Is Petra a high maintenance vehicle?

dear carwale, I saw many answers advicing potential buyers not to go for petra as it is high on maintenance.But i wish to get it clarified by the carwale team.b coz i read a long-term report from autocar on a palio(the only difference betwee a palio and petra is that the latter has a boot) which did 40000 kms,the magazine says it feels as if it has done only 4000kms. And another thing,the parts price of petra is far less than most vehicles in this secment(except esteem),so a no-no to petra based on maintenance means it is a big problem maker. I am seriously planning to buy a petra so am i making this querry.I expect a sincere approach from carwale.

Dear Swathy,

Yes, maintenance is not the major issue with Petra but it is an issue for most of the buyers. People who wants to buy Petra have lesser budget typically 5 lakhs and they seek minimum maintenance. We are not sure who told you that Petra is next to Esteem in maintenance but its not completely true. Yes, most of the Fiat cars are great at build quality but they do have mechanical parts and these parts do wear out. 40,000 kms run Palio may give you a feel as if its run just 4000 kms but there will be time ahead when there will be work in gearbox, wheels, engine and all. And trust us, then the picture would be slightly different then what AutoCar guys told you. However, you cannot say that Petra is a high-maintenance car.

In any case, its not just maintenance that keeps potential buyers from buying Petra/Palio. We do hardly talk about maintenance when we are discussing these cars. There are n number of reason which we consider before suggesting someone a Palio/Petra. There are very people in India who want a car which is bad at fuel economy, after-sales-service is bad, future is unsure and resale is pathetic. Trust us, nobody has got much to waste on such cars and this is the only reason you are not able to find a good Petra/Siena while you have been hunting for more than 5 months!

If anyone wants a car and is ready to compromise on economy factor, we would be the first one to recommend a Fiat. Consider Carwale people as one of the biggest fan of Fiat cars but this would be a biased advice if we suggest these cars to everyone.



CarWale Android App is launched. Download by searching for CarWale in Android Market on your phone or using this link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.carwale

Dear B.L.Sharma, I partially agree with certain points you have made.But as far it is compared with its competitors the price of the parts are atleast 30%lesser,(the price difference between a petra and baleno is not more than rs.50000),whereas the price difference between their parts are more than 35%. I have done an extensive study on the price of parts,i came to a conclusion that petras parts are priced less to any other car of its class. I am ready to send details of it.Neither their parts are troublesome in comparison to others. And in case of work in engine,gearbox,etc, let us assume that every vehicle will have to go through such a stage, or pls tell me any car which is better in these areas.If you are trying to convey that those works will be very expensive than in other cars kindly let me know. Fuel economy is another matter we have to take into account,every other car in this segment returns similar figures,like corsa,baleno,ford 1.6 etc.Even yesterday i spoke with an adventure owner,he told me that he is getting an average of not less than 11 in city with ac on.And in highways an avg of above 15(speed 50-70). And in kerala tata has taken over the sales and service of fiat vehicles.They are giving a warranty for 1yr with an option to extent for another year.They are providing every tata vehicle excluding petra,but they serve adventure. If you have any data to est my claims wrong,especially 'FE' put to my notice.It will be really helpful. I have stoped searching for a used vehicle and settled on a new adventure,if u could throw some light on the same it will be welcomed.

Dear Swathy,

Your analysis on maintenance part is quite right up to an extent. However we are not sure which competitors are you talking about by saying Petra's parts are 30% cheaper. Esteem's parts are the cheapest, there is good fight between Baleno and Petra, however Baleno is not comparable with Petra as its upper segment car. Indigo comes in similar range and has quite similar prices (even lesser) for spare parts.

Fuel economy, well, this is the thing you will find mostly vague. Everybody comes with some different figures. We don't say that Petra cannot give you 11 kmpl, maybe it can but in very light traffic conditions only. Even Palio 1.2 go beyond 10 kmpl in Mumbai traffic. If we consider the same example you talked about in your earlier post i.e. AutoCar's long-termer car, that too is returning 7 kmpl in city!

Since you are planning Adventure 1.6, we would like to make you aware that you are going to buy a car which is not a friend of fuel economy, performance is her real partner though. As you must be aware, another setback with Fiat cars you might get is resale. Interiors are not much appealing at the moment as they were introduced a few years back and there is no improvement done. Everything else with these cars is just superb.



CarWale Android App is launched. Download by searching for CarWale in Android Market on your phone or using this link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.carwale