Value for money in its category. Review on Fiat Petra

When I decided to buy a car, I had my budget fixed i.e. between 5 to 7 lacs. So options really I had that time was Indigo, Ikon, Accent and City.

With very poor marketting strategy, I was even not aware that Petra from Fiat is launched in the market (not even single advertise). I just happened to visit Fiat showroom for Palio and came to know that Fiat has just launched revamped Siena called 'Petra'.

While in europe, I had driven quite a few cars like Honda accord, Ford Mondeo, Renault Laguna, Fiat Punto etc...

Here in Pune, I took test drives for Indigo, Ikon, Accent and Petra. Honda city was my first choice but because the budget I ruled that out. Petra really passed my test in terms of the smoothness of the gearbox (buttersmooth), the pickup it delivered with 1.6 Petrol and the most importantly the feeling of being secured in the car. The car is very sturdy if one looks at the overall structure of tha car in fact one can see it's bonnet is very heavy. I even had browsed through various car magazines to verify whether my views were right.

I do not have any complain about mileage, I could fetch 11kml in city and about 15kml on highways, so pretty happy with it considering 1600cc power. My hometown is about 200kms from Pune, many times it happens that I start in early morning and join the office as fresh as I haven't travelled at all, front area is very specious and so comfortable for the driver.

On maintenance, it has already crossed 18000, and haven't seen the garage (touchwood) except for the free servings that dearler offers. This car has seen Nagpur 3 times and it does regular visits to Kolhapur and sometimes to Surat.

From weaknesses point of view, I would say it has very poor rear view. You can not see for a long distance specially when you need to reverse park. Fiat can also look at improving the interiors to make it attractive.

So I'm a happy customer of Fiat and hope to have continued the hassle-free handling of my Petra.