The Petra is a sedan derived from the Palio hatchback. The petrol petra shared the engines of the Palio, 1.2 litre petrol and 1.6 litre petrol. Now Fiat has finally launched the Fiat Petra diesel. It shares the 1.9 litre diesel with the Palio. Its main competitors will be the Indigo diesel and the Esteem diesel. How does it fare???
The Petra is to Palio as Indigo is to Indica. But this car is unlike the Indigo which looks like an Indica with a boot. The Petra looks like a car by itself.The front is similiar to the Palio. The front bumper is quite nice and looks very solid.
The headlamps are exactly like the Palio’s. From the side the Petra looks like it was built as a car and not as a hatch with a boot. There are nice alloys. You don’t get alloys in the Indigo. The rear looks very elegant and gives a solid feel. Build quality is unparallelled in its class. The Indigo pales in comparision to the Petra in build quality. Fit and finish is also top notch. So no problems in the looks and build of the Petra.
LOOKS-9/10
BUILD-9.5/10
The engine is the same 1.9 litre indirect injection naturally aspirated diesel. Torque range is not very wide and so you have to shift the gear quite a lot of times. The engine is a bit noisy and vibrations are present but the engine is refined. The Indigo is a turbo-charged diesel and thus its performance is way better. The Petra goes from 0-60 in around 10 seconds and 0-100 comes in 19 seconds. The Indigo is much more peppy. Top speed is around 145 km/h. But considering the Petra is a diesel the performance is good. Anyway it is way better than the Esteem which has a heavy Peaugeot engine which does not suit the car at all. The performance can be described as good.
ENGINE-8.5/10
PERFORMANCE-9/10
The interior of the Petra is built with high quality materials just like the Palio. Fit and finish is also amazing. The interior is cosier than the Indigo. Good quality plastics surround you. The steering wheel is leather wrapped and is similiar to the Palio’s. I don’t like the odd shape of the steering wheel of all Fiats. It looks very skinny. The Indigo’s steering wheel looks and feels better any day.The dash is same like the Palio except for the fact that the plastic of the Palio is replaced by wood finish. The dash is unique with a the AC vents below the music system and dares to be different. Leg room is good. In the rear the seats are comfortable and the legroom is satisfactory.
INTERIOR-9/10
The main cause of introducing diesels was for fuel efficiency. And so any diesel without fuel efficiency is no good. Fortunately the Petra is quite economical in this aspect. But the turbo-charged Indigo is even more economical. The Petra returns more than 15 km/l of diesel on the highway. This is much more than the petrol version. In the city it gives around 12 km for every litre of diesel and in mixed conditions close to 14 km/l. FUEL EFFICIENCY-9/10 The Petra diesel does not have tech like the accent CRDi but is a capable diesel car. Even though the Indigo beats the Petra in performance and fuel efficiency, the Petra regains lost ground in the areas of build quality and fit and finish. The Petra is definitely way ahead of the Esteem. But it is more than a lakh costlier than the Indigo. So if you want a diesel within a price band of 5.5-6 lakhs, go for the Petra. The build and solidity of the Petra is not theer in any of the cars in its segment. The Indigo is for those who want a sedan at the price of a premium hatch.
OVERALL-9/10
Leave your valuable comments or atleast give a rating.