[lloydofcochin]

ByDesign,

It's good that you are updating the thread at regular intervals.

The Palio can easily do 140+ the only sore point the being the raucous engine

I too own a Palio SDX which I bought under the Dhamaka scheme.

I got the Car in November and in almost 4 months it has done 15900 Kms. I did the 3rd service last week and the Car has been a dream so far. I have had many highway drives and the Car just loves the highways, the stability at high speeds is unparalleled in a hatch (Maybe Punto would be on par).

I have not pushed it beyond 140kmph so far but hope to do so at an opportune time.

So enjoy many many happy miles on your Tank

Cheers
Lloyd

[santosh.s]

I had pushed mine to 155+ after 1st service, might have momentarily touched 160. Not to mention, excellent stability.

[lloydofcochin]

^^

Sorry for the OT

Santosh, Do you have a Medium Grey Palio? Are you by any chance staying near Mallesh Palya?

[santosh.s]

Yup! you guessed it right.

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by santosh.s

Yup! you guessed it right.

That's interesting. It's a small world

I guess you might have seen my Palio as well. It is a Minimal Grey one. I stay in Keerthi Manor. I too had booked Medium Grey but then they asked me whether I was interested in taking Minimal Grey and I said yes without a second thought

[ByDesign]

It's like a small congregation of gray tanks haha!

Awesome stuff guys. Lloyd, this is my log book! Every service, every tank fill, every FE calculation, squeak, niggle, good/bad experience is logged on here by me. God forbid anything ever happen to this wonderful server!

Once I finish my warranty period (not in the next 3 years), I will tune up the engine. I know I can cross 100 bhp on this beast. And THEN my friends, she will become a real monster on road.

[ByDesign]

***UPDATE***

Tank filled

Fuel volume - 41.07L
Trip distance - 833 kms

FE in city = 20.3 kmpl

*Note - A.C was used maybe 10% of running time.
Travelled above 100 kmph (even 140 kmph) several times. The above FE is with typical city driving!

[funkykar]

Trust me guys, the Palio can do a lot more than a 140. I have touched top speed of 170KMPH.
IMO:
140: Piece of cake
150: A little effort needed by driver mentally
160: Need a real good stretch
170: A really really good stretch + hold your nerve.

Speeds of 160 and 170 really made me very nervous. I got so conscious that I do not know if it had maxed out at 170 or might have gone a little bit higher.

EDIT: At every point of time, I felt full control of the car. The nervousness was just because of the speed at which I was travelling. Before this, my best speed was a 150KMPH in my 20 year old 118 NE. In fact, I was able to overtake trucks in zig zag fashion at speeds of 145-150KMPH. That should tell the story of what a Palio is capable of

[ByDesign]

***UPDATE***

Tank filled

Fuel volume - 42.38L
Trip distance - 759 kms

FE in city = 17.9 kmpl

Here comes summer! A/C is on around 80% of the time now!

Problems - My front windscreen cracked thanks to a stone flying out of a tire from the car in front on the road at high speed. The crack was tiny, hardly noticeable. Now its spreading down. Oh well, we'll cross that hurdle when we get to it

Engine seems to be a lot more 'free' now. Revving is slightly more effortless, I cross 100kmph with absolute ease and don't even feel it. Engine cruises at 120 happily when necessary.

[ByDesign]

My apologies for the double post, but I do treat my thread like a sort of car log for everything that goes on with my ride.

***FRESH PROBLEM UPDATE***
A/C cooling problem. Of late, as the heats picking up after a bone chilling winter, I started using the AC again in my car. Cooling's been fabulous as usual with no complaints. A point to note here is after a longish drive, when I turn off the car I can hear the AC pipes still hissing gently inside the cabin. It's exactly the same sort of sound when you turn off your window AC after a nights sleep. A soft hiss, that takes about 30 seconds to fade out completely. What is this?

Now today as I started up the car in the middle of the afternoon, the AC refused to cool. The air temperature was absolutely normal even with the AC button pressed and glowing. What made things worse was my 3 passengers were all complaining about the Palio and its problems and diesel and diesel problems and such and such!! The thing is, this car's not even touched 7000 km, well probably just about 7k km now, and these issues are popping up.

Got back to the office parking and decided to see what the issue was. On idle, when I just pressed the AC button on, the compressor would turn on and then turn off immediately with a click and shudder (typical window AC style). This would happen every time I turned the button on. I decided to get the manual and look up the fuse box and respective fuses. Found the fuse for the compressor and gave it a good thump with my fist (this worked with the central locking and wiper wash fuse earlier, which was loose). Tried the AC again and this time the compressor stayed on. AC started cooling again. I don't know what the physics with this is, I've done a lot of googling and t-bhping for fiat AC issues. Luckily for me, the free FIAT check up is tomorrow and day after, and I've got an appointment with my baby's doctor (elegant motors, patpargunj, Delhi) on Sunday morning, we'll see what the doctor says. I'm hoping its not a big problem.

