Think of your favourite mid-sized car. Chop off the boot and more than Rs 1 lakh and you wouldn’t expect to be left with all the luxuries and comforts of an upmarket sedan, would you? But that’s exactly you get with the Fiat Palio.

Fiat bosses P Singhicelli (right) and MP Bianci receive the award from ex-MUL chief R C Bhargava.

Under the skin lies the sort of technology you don’t associate with small cars, including advanced engine management systems (it is the only car to use a 32-bit microprocessor) and a well specified suspension system that’s been tweaked over thousands of kilometres. The Palio rides and handles at least as well as any of its mid-size rivals. Whichever way you look at it, space per rupee, comfort per rupee or performance per rupee, the Palio wins on all counts. But what Indians who hang onto their cars for years will love is the ‘built to last’ feel and none of the fragility of the small cars we are used to. On paper at least, this makes it the safest car in its class and possibly safer than many a class above.

“Fiat has stolen a march on its rivals by producing a quality mid-size car for small car money” - Navaz Bhathena

It’s a package that offers outstanding value, making it no surprise that the Palio has the sort of waiting lists other car makers would die for.

The Palio incidentally has been re-skinned by one of the most accomplished designers in the world - Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro. Small car money, head turning looks; try that in a Santro or Wagon R. And because the Palio, to us in India, is a mid-sized car without a boot rather than a small hatch, the space available on the inside is nearly as much as a mid-size car.

The pliant, super refined ride of the 1.2 is almost unmatchable and the Palio will stay with many more expensive cars on a winding road; especially the 1.6. Other hatchbacks don't even come close.