Sometimes one remembers that regular people spend much more time at work than at their own homes. The automotive analogy to that goes like this: we may spend more time driving a company vehicle than our own automobiles (that may be a simple fact of life for traveler salesmen or truck/bus/taxi drivers, but probably not so obvious for non professional drivers). That’s what happened to me some 20 years ago. This is the story of how I got a nice experience at the wheel of two tiny Fiats: 1995 Uno Mille EP and Palio 1.0 ED.
Around 1996 I was in my last year of Secondary Technical School and working as an intern at a small company specialized on sales and maintenance of foreign industrial machinery. I worked almost exclusively with PET blowing compressor units sourced by Compresores ABC from Spain. About three or four days a week I worked at the office helping sales of replacement parts and maintenance services. Our customers were soda bottlers located all over the major Estate capitals, so most of the services we used to sell were outsourced to partners. But for customers within like 300 km of São Paulo we usually did field services ourselves: mainly startups of new compressors and preventive and corrective (read urgent) maintenance services.
That’s what lets me to this COAL: in order to get to our clients we had to drive there and most of the times I used to do it. For about almost one year we had available two identical 1996 red Fiat Uno Mille EP. For those not familiar with the Fiat Uno I’ll summarize it’s origins in Italy and it’s remarkable story at Brazilian soil.
The Uno was designed by Giorgio Giugiaro to replace the Fiat 127. In Europe it was launched in 1983 and awarded “Car of the Year” in Europe. It had several different engines like a 903cc pushrod (45hp), 1116cc sohc (55hp) and 1301cc sohc (70hp) and a diesel 1.3l with 45hp. In 1985 the Uno Turbo was introduced with a 1.3l engine producing 105hp. The standard transmission of the Uno was 5 speed manual but in 1987 Fiat presented one of the first CVT transmissions of the world with the Uno Selecta. The car was offered with three and five doors bodystyles.
Its measurements were uncommon: 3,64m (143,3in) long, 1,55m (61 in) wide, 1,44m (56,7in) high with a relatively long 2,4m (94,5in) wheelbase. It was acclaimed for it’s huge interior space and low fuel consumption, helped by low weight 896kg (1975 pounds) and sleek style with a drag coefficient of just 0.34.
Mid 1980’s European market Uno Turbo
Then Fiat brought the Uno to Brazil, beginning assembly in 1984. It’s important to stress that back then Fiat was a small and relatively new player in the Brazilian market, with a small lineup consisting of the 147 family (better known as 127 in Europe) of a hatchback, a 2 door sedan, a 3 door wagon, a van and a pick-up.
1982 Fiat lineup in the Brazilian market (the 2 door sedan called Spazio was not available yet)
The 147 family cars were really wonderfully spacious for such small size and economical, among other qualities. But the Uno and the rest of its family (also consisting of a hatchback, a sedan, a wagon, a van and a pick-up) was a major step from Fiat. It later grew in sales and reputation in the Brazilian market.
1978 Fiat 147 clever interior
But the Uno really went big in the 1990’s when Fiat launched the 1.0l engine version of it, taking the opportunity created by a new reduced tax level for cars with that engine size. Other automakers took to long to follow Fiat and didn’t have the know-how on that kind of car. They also didn’t have the combination of cars of the appropriate size and lightness and a 1.0l engine able to move then properly (ask Ford with Escort Hobby 1.0 and VW with the first generation Gol 1000, both awfully sluggish). The Uno Mille sure was slow but was much less slow than the competition and with many improvements on engines and comfort amenities it made a lot of success bringing new customers to Fiat.
Yearly 1990’s Brazilian Fiat Uno Mille
Many got to know Fiats could not only be economical and space efficient but also sufficiently rugged to face the terrible Brazilian roads. That’s not all. Fiat was the major responsible to really popularize the 5 door hatchback and was the first to offer a decently appointed 1.0l car in Brazil (the Uno ELX with air conditioning, power windows and locks, and some other equipment never before seen that kind of car around here), a smart move to fight the new Chevrolet Corsa launched in 1994.
yearly 1990´s Brazilian Fiat Uno Mille interior
Back at work, someday the pair of Uno were replaced by two blue 1996 FIAT Palio ED, again with an 1.0L engine. The history of the Palio is different from the Uno because It was designed to be sold only on developing/underdeveloped markets and not in Europe (where the Uno had already been replaced by the Punto). So although the basic chassis was a development of the Uno the structure and suspension were significantly stronger, suitable for rougher roads than the European ones. The body and interior were designed by the IDEA studio of Turin/Italy. It measured 3,73m (146,8in) long, 1,61m (63,4in) wide, 1,44m (56,7in) high with a 2,36m (92,9in) wheelbase, and weighting 890 kg (1962 pounds). Production begun in 1996 in Brasil. Between 1997 and 2002 it production also begun in Argentina, Venezuela, Poland, Morocco, Turkey, India, South Africa, Egypt and China.
