It is for the first time, that I am sharing my test drive experience with fiat palio 1.3 sdx.even though I own a santro xing , my passion for diesel vehicles has increased ever since multijet technology has been introduced by the fiat.with a plan to own a diesel, I test drove three cars in a short succession viz., swift vdi, vista quadrajet and palio 1.3 sdx.
Here I would only pen up my experience with palio multijet only.visited the tata show room and had to wait at least half an hour to get behind the steering wheel.in terms of looks, car is unique and the right word would be beautiful.design of the car is wonderful.head lamps are stunning to look at.paint quality of the car is slightly inferior as compared to hyudais and marutis.
I wish paint quality would have been better.in terms of build, no other car in the segment comes close, exceptional I would say.the car is build to last, the toughest of the lot I would say and far better than swift.coming to the interior, what I feel is that fiat have assembled the car in a sense of urgency, without paying much attention to the interior details.dash board is that of the old palio with slider control for ac and no digital odometer.swift and vista here score over palio.
Seating position is good and at par with swift.car has ample space to accommodate five people and cabin feels airy.engine is a gem though.it is responsive in all the gears but noisy in comparison to the swift which again scores here.engine is poweful with mad rush felt after 2000 rpm.car flies with all its strength there after, but swift has more responsive engine pull than palio, even though both share the same engine.ride quality is marvelous and better than swift ad handling is awesome.car sticks to road even at 120 kmr mark .suspension is the best part of the car and pot holes are not felt which otherwise are painful in swift.in short car is good at a lesser price than swift but needs interior quality refinment exactly what tatas have done in vista.