I am awaiting my Fiat Linea Diesel(emotion pack) having made a full payment today, the dealers concorde motors have told me that they would deliver it to me tomorrow. I was owning a PALIO ELX for the past 7 years having bought it in 2002 February. I truly enjoyed owning it – reasons being its BATTLE TANK like built, ABSOLUTE reliability(it has never let me down), COMFORT of driving(well planted to the road feel), though when I sold it I got just 1 lakh, whereas probably a ZEN of the same year would have still managed 1.5 lakhs. Still I don’t regret, because I drove to my hearts contend in my dear PALIO.
Now that I decided to go for the LINEA even without test driving its rival, Honda City – I was perturbed by the curiosity of my friends and relatives – who appeared uniformly surprised at my choice of a FIAT again. Many of them commenting that – “OH YOU ARE A FIAT GUY, HUH?”. To which I was repeatedly responding, saying that it is not that I had a weakness to FIAT, but rather that the vehicle LINEA was what I was looking out for in a car.
I took three test drives during the past 3 months(the last two were in a gap of 2 weeks). The first while I drove a linea which had just covered 5000Kms but the dealer involved allowed me only 2 to 3 kms of driving, during which I couldn’t even get over my apprehension of driving an apparently big car – he was almost rude in suggesting that I take a U turn and head back homeward, while I was contemplating a longer drive to get the feel of the vehicle. RF motors, Cochin thus lost a chance to serve a customer who would have bought a vehicle from them(thanks to the shabby attitude of the sales executive) – thus I happened to turn to the Concorde motors, which had a couple of very enthusiastic but yet suave personnel in the sales. And this guy just handed over the keys and allowed me to just enjoy the test drive, never worrying as to where or how far I was taking him. I loved the cars rooted stance, which I could feel while I drove it over the rough patches on the road. The gear shift was not all that sure footed(this vehicle had already done 25000 plus kms), but yet the suspension appeared to hold well, absorbing most jarring shocks from the bad roads it was driven through. The lack of power was evident in the fact that the car was just switching off as the speeds dropped below 20 kms – probably the low revs in which I was driving could also have been a reason for the engine going dead. But even in the third gear as the machine gained speed, there were reserves of power evident from the whine of the engine, I just love that eagerness of the diesel engine to go further as you press on the gas pedal – probably the turbo kicking in and providing that surge of energy. The interiors could be described as looking ROYAL, except for the European taste for black – for the dash board. It has a sweeping and wide dash with lots of space out there in front – exuding luxury. The steering wheel is something I liked so much(it has all the right grips – even with the thumbs going into a slot like space on the wheel spoke – its diameter is just right, neither large nor small, with all the controls for the music system and the Bluetooth phone buttons on it. Seats are a little too big for a not so big driver, but the seating and the view of the road is good unlike the Palio. The boot is too huge and can hold just about anything – two adults can climb into it – so big it is.
Look wise, I feel people who like classic looks would fall for it – truly European, with the Massarati styling, especially the hood and the nose – only an artist can enjoy it to the full. The Honda city on the other hand has a concept car like looks, which may not be the liking for some. With all the chrome and grille work added it looks mean and powerful with looks which belie its actual length – it looks longer than the City. The back doesn’t look all that endearing, probably not complementing the front nose of the car.
Now I am just waiting to lay hands on my beauty and go on long drives. Shall come back with more of my experience ones I start owning the car.
*28th July 2009
Update after owning the car for 10 days.
*covered 800 kms in about 1 weeks time - of which I did 250 kms in the town(cochin - with all the bad roads due to a severe rains). The long drive was from Cochin to Trivandrum - a 210 km stretch, which also had its own share of bad patches on the highway - so I was driving at an average speed of 50 to 60 kms/hr - often I could touch 100 km/hr. and on the way back I was challenged into a sprint by a Zen while I was cruising along a 4 lane highway, which also had pot holes punctuating it at regular intervals - and this was the instance where I could see how much my engine could be streched out and how well the brakes would act. I touched 125 kms/hr with a whining engine - couldnt squeeze out more power to drive the wheels any faster. inbetween that race I had to brake with urgency at one spot and the machine appeared quite composed as it reduced speed and the four wheels appeared to hold the cabin quite securely and steady - the ABS and EBS appear to be doing a hell a lot of difference when going full throttle. at the end of it the ZEN appeared to give up on the challenge, more so because of the bad roads(probably it got shaken up due to bad tracks) - the zen with its lighter weight and good engine was giving me a good fight - but at the end I did win.
mileage was 16.5 kms/lt with the AC on through the journey with some of it being narrow roads with bad ups and downs.one steep incline which was almost like 40 degrees - had the engine stuttering even in the second gear - so I had to shift to 1st gear to carry on with the climb. Felt a little intrigued by that - maybe I need to get used to diesel engines. comfort of the ride is excellent with the AC cooling being to my liking when put on Automatic Climatic Control.
4th oct 09( **at 3000 kms - 1st service)
happened to cover 3000 kms in 2 months - thought of doing the run in period of 3000 well ahead of time before sending in the car for its first service - but hardly much is done at this stage with the wheel alignment and a few cursory checks. the guys were more interested in getting me to do a 3M teflon coating - which comes with extra 2 coats at the 2nd and 3rd service as well. car was delivered on time or even before expected at the service site. feel like the machine is becoming a lot smoother and it is returning above 14 kms to a litre in town with the AC on through out. I just love the car - and all the attention I get while driving it on the roads. today I even noticed that any other lineas that you meet on the road - we guys are all excited to see the other folks driving a linea - the same with them I suppose, going by the grin on their faces too.
recently noted a programme in the CAR and Bike show on NDTV - where the linea nd the punto are put to test on the ice sheet of a road near the Artics - further north of Switzerland and these machines were taking it all in the stride - am sure some of the others here on the Indian roads cant take all that beating the way these FIAT cars were managing to do. Bye for now