1996 Fiat Palio 3 door
The design of the original Palio is characterized by a very steep hood and a distinctive pair of rear lights. It’s odd that despite a rounded shape, in terms of aerodynamics it was very close to the “square” and 13 year old Uno: drag coefficient of 0.33 compared to 0.34 of the Uno. I still consider the (original non facelifted) Uno more harmonic and gracious than the Palio. I don’t know about the other markets where Fiat built Palio but for the Brazilian ones the car suffered three facelifts and all of then made the car look worse and less cohesive than the original, at least in my opinion. The same thing happened to the dash of which I prefer the first to the later ones.
1996 Fiat Palio interior
The little Fiats were all too different from the 1985 VW Gol BX I owned at the time. Not only for being new but because they had air conditioning, power windows, power locks, rear window defrogger, etc., unlike the old and ultra spartan Gol. Above all that, both Fiats had very good ergonomics with a clever dash panel, wheel drive and pedals position, and a “smart” engine with 5 speed manual. Of course they would only be “smart” if you worked very well on the shifts and gas, but it was a learning curve process.
The Brazilian Uno had the spare tyre in the engine compartment
Both cars did very well the job of running in the smaller spaces on the streets of Sao Paulo with good power. At the highways the challenge was to make them get above 60 mph, but then it was really nice. One could make 120km/h (75 mph) averages relatively easy (we used to travel in two people and a just a toolbox). The Uno and Palio of those years had the Fiasa engine designed by the famous italian engineer Aurelio Lampredi, whose engines equipped many Fiats, Alfas, Lancias and Ferraris. It was an oversquared engine with high rpm peak power (58hp and at 61hp in the Palio, both at 6000 rpm). The sound of that engine was very nice, even being a 1.0l.
When I left that company sometime later to enter college, it was the end of a nice experience with those tiny Fiats which used to run faster than many more powerful and fancier cars.
My first car in ownership was a 1988 Brazilian Fiat Uno Cs, purchased with just 13000 km on the clock. It had a 1.242 cc engine (it was called a 1.3) and was pretty Spartan. From what I remember, its only extras were a nice radio and rear window defogger. Living in Uruguay with a much cooler weather than Brazil, heaters were standard here, as were power brakes. I kept that car for 4 years and about 50000 km (I lived near my workplace). The engine was happy to rev, so in spite of its low top output, the getaway was very good for a city car. The steering was light and precise, the gearbox was quite easy to shift (not the case for most FWD Fiats at that time) and the space inside was amazing. As I bought the car from an old lady whose abilities did not include good driving practices, the clutch was gone at 15000 km. She had also had a close encounter with another car, resulting in a new radiator and assorted cooling system issues, which surfaced promptly and had to be addressed, but with no further consequences. Perhaps the best I can say about the Uno is that I replaced it with a ’92 Fiat Elba CSL (station wagon, same platform and wheelbase, 4 doors, about 40 cm more in length, huge loading space in rear).
Olá, Did your Fiats run on sugarcane alcohol? If so, how did it affect performance?
Rob, actually both of them run on gas. In the 90’s only a few new cars sold in Brazil did burn alcohol. That was because in late 80’s/early 90’s there were some lack of supply and alcohol got very expensive. Folks had a real trauma of buying new alcohol cars. Sales of new cars than run on alcohol only recovered in mid to late 2000’s, when a new engine technology which enabled new engines to burn gas OR alcohol was launched (what is now called flex fuel).
Now most new cars in Brazil are like that.
Anyway the common pattern for any brazilian alcohol burner car was: you had to warm the engine a lot, especially in cold weather. Many times it was difficult to cold start them. Economy for short distance using was horrible because of that. When warmed they used to run faster then a identical gas burner engine. At least that was the case with my current private car at the time (see previous COAL) any other I have known.
