2002 Fiat Palio 1.2 ELX 53,000kms Ownership

It was my first car and it had to be a Palio. I was quite keen on buying a 1.6 but after intensive hunting I realized that most of the Palio 1.6’s were either not available for sale or if they were on sale, they were brutally driven. None of the 1.6 Palio cars I tried were inspiring confidence to go and buy it. Started hunting for a Palio 1.2 instead. Had to go see three Palios that evening, after office. One was in terrible condition, and the dealer was pretending to be the owner of the car. Second was in good condition but the owner wasn’t interested in maintaining it considering the fact that it was his company-owned car. The third Palio I saw is the one I finally bought. It was in immaculate condition with just 28k kms on odo in five years. The seller was a thorough gentleman and the deal went through pretty smoothly. Only interesting incidence around this is that I was in such a hurry that I wire-transferred the whole 1.4L in his account the previous evening without even seeing the car for the second time (first time it was pretty dark night). Neither car nor the owner looked suspicious.

Palio’s exterior is admirable, especially its grille and boot part. Boot-lid and tail-lamps design complement each other. Being the top-of-the-line ELX variant, it has got body coloured bumpers, door handles and ORVMs. The black protection moulding around the waistline on white colour of the car makes it a looker. I’ve owned the car for close to three years and I still love to see it stand-still from a distance, preferable from my terrace! A very useful and rare feature on Palio ELX (probably lower versions too) is its ability to be opened/locked from either front door. That means, you can lock or unlock the car (all doors i.e. central locking) from either driver-side door or the co-driver side door!

Interior though dated, still looks nice. Personally I like the grey interior of my Palio over the beige introduced later in Stile versions. My car has got grey fabric upholstery, it never appealed to me, especially the texture and I later upgraded the seats to great-quality genuine leather seat covers. Seats are pretty large for a small car and are very comfortable. I have done quite a few long distance journeys and I’ve had no complaints from the seating point of view. Headroom, legroom for front as well as rear passengers is more than adequate for four passengers. Five adults can adjust but at the cost of comfort.

Some of the important equipments/features are all four power windows with windows lock switch (child safety), central locking, pretty effective AC, cigarette-lighter/power outlet, rear defogger and rear wash wiper. Rear defogger and wash wiper are a boon in rainy and foggy days. One major issue I find in Palio is lack of internal storage space. There is a small storage space in below the central console but it’s quite inadequate. There is also storage space in dash, above glove-box but that’s unusable because of the way it’s designed. Things put in this space are prone to skidding/falling out etc.

Palio 1.2 has got a 71bhp engine. I had heard people talking about its sluggish behaviour and I was pretty apprehensive while buying one. But when I drove the car, I realized that the car has more than enough power for city driving. First three gears are beautiful but lack of power starts giving a bad feel in fourth and fifth gear, especially fifth gear. This problem can be avoided vastly by changing gears in the correct power band. Unfortunately Palio 1.2 (pre-NV) doesn’t have a tachometer and hence this judgement of power band comes from experience. Later I had figured it out and I was quite happy with the performance. The performance on highways, however, wasn’t sufficient when it comes to aggressive driving. Overtaking a speeding vehicle was certainly an issue, especially in early days of my driving.

I’ve also heard people crib about Palio’s fuel economy. If they are to be believed, pre-NV Palio is capable of an economy of 7-9kpl. In my last 3 years of driving this car, it never went below 10kpl, not for once. My driving is pretty short, multiples of 2-3kms stretches hence it’s very difficult to churn out good mileage. I have to do two full-thanks every month and my car goes good 900-1050kms in two fills (84ltrs approx). My recent visit to Nashik (Sai baba) returned good 13kpl, 90% time AC on.

Driving a Palio is a bliss in general, however, there are a couple of major issues. The worst is visibility. The bonnet of a Palio drops steep and driving seat is slightly low. I being a short driver (5’6”), it was very difficult to judge where the left side bumper starting. I still am not too sure and I normally keep 1 foot distance all the time. Centre rear-view mirror is awesome but external ORVMs are terrible. Especially the driver-side one. Thick A-pillars and bad ORVM make a huge blind-spot for the objects immediately close to you. You can easily miss out a bike or even a small car completely. I almost run over a pedestrian the other day! And the next day a friend in office gifted me blind-spot mirrors. They are tiny but are life-savers! Another issue is turning radius. 5.4 metres for a small car is a little too much but one get used to it. I’m pretty perfect at it now.

In my approx 25000kms ownership, the car never brought me any trouble. Sure, there was one tyre bursting scene on Expressway but that was my fault of trying to stretch life of tyres beyond a limit and one incidence of car not starting because of battery failure. Two parts of exhaust system were corroded (aging) and had to be replaced for around 6k. I can’t recall any other repair work. Regular service costs around 1300 rupees from a very knowledgeable and trusted local workshop. The frequency is strictly before six months.

The car weighs over a ton and the weight is not in vain. The car is built like a tank. My car doesn’t have ABS or Airbags but it never gave me an uncomfortable feeling when it comes to safety. I have seen an Innova banging me at 60kph and ended up damaging only the bumper that too had to be straightened and not replaced. The Innova had double the damage than mine! Every time I close the doors, I get this reassuring thump of safety!

Overall a masterpiece from Fiat. Unfortunate that India could never estimate the potential of this car and Fiat, the mother too behaved indifferently. I think I owed this review to my Palio for a long time. I should have done it earlier but if I hadn’t done it today, I may not have done it ever. In a very dramatic situation I bought a Fiesta 1.6 ZXi LE last week and the Palio has to go now. I wish I was in a small town and could have space to keep two cars! :(

Link to my Palio photo album.

Style, safety, space, comfort, driving pleasureVisibility, highway drivability, slightly low FE