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-   -   Fiat Linea has arrived (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/51402-fiat-linea-has-arrived-69.html)

Test drove the Linea today. Petrol version as it is available here in Pune. It was a very short test drive. May be this weekend will again go and check it out with wifey.

Much has been already said about it. My few cents below:

Tested: 1.4 Linea Emotion Petrol

Good bits:
1. Fantastic exteriors.
2. Did not feel like car is asking for mercy when starting from standstill.
3. Nice driveability in city. 2nd seems to be pretty short to me.
4. Good handling and smooth ride
5. Adequate power to smoothly roam around in city. AC was on and we were 4 of all types of weights. My Palio 1.2 struggles when AC is put on with full load.
6. Rear view mirror rocks. Fantastic view.
7. Good brakes. Better than my Palio
8. Adequate music system
9. Good visibility
10. Clutch is not hard as Palio

Bad bits:
1. Rear seat parcel tray (The one in the center) could have been better
2. front armrest is ok-ok
3. Opposite placement of indicator levers (One can get used to)

I was very comfortable driving this beauty. Not at all felt like it is underpowered as it is made out to be.

This is good news for Fiat. This was what they sold in the entire last year.

was 1.4 TJet or Fire engine ?

1.4 TJet, Abarth tuned, 150 BHP lol:

No, its not TJet, it is 1.4 FIRE 90 BHP.

Had read somewhere that the Linea will be sold through 70 dealerships across the country. Assuming 10 bookings per dealership we are at 700 in 15 days. So that could translate to 1400 a month.

However, Concorde at Prabhadevi claims to have booked almost 50 Lineas ~ 30 diesels and 20 petrols. If these claims (incl Pandit's) are true then we could extrapolate that 2400 would be met at least in the first month

On a side note, really recommend this showroom to anyone who is wanting to check out the Linea in this part of Mumbai. Have interacted with 2 Sales execs and the Head of Sales -> each one of them knew about the car and also had experience with Maruti / Honda showrooms. The quality showed. They still are not as good as Maruti in all aspects - be it immediate attention from an executive, water and coffee / tea being offered, prompt follow-up etc. But they are competent.

^ i rather get my coffee/tea at the neighborhood chai shop.as long as there is a test drive car and they are coureous I dont see any issues

Hey guys,

How to check the car manfucaturing date in Linea Diesel Emotion pack and car VIN number.
I booked Linea Diesel Emotion pack in Medium grey on 22 Jan 2009.
The consignment is on the way to chennai ,but the sales guy told me that the car alloted for me is 2008 manufactured.may be Nov or dec 2008.
Whether it has any problem in accepting the car.
Please let me know.

The whole point of delaying the Linea launch was to enable the customers to get 2009 manufactured cars. How come you are getting a 2008 car ?

Taking into account depreciation etc, are you getting a deal to negate that ? If not, I'd suggest you wait for some more time and demand a 2009 build car.

^ There were reports in the news about Fiat starting production last year around August/November right ? So wouldnt those cars obviously have a manufacturing date of 2008 ?

Do they take registration date or manufacturing date while calculating depreciation ? Since I think cars get sold upto even 6 months after the manufacturing date and in that case even a person buying a car in February wont be able to guarantee that he is getting a car manufactured in the current year

OT:
The manufactured date is taken into account. I have a Nov 2008 manufactured Swift with Jan 2009 registration. I got 30k discount in order to counter the future depreciation and all that jazz.

The point I am trying to make is, if Fiat indeed has 2008 stock in their yards, they should provide some discount to the customers who are willing to take up that, rather than wait for 2009.

And IIRC, Fiat had plans to dispatch only 2009 cars. (Or was it the i20?)

IMO, it is the registration date that matters and not the manf date. Any car of any make purchased in early Jan will have had to be manufactured in the previous year. But as far as i know no one bothers about that, just as no one bothers if you purchased your car in Dec; come Jan your car is a year old (which explains the discounts in Dec). Buy a car in Jan and there is no depreciation to speak of. If registration happens in Feb who will remember (other than those who are like people on this forum) that the linea as manf in Nov 2008 and not in Feb 2009.

No discounts, no freebies, no accessories are on offer on the Linea / i20 now. All those will come in after a few months. And even then no guarantee. Just look at the top end Swifts.

Fountainheader, I think Registration date is taken into account to determine the Model year of the car.
Hence, if the car is manufactured in Nov/Dec'2008, but registered in Jan'2009, the car model will be 2009.

It depends on who you are selling the car too.
If its to a dealer then they always take the manufacturing date and not the date of registration.
The same applies to motorcycles as well.

I am talking about new cars sold by dealer to customers, and am pretty sure they consider the Registration date as the Model year of the car.
Anyone with contacts to a Car dealer can confirm this.