CASE:
I went ahead and purchased Fiat Linea Emotion Pack Petrol from Bharati Automobiles, Jogeshwari(E), Mumbai in September 2010.
Before that I had done my research and came to the conclusion that Fiat quality is improving(there were lots of online complaints) and that the dealer network is becoming more professional. I concluded that Fiat is the best bang for buck / VFM. Alas!
My car is just 2500 kms old. And there have been a series of problems
Dealer:
Bharati Automobiles is like a government run entity. Each department is at loggerheads with the other. No coordination, no processes. And finally the customtakeouter has to run from dept to dept to get things done.
Car was delivered after a delay of 20 days
I had specifchandru021y asked for a car with a manufacturing chassis number post May 2010. I was told that they have a July-August car but I was delivered a March 2010 car!
The sales people stopped taking calls for any kind of trouble shooting regarding the colour or the wrong manufacturing date. This increased more after they received the loan money from the bank. For any conversation I had to drive all the way to the dealer.
Absolutely un-professional - I have had experiences with the likes of Toyota, and this has been a shock for me. customtakeouters are totally taken for granted here.
To get any work done, you have to baschandru021y leave everything and take a seat at the dealership - for hours - as if your car is the only task of your life, the very reason you exist!
Car:
I generally use the car to drop my kid to school and back and daily short distance commuting. Yet,
600 kms, 1st month - on my first’long’ drive of 80 kms: right front suspension strut(or some part) became loose which started causing a loud rattling noise while driving. According to the dealer this was a’ridiculous, very strange’ issue.
725 kms, 1st month - engine oil seal was found leaking! Serious issue. The dealer promised to deliver the car within 7 days. I went to pick up on the 9th day & the part had not yet arrived! No one had even bothered. I had to fight, stand on their heads(taking an off from my office) to get things done. The delay also affected my Mahabaleshwar plans by a day - one day paid hotel booking gone!
2500 kms, 3rd month - I got an’insufficient engine oil’ warning. On checking the oil level, it was found to be dangerously low, not even appearing on the dip stick min-max range. I complained to Bharati only to figure out that the concerned Fiat person was on leave!
Both Fiat emergency and customtakeouter service delegated the task to the nearest service station - Bharati Automobiles! I was assured someone would come by the evening to sort out the issue. That was about it. The dealer has not responded for 4 days. Their service emergency number’does not exist’. The problem is still on as I write. Unfortunately on the 6th day - Monday - I will be driving the car to them;( Do I have a choice.?
Other Quality issues:
City Mileage(in a city like Mumbai) - 6.7 kms/liter. Highway mileage is good(greater than 12 kms/liter).
The front side window comes out of its groove. You have to manually put it back.
Rubber beading of the door comes out(even after dealer complaint and ostensible repair)
There’s a noise from the front right suspension as if something’s out of place.
Rust has affected brake drums - new car - 3 months old!
There’s some braking noise, even after a check up
Hard gear(even after dealer repair)
AC weak in peak temperatures( I hear in the latest variants, they have improved it. But do I hear a recall for older cars suffering from this quality issue? No!)
Design issues:
Absolutely low ground clearance. Given some of our roads, it’s like’go and hit your chassis around’!
Bad speakers. So if you are a music lover, you got to replace speakers.
Blue & Me can be operated only by the driver. Cannot be controlled from the central dashboard. So should the driver attend the road or fiddle with the media player settings. This is a very risky affair. Remote is not provided for older models which I think should be immediately provided even if at a charge.
Overall
I tried to brave it cos I loved the car and the brand. For the first few times, I just let it go. A machine can have problems. But now I am dismayed. How many problems can a machine have? Where is the basic quality check? And where is the support?
Reliability and professional dealer experience have become serious issues for me. At 2500 km mark, my car gets drained of all oil which is unheard of. More importantly I am stranded for lack of any dealership or Fiat solution.
No car can have such issues. A car is not for spending un-planned hours chasing problems & lack of dealer professionalism. There are many other issues in life to take care of. A car should be a perfect companion whom I can rely upon.
I had planned for 6 Linea variants including T-Jets to be ordered for my company. After the dealership experience and quality and support issues we have canceled the idea and are looking at a different company.
I rue my decision. Request Fiat to take its car back.
P.S - I had a Toyota Corolla for @ 6 years in the US. Drove for over 110, 000 miles(@ 177, 000 kms) But none of the problems mentioned above were ever ever experienced by me. A perfect reliable vehicle that was. And absolutely professional, customtakeouter oriented dealership. You take the car for service they give you a rental car on their account! That’s my reference. If that experience(over 6 years) is a score of 10, then this experience(over 3 months) is a big negative 10.
#Update 1 - 20th December 2010
Currently my car is at Bharati. The engine oil seal is leaking again. Bharati has said that the car would take max 3-5 days and 1st service(3 months) would be done.
They have ordered again for the part. Just a month back they had replaced it!
#Update 2 - 11th January 2011
They took 16 days to deliver the car!
They replaced the new AC kit, and after that the AC performance seems lacking. The left central dashboard vent seems to be blowing warmer air compared to right vent.
I checked the coolant level at delivery time. It was almost nil! This even after their 1st service and new AC kit and job work indicating 5 liters of Coolant filled. Had it refilled.
The engine has started seizing at lower speeds even after engine oil replacement. So at slower speeds on the 1st gear, the car shuts off.