Fiat Palio Weekend and Fiat Palio Adventure - Engine, Gearbox & Performance

The Weekend and Adventure come with only one engine option - a 1.6- litre petrol. The 1.7 turbodiesel from the earlier Siena Weekend has been discontinued in place of a 1.9-litre naturally aspirated diesel that should be available at the end of the year. While it may seem that there is no change in the engine as the earlier Siena Weekend was also powered by a 1.6-litre, twin-cam, 16-valve motor, the new Siena and Adventure benefit from a newer 1.6 first seen under the hood of the hot Palio GTX. The differences are pretty substantial and include marginally more displacement, a longer stroke and the latest engine management system which includes a 32-bit microprocessor. As a result peak power is higher (100bhp) and the engine feels stronger in the lower part of the rev range. A key difference between the Weekend and Adventure is in the gearing which had to be optimised for each car separately to compensate for the huge difference in rolling circumference of the tyres. The Adventure&46;s set of ratios are more tightly stacked with a very useable fourth gear which is an overdrive on the Weekend. In terms of performance, there isn&46;t much difference between the two. Both cars accelerate from rest to 100kph in under 13 seconds which is pretty good for a car weighing 1.2 tons. The Weekend is a touch quicker off the line but the Adventure gets its nose ahead beyond 120kph, the result of different gearing. In-gear acceleration is not as impressive and lighter cars like the Corsa Swing and Baleno Altura are far quicker in the 20-80kph slog in third gear or 40-100kph in fourth gear. These figures however don&46;t reflect the Weekend and Adventure&46;s real-world abilities. Both are extremely driveable and you can potter along in a high gear all day. Click a gear down on the light gearbox and you&46;re into the meat of the powerband, the additional thrust very effective. Though the 16-valve engines lack the razor-sharp responsiveness of the Ikon, the broad spread of torque makes driving these estates a pleasure. You&46;re always smug in the knowledge that there&46;s plenty of reserve in the motor. Even when stuffed to the gills with luggage scraping the roof, the Weekend and Adventure don&46;t feel underpowered. The cable-operated gearshift is light and smooth and does a good job of isolating engine vibrations through the gear lever. It, however, just doesn&46;t have that crisp feel of conventional linkages.

Fiat Palio Weekend and Fiat Palio Adventure - Design & Engineering

The new Weekends sport the Palio&46;s frontal treatment and are instantly recognisable with those exquisite clear lens headlights and slot grille which carries the new Fiat centenary logo. Like the Palio, the Weekends were given a fresh set of clothes by Guigiaro of ItalDesign fame, who has some of the most exquisite designs of the century to his credit. Other changes from the Siena Weekend to Palio Weekend are more subtle but have made the overall design more balanced. Emphasis was laid on the lower part of the car where a very subtle side skirt merges into a much stronger rear bumper. The tail-lights too are new as in the location of the rear numberplate up from the tail-gate. This breaks up the mass at the rear and makes the tailgate look less heavy. The Adventure looks like a Weekend on steroids. It is wrapped up in non-scratch, mattblack plastic that extends from the heavy bumpers to the wheel arch cladding and a toughlooking running board. Double ski racks, a bull bar, a pair of ellipsoidal auxiliary lights and much taller and chunky high-profile tyres give the Adventure attitude that gets you all those looks and glances.

Hi-pro Pirellis transform dynamics; Adventure name is handles neat touch; luggage space design clever.

Built on Fiat&46;s famous 178 &45;World Car&46; platform that has been overengineered for harsh driving conditions, the Weekend and Adventure have an extremely tough and rigid chassis that makes them feel like a battle tank. They are excessively heavy and each tip the scales at more than 1200kg, the Adventure being slightly heavier due to the extra cladding. Long travel suspensions too make these cars well suited to our roads, with the Adventure having even taller and harder springs. Unlike Opel and Maruti, Fiat just didn&46;t build an estate from a hatch or saloon car. The Weekend is re-engineered with the wheelbase stretched by 63mm more than the Palio and the rear suspension too was changed to a compact independent set-up with short springs that do not intrude into the all-important luggage area. The Adventure&46;s significantly taller 175/80 R14 tyres give it more ground clearance than the Weekend by 20mm, a useful benefit especially since the Weekend&46;s clearance has been one of its weak points.

Fiat Palio Weekend and Fiat Palio Adventure - Interiors

The interiors of the two cars are identical even to the Palio and the earlier Siena Weekend. This is one area where things haven&46;t changed much. You get the same familiar asymmetrical dashboard with the seam above the glovebox that looks like a makeshift addon. The central console though seems friendlier and features a brushed aluminium look. Also updated on the central console is the music system that gets softer-touch buttons and a chrome finish. It&46;s surprising how few Rear legroom more than Palio thanks to longer wheelbase. Front seats comfy manufacturers get the airbut upholstery garish. vent-to-stereo positioning correct like Fiat has - it&46;s much safer for the driver at this height. Both cars come with sporty leather-clad steering wheels, metal pedals. Meaty-feeling stalks and electrically-operated mirrors are standard on the Adventure. The front seats are generous and blessed with enough travel but are placed low in relation to the dashboard. As a result, short drivers tend to peer over the high steering wheel. The extra length of the Weekend&46;s wheelbase also means that rear seat passengers don&46;t pull the short straw as far as comfort is concerned, though underthigh support is still not as good as it could have been due to a short bench. The clever use of luggage space reflects the thought and attention to detail that has gone into this estate. The luggage area is large and flat with a minimum of intrusions to maximise load-carrying capacity. The suspension is tucked under the floorpan and out of the way and the tailgate opens from below-bumper level. The spare wheel too is placed under the body, which is more convenient to access in a fully-laden car. Topping it off is a solid and well-built rear parcel shelf which doubles up as an effective security cover. Whilst the interiors are extremely functional and feel great in the Palio, we looked at them with new eyes in the Weekend and Adventure. The benchmarks are now different and we expected more from a car that sitting in the Rs 7 lakh bracket. The interiors lack plushness and the plastics all look and feel hard. Fiat has improved the upholstery quality

but the design is just too garish. Though the equipment levels haven&46;t been finalised, the Adventure is expected to be better kitted out with extras like power mirrors, airbags and ABS. The air-con blower at higher speeds is too noisy but thankfully the heavy duty compressor pumps out chilled air to keep occupants sufficiently cool even with the rear parcel tray removed.