Jul 05, 2009 11:04 AM
7586 Views
(Updated Aug 20, 2009 04:22 PM)
I had heard a lot about this car from Fiat and was waiting for its arrival. Took a test drive of the MJD Emotion pack model and Indica Vista Quadrajet Aura.
Exterior
The car looks excellent. It has a very solid built and is even longer than the Indigo CS(what the sales person told me). The front grill with Fiat logo and multijet looks really well. The ORVMs coming out of the door gives it an elegant look. The wipers are one of the best I have seen. It gives you a very sturdy feeling and you can check that by opening the doors:-). I also liked the lininig across the sides. Though Indica vista has much improved looks now but nowhere near the Punto.
*Interior
*The grey/black tone gives the car a more sporty feel. Finishing is excellent and I personally liked the dashboard. The positioning of indicators and wiper controls are reversed so it is sort of strange. I had to adjust to it because on every turn I could see the wipers going on:-)
The front space is excellent and the driving seat was very comfortable. The interir plastic was not upto the FIAT benchmark. I had driven the Palio S10 also and the plastic quality in it was much better. But, the interior quality is much better than the Vista.
To my surprise, I saw that the chrome door handle was not working on the front door. The sales person told me that somone had played with it. Hope it wasn't a defect.
On the rear side, the space was enough and didn't find the rear seats cramped even though I had pushed the driving seat for my comfortable driving(I am 5'10" in height). 3 persons can sit comfortably there but I think Indica Vista is better here because it has more space on the back side.
The seats were 60:40 foldable, so gives you 500Ltr of space.
Boot was good and I liked the boot lights. It is a good to have feature. Overall it gave a very safe and secure feeling to be inside this car. I felt as if I am inside a sedan.
*Engine
The MJD rocks. Its a great engine and I never felt lack of power, I could compare it with the S10 that had 1.6/100bhp. The pickup was excellent even when I had the AC on and I could feel a little push above 2000 RPM but it was not like the Swift, it was more linear but it never let me feel the lack of power. The engine was fairly silent thoughout. I went through an old road with lot of pot holes but the car was taking them very easily. I hardly felt the shocks. The engine was not complaining at 20km/hr with the 4th and 5th gear.
I think with good driving one can easily achieve 19kmpl that is claimed by ARAI. Other cars using this engine are giving even more mileage so we can expect this much considering that it is heavier.
Overall, I think this is one of the best car in this segment and is a great value for money. I have always been a fan of FIAT cars and this is not an exception. With TATA-FIAT tie-up, the servicing has improved a lot and so should not be a big factor anymore.
My wait is finally over and I am going to book a minimal grey MJD emotion next week. Will be updating it with my driving experience soon.
*Driving Report
*Have clocked 1100 Kms on my Emotion MJD Punto and it has been a pleasant experience. It has everything in the offering that you want for Indian cities/highway driving. The car is solid, very stable at high speeds. I once drove it at 100-110 km/Hr and could not feel that I was on that speed, it was very smooth.
MJD is an excellent engine and has been proven on several car models now. I found the car a bit sluggish in 1st and 2nd gear but from 3rd gear onwards it is on its own. it responds well to the acceleration. Ac is very effective and chills quite fast. I have now got sun-film on my windows so the cooling is now very fast and effective even in temperatures above 40 degrees. The steering wheel fold given for grip is wonderful. It is very handy and helps in getting a good grip on the wheel.
On the average front, I am getting around 14-15 Kmpl in city and 20-22 kmpl on highways with AC on almost 90% of time. I think this is very good considering the car having 1150Kg weight.
The car is very spacious, the boot space is quite good, perhaps best among the cars in the same segment.
All in all its been a wondeful experience so far.
