This is my 6th Year of owning this little beast. I had given a KM 52000 review about an year ago. Now it is doing KM 66666+ in Hyderabad.
Its still a beauty with everything in tact! No creaks, no loose screws, no loose doors / windows, no drop in performance, no drop in mileage, AC’s still good, handled monsoons’ like pigs to dirty water except basic /general maintenance. And I still keep testing it knowing it won’t break down!
Beast: This piece of driving machine continues to enthuse. No belt wear and tear(atleast for the last 30k km’s), response, performance, plays and its obedience to hard driving. The engine continues to be silk and shows no sign of exhaustion when floored. No problems what so ever so far.
Most of its under carriage parts such as wheels, arms, shocks and the balance rods are still original and have’nt given up nor show signs of sagging nor weakness. Except that couple of days I get to hear the "soft thud" on the right arm which I believe is a Shock-Arm coupling where it may have a wear and tear.
Monsoons in Hyderabad have made roads disappear for quite a while(its some time now that restoring roads will excite us again and don’t know how they looked last time) and craters of highways need no mention. I own two other cars(Maruti and Scorpio) and this is still my pick in the city. It’s shocks sucked everything into it like mattress and made every drive to work and back a no non-sense mode of transport.
Couple of Issues researched out: If you find this car to be a bit rough on the engine front or you feel a drag when your feet is off gas pedal, there are two things which are important to look at.
Make sure you have a clean air filter.(This is a no brainer)
IMPORTANT: You may be having "ground leaking" which may not surface quickly. If it surfaces, you would see it in lights not blinking properly(in my case - right indicator worked normal until I would brake and find all the three lights blinking at once) or have a fuse blowout in wrong places or your electrical components on the top(not in the engine) working haywire somehow. Go to a good battery mechanic and have it checked. Usually the ground terminals do not come into contact and kind of does not close the circuit enabling the SEM(Computer) work normal. This kind of behaviour is very common in European cars.(I had witnessed the same when I owned a BMW 325i way back in 2000).
The above situation plagued me for a good 2-3 months but could’nt do much until it surfaced in rear lights. Effect? I found my mileage return to normal(13 kmpl) in city and 16 on Highways. And no drag when my foot is off the gas.
Advice: This car is built to be driven. Drive it in proper gear ratios at appropriate speeds. Thrill guaranteed.
Changes to standard equipment:
I happened to put in it a non-standard FIAT silencer which is less expensive but not a sports one. This made little or no impact on its mileage.
Though it came fitted with 13rims and 185/80mm tires are recommended, I have 13/205/60mm tires on’em. No difference.
So work bit on art of driving and this should definitely thrill you.