Great article Eliminator, as you mention both the Uno and the Palio were built in South Africa. The final Uno sold here was sourced from Brazil, see attached picture. A long time ago I used an Uno at work and was so impressed I bought one secondhand, which was a big mistake, as it had been accident damaged which was not disclosed at the time. They are brilliant to drive. I used to drive circles round bigger cars as they are sporty and nimble. I still see Palios here daily, they are all still in great condition, and the styling still looks fresh and interesting.
I would love to see how a 1 liter engine performs when it has a supercharger AND turbocharger (i.e. twincharger) working with direct injection, vtec cam profiles and all the other modern advances!!! It would have over 150 hp and plenty of torque..and great mileage because of the small engine size. Now imagine the Uno being pulled along by that mill 🙂
The 999cc Ford 3-cylinder eco-boost has no supercharger, but I think there is a version with around 150 BHP.
https://youtu.be/CxLRcmNRyu0
Something gotta give. You can’t squeeze a lot of horses out of an engine and still expect it to be fuel efficient. Even if we are talking about a 1.0 L.
You can still buy a Palio Fire here. Of course, only with the 5 door body. And also the Siena which is the sedan version.
Here in Argentina we had the Uno a little later. It was launched in 1988 and was sold as a luxurious compact fully equiped. The cheaper products were the Brío (147-based) and the Spazio line (also 147-based). As time went along became a price leader in its category and is still a common sight in the streets.
The Brazilian-made Unos are still used as taxis in the northern provinces, and I can assure you that they can keep up with an unhelathy dose of abuse.
Gaspar, it’s interesting to know that. Many Brazilians still take Fiats as fragile cars but in my opinion the Uno and Palio family cars deserve better judgment: for example in many cities like Rio they are widely used as taxis too. Which are the most and least reliable car brands in the perception of Argentinians drivers?
I haven’t seen a 3-door Palio, but I’ve seen the wagon version, in Spain. Unos used to be everywhere, of course, until the rust got to them. I used to run 127s for my better half, many years ago, and they were great fun.
Applause to Curbside Classic how do you do ? You are unveiling all the automotive creatures from every corner of the planet, guess America never knew before about this Palio. Infact thanks to its enormous popularity in the whole Latin America, this Palio afforded to Fiat being the most succesful number one best selling company in the giant Brazilian market, incredibly Volkswagen can’ t match Fiat for above 10 years to date. Palio is a good engineered machine that helped Fiat to improve its regional image. To your next inquiry , haven’ t ever dreamed of a Palio with 3 boxes commonly said a notchback one? You do not need to make a fantasy, it already exists and it’s named Fiat Siena & Grand Siena , a tiny saloon made in Argentina , which also results to be another ( incredibly ! ) good machine, very dependable as no other in the region’ s Fiat history, meanwhile these Sienas proven to be as great sellers as its liftback Palio cousin.
I agree with you, Fiat had some wonderful years beating the then almighty VW. Well, the truth is that VW has been losing market share not to Fiat but to many players including GM.
We did get these downhere.Reliable cars when weather is cool.but they don’t like the heat in summers in central desert of iran.i remember seeing tons of them with their hoods up& drivers waiting on their cars to cool off.really can not blame the European cars for overheating here since many times we see temps of 145 Fahrenheit or more in july&august.
Good to know! How do the locally produced Peugeots handle the heat in summer?
Good question.actually as far as i know those locally built PEUGEOTs have bigger radiators and come with two big cooling fans that one is running as long as the engine is running& the otherone is working when thermostat allows.my dad actually removes the thermostat in beginning of summer.
This is great! It is a window into how the automobile figures into a different and unique society and an integral part of what has made CC different from the start. Too often journalists focus on the technical aspects of the automobile and I am forever grateful that we have an increasing number of contributors to CC who bring these new perspectives to enrich the site with.
Several brazilian Fiats were sold in Italy, and sometimes other european markets.
