Oct 31, 2005 12:54 AM
12054 Views
(Updated Oct 31, 2005 01:00 AM)
I bought my petra petrol 1.6 in jan 05. I love the build quality, quietness and zip. My primary preferences were: safety, build quality (quietness, price of course, space ,..). I preferred it over accent, baleno, esteem and ikon. Accent rear leg room was less, I did not have good experience with ford's reliability having driven a mercury for 3 yrs. in US. At medium height I had difficulty getting in to Esteem.
Overall I think its an excellent car with a few desirable improvements: I would love it to be a few inches wider and longer. After driving about 5000+ K.Ms I get a mileage of 12-13 (with A/C on and good amount of luggage in the boot) on highways. A few more kilometers/ litre would be great. My daily commute is hardly anything, 1 K.M to office, so I get only abt 7-8 K.Ms/ litre when I do not drive much else where. I hope its because of the short trips. Dont know whether it really makes sense to check mileage for this kindaa short trips. I reach the destination before the engine gets warm. The large turn diameter at times does not feel great, even though its acceptable. Its more than Honda city, Baleno, ... I am hoping the ride quality will improve further if I go for wider tyres, not sure whether mileage will get affected. Do I need to change the wheel rims for it. I bought alloys already, may have to think a little if I have to replace them.
The fuse box along with electric connections dropped down a couple of times, fiat dealer came over and fixed it. I love to hear I need to go for oil changes only once in 6 months.
My trip experience
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Drove to my home town in coastal A.P from Hyderabad a few times. The peak speeds were like 120-130 KMPH. The car is very stable and quiet at that speeds. Mileage varied between 11.5 and 13 KMPL. I always drive with A/C on. Lower mileage was due to the short periods when the car was stopped with engine and A/C turned on, and fan speed at 3. I felt a lil loss of power when the fan is set to speeds more than 3.
May be wider tyres would help breaking improve. At times I felt the stopping distance was a little longer than I'd like it to be.
