Before choosing my new car, first I examined what my true requirements are. As I’m not going to drive more than 15000 km a year, I didn’t want a diesel. The maximum money I could spend was 3.5 lakhs (on road), and hence Palio, Indica, Santro and Wagon-R were not considered. The car had to be strong. It had to be sufficiently spacious, with decent boot space. Good suspension required. Power steering…well, not an absolute must. Any other available features, I would take as an extra bonus.
Then I did a preliminary research on the technical specifications and narrowed down to two products, namely the Maruti Alto and Fiat Uno. Then I went for test driving. I could drive the Alto, but couldn’t get to test drive the Uno, though I could visually inspect both vehicles carefully. Alto is almost a Zen in looks and performance. However after a recent price cut, the Uno costs only Rs.2.51 Lakhs Ex-showroom! Oh boy, I should think seriously now.
Well, that made me compare the Alto and Uno models in more detail:
Alto Spin Lx (AC, metallic paint, no power steering):
Price: 2.7 L, Mileage (city) : definitely better than Uno, Inside space: cramped, Boot space: small
Engine capacity: 800 cc
Fuel injection: MPFI
Torque: 62 Nm@3000 rpm
BHP: 45@6000 rpm
Weight: 740 kg
Maruti After sales service : Ok
Fiat Uno 1.2 Trend (AC, metallic paint, no power steering):
Price: 2.51 L, Mileage (city) : around 12 km/l, inside space : spacious, Boot space: large.
Engine capacity: 1242 cc
Fuel injection: central point FI
Torque: 92 Nm@3250 rpm
BHP: 62@5750 rpm
Weight: 840 kg
After sales service: Was bad, but seems to be getting better now (with the success of Palio?)
On the whole I was much more impressed by the Uno than the Alto when everything was considered. The Italian has a strong build quality (though both are said to meet European safety standards, I felt the Uno to be stronger). From the several reviews I read I understand that the Road Handling and ride quality of Uno are excellent. Showroom guys told me that the Ground clearance has now been increased by 4 cm (earlier it was too low). And remember that the Palio 1.2 and Uno 1.2 share the same engine capacity of 1242 cc. (Alto and Maruti 800 - 796 cc, Wagon-R and Santro Xing – 1086 cc, Indica Lei – 1405 cc). The higher torque and BHP figures of the Uno speak for themselves. Uno has the most ergonomically designed driver’s seats in the A segment (in fact it should belong to the B segment!) so that driving is a pleasure. Finally, while Uno is cheaper than Alto, it is costlier only by Rs.21000 to the cheapest car around, Maruti 800 STD (AC, metallic paint, no power steering) which costs Rs. 2.3 L (showroom)!
Well folks, therefore I made up my mind. I’m going for the Uno, and booked the car. I want a strong, comfortable family car with sufficient sitting space and boot space, that’s why. One might say that the Uno’s resale value is low, it’s likely to be phased out soon, Fiat customer service is bad, etc. Maybe true to a certain extent – but I took this decision after a lot of thinking. For all its pitfalls, Fiat Uno is too tempting: I’ve fallen in love!