PS: Sparco/Recaro/BRIDE replica seats are possibly going to be done soon, if i'm satisfied with the comfort level. Will keep the thread updated after the Sunday check up.

[ByDesign]

***LOG UPDATE***

Fiat had its free check up camp. Details can be found here for venues and dates: Fiat India

I of course, keeping the above niggle in mind, went to good ol' Elegant motors. Mr. O P Sharma as usual was super efficient and diligent. I also met the head of Fiat After-Sales from Pune (I can't remember the gentleman's name, he was Maharashtrian). I spent a good deal of time with the mechanic this time on the shop floor, went through all the finer aspects of the engine with him. He even took me to the cellar where there were plenty of old palios and unos. Wonderful place really, he took me through some of the old gutted cars, how things connect with each other, actuation etc. Sharma sir was busy keeping each and every dude on his toes, that mans really brilliant I tell you. Iron fist, iron man!

The check up camp was great, swift, and efficient. Pointed out that my coolant tank was absolutely full of water and rust. Paid for two liters of heavy duty coolant (Rs. 496 all inclusive). They washed and air cleaned the whole car (she's absolutely spankin shinin now!!!).

The whole experience was fun this time! I hardly never expect a trip to the car workshop to be exciting but there you go, you learn something new every day!

[architect]

Well, sorry for not being able to help you in detail on friday. I was at the beginning of my 1250 km dash to Gajner and back over the weekend.

No intentions of taking the credit, but it seems that it was the fuse as I had guessed, right?

You must have met Mangesh Kodalkar this time, right? He is a helpful person and everyone in PUG write to him for issues.

What happened to the coolant? Full of water? When was it checked last?

[ByDesign]

Originally Posted by architect

Well, sorry for not being able to help you in detail on friday. I was at the beginning of my 1250 km dash to Gajner and back over the weekend.

No intentions of taking the credit, but it seems that it was the fuse as I had guessed, right?

You must have met Mangesh Kodalkar this time, right? He is a helpful person and everyone in PUG write to him for issues.

What happened to the coolant? Full of water? When was it checked last?

No apologies necessary my friend! Yes it was the fuse, in that after I pushed the fuse in harder, the AC seemed to work fine again. And yes, the name Mangesh Kodalkar rings a bell. That's him, he gave me a Linea 1:43 die cast metal scale model too as a gift hehe! Along with a box of 'FIAT' wet tissues, which is a nice touch.

Strangely, the coolant tank WAS full of water. The problem is, I doubt it was even checked when I bought the car, it was standing still for over a year at Rama motors, so I think that's one of the causes. I thought Samyak would have checked the coolant at the first free service, but I was with the mechanic at the time too, can't remember if he checked it. How does the coolant tank become full of water and rust?

[Schoudhury]

Originally Posted by ByDesign

***UPDATE***

Tank filled

Fuel volume - 41.07L
Trip distance - 833 kms

FE in city = 20.3 kmpl

*Note - A.C was used maybe 10% of running time.
Travelled above 100 kmph (even 140 kmph) several times. The above FE is with typical city driving!

Originally Posted by ByDesign

***UPDATE***

Tank filled

Fuel volume - 42.38L
Trip distance - 759 kms

FE in city = 17.9 kmpl

Here comes summer! A/C is on around 80% of the time now!

Problems - My front windscreen cracked thanks to a stone flying out of a tire from the car in front on the road at high speed. The crack was tiny, hardly noticeable. Now its spreading down. Oh well, we'll cross that hurdle when we get to it

Engine seems to be a lot more 'free' now. Revving is slightly more effortless, I cross 100kmph with absolute ease and don't even feel it. Engine cruises at 120 happily when necessary.

Man you are getting some seriously good mileage from the MJD , which i think is only possible for me atleast during highway runs and you are getting them in the city conditions.

Could you please let us know if there is any thing in particular which you are following to get these numbers .

Im sure this will help a lot people .

The best i got in blore was around 15.
The last tank to tank reading that i had was

Fuel volume - 40.024 Lts
Trip distance - 565 kms
Which comes around 14.11 kmpl

Cheers

[architect]

Getting 15-17 kpl in the city with AC on in summer is quite feasible. I get it on a regular basis. In winter, I get between 18-21 kpl, usually hovering between 19.5-20 kpl.