a gypsy and mahindra classic. Both were very hard to be found in the 2nd hand market. Even if I find one, like a well maintained classic, dealers were quoting not less than 2.5 lakhs for 98 model. I was completely unaware of the market price of a used gypsy and classics and I smugly believed I could get one for 1lac. Once this realisation dawned upon me, I upped my budget to 1.5 lacs but to no avail. In the process I was almost got duped by a car dealer but thanks to timely intervention of the fellow BHPians(please check the above link) I was saved. That was the final nail in the coffin in my search for gypsy. My wife was always insisting on buying a small car thinking it is she who is the primary user. Yeah, It's true. It's just that I'd be borrowing this car for my daily commute and will return it in the evening. That's all.... She was favouring zen, santro etc . But like a true petrol head, I wanted a small car which is powerful, good handling with not much concern to the fuel economy since my daily travel would be only 36KMS. This thinking veered my decision in looking for a Palio 1.6. Around the same time, I was fortunate enough to see an ad by the fellow BHPian in the classifieds. Though this car is in Pune, the owner of the car was in B'lore for few years and had paid the LTT here in B'lore and moved to Pune recently obtaining the NOC from B'lore. The pricing also was in my range. I inquired at the RTO here and they said there is no problem in getting the car back from Pune since LTT is already paid and the prev owner have not yet asked for the refund. So with the initial hurdle cleared, I had further talks with the owner Mr Kumar(Handle: cannedcarrot). He is very affable and a reasonable chap and we agreed on the price front in a couple of calls. He also sent me a few pics of the car and I was impressed with the way the car was maintained. The car had run 43k and 2001 model with a new battery and good set of tyres. The deal was finalised and I was supposed to get the car delivered to B'lore through some Movers& packers. I was never interested in this mode of transport and there was always this idea in the back of my mind to self-drive the vehicle from Pune. But the look my wife gave when I expressed this idea made me hurriedly call some of the movers& packers and none of them quoted less than 6k. Around the same time, there was also a thread started by some fellow BHPian on how his Civic was damaged in transit from Delhi and also some warning by the BHPians in that thread saying how some unscrupulous transporters who actually drive the car instead of transporting the car in a container truck. This promptly convinced my wife to think to let her hubby drive the car rather than some unknown person laying their hands on her car. I gleefully go ahead and book the flight to Pune in KF and inform my friend about my plan. He goes berserk and demands to know why he was not informed about this plan. He is the "Live to Drive" type. He goes ahead and makes his own booking in the same KF. We flew to Pune last Saturday at 6:00Am and were received by Mr Kumar at the airport. We head to his home and inspect the car. The car was in immaculate condition with no dents and some minor scratches near the bumper. We complete all the formalities of signing the forms and I do the balance transfer to his A/c. It was a pleasure and a hassle free experience dealing with a fellow BHPian. Thank You Mr. Kumar. Mr Kumar was kind enough to carry out all the preliminary check up of the car so that we didn't have to take the car to any service station for check up before the start of our journey back to B'lore. We started our journey at 9:30Am from Pune. Initial driving experience: I was so used to Safari's north pole to south pole gear shift , I had to re-confirm if I have slotted the gear properly. very slick gear shift. In the initial part of our journey we were cruising at 100KMPH to get used to the car and it felt ridiculously slow. We thought we were doing 60KMPH. Gradually we upped the speed and were cruising at 130-140KMPH at ease. Niggles: The A/c works only at 2.5K rpm and above. This issue was told to me upfront by Mr. Kumar and told it costs around 8k to set it right. He had changed the compressor recently spending some 25k but the issue is still unresolved. So Mr. Kumar was told to change some electrical part (which he doesn't remember now) which is costing around 8k, that is when he decides to sell the car. This gave us a serious problem when it rained during night driving near Chitradurga. There were bad stretches from Davangere to Chitradurga and to compound our misery the windscreen used to get misty coz of rain. Since it was a bad stretch, we couldn't reach 2.5k rpm and as result A/c was not working. It was a nightmarish experience for 1 hour or so. Finally the road got better after Chitradurga and it was smooth drive all the way to B'lore. We reached B'lore at 11 . It took 13.5 hours from Pune to b'lore with a break of 1 hour for lunch and some tea break. I will keep this thread posted on my experiences. I still did not get to service my car since the Service Engineer from concorde(I service my Safari here ) advised me against leaving the car for service on Saturday due to heavy workload. Anyone here could recommend a good engine oil other than Mobil 1. Is Fiat engine oil good enough? last but not the least sincere thanks to Raveendra, Akbaree(Ananth) and Lohith Rao for their valuable inputs which helped me in deciding this car. By the way, Kumar is planning to sell his well maintained 1 year old Pajero. If anyone interested you can get in touch with him at kumarkanetkar@hotmail.com. Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 01:49	#2
bottle Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,634 Thanked: 274 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the new ride, sure you're having fun. Why don't you shift to synth oil. Ask Tata service to flush the old oil and fill up with Selenia that they use for Linea/Punto.
