The Fiat’s ride is exceptional as usual, and riding on its higher profile tyres, the car simply swallows everything in its path. It also stays more composed than the Indica, mid-corner bumps seldom throwing it off line. But you have to work hard to hustle it through corners and the car seems to prefer taking them at sedate speeds.
While the Palio possesses a well-weighted and accurate steering, its largish turning circle means more three-point turns. The heavier engine (when compared to its petrol siblings) also makes the front bob mildly on undulating surfaces. The brakes feel squishy and inadequate during emergency stops and you miss the crisper brake feel and bite of its petrol sibling.
The Indica is by no means a bad handler but compared to the Palio, it does fall short. The ride is jiggly over road surface imperfections and the lower profile tyres could possibly be the culprits here. Mid-corner bumps also tend to unsettle the car, and it can be quite a handful on the twisties. The steering is not as accurate as the Palio’s and is vague in the straight-ahead position. The car’s uprated brakes, borrowed from the Indigo, are packed with adequate stopping power even when fully loaded, but tend to lock up quite easily. Hard braking also unsettles the V2 a bit and we also encountered a certain amount of brake fade after a series of repeated hard stops.