The odo stands at 2598 kms as of today. Many things have already been written about the Linea. So I would be contributing from my end as to what I experienced in these initial days.
Exterior
The Italians know a thing or two about design and curves. The car exteriors have been meticulously designed. This shows as the car is very photogenic and photograph it from any angle, its looks good. The design is such that all the colors in production in India looks good on the Linea. Its a tough choice selecting the color for Linea.
The 16 inch wheels with the flared wheel arches gives a purposeful stance to the car. I simply love the double barrel headlight for the car. The rear is neatly done as well. Only grouse is with the raised suspension kit, the rear end of the car seems to be a little too high to the liking. All the chrome beedings add that jazz to the car.
Interiors
The first thing you notice inside the car is, its actually small compared to the overall size of the car. However since, nobody in the family is above 5'7 so nothing much to worry about. The black beige combo really makes the interiors feel good and Indians love Beige.
The retro dials with the white background is nice and liked it most. The wiper controls are on the right and the headlight controls are on the left of the steering wheel. It took a day to get adjusted to this set up.
The seats are comfy with good support, though it felt a tab bit harder than the fabric seats. The rear seats comes 3 head rests and an arm rest with cup holders. The front seats have 2 pockets which I found quite useful to keep at least half a litre bottles or a magazine. The front seats have lot of travel and the seat height adjust mechanism has good range too.
The Automatic Climate control AC is quite good and chills the cabin in no time. I did not find any difference between the Tjet+ AC unit to the one in my Car. They seem to be on par. Even the hot afternoon in the Tamil Nadu plains did not bother much as the cabin was cooled in a matter of mins. Also noticed one more thing, with the AC compressor on, it did not make a too much of a difference to the pick up and nor the revs. A bit confused on this as how it can happen. Another thing is the blower is a bit noisy at full speed.
No bottle holder space anywhere in the car which is a very bad thing for the Indian market.
The audio in the car is nothing to write home about. The lack of Vitamin M is holding me back for the speaker upgrade.
Engine, Gearbox and The Drive
I need not write much about our national engine. The Linea Diesel comes with the National engine with a VGT in a higher state of tune than its sibling (Punto). The max power is rated at 93PS @ 4000 rpm and max torque of 209 NM @ 2000 rpm. FIAT has carried the same C510 gearbox for the Punto and Linea to keep the costs down. Wish they had the European version gearboxes to make full utilization of this little capable engine.
There is turbo lag below 1500-1600 RPM. If one is stuck below this RPM in a particular and want brisk acceleration, it simply isn't possible. Downshift is a must to stay above 1500 rpm. If one stays about 1500 rpm, there is nothing much to complain about in the city like Bangalore where you have hardly any roads to go beyond this RPM. The clutch is light though with long travel. Can be a pain in the city if one is not used to the long clutch travel.
Some observations on the GEAR - RPM - SPEED combinations
3rd Gear - 1000 RPM - 20 kmph
4th Gear - 1000 RPM - 30 kmph
5th Gear - 1000 RPM - 40 kmph
For every 1000 incremental RPM one can multiply the speed factor. For example, 5th Gear 2000 RPM takes you to 80 kmph.
The shift feels rubbery but slots in properly. Also the longer throw ensures there is some time lost during the gear shifts.
Ride, Handling, Steering Feedback and Braking
The ride is a bit stiff at low speeds but definitely not bouncy. As the speed increases the ride gets better. Sometimes, the sharps bumps do filter into the cabin at low speeds, but at higher speeds the suspension set up simply smothers everything out. As a matter of fact, my parents had dosed off comfortably in the Linea during the drive, but in the Liva they used to get disturbed quite often due to the ride.
The handling is again top notch with no alarming body roll or anything. I was a bit skeptical when I decided on diesel car because the new ones came with 185 mm ground clearance. But a proper test drive taking a few curves on empty roads cleared all the doubts. There is a slight bit of body roll but definitely nothing to be concerned about.
The perfectly calibrated hydraulic steering gives wonderful feedback and lets the driver know whats under the tyres. The steering has been lightened for the slower speeds, but weighs up neatly as the speeds build up. The steering wheel is perfect in size and with the thumb rest, feels superb to hold.
The Ride, Handling and the steering combo makes this car very satisfying to drive. It brings a smile every time a corner is taken at good speeds.
But whats all these without proper brakes. The braking is very reassuring and stops in a straight line even during panic braking. Experienced this during the highway drive when one of the goats hoped on to the road suddenly. Just slammed the brakes, the car shed speed without any fuss in a straight line. This helps in steering the car in the required direction during deceleration without much fuss.
With the chassis being very good, this car simply screams for the 1.6 MJD. It will come for sure, but the timeline has no timeline
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The summary of what I like and dislike about the car.
Likes
- Looks, Looks and Looks. Simply good looking from any angle. Love the Bossa Nova White color.
- 16" Turbine blade alloy wheels enhances the looks of the car and the wide tyres 205/55 R16 tyres
- Ride, handling and stability the best among the segment. The car seems to be moving on rails
- Steering feedback and the steering wheel is to worship for
- Comes fully loaded, need not spend too much expect for a few basic accessories
- Chiller AC
- Light clutch
- The low end torque is quite good
- Comfortable front seats
- Good quality High beam
- The speed masking capacity is superb with good noise insulation inside the cabin.
- My car features
- Blue n Me is effortless to use
- Hand rest is a boon on long drives.
- Horn is quite good
- Good Wipers leaves no water streaks while wiping.
- Auto headlamps quite useful when entering the basements or tunnels.
- Speed sensitive wipers adjusts the wiping frequency in the intermittent mode. Nifty feature.
Things that could have been better- The audio output quality is nothing to write home about. At this price point its better for FIAT to provide better quality speakers
- Not so good brightness for the low beam, however the spread is good enough
- Better attention to detail at the assembly line
- A better designed mud flaps. The currents ones looks like the odd part on the car
- Illuminated scuff plates not available for the MJD. Available only for Tjet
Dislikes
- No bottle holders in the car. What was FIAT thinking when they modified/customized the design for India
- Evident cost cutting in a few places near the foot AC vents. Will post a picture for this a little later
- Blower is noisy at full speed
Accessories for the car
The below items were added to the car from the dealer.
- The mats and mud flaps
- Door Sills
- Car cushion (Linea engraved)
- Neck Rest
- Reverse Camera with reverse parking sensors
- Door Visors
- Boot Mat (Bought the Tjet one as I wanted the mat to complete the package. Will get the Tjet text removed from the mat.
Additional items done
Visited the 3M car care at HSR layout for the below items. The service as always was top notch.
- 3M 5 year anti rust under body coating
- Paint Sealant
- Engine Lacquer
- 3M Mats for the rear seat area
Fuel Efficiency - has been ranging from 12.6 kmpl to 21.5 kmpl. The roads are varying from very high traffic to nice smooth highways. That section coming up next.
Issues faced till date
None. Touch wood, it remains that way throughout.
Will post more observations as and when more kms are piled up on the odo.
The pictorial review will come soon as this photo shoot is still pending.