[Sommos]

Both me and my wife decided that we will start the return journey from Kolkata on 30/10/2012 at night and try to reach home by afternoon next day. As the plans were disclosed my mother only cautioned me to drive safely, but there was a huge protest from my in-laws. My wife was assigned the task of handling the situation and she pacified my in-laws, I don't know how. But later on the next day they took an hourly report till we reached home safely.

The day of the return journey was spent in-doors all sitting along and chatting various topic. We all enjoyed this because you don't get much oppurtunity to sit idle at home and chat the whole day long. Took our dinner early and I was ready for departure at precisely 10:30PM. Before that I should mention here that at Kolkata I had parked the car in a petrol pump as there was no additional parking facility in the house and the road ahead (Lansdowne Road) was a No-Parking zone. I never used the car within Kolkata for the three days. The petrol pump guys did a cleaning and checked all fluids and air in the tyres when I went to take the car. After all hugging and good-byes we started from Lansdowne Road, Kolkata precisely at 11:00PM. Took about thirty to forty minutes to come out of the city and was soon crossing the Vidyasagar Setu. Got the tank filled at BP Coco at Kolaghat (the one having the Azad Hind dhaba) and we were ready for the night journey.

Kolaghat bridge was smooth at that hour and Kolaghat to Kharagpur was usual highway cruising and nothing to mention here. The first obstacle came at Jaleshwar where we got stuck up in a huge jam maybe some 2/3 KM ahead of the border checkpost. Got out of the car and tried to figure out some way to get out of the nasty jam but there was no way so came back to the car and tried to relax. Then suddenly a person tapped the passenger side window twice and adviced me to get out of the highway by taking a left turn just metres ahead of where we were stranded continue to Jaleshwar town through an underbridge and pass through Jaleshwar town. The alternate road was known to me thanks to TBHP'ian Samarjit Dhar but my wife was scared to take a lonely road at midnight. I convinced her and just as I got the oppurtunity I came out of the jam by taking a left-turn and passed the streach through Jaleshwar town and joined the NH5 again. This saved us a lot of time as the jam was very common at Jaleswar checkpost and on top of that there was an accident between a bus and a truck ahead on the road and the trucks were standed there from 6:00 in the evening.

The streach from there to Cuttack was smooth as expected and we saw many busses plying between Kolkata and Cuttack with "VOLVO" written very prominently on Tata buses. If you observe closely then in very small letters it was written "NO" before the VOLVO. We noticed several busses with "No Volvo", "Like Volvo" etc. written on the busses but only the word Volvo is prominently visible in radium colour. Suddenly while passing a road side milestone, I saw NH16 written on it, observed a few more milestones and saw the same thing. This led to a confusion in the midst of the night whether we were on the right track to Cuttack, however got the confirmation about the road at a petrol pump and continued the journey. We reached Cuttack (Manguli Chowk) at 04:15 in the morning and breaked at a roadside shop for tea.

We moved on leisurely through the forest area around NH42 towards Sambalpur enjoying the beautiful sunrise and got the tank filled at Angul. At Sambalpur we took the by-pass (with help from a rickshaw puller) to the bridge on Mahanadi and avoided entering the city and reached Bargarh, Orissa after crossing Sambalpur at 11:30AM and stopped at Hotel Ganapati for lunch. As it was very early for lunch it took a lot of time to prepare the lunch after the order was placed. We were not in any hurry and all relaxed in the sofas waiting for the lunch to be prepared.

We started at 1:30PM after the lunch and this 100KM or so after entering Chhattisgarh was where we were struck again due to very bad roads. However, during the return journey I observed that the bad streach has been filled with morrum thus making the streach full of dust in addition to the broken and uneven road. The car was literally crawling at 30/35 KM speed and it was taking a toll on my patience. However, we crossed the streach of bad roads and then it was familiar territory for me. We reached home safely at 6:30 or 6:40 in the evening.

