Lost Love - Palio Stile 1.6 Sport!. Review on Fiat Palio Stile

Dear All,

Long ago, I published an honest review and many people liked it.

After many years I am updating it.And it is not so nice this time!

My Palio was still looking great with superb paint shine, great roaring engine, still giving high speed performance and mileage wasn't bad even now in 2013! It still gave me a feeling of superiority over many of the new hatchbacks and I still didn't want to change my car for another 3 years may be.(notice the past-tense usage by me!)

But some days ago, I felt my car's brakes getting stuck frequently.From there onwards started a very sad story.This problem could not be solved by FIAT despite trying to replace nearly every known part of braking system..The car is lying in FIAT's Millenium Drive service centre for a long time(original dealer BU Bhandari went to VW long ago and ditched FIAT brand, after that TATA-Fiat joint venture also dissolved).

I am sending mails after mails to FIAT INDIA mail id and not getting any response since last 45-50 days!

So, I am now in a situation where I can't do anything with my car which is otherwise is extremely fine condition just because FIAT can't fix a silly brake problem. Except this one issue, the car is still excellent! But this experience is making me wonder - why can't they fix brake issue when this car is a previous generation without ABS and EBD etc complications.

I recommended FIAT Palio back then to many friends and some bought it also and were happy with this car. Even I was happy - till now.

Now, I am afraid of recommending FIAT to anyone! Despite a good product, if they can't service it after 5-6 years, then how can I tell anyone.FIAT India has to take care of existing customers to maintain brand loyalty.

What a sad end to a love story that was really good till now!

(my older review below!)

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Dear All,

My story of buying the Palio Stile 1.6 Sport was simple. I studied only the cars with sufficient space for 3 people in the back(at that time Skoda Fabia was not an option). So according to my experience, only Indica and Palio could fit the bill though I still tried out Maruti Swift too. Santro, Getz, Wagon R etc were not considered as I didn't like the looks and space etc.(I did not try Cheverolet UVA because of its limited number of dealerships. Due to association with Tata Motors, Fiat is better placed than GM as per my knowledge.)

Once I actually drove 3 cars in my consideration, I could not do anything else but bring out my cheque book and buy a FORMULA RED Palio Stile 1.6 sport then and there! It is definitely a bigger car feel inside this car. It is quite sturdy and just the way doors shut is lovely! Roll the glasses down, start your engine and press the accelerator just for the heck of it. The roar is superb!

Actually put it in first gear and go! It surges almost like a Pulsar 180 motorcycle from 0 to 60 and crossing 100 kmph actually doesn't feel anything at all!

Simply, for about 4.65 lakhs(on road including basic accessories such as CD/MP3 player) you are getting space(not the luggage space though) and performance like a much costlier Honda City.

I had few medium distance trips like Pune-Mumbai, Pune-Ahmednagar, Pune-Dive Agar etc and it handles rough roads, smooth roads, potholes, long straights as well as winding ghats equally well. I tried maximum speed up to 145 kmph on the Expressway and it did not feel like I was pushing the car to its limits. Of course, since this has no ABS and airbags, there is a fair bit of caution needed while driving it. The braking is quite fast and if by mistake you push the brakes too hard, you will surely lock the wheels in no time. Acceleration is also very quick so that should be utilized carefully. Otherwise in first 3 gears it will smoke the front tyres with AC off during quick acceleration!

Road grip of Goodyear tyres is not very confidence inspiring but we had no choice to get any other tyres with the car. On steep turns if you push a bit, tyres screech considerably and on concrete roads they slide under fast braking. Haven't yet tested in the rains but I will be quite careful in rains!

Other than these things, handling of the car is quite good on dry tarmac roads. I am thinking of Yokohama tyres in case they are available for the size that fits my car when it is time to replace current tyres.

I have done about 6000 kms so far and get it serviced from BU Bhandari Wakad Service Centre in Pune. Overall they seem to be doing an ok job and there didn't seem any different treatment for TATA customers and Fiat customers. Only grouse was they didn't adjust my car's headlamps though I had informed them but as of now I will not consider it as a pain point against them. After second free service, the car became quite smoother(they also did Bardahl Engine treatment) and one of the front wheel brake had become noisy which they resolved by replacing the brake pads for free as per warranty. Wheel alignment and balancing was done(this was paid) in 2nd service.

At least for regular consumable parts, there doesn't seem to be any problem with Fiat Spares. These are now manufactured locally in Ranjangaon factory.

I am continuously using high end Petrol for my car(HP Power or BP Speed) and the car's performance on day one and now is same or even slightly better now.

Since the car is good on performance and is solidly built, obviously it gives less fuel economy(don't confuse this with Fuel Efficiency)than its tinny competitors. Anyway, the only car that can give performance like Palio Stile 1.6 Sport and give a better average is Honda City Vtec! It is priced much higher so I just left it at that. I would not expect fuel economy like a Maruti 800 which is just 45 BHP from my Fiat Palio which is 100 BHP. I typically get 10 kmpl in City with AC ON and 12 kmpl on highway with AC ON. With AC OFF, on highway it can give upto 14 kmpl(but I can't normally do that except for few days in Winter!). Can't expect much more! Now a days one also has option of Getz CRDI but then it is also much costlier than Palio. It will take long time before Diesel price and average starts giving an advantage over petrol as my daily running is limited.

Apart from the Goodyear tyres, I have one complaint against Fiat. They gave me only 4 Alloy Wheels with the car and the spare wheel is ordinary steel disc wheel.

Worse thing is that I was ready to pay extra money to get an alloy wheel identical to 4 alloys on my car but B U Bhandari folks were saying that company gives a kit of 4 alloys only and if I want to buy extra, I have to buy 4 extra alloys!This is not fair as per me. Other readers owning any car with alloy wheels can share their info with me!

All in all, I give Fiat Palio Stile 1.6 Sport TWO THUMBS UP! The only hatchback with sedan like feel and performance without draining the bank account!

Jeevan Chaukar