Palio Stile - No value for money. Review on Fiat Palio Stile

Quick Summary - The car is no value for money. Just style as is in the name. No meat in the engine and performance

Details:

Have been using a Palio Stile 1.1 SLX for over 4 months now - city and highway - mostly in Mumbai and Pune and on Mumbai Pune expressway highway. Have done about 9500 kms.

Overall found the car not upto the mark. I have been using a Indica Xeta 1.4 GLX since february 2006 - almost 18-20 months. I still have it but currently being used by someone else in the family.

Palio has stunning looks and is a head turner. But when it comes to performance, my personal opinion is that it is no where near the Xeta's performance.

The critical issue lies with the torque of the car which is far too low for the weight of the car. If one compares the torque of Palio with Wagon R, Santro, Zen - it is quite in line with those cars, but all the maruti and hyundai cars are light weight and hence the power to weight ratios for the three cars as compared to Palio are far better. Hence Palio's torque of about 9 is insuffitient to provide acceleration to the heavier car at city signals. The powerband is quite low hence needs frequent gear changes as a Stile cannot move at 15 kmph in 3rd gear while a Xeta will happily do it. This parameter is extremely important in tough city traffic. If one observes because of the low capacity and low power of the engine, in a stop and go kind of traffic, the engine heats up quickly and the engine cooling fan is continously on. This affects the oil gaskets which are usually rubber to melt and get damaged sooner and will result in an oil leakage in a long run.

In Mumbai one often needs to move faster in the mornings while going to office and need acceleration although one may not need straight line speed which in my opinion is suffitient enough for the Palio. But with a poor acceleration the car really begs for switching off the AC. In the evening, it is even terrible as it is a stop and go traffic in Mumbai. My home in Mumbai is about 25 kms from office and it takes me 2.15 mins. In such a traffic, it is painful to drive a Palio.

On the expressway, while climbing the Mumbai-Pune ghat, one cant do it with AC on in 4th or 5th gear. This was a shock to me. Even my good old alto could do it. One needs to plan a lot in advance when I have to do overtaking on the highway. Braking is quite an issue as the brakes kick in a bit late and I always am not sure if the car will stop in time. So far it has, but I am always unsure. With a Xeta I regularly do 120-140 kmph with ease. On very few occasions I have touched 150+ though found it quite risky. One can reach 140 kmph with tremendous ease.Infact by the time one moves in to the 4th gear, the car has touched 100 kmph. So getting to 120 kmph is a cakewalk in the 5th gear.

However, Palio is marginally better on fuel efficiency unlike Xeta. With a Palio Stile with 100% AC, in Pune city I get about 12.5 kmpl and on highway I get about 15 kmpl. In a xeta I get about 11 in city and about 14 on highway. Legroom and elbow space, it is decent and can seat 3 people. But if one looks at the internal dimensions indica still has more space as compared to a Palio. Where Palio scores well is the boot space. I think Fiat has done a good job with the boot space. It is just well laid out. The seats are also very well designed. One does not feel the driving fatigue due to a better seating position.

Found the suspenson of Palio a shade better  - Not in performance but the way the Mcpherson struts technology has been implemented in the car. The suspension not only absorbs the shocks, it absorbs without a sound. In a Xeta the independant wishbone technology is implemented nicely, but there is a 'Thug' sound everytime one goes through a big pot hole.

To sum it up, I would still say Xeta is amazing value for money. No one can beat Xeta when it comes to features, Price and performance. So far apart from regular servicing and lubricants costs, I have spent about INR 3000/- on wheel balancing and wheel alignment. I have done about 24, 000 kms in Xeta. I havent used a 1.6, but heard it is amazing. May be my next evaluation would be for Stile 1.6

All views above are my personal opinions and in no way intended at anyone or at any entity / company. These are totally based on personal experience and since they are my views I am entitled to it.

Regards

Kedar Apte