Three Days of Bliss!. Review on Fiat Palio Diesel

This isn’t any technical Review, so excuse me if what follows does not meet up your reading requirements. But I just wanted to use this forum to share with you all my feelings for a Car I fell in love with since the day I brought and parked it in my Drive way.

The Ride:

I Bought my Black Palio D ELX in October 2004, and even before I got it home I got it fitted with 15" , 8 Spoke Hard Chrome Alloys and a set of Goodyear 205/50/15 Eagle F1's [They stopped being available :( from 2005 onwards ]. That was by far the best investment I ever did on my baby..

So Boys.. my Palio D's run on Low Profile tyres for almost 4 yrs now.. done almost 60K and not a squeak from the suspension... It's made the ride just a little stiff though :) but you got to pay some price for good Looks. The 205's really change the profile of the Car.. and back in 2004 people used find it hard to recognize the car as a Palio at night :)

The Ride’s CV:

Guys, this isn’t the reason why I’m writing today.. to give you details of what all I’ve put in my car.. but I Just wanted to sing some praises for my very very reliable baby..

I've lived and moved around between Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai for the past 4 Years.. and got to do some really nice drives in my endeavor to do some "South India Darshan" :) I drove to Goa from Hyd.. (a Lovely 14 Hr Trip).. then did a Hyd - Pune.. then a Hyd - Vizag.. then a Hyd - Blr.. Then a Hyd Chennai.. (Another really nice Trip).. And loads of Smaller 300 to 400 Kms trips in and around these 3 cities.. and all of this in my, oh so snazzy baby.. the surprising Comfort of this car on a Long drive really surprises you.. and reinforces the fact that its built like a tank.. and just nothing  seems to rattle it...

The Blissful Journey:

This time in the middle of May.. in our very own Peak summer.. I did the unthinkable.. I drove from Chennai to Delhi.. in my Palio D.. in THREE DAYS OF UTTER BLISS!!!!

Day 1:

I started on the 14th of May.. at around half past 4 in the Morning from my House in Thoraipakkam in Chennai.. so I had to cross the whole of Chennai and get to the East Cost Road to Vijaywada.. I reached Hyderabad in about 13 Hrs.. then got Stuck in the Evening Traffic for another 1.5 hrs before I reached my friends place in Banjara Hills..

This Drive was excellent.. given that I drove for almost 300 Kms ( Chennai to Vijaywada) on the Golden Quadrilateral stretch.. and then on a reasonably good road from Vijaywada to Hyderabad.

*Day 2 :

*Slept the night in Hyderabad.. and Next Morning at around 3:30 AM I left for Bhopal via Nagpur.. The Hyd to Nagpur stretch isn’t the best of roads.. but a 4 lane expressway is currently being built.. so sometime next year it should be a really nice drive.. Due to the construction of the new road.. you have to constantly keep getting off and back on to good stretches of road which last only a few Kms at a time, .. so the drive is slow..

After crossing Nagpur.. (and I was surprised that its such a modern looking city).. I got onto the road to Bhopal ( I had been advised to avoid the standard Hyd – Nagpur – Sagar- Jhansi stretch.. as its currently in a bad condition) So I took a diversion from Nagpur to Bhopal..

The Road to Bhopal.. though Narrow is in a very good condition.. and you end up driving through some breathtaking views of the Ghats ..

Day 2 was the Longest for me.. and I spent close to 16 Hrs on the Wheel.. We reached Bhopal at around 9:00 PM.. and I looked around for the first Hotel I could find and stayed the night at Amer Palace Hotel.

Bhopal is a really pretty City with a really beautiful Lake.. and you have to drive along the Lake in order to get out of the City..

Day 3:

Started a Little late on Day three and got on the road in Bhopal only at about 8:00 AM.. My Baby was behaving as if I was just taking it till office.. No signs of fatigue what so ever.. The Road from Bhopal to Gwalior is EXCELLENT.. I had been warned by everyone before the trip to be aware of roads in MP.. but they were the best stretches of Road that I found.. in my entire trip.. This was the most exiting part of journey.. as the temperature outside on the road was more than 40 .. and my baby was still showing no signs of heating up.. the tyres were sticking to the melted tar on the roads.. and making those weird noises.. but the Car was just munching away the miles as if she wanted more and more..

I had gotten sick of listening to my CD’s on Day 2 itself.. and drove from Hyd to Nagpur without playing my system at all.. just me , , and the sound of baby burning some rubber.. So on day three I started tuning in to the local radio stations..

That’s when I realized the expanse and the size of MP.. I drove through some stretches of complete emptiness.. where leave alone signals on my Cell Phone.. I dint even have AIR signals on the car radio..  MP has some eerily beautiful sites to see when you drive through it.. the horridly Dry and empty landscape has something really charming and beautiful about it…

After I crossed Gwalior.. you hit the Agra 4 lane expressway...and the speed of the journey suddenly goes up a lot of notches..

I hit Agra at a very peak traffic hour.. and by the time I crossed it.. there was a lot of Traffic on the Argra Delhi Expressway of people, each one of whom seemed to be in a hurry to get to Delhi FIRST :)..

I Hit  Delhi at 9:00 PM.. and got stuck at the Badarpur Border with all the Trucks of the world trying to get into Delhi at one go.. but the Solace was that I apparently brought rain with me to Delhi.. and this whole Jam at Badarpur was with a lot of Thunder and Sharp Showers.. and all the RJ’s on all the FM channels were welcoming the Rain…

I reached my cousins place only at about 11:30 PM..

I parked the car below his apartment.. and it had started raining steadily by then… I took a quick bath.. and needed a drink badly.. so he fixed me some scotch.. Which was heaven, , after a 14 hr drive.. and I went to the balcony to check on my baby getting all drenched in the Rain..

Believe me guys.. it just made me fall in love with her all over again..