HWe decided to buy a car for the family and agreed to consider both second-hand and new cars, whichever would suit our needs best. The choices we had were Hyundai Santro Xing, Maruti Swift, Maruti Alto etc. In fact Fiat Palio was not even in the list initially. But once we got to know we began to consider it seriously. After some research we finally zeroed in on the Fiat Palio Stile 1.1 SLX (Petrol).
Priced at around 4lakhs, the car offers a package of some great features that are hard to find in others for the same price. The car is spacious and sports a new front look. The high Tail lights are cool but somehow the design at the rear makes you think it could have been better. The engine I suppose is good going by the reputation of Fiat technology.
Good mileage, smooth and stable ride. Felt great at 110 kmph (Thats the best I could on the highway) and the brakes were spot on. The power steering made driving so easy. As far as the dealership is concerned, the Tata showroom nearby is reasonably good. Had an initial problem where the Fuel injection warning light in the dashboard would stay on (as observed in some other review), but we sent it for service and it was taken good care of.
Sometimes, I wonder why these cars are so elusive and hard to find on the roads and what must be wrong. But once when we were at the filling station, a man driving a Fiat Palio 1.2 came upto us and enquired about the new model. When we asked how his car was, he told it was the best even after so many years. That made us quite glad for making a wise choice.