-the Uno as the Uno CS and later Innocenti Mille
-the Palio, both hatch and wagon
-the Prémio as the Duna (both sedan and wagon) and later Innocenti Elba (wagon only), as well as the Penny panel van
-the 147 Panorama and first-gen Fiorino
-my favourite one, the Italy-only 127 Rustica. Made in 5000 examples, it was a 147 that was upfitted by Lamborghini (!) with steel bumpers, a roof rack and a lift kit. The story goes that Fiat couldn’t justify the expense of doing the conversion in-house, so they decided to farm it out to one of the many small companies specialized in this kind of low-volume jobs. Nobody accepted, as the margins were too thin to make a profit. Nobody except, surprisingly, Lamborghini. Lamborghini at the time was on the brink of bankruptcy, building around 3 Countachs per month (!), so this deal was what kept the factory from shutting down.
Thanks for the information, I didn’t know the Palio was sold in Europe. This 147 is very nice! I used to run on many 147 back in the 80’s and 90’s. I think they’re very cleverly designed. I like the rational clean likes of the interior too. IMHO nowadays generally car designs are too busy and are priorized over functionality.
I’m fairly certain Brazilian 147s were also sold in Israel as well as some Unos. The same applied to the 5 door Brazilian Ford Escort Mk III.
There you go, a Hebrew ad for the Duna:
… and two 147s in an Israeli Fiat club meeting
I enjoyed this article very much. It was both new and familiar. My dad bought an Uno, another Uno and a Punto in Germany. They had the F.I.R.E. engine: Fully Integrated Robotized Engine. Assembled without human hands involved. One of them had a bad piston which rendered it a Fully Individually Reassembled Engine. After that it was good. The Unos did really well on the Autobahn too. I took one to an indicated 169 km/h. The quality of materials and assembly was…..uhm Italian. The Punto’s headlamps employed a glue to put the lens on the reflector. This glue eventually failed, shortly after selling the car to our neighbor. He accused us of gluing it up. They also had plastic tanks on the sides of aluminum radiators. Those developed cracks. The driving experience was Italian as well-in the best way.
Many thanks for the compliment. I really enjoyed your COAL series !
I had a buddy in university who had a FIAT X1/9, which was a great car for young guys. He would let me borrow it on occasion and it was a real joy to drive compared to my 6.5L Ford Torino. That’s when I fell in love with FIATs.
I had a couple of Yugos during the 90’s, very inexpensive transportation. Based on the 127, they were tough little cars, especially if you maintained them properly. And the maintenance was just normal items. I lusted after a FIAT Coupe, but they were not imported to the US, so I could not fulfill that dream.
During the 90’s, I grew tired of the anonymous Japanese compacts and the relatively high prices of the VWs we got here in the US. I long hoped for one of the other European marques to return to the US. I looked longingly at the Twingo, various Puntos and even Seats.
I’d heard about the South American FIATs, but have never seen one in person. They sound like they have all of the attributes I desire in a small car. For now, I will live with my American car, but in the future, I hope to get a FIAT 500 Abarth as a runabout. Thanks for the well written article!
Interesting to see the followup life of that little box – I had no idea the Palio was a redeveloped Uno.
The Palio wagon was actually exported to Europe (called Weekend here), so we got to see it first hand. Introducing wagon versions of everything became a trend in the pre-SUV era, and has held strong since. At the time, VW marketed the Polo Variant/Seat Cordoba Vario, Skoda had the Felicia Kombi. FIAT saw potential, but developing a Punto wagon just for the European market made little sense, choosing to import the Palio instead. GM seriously considered bringing the also Brazilian Corsa wagon, this materialised only for the Italian market.
Success was limited, because FIAT never followed up on the Palio wagon. Where many manufacturers tried, only Skoda and Renault found lasting success with theirs.
Uno and Palio were the first really reliable cars from Fiat. In person that first gen. Palio is imposing, taller, stout with a tall belt line, a smooth transaction from the hood to the A pillars, almost like a minivan. It quickly made Corsa A, Swift, VW Gol, Fiesta look thin and sloppy. The bigger sin in the previous Fiats design style was the whole extension gaps between sheet metal, point to point, making the entire car body a puzzle of doors, bumpers, fenders, pillars and hood, all separated each other like the Tipo and Uno. The Palio gives the opposite feeling, it looks solid, stable and kinda robust.
Another thing in favor of Palio is its long lasting construction, there are thousands of those first Palio still in service. Unlike many imported cars specially from Asia, it’s more rust resistant and plastic parts does not rot by the age like in cars from Daewoo or Hyundai. Fiat built a “little battle tank” proof of careless users. Only GM Celta and Prisma are a little bit more robust than Palio in adverse conditions of use as traffic jams and intense heat of summer.