My Cheetah, My Canary Yellow Palio 1.6 Sports

[mchanna]

I was silent admirer of FIATs (1100, UNO, 118NE)
None from our family had any cars but still, everytime I look at those beauties, I used to get some kind of happiness.
I even did not know they are all belongs to FIAT family.

There were many email groups in the company Puzzles, ICE, BuySell, trecking, Photography, Movies, Automobiles many more you name it you have it.
I have subscribed for Automobiles as one of them.

One day there was a post saying a Fern Green Palio 28K run 2003 model GTX is on sale @SB Road for 2.25Lakhs.
I thought of giving a try! So asked one my experience friend to check the vehicle.
He happily accompanied. We reached the dealers place.
Till then I never drove any vehicle, I just had my license from driving school and had only 10Hrs of driving experience that to Santro ZipDrive.

My friend (he was owning a honda) took the Keys and we had a nice 10-15ks run. After he returned he just said "It is Awesome, just close the deal"
Now my hands started itching to get on the wheel. I asked him with a low not so very confidant voice "Shall I?". And thats is "LOVE Story" started.

Its a time to convince back at home that I am planing to buy a second car. To my expectation no one agreed. They insisted to go for a new car.
It was all in the month of Aug.

Now the hunt and research started with a budget range of 5L.
Almost 99.9% friends/relatives said BIG NO to FIAT. To add to it FIAT announced it is stopping the manufacturing of Palio nv varients
Standard comments
Why FIAT???
No Resale!!! (Who cares?? and Who wants to sell it?)
No after sales service (Lets see)
No spare parts (Lets see)
Look from the back it is so ugly (Ahh Palio carrys the look from the back, it is the most beautifully designed part)

I took test drive of newly launched Swift, Esteem, Chevy AVEO & SRT, Ford Icon, Tata Indigo.
Liked Icon but what to do already fell for Palio.

Every day I used to compare the specs of Palio with all other cars no matter what segment. Finally locked on Palio 1.6 Sports Canary Yellow!!

Search
Every weekend I had to visit all the FIAT showrooms enquiring the Palio.
Some has RED some has 1.2 Sports some has Adventure some has Petra. But no one has C.Yellow Palio 1.6 Sports.
In Sep 2006 approached Pandit, they said we have it (probably thinking they can push the Red palio at the end).
Gave 20K and booked C.Yellow Palio (1L discount 4.8OTR).
Following are the freebies offered
1. underbody coating
2. Matting
3. Filming


Waiting
Most difficult part of life is waiting for something that you love the most.
Day converted to weeks, weeks converted to month. No news from Pandit.

One fine day in Nov I called up the SA to hear the bad news "Sir company stopped manufacturing the C.Yellow"
I never lost my temper till that date. Blasted him like anything. I just said do whatever you want but I need C.Yellow color Palio.
2Days after he called me and gave me Mangesh's No. Now its mangesh's turn to hear from me

Poor fellow listened to all my crap and said "Sir, will try to get you the color you want", I jumped a feet from my seat but settled immediately when he said "nothing before Feb from the new ranjangaon plant"

Another 3months of waiting :sigh:

DEC, JAN went like 2 years, but then came FEB still no news from Mangesh/SA.

Booking the palio itself proved lucky to me FEB 14 I got engaged!! so I didnt even know when MARCH hit the calender.
Meantime I got a call from Mangesh and confirmed my car is in production line and will be delivered in 3rd week of March.
I felt very proud when he said "Sir your is one of the first 2 cars coming out from the Ranjangaon production line"

My happy mood got more happy with this news. I started preparing myself for the Palio.
To my surprise Pandit SA called me and confirmed that car is ready for delivery and I can come and collect the car anytime.
I was on cloud 9 as I was getting the car a week early. Its time to decide the name for the love. I had requested the SA to get me a good number for which he charged me 5K and I was OK with it hence got the special name for someone special (5777).

16th March 2007 is the date confirmed after checking with family and auspicious day blah blah blah. If allowed I would have picked it from plant itself.


