Palio... First Love. Review on Fiat Palio Sport

All,

This is my first write up here on mouth shut. Please ignore the mistakes, if any.

It all started with a dream, about a car. Being the first car in my family I was very curious to know about the vehicle before getting behind the wheels. It started with Santro, WagonR being in segment B, Indica and Palio as in B+. The search started on the Net as being S/W professional (Hey its not like we don't have anything to do!!). No doubt internet helped me a lot.

After looking into Santro and WagonR, I decided to go to B+ segment as former can accomodate onyl 4 ppl. In B+ the fight was in between Palio and Indica. I have many old Indicas (V2) and everytime I have seen these machines starts making very annoying noise after about 2 years. One fine day I used to get a chance to roam around in Palio and it made me go to FIAT.

All my friends are used to Marutis and TATAs. My decision to go for FIAT was a shokcing one for them and they insisted that I should go for Maruti. No doubt Maruti has one of the best after sales service reputation through out the India. I always wanted to stand different in them. I decided to take this calculated risk. I went to FIAT dealer in Pune and booked the car.

It took 3 weeks to get the delivery due to pirce negotiations going on within company for Euro III norm engine. In this time frame I contacted FIAT divisional manager and he was so nice to talk to. He told me to wait for 2 weeks for the better car or I can go for any other car in which case they are ready to pay me back all my hard earned money. I decided to stick to FIAT.

The car is indeed feels like a castle. Very protective, sturdy and impressive. It makes me feel very secured the time I get into my car. This is the feeling I paid for. The car really rocks from 70 KMPH. It can easily cruise at about 135 KMPH. I had very insecured feeling cruising in WagonR at about 90KMPH. It feels like I can get into air anytime with the car being so light weight.

About FE, I used to get 13KMPL with 50% AC on in city like Pune. The traffic in pune is some what called, Bumper to bumper. On FE front, it really scored. I don't expect more FE than this from the car as being 1000KG.

Looks.... This morely depends on the individual, but I believe that no one will disagree that Palio is the best looking car in hatchbak market. The finishing is awesome. People used to make fun out of me as being FIAT owner, but they wont understand untill they drive off Palio. I drove Santro and WagonR, even Indica and never felt satisfied. In Palio I feel like the ruling King.

Though I'm short (5'5'') I dont have any probs with the car driving on heavily crowded roads. FIAT certainly has the best engines but due to poor rather weak dealer network, they killed this one of the best hatchback.

All the statements made by me are purely based on my experience and observations. It may differ from your opinions. Your replies are most welcome.