The Fiat Linea test drive thread

When I first saw the car, I was a little apprehensive, which I still am because it looked too rounded and long for 8 Lakh cars, it reminded me of a catfish, with its snout stuck out like that.

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The very next day after the Training commenced we were given the Details of the car , it's competition that Fiat Mainly Targeted was SX4,Fiesta,ANHC & the Verna. So along with the Linea the SX4, the Verna & Fiesta were there, as the ANHC wasn't launched then it wasn't available then.

The Car is sure loaded to the gills with features, If you guys go through the other Linea threads we can get a clear-cut idea of all the features in the car. The Linea on the road felt planted, might be due to it's low squatted stance, while in the car the whole car feels really low, the Power window switches and door locking switches are situated on the door armrest and all these felt enveloping around me, but the cabin was wide enough, to not feel claustrophobic, the Blue and me and MY CAR Function Switches are located on the steering wheel and also on the dashboard on the extreme right side under the steering wheel.

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And no the Car haven't been stripped of any of it's features all that you see in the picture is there in the car.


The Overall fit and finish of the product seemed good, but still there were some grouches that can be seen in the car like the Steering column cover which had many unfinished rough edges and panel gaps, But the Steering wheel was Very good to hold and it had really good shape. The Rear seat space was "okay" and the seat reclining angle was very comfy, the ride in the back was unbelievable comfortable especially after getting rides in the competition cars. Even when going over speedbrakers or large potholes never did the Linea lose it's composure or give out loud noises when the suspensions bottomed out with 5 heavyweights in the car. The Ground Clearance of 161mm for the diesel car maybe a little problem but on the bright side the Skoda Octys are running around with 138mm GC , so that might not be much of a problem. The Petrol car's Ground Clearance is 165mm.

The Power Delivery from the Diesel Engines was smooth and It was very quite inside, outside there isn't much noise except for the usual Fiat Engine cooling fan which is soooo loud and it makes a huge racket just like in the Palio/Uno etc. Also the Fan's angle of deflection is same as that in the Uno/Palio which means all the Dust/dirt that is on the ground gets blown up and there is something like a sandstorm when the car is around. Typical Fiat Problem. Other than that the Engines were quite good, The diesel engine's Turbo lag is very low or unnoticeable, I just kept on flooring the throttle expecting the Swoosh like in the Swift/Palios but I was amazed when nothing like that happened till the redline at 5000RPM. The Diesel felt quick enough for that car, Maybe A Pete's Tuning box can be of much help to this car. The Petrol Engine felt Creamy Smooth and it sounded sexy, and there was adequate amounts of torque too but somehow, it felt underpowered to my taste after all 94.2PS is not something to write home about.

So the only question that remains now is, Is the Linea a better buy than the All New Honda City? Except for the engine everything is yes, then again there is no auto transmission even as an option, the engine is underpowered when compared to the ANHC,The built quality though much more solid than a Honda any day lacks the quality of the Honda. The service will be another aspect which we will have to wait and see, but I don't expect any miracles to happen in this part of the story, all the parts of this car is said to be heavily subsided up to 40% ,localization is still going on to keep the affordability factor in hand, the service intervals are quite long at 15000km between a service, the warranty is amazing at 80,000km or 1.5 years which can be extended to 3yrs or 1.5Lakh Kilometers.

The other cars like the SX4,Verna or the Fiesta don't even come into the picture in my opinion because of the unbelievable pricing of this car. The SX4 being too bland, the Verna Being bouncy, the Fiesta being too cramped, But it's just my opinion. This car like all the other cars when launched will have its own honeymoon period, when it will be selling like hotcakes for no particular reason, let’s wait and see that's all that I can say.

This is the Make or Break point for Fiat, If all goes well we can see the Grande Punto in 4 months time I guess ,but now your guess is as good as mine. As one of the Fiat India Production head said "If the Linea doesn’t do as well as we expected we can just pack up and leave".

Cheerscheers:

Muneem
Ex-Fiat Guy.