That was the end of the first long journey on the "White Knight" and I am absolutely delighted that the "White knight" performed brilliantly throughout the whole trip. The Linea has passed the endurance test with flying colours. Thanks Fiat for making such fantastic cars and the capability of the Linea is truely revealed on the highways. The car was solid and absolutely stable even at speeds upto 140KMPL (the highest I've tried on NH2). You take a turn at speed exceeding 100KMPL and the car seems to be moving on rails with very faint bodyroll. The fluids and the tyre pressure was checked once at Kolkata. Except for the problem with the headlight during the onward journey I never had to worry about the car. I must thank the Fiat dealership and Service centre at Durgapur who attended to the car inspite of the huge rush just prior to the long closure during the Durga Puja. Without any fuss they replaced the left side headlight assembly to my satisfaction.

I am really thankful to my wife for giving me company throughout this long trip and she stays awake all the time choosing the different songs to be played on the music system and talking to me. I should also express my thank to my 11 year old son who makes the back seat of the car his kingdom and keeps himself busy by sleeping or reading something and sometimes navigating the roads through Google maps on my mobile.

The total journey spanned for 2789KM across four states (CG-OR-WB-JH) and I had spend Rs. 7800.00 (rounded off) for fuel and Rs. 800.00 for toll tax and the car returned an overall mileage of 17.2KMPL for the whole journey with 100% ACC set at 21/22. None-the-less I expected the mileage to be slightly better at 19/20 KMPL.

[Sommos]

As the winter arrived a lot of dust was accumulating on the car and the car was looking really dirty. I was not getting time to clean the car.

So ordered the Jopasu Duster from eBay on 26/11/2012 and the cost to the pocket was Rs. 1223.00. The packet arrived on 29/11/2012 and contained the following items :-

a. The Jopasu Duster.
b. The Mini Duster.
c. The Magic Wipe (microfibre cloth).
d. The Magic Glove (microfibre cloth).

The product is really good and easy to use. Now a five minutes effort in the morning and the car looks absolutely clean everyday.

[Sommos]

I was having a problem with the fuel cap of the car. The plastic fuel cap would close properly, there was no problem with it. But there was a problem with the outer metal cover on the body. It would not close if pushed, as is normal. This problem developed or rather I noticed this problem when I was on my way to Durgapur in Oct'12. My son promptly discovered a way to overcome the problem. What we did was my son pulled the lever (at driver's foot) and held it and I pushed the fuel cap and pressed it. Then he let the lever go and the cap locked properly.

I was living with the problem as I never thought it to be a serious issue and I normally get a tankful maximum twice in a month, so it was not something that irritates me regularly. But fellow BHP'ian "ThumpingBull" reported the same problem in the "Niggling Linea issues" thread and that is when I thought to get this sorted out as soon as possible.

I visited TASS yesterday while going back from my office. The mechanic came with some grease on his fingertips (as the car was parked outside the dealership) and applied the same on the latch and everything was OK.

I was like

[Sommos]

Friends recently I had another problem with the left side headlight assembly of my car.

Last Sunday when I was washing the car I suddenly noticed that the reflector of the left side headlight assembly was shaking. Opened the rubber cover at the back of the light and found that both the reflectors were moving as if the point where the reflectors are fixed to the outer casing has gone off. I took the car to the TASS on Monday for a checkup and the SA told me that the lock has broken and this is quite unusual.


The case was put up to the Works Manager for free replacement under warranty and the SA had to literally fight with the Works Manager for my case. Once when I too tried to reason with the Works Manager, he politely told me to wait in the lounge and he would call me when required. The SA finally convinced the Works Manager for the replacement under warranty and I should thank him for this achievement. I was listening to the whole discussion and I had an impression that the Works Manager had the typical attitude of dealing with cab drivers. His whole argument was centred around total disbelieve on the customers and he tried to give several reasons to turn down the proposal. Later on I found that all the SA had similar opinion about the Works Manager and they were congratulating my SA for his success. My SA also helped me by recovering the NB+ bulbs from the old headlight and fixed the same on the new one. Once again thanks to Mr. Raja of Sairam Automobiles, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh for his cooperation.


The problem has been solved for me but I am quite shocked because this is the second time the same left side headlight had to be replaced in my car within six months of purchase. The first time I had problems with the same during my trip to Durgapur in October 2012. When I reported the problem to the TASS at Durgapur, WB, they promptly decided to replace the headlight assembly. I was really impressed with their prompt decision and I was told since I have come from outside and have to do a return journey, which was fairly long, they don't want to take any chances and that is why they have replaced the headlight. The SA later requested me to give a positive feedback, which I very thankfully did.