Loaded my camera and packed a KG of sweets, called my colleague drive directly to Pandit Tilak Road.
At home : For the first 15 days I have spent more time in car than home.
Time just flew with palio and within 10months churned a happy 16K kms.

Odo : ~16K
2008 Unfortunately I have to go onsite for undefined period of time everyone was insisting to sell the car and go.
Somehow I could not convince myself to sell it so decided to leave it at my in-law's place and requested to drive it for 10-20 kms every week.
My inlaws were kind enough to take care of my baby (why not I was taking care of their baby :wink: )


I returned in 2011 and my yellow baby was all mine and had put on another 15K weight to the odo.
Odo : 30K

Its again been 2 years since I am enjoying the beast. She added another 20K and now reads at ~50K


Here are the details:
Mods : None
ICE : Kenwood HU, front JBL Comp, Rear 6X9 JBL Co-Axial
Seat Cover : Art leather black.

Accidents :
1. My Sister in law banged the divider, Radiator and front bumper replaced


Car Care:
Underbody coating (company)
Filming (garware company fitted)
I have never done any paint protection or sealant treatment so far. Just cold water wash and once in 2-3 months pressure wash with whatever soap the washing centre guy uses.


Mechanicals Changed:
1. Clutch master/slave cylinders changed due to leakage (donno the reason)
2. Undergoing clutch replacements at sky moto
3. Next year will be changing all the belts

Current Odo : 49567

How do you feel:
> VERY VERY HAPPY!!
> A thud sound gives confidence, feels safe.
> 3 Stage door is so safe for kids.
> Even my friends who look at my car today don't say any words.
> Truly neighbors envy!
> First time everyone hated that color for being noticed everywhere. Now every one loves that color for being exclusive
> It is one of the best car to drive! Driving Nirvana! Countless times I took it for a drive whenever I was down and returned with a wide grin!
> Zero maintenance, only oil (mineral) change every 7500 KMs or 6 months
> Guts of taking any one on road and off road

Tours
5 Trips - Lonavla Khandala
2 Trips - Mahabaleshwar
7 Trips to Native - 400KMS one way
5-6 Trips to My sister's place - 200KMS one way
2 trips to Hyderabad from Native - 200KMS oneway
1 Trip to Murud-Janjira
1 Trip to Dapoli

Max Speed experienced : 165+
Mileage : 11-12 in city (consistently), >16 on highway if driven within 90-110, >110 13-14 (all with 100% AC on)



Notes of Appreciation:
PUG - Palio Users Group for boosting my confidence and explaining the strong points of PALIO
My Family who gave me the freedom to choose what I want to choose.
All friends who said NO - I have a bad habit of doing something unusual and listening to my own voice.
All friends who supported
Special thanks to Sameer Ajgaonkar and Mangesh.


Here are the pics of the ageless beauty!!

On D Day



AT home


First PUG meet and happy with cousins


Around Pune

[mchanna]

With its sibling and my proud pocessions

[MULTIJET]

First Pug meet is it of whispering woods lonavala?Mine and GBs was the only Palio 1.2 and rest all were 1.6.

[mchanna]

That's right multijet it was a treat, and I can't imagine palio became a classic so soon :-(

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Ravveendrra B]

Welcome to MFW Channa. Always nice to see an old PUGger become active here. You are truly part of a rare breed - owner of a 1.6 from new till date! Wish you many more years of happy ownership.

Cheers,

[mchanna]

Welcome to MFW Channa. Always nice to see an old PUGger become active here. You are truly part of a rare breed - owner of a 1.6 from new till date! Wish you many more years of happy ownership.

Cheers,

Thanks ravvendrra, yes it feels special indeed.

[ganeshb]

Hey Channa,


Nice to see you after long time and thanks for reminding me of our old meets pic "First PUG meet and happy with cousins"... btw Tjet? when did you brought, how could i miss that?

[Dr.Palio]

Truely wonderful. I believe its a GTX not S10 . Havent seen factory painted canary yellow GTX

[mnemonic]

Welcome Channa. If am not wrong your 1.6 Sport and Mine were just a couple of months apart in 2006 and were amongst the first of the 1.6 Sport breed ( post GTX era) to come out of Ranjangaon.

