Affordable. Spacious. Diesel. Good-looking. Right from the time it was born at the Italian design house IDEA, the Indica was a concept that couldn’t be faulted. It is a diesel hatch tailor-made for Indian families and even today, seven years after its launch, these fundamental attributes are its sales drivers. But if the concept is brilliant, the car has been let down by the execution, and even after consistent improvement, it fails to match international levels of quality and refinement. But the attractive, turbo-charged V2, with its petrol-like performance, does a great job of masking the Indica’s faults. It has an added attribute that not only makes you overlook the issues with the Indica, but also dials in aspiration into the car. Overall, the Fiat Palio D is the better built product that will certainly lost longer. It has the edge in ride and handling and the engine, though basic and not quite as refined, is a true workhorse. But the car lacks the enhanced appeal and verve of the Indica; it is also constrained by a service network that is already beginning to splinter. Moreover, at
Rs 5.31 lakh, the Palio ELX D’s price tag is more than a lakh over the Indica DLX Turbo and in a sub-segment where price plays a major role, that doesn’t help the Fiat’s cause. Sadly and most importantly, a new Palio D, given Fiat’s precarious situation, might just outlast the company. The choice then couldn’t be clearer.