I am still to understand how the headlight assembly in a 10L car be so fragile. The set costs around 3.7thousand inclusive of VAT.

[Sommos]

A car reached a personal milestone on 27/01/2013.
It has covered 10000KM mark in six months. I had purchased the car on 27/07/2012.

[Sommos]

Occasion : Family function.
Destination : Bhilai, Chhattisgarh to Mahishadal, West Bengal.

Preface – There was a compulsion to attend the family function at Mahishadal, Purba Mednipur, West Bengal. Train accommodation was not available in such short notice and the air fare was too costly. So decided to go by road for a distance exceeding 900KM (one way). Due to the exam schedule of my son, had to leave him and my mother at home. This was another compulsion to cover the whole distance on a single day so that we can keep the journey time to the minimum.

Journey - The left side headlight assembly was replaced under warranty a couple of days back. Apart from this there was no special preparation for the journey, filled the tank and checked the tyre pressure on the previous evening.

Started the journey at 03:15AM on 24/01/2013 and crossed Raipur within 20 minutes, which would otherwise take at least 1 hour in normal traffic. The roads were almost empty and the Linea sailed through the smooth highway.
The first obstacle was faced at the Chhattisgarh-Orissa border, where some 250 trucks were standing in queue blocking the single lane highway. Got down to obtain information from the truck drivers and came to know that due to winter the border check post is closed down from 2:00AM to 6:30AM and by this time a huge number of trucks are stranded on both sides of the border for clearance. The drivers told me about a small village road (some 10/12 KM long) which would bypass the border check post and take us into Orissa. The information was very helpful for we had a long journey ahead and also I learnt about a new route in case of emergency.

Crossed Sambalpur town at 8:30AM and took half-an-hour break to fill up the tank and sip some tea and snacks. Took NH42 from Sambalpur to Cuttack (NH5) as the NH6 before Sambalpur is reportedly in very bad shape, particularly the streach of NH6 in Jharkhand. NH42 is a beautiful single lane serpentine highway passing through some forest area and connecting Sambalpur (NH6) with NH5 at Manguli Chowk, about 17KM from Cuttack. One problem that one has to face on this streach is that there are several humps built near the villages/human settlements to check the speed of the vehicles and they appear suddenly after a sharp turn on the road. Actually they are a series of humps at one place ranging from a minimum of three to a maximum of 12-15.

Reached Manguli Chowk on NH5 a little before 1:00PM and proceeded towards Kharagpur. By this time both of us were hungry and were searching for a decent restaurant to break for lunch. We could find a decent restaurant only after about 100KM and took a break for lunch at around 2:15PM. Reached Jaleswar at around 4:00PM and due to the previous experience of being stuck at the border, this time we crossed through Jaleshwar town and reached Kolaghat at around 6:00PM. I had some confusion about the diversion of NH41 from NH6 near Kolaghat but was lucky enough to spot the diversion on NH6. By the time we reached Kolaghat it was already dark and I got down to confirm the road from the roadside shops. The people with their different ideas confused me more. Finally we went forward on NH41 towards Haldia and reached Mahishadal at 07:30PM.

I would like to convey my sincere thanks to fellow member Mr. Samarjit Dhar for his valuable inputs on the road condition of NH6 between Sambalpur and Kharagpur. He also suggested a new route from Jaleshwar-Digha-Contai-Mahishadal. However, since it was late evening by the time I reached Jaleshwar, I could not muster enough courage to venture into unknown roads in the dark and preferred to stick to the known roads of NH6 and NH41.

Distance covered : 960.60 KM.
Time Taken : 14:96 Hours. Probably MID data does not include the breaks for the total time taken was 16:15 Hours.
Mileage : 17.6 KMPL.

