Fiat Palio Weekend 1.6

Author's Car rating:   

Safety	Satisfactory
Comfort	Poor
Road Handling	Good
Looks	Poor
Features	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Cheap, wide availability of technical support
Disadvantages:	Utterly Fiat

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full car review

Alright... So this is another Fiat built here in Turkey... Let us go try it even if we have no intent whatsoever to buy it... (Buy a Fiat ? God NO !)

Looks and Body :
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The same dull looks of the Palio hatch and Siena (the sedan version)

The body gives the durable feel when you knock on it. However, the paint clearly shows that it will fade soon under the harsh sun of Turkish summers. You folks have a year more before she fades away in the UK.

The body is extremely rigid. Good... This "half on the curb test" of mine should become an industrial standard... (I want my copyright for it !)

The pillars are very thick which gives the impression that the body can withstand real hard knocks. However this image is tarnished when you come across the door sill design. It is a straight rectangular opening and the panel joining corners give the impression that the design was actually done to ease the production instead of providing for added safety. The door opening (especially the front doors) may crumple and obstruct exit after a crash, rendering the doors prctically welded into place thus making it very difficult or impossible to flee the vehicle or worse yet, cause loss of precious time for rescue teams.

Seeing this, I decided to see the body safety within the bonnet to see what could happen after a head on or an offset.

Trim is absurdly cheap plastic and disguised under the same color which is even duller than the body itself.

Engine and Mechanics :
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The engine bay is typical. A piece of machinery for Tony to fix again... The front "pod" where the radiator(s) and healights are fixed is of a sissy piece of metal sheet. The metal sheets seem to be fashioned in an as easy as possible manner so it would slash time off the production man hours... Ummm... Nope; I would not trust it...

Performance is not worth dweeling on... Just moves the car...

The brakes are good. They stop the already not-too-heavy vehicle easily. However they give the feel that they may fade too eary causing real heartbeats and adrenaline downhill... Panic braking proved to be safe with the ABS kicking in in a timely manner. Watch out for the rear biased braking power though... ABS does not defy physics laws ya know... So do not brake all that hard in curves expecting the car to stop dead in it's tracks. Careful pilotng is a must.

The gears engage easily, plopping into place. However the whirring of the gearbox is annoying.

The shocks have a short travel and the spiral springs are stiff. So this car is highway queen. Countryside roads can become kidney pulverisers if the load and speed blend is sufficient.

It has always annoyed me to see that car manufacturers always claim that the McPherson strut system is best. This strut system is the simplest; thus cheapest to build. And it is of no significant comfort or handling improvement whatsoever. If that was the case, Mercedes, Porsche etc. would use it... They just pump us with what they wish us to believe...

Interior :
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The same old cheap interior plastics. The seats are at a good level of stiffness however not sized adequately for drivers and passengers like myself.

The backrest is short and the backrest side supports are exaggerated in curvature. My spine hardly rested against the rest. The back is so low that even if you adjust the headreast to the top, you are still under a whiplash threat.

The seat is so high that even as I lowered the seat to its bottom, my head still scraped against the headliner. A hard knock and the car will have a brand new observation bubble as some aircraft would. Well this may be insignificant for a bonehead such as I am. But for common people; a fractured skull and brain hemmorhage comes stock and free of charge...

Rear passenger legroom is nonexistant for tall passengers. This car could become a top seller in the Kalahari for Pigme's...

Bootroom is vast. Could have used some of it for creature comfort though...

A brand new car squeeking and rattling ? How on earth... Oh OK it is a Fiat... almost forgot...

The dash layout is annoying. The rotary controls are marked in a very confusing manner. I mean why would I need some "bowstring technical drawing" look to the heating etc. controls ??? The stereo has speed volume control etc. You need hard it to supress all that tyre and engine etc. noise...

Conclusion :
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It is cheap car if you are looking for a brand new interim before you buy your Passat station wagon (estate you folks would call it) But if you are looking for your 5-6 year family driver; forget it... Do yourself a favor and walk away to a Renault dealer which sells much better cars at little higher costs...