Fiat Palio Stile 1.1

The face-lifted Palio gets bigger and bolder double-barrel headlamps, new honeycomb grille, new bumpers, slightly reshaped bonnet, tailgate and tail-lamps and they only serve to improve the already-handsome proportions of the Palio.

This car casts the same silhouette as the outgoing car, but is slightly longer thanks to the new bumpers. However, it is still below the 4-metre cut-off length to help it qualify for the small car  excise sop. The biggest difference in the Palio Stile is its change of heart. To qualify for the excise sop, the petrol small car has to have an engine that displaces less than 1.2 litres. So the old 1242cc engine has been done away with and in its place debuts the 1108cc engine borrowed from the Fiat Panda 1.1 sold in the UK.

Fiat has stuck with the old dash design simply because re-engineering the new one would have sent costs soaring. It looks the same, but the dark grey interiors have been replaced by a far more welcoming dual-tone dashboard that is beige on the lower half of the dashboard and brown on the top half. The centre console and the instrument console surround look far better with their brushed silver finish. Four colours on the dashboard lead to a bit of a mismatch, but it looks better than the coal bin interiors of the earlier car. The seats are supportive and the cushion provides just the right amount of support. The driving position is good, and Fiat has re-introduced the rotary seat-back angle adjustment, so it’s far easier to find a good position. Visibility from the driver’s seat is not great, thanks to the lowish seats and thick pillars, but Fiat has fitted a pair of wider mirrors, which really help when manoeuvering in tight places.

The five-speed manual gearbox and the gear ratios remain the same as on the Palio 1.2 except for a slightly shorter first gear. The 1.2 Palio will never be remembered for its power or performance and neither will this motor. The relatively low-tech 1108cc single overhead camshaft engine loses about 15bhp and 1.0kgm of torque to the 1.2-litre engine’s 72bhp and 10.4kgm of torque. At 990kg, the car is simply too heavy for the engine. With 57bhp on tap, the car’s power-to-weight ratio is 57.57bhp per tonne — very much on the ‘underpowered’ section of the scale. The low-end response is acceptable and the mid-range power is decent, but past 4500rpm, the engine labours to its redline. You don’t notice this power deficit much when driving in traffic as it will easily maintain speed. Fiat concentrated on improving low-end responsiveness, so there is noticeable forward movement when you tap the throttle. However, it is when you demand some overtaking power that you feel this engine’s dire shortage of horses. Drop down a gear and there’s not much improvement in forward movement. Drop down one more and now the engine starts screaming, but again there is no serious grunt.

Straight-line performance is disappointing. 100kph comes up in an excruciatingly slow 20.45 seconds — that’s close to four seconds slower than the 1.2 Palio. It’s slower than the Indica 1.2 and the Chevy U-VA. In fact, the Chevy Spark is 5.0sec faster. The Palio is poor in the in-gear slogs too. 20-80kph in third gear comes up in 19.98sec and the 40-100kph in fourth gear comes up in 34.19sec! The good thing is that it doesn’t feel as slow as it sounds. Make good use of the slick-shifting gearbox, keep the engine between 1500-3000rpm and you will make decent forward progress.

The superb handling and the steering that complements the Palio’s superb on road poise remains. The low-speed ride is a little on the stiff side but, as speeds increase, the suspension irons out irregularities beautifully.

Fuel efficiency is marginally up on the old Palio. The Palio 1.1 went 10.2km to a litre in the city and 15.04kpl on the highway, similar to other cars in its class and better than the Getz Prime 1.1. Strangely, with the air con on, the car has a very disturbing vibration at idle. It sounds rough, like it is about to stall. The cabin shakes and this can get irritating.