[Sommos]

The return journey was scheduled on 26/01/2013 and we had planned to start early in the evening and take our dinner en-route so that we can reach home by afternoon next day. After the function was over by late afternoon I started my preparation for the journey. The car was left in the courtyard for two days and had accumulated a lot of dust. Cleaned the windshield of the car, checked all the oil levels and the tyres and the car was ready for the return journey. The house was full with relatives and all were doing “OOOOOHs” and “AAAAAHs” at the idea of the night journey. Some requested to stay over for the night and start early in the morning, but we had our own compulsion. Finally after meeting everybody and taking the blessing of the elders we could leave at 08:40PM.

The distance upto Kolaghat was done in a jiffy. There was no road signage near the junction of NH41 and NH6 and I made the mistake of taking the turn towards Kolkata. Soon after the turn I spotted the “Sher-E-Punjab” dhaba on the left. That rang the alarm bell in my mind and I enquired from a Sumo driver only to confirm my mistake. I took a U-turn at the next opening and continued in the opposite direction towards Kharagpur. NH6 upto Kharagpur by-pass was smooth but recarpeting work is going on in some portion making the road narrow at many places. NH60 from Kharagpur to Jaleshwar was again smooth except for the culverts. The height of the culverts are higher than the tar road and the tar on the cement culvert has been wiped off unevenly thus making the culverts very rough and uneven. If you do not slow down at these points the front wheels of the car will jump off. NH5 was by far the best portion on the whole journey but at some portions the road is being re-layed and only one side is being used.

We reached Manguli Chowk at 2:00AM and took a turn for NH42 to Sambalpur. This later turned out to be the worst portion of the jouney. The huge number of busses plying from Sambalpur to Cuttack were coming with all their headlights on and had no respect for the traffic coming from the opposite direction. This was taking a toll on my eyes and after driving under such condition for a couple of hours I felt pain in my eyes and started feeling tired. But since we were passing through jungle area and absolute darkness on both sides of the road I could not dare to stop and take some rest. I stopped at on two occasions, one of them being at Angul, to wash my face and eyes and drove on slowly but carefully till I reached the outskirts of Sambalpur. At 6:00AM I reached the outskirts of Sambalpur and felt it was relatively safe to take a break, I parked the car on the roadside and took a nap of half-an-hour. I drove the car continuously from 8:40PM to 6:00AM for approximately 650KM except for four tea breaks, twice to wash my face and eyes and two bio-breaks.

We finally crossed Sambalpur at 07:15AM after filling up the tank at a BPCL pump in the city. The portion of NH6 from Sambalpur to the Orissa border is being converted to four lane and there are several diversions on the route. Such portions where the old road is still being used is in very bad condition. NH6 from CG border to Aarang (36 KM from Raipur) is also being converted to four lane but the Chhattisgarh portion will take a long time to complete as the work is in the stage of clearing the trees etc. We crossed Raipur at around 12:00 and the “White Knight” brought us safely to our home at 12:40PM.

Distance Covered : 963.80 KM.
Time Taken : 15:07 Hours.
Mileage : 19.0 KMPL.
Average Speed : 63 KMPH.

Stats for the overall journey :-
Distance Covered : 1924.40 KM.
Mileage : 18.3 KMPL.
Average Speed : 64 KMPH.

[Sommos]

Some details regarding the journey are attached herewith :-
a. Total distance travelled.
b. Average mileage of total journey.
c. Distance for return journey.
d. Mileage for return journey.
e. Details of Toll Taxes paid during the journey.

[Sommos]

My Linea had it's first servicing at 2530KM instead of the usual 5000KM, as we were headed for a long Puja holidays. The engine oil was not changed at that time. I always had the idea that the engine oil should be changed at 10K mark.

The Fiat exclusive dealership at Raipur, Chhattisgarh is being setup, so took the car to them yesterday for the engine oil change.


The showroom and service centre is undergoing final preparation for the inaguration scheduled on 06/03/2013. But inspite of that they readily agreed to carry on the servicing for me. The Service In-Charge Mr. Nageswar Rao is a gentle person with a smiling face that makes a great first impression about him. The most experienced mechanic was assigned to me and he promptly did his job in front of me. The mechanic opened a four litre can of the Selenia WR 5W40 in front of me and poured 3.2 ltrs. and kept the balance in the dicky of the car. Additionally he cleaned the air filter and the pollen filter and filled Nitrogen in all the tyres without me or anybody else prompting him to do so. The service centre did not charge anything for these additional jobs done, feels good to get something extra.

