Excellent Vehicle, Need better dealers though. Review on Fiat Adventure

Just bought a Fiat Adventure nearly a month back.

Everything was just as expected. Not too many options to confuse on.

-> Seats 5 people comfortably

-> The engine has the power for its size

-> The range of 3rd gear could have been more to help on the overtaking

-> AC is good for its size

-> Power steering give the right amount of feedback from the road to have the confidence without putting in more effort in driving

-> Controls are pretty intuitive and don;t need much learning

the spare wheel position and fucntioning is a marvel as you'd not need to take off all the luggage in the huge boot.

-> The dashboard is pretty basic and not much frills

-> The Cupholders are only placed on the glove compartment door, though functional, they could have been elsewhere so that the glove compartment could be kept closed

It is performing pretty well

Haven't yet taken it out for a long drive, had shorter runs within the city mostly as I was advised a run in period of 1000 Kms.

Has given me fairly good mileage within city and with AC mostly on (9.3 KMPL)

However I am waiting to take it out on a longer drive where I could fully experience the drive comfort, stability, perfromance and mileage

Fiat could look at having ABS, airbags and keyless entry as optionals

Though the car is good and I am still happy about buying it, the dealer experience was extermely bad and I wish Fiat takes up its dealers seriously on the customer handling and their experience.

Even worse is that despite registering compliants on the newly published fiat website, I am yet to see any communication to me on the same issues. I was under the impression that fiat wants to change its image in the Indian market as a more accessible and customer friendly vendor.

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Now about 6 months old and having taken through some long drives, so thought of sharing the experience of the same

The good:

• handles well even on steep winding hill roads at decent speeds(upto 80kmph)

  
  




• A/c needs a litte bit of time to really be effective for the rear seat(approx 10-15 mins at around 35 degrees outside)

  
  




• Suspension is good and the bumps on the road actually disappear

  
  




• Good traction, even rode on the beach with no difficulty(try only if you are convinced the beach soil would hold)

  
  




• Good cabin noise reduction. With windows rolled up there is hardly any noise

  
  




• Boot space is extremely handy for the beach outing with all sports and food stuff and space for more

  
  




• even got a mileage of 11 KMPL with nearly 30% of driving at 3rd gear or lesser and 100% with AC on

  
  




• In another long run got >16KMPL(will do a rerun to ascertain)

  
  

The bad:

• The engine has lots of power though its available only above 1500RPM so it does require a little planning on overtaking on plains and hill roads especially when you dont get much after 3000 RPM too.

Food for Thought:

There are too many service requirements even in its short 6 months which does speak of the quality control at manyfacturer and PDI at dealers place.

• A small unit had to be replaced to make the speedo work

  
  




• The paint on the driver side door was flaking and the dealer did get the same repainted under warranty(took two visits & 4 days and is yet to complete the job. It shouldn't take more than a day)

  
  




• Rear wiper had to be replaced(was leaving streaks of water)

  
  




• left headlight had to be replaced(it was fogging out in the mornings)

  
  




• front left side iper had to be replaced(was coming off its rivets)

  
  




• A thump felt at approx 1200RPM which no one is able to diagnose

  
  




• A low growling noise(suspect exhaust fitting) which no one is able to diagnose

  
  




• Dealers(Tata motors) workshop is still as clueless as ever and I am yet see them solving a problem in one visit.(6 months have required >6 visits thus far)