Great to have you onboard and look forward to seeing you in the next meet.

cheers,

[mchanna]

Hey Channa,


Nice to see you after long time and thanks for reminding me of our old meets pic "First PUG meet and happy with cousins"... btw Tjet? when did you brought, how could i miss that?

Thanks Ganesh
Yes :-p happened to meet with modern Italian beauty and fell in love once again. Will share the jet story soon.

[mchanna]

Truely wonderful. I believe its a GTX not S10 . Havent seen factory painted canary yellow GTX

Dr. It's neither GTX nor S10
It is sports nv, post GTX and was available only in 2 colors
Ferrari red and canary yellow.

[mchanna]

Welcome Channa. If am not wrong your 1.6 Sport and Mine were just a couple of months apart in 2006 and were amongst the first of the 1.6 Sport breed ( post GTX era) to come out of Ranjangaon.

Great to have you onboard and look forward to seeing you in the next meet.

cheers,

Is yours also yellow?? I know 2yellow cars came out of ranjangaon's first batch.
Definitely we should catchup!!

[mnemonic]

Is yours also yellow?? I know 2yellow cars came out of ranjangaon's first batch.
Definitely we should catchup!!

Mine is a Formula Red 1.6 Sports. I pretty much had to wait for 5 weeks as it was made to order and was amongst the first batches to be made after they relaunched it in its new avatar.

cheers,

PS: I was so keen on the Canary Yellow but my wife vetoed it . Surprisingly, now she is a big fan of the Canary Yellow Palios....

[roms]

Fantastic pictures of your Palio 1.6 Sport and its younger sibling mchanna! My personal favourite is the one on the bridge. The Canary yellow looks mesmerising with the evening light deflecting off the surfaces and lines of the Palio. Gorgeous!!

So you and your beloved Palio were a part of that mega FCI meet that took place in 2007 at Whispering Woods, Lonavla. That was an awesome meet. I still remember the dealer representative assuring us that service for Fiat and the spare parts situation was well under control and that we need not worry about Fiat India shutting shop. After all of that, it was ironical to see him drive out in a Maruti Wagon R! Haha! A real confidence booster for us FIATians! When we teased him about it, he actually mumbled "Uh..yeah..its reliable!"

Here is a thread dedicated to that meet with pictures posted by MK and myself:

http://myfiatworld.com/forum/f33/pug...007-a-396.html

The S10 with registration # 2980 was mine back then. And now I own a Palio that is almost identical to yours, a Canary Yellow Palio 1.6 Sport, except that you have really dark tints! Don't the cops run you down for that in Pune?

Anyways, heartiest welcome to the forum! It is good to see an old timer joining us...err old timers!

[mchanna]

Fantastic pictures of your Palio 1.6 Sport and its younger sibling mchanna! My personal favourite is the one on the bridge. The Canary yellow looks mesmerising with the evening light deflecting off the surfaces and lines of the Palio. Gorgeous!!

So you and your beloved Palio were a part of that mega FCI meet that took place in 2007 at Whispering Woods, Lonavla. That was an awesome meet. I still remember the dealer representative assuring us that service for Fiat and the spare parts situation was well under control and that we need not worry about Fiat India shutting shop. After all of that, it was ironical to see him drive out in a Maruti Wagon R! Haha! A real confidence booster for us FIATians! When we teased him about it, he actually mumbled "Uh..yeah..its reliable!"

Here is a thread dedicated to that meet with pictures posted by MK and myself:

http://myfiatworld.com/forum/f33/pug...007-a-396.html

The S10 with registration # 2980 was mine back then. And now I own a Palio that is almost identical to yours, a Canary Yellow Palio 1.6 Sport, except that you have really dark tints! Don't the cops run you down for that in Pune?

Anyways, heartiest welcome to the forum! It is good to see an old timer joining us...err old timers!

Thanks Roms,
Yes I was lucky to be the part of that wonderful meet which brought me even close the my Palio and PUG.

Black tints I caught only once so far and paid the fine. Planing to remove the tints now [just to be a good citizen of india who obeys the rules without questioning]