The owner Mr. Amit Agrawal and the Sales In-Charge Mr. Mahipal Singh, inspite of being extremely busy for the inaguration of the showroom, spared time to greet me and talk with me. They have already started selling the cars and Mr. Amit informed that he is happy with the initial response. He informed me that Fiat as a brand has huge fan following in this area and the only thing that keeps people away from the brand was the quality of service. He has done extensive market servey before going for the Fiat dealership and he would personally ensure that the cutomers get a good service from his showroom. Well it all sounded very promising indeed, but I would like to reserve my comments on the dealership till they prove themselves.

As far as the service centre goes, I felt the area to be small with eight bays including four lifts/hoists. They have a paint booth within the service area and the washing bay is also located at one end of the workshop. This looked very weird to me. They presently have four mechanics, three experienced hands shifted from the earlier TASS and one freshly trained one.

The initial experience, I must admit, was Good. I was informed that the link to the Fiat website will start only after the inaguration, so they handed me the bill which was prepared off-line with a promise that it will be updated in the website later.

The cost details are as follows :
Selenia WR 5W40 - 4Ltr. @ 1000 : 4000.00
Diesel fuel filter with sensors : 2059.00
Oil Filter : 411.00
Total : 6470.00
Labour : 250.00
Service Tax : 31.00
Vat @ 14% : 906.00
Grand Total : 7657.00

I would request the diesel Linea owners to comment on the cost of spares, which seems to me to be on the higher side. Hope the dealer is not robbing the customers with a smile on their face.

[Sommos]

The cost of the spares seemed to be on the higher side and I goy instant reply from some of my friends on another forum. I had to ultimately raise the matter to Fiat, and who else than Mr. Mangesh Kodalkar to resort to in such situation. Promptly got a reply that the regional manager / dealer will revert back to me.

By evening I got a phone call from the Service Incharge of the yet-to-be-opened dealership admitting their mistake and they tried to give some lame excuses as usual. He was insisting on not raising any complain, but I knew pretty well the reasons of such change in his tone.

Today morning I got a mail from him containing the revised bill and a call from him later on about how to refund the balance amount.

They have charged Engine Oil @ Rs. 650.00, however, there is no change in the cost of Oil Filter and Fuel Filter.

The final bill (after revision) now stands as follows :-

Selenia WR 5W40 - 4Ltr. @ 650 : 2600.00
Diesel fuel filter with sensors : 2059.00
Oil Filter : 411.00
Total Spares : 5070.00
Labour : 250.00
Service Tax : 31.00
Vat @ 14% : 710.00
Grand Total : 6061.00

[Sommos]

By the way, my Linea crossed a personal milestone today.
Thought to share it all.

[Sommos]

While purchasing the Linea in July 2012, the floor mats were provided free by the dealer. Atleast I was very happy with the quality of the floor mats, because they were different from the fully rubber ones that I've used in my earlier cars.

Within six months of use the driver side mat developed a hole where the heels rest. I was trying to delay the purchase of a new mat for the car but soon realised that it was time to purchase a new mat for my car.



After considerable thought I came to the conclusion that 3D Kagu at Rs. 5500.00 was costly and decided to purchase online from Star Mat.




When I received the mat through courier, though the Invoice read as "Linea Star Mats" but the lable on the product was different.



The final fitment of the mat also was not to my liking, as this is not an actual 3D mat and very different from the Kagu mats. The material quality is good and it appears that the mat will last for long, but it does not fit into the space properly. I doubt that they may have despatched a general mat instead of the specific mat for the Linea.

[Batfreak]

Great thread. The car is an absolute stunner. Good to see that your son is taking so much interest in the car. A budding BHPian?

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by Batfreak

Great thread. The car is an absolute stunner. Good to see that your son is taking so much interest in the car. A budding BHPian?

Thanks Batfreak.

"Budding BHPian" : maybe, he takes a lot of interest in cars.
He knows the system setup (features /Blue & Me) better than me.

[Sommos]

By the way, my Linea crossed another personal milestone yesterday.
Thought it was worth sharing with all.