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 02:09	#3
Ravveendrra Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 1,391 Thanked: 446 Times View My Garage	Congratulations!! Congratulations. The world is divided between the people who have driven a Palio 1.6 and those that have not. Now you are no longer one of the others. That car looks pristine, not just immaculate or neat. I hope you get that A/c. issue sorted out soon, wish you all the best of luck. It is with a sense of deja-vu that I read your account of the deal and the drive back. It is true, the GTX really feels much slower than it really is, you can be cruising at 140 and be under the impression that you are doing 80 - remember to keep an eye on that speedo! It also helps to master the knack of moving from 5th to 4th quickly through that slightly weird movement. The GTX is really a wonderful car and let me warn you, it is highly addictive. I will not be surprised if you start using it almost exclusively instead of your '1st' car (I did). On the other hand, if your wife decides to stake her claim to the GTX, you my friend, will be in serious trouble. One final note - remember that the 1.6 develps max torque at 4250 rpm and max power at 5500 bhp. Keep the revs there and watch that speedo needle rocket up (while the fuel gauge needle zooms downwards)! Eagerly looking forward to updates on your experiences with this beauty. Cheers, Last edited by Ravveendrra : 13th July 2009 at 02:10.
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 06:28	#4
arbind85 BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: BANGALORE Posts: 54 Thanked: 4 Times	congrats. awesome car. very well maintained.
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 09:05	#6
akbaree BHPian Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Ahmedabad Posts: 613 Thanked: 107 Times View My Garage	Congratulations Kishore. I am sure, leaving other things aside, after driving a Palio 1.6 GTX, there are hardly any cars under 10lac bracket that can impress you.
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 09:11	#7
comfortablynumb Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 2,042 Thanked: 3,451 Times	Many Congratulations Kishore, and welcome to the Palio 1.6 gang! :-) Cheers, Vikram
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 10:10	#8
karizma_devil BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: mumbai Posts: 421 Thanked: 21 Times View My Garage	Another one .. yeh .. great man !! Enjoy her .. 1.6 Palios are superb to drive be it S 10 or 1.6 TGX !! Congrats Dude !
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 10:21	#10
kutlee Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 1,141 Thanked: 232 Times View My Garage	yes..that's maintained to bhp standards. keep revving.
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 10:29	#11
Seeler_Rebeiro BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 261 Thanked: 82 Times	Interior dashboard looks very well maintained. No degradation of plastic seen. Nice car. Nice Nice.
	() Thanks

13th July 2009, 10:51	#12
comfortablynumb Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 2,042 Thanked: 3,451 Times	What's that black knob like thing to the north-east of the ignition? Is it OE, 'cause it's not present in my 1.6 Sports. Cheers, Vikram
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 18:36	#14
vigneshram BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Stuttgart,DE Posts: 356 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	The car looks really well maintained sir Few of my advices 1.Get the interiors cleaned and put some nice seat covers 2.Replace the FIAT monogram at the tail gate 3.Get some good ICE. 4.Polish the dashboard and other plastics. After that you are ready to vroom in the GTX. Vignesh 1.2 SIENA ELX
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 20:53	#15
finneyp Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,716 Thanked: 319 Times View My Garage	Kishore, Congrats! That is one hot hatch in prestine condition! Have fun!
	() Thanks