[ritedhawan]

Nice color , Nice car and well maintained. In Dec, 2011, I took my parents to a TATA showroom (at that time TATA and Fiat were together) so that they could harbor the same sentiments that I had for this car so that I could induce them to book it. The moment my father heard the brand name 'FIAT', just wont even look at it let alone consider booking.

He had preconceived opinions about this brand as he was a one time Fiat Padmini owner and his experience was not good. However, I loved this car and at that time the reviews by some of the owners on T-bhp were good and then FIAT left India.

[theabstractmind]

Excellent thread! Wish you many more happy S'miles'. Never drove a T-Jet but having owned a Punto (had to sell it under distress) and driven a Linea before, I can only tell not to sell it out until it is mechanically sound.

Very sad to see Fiat go. I drive a much more powerful car now but the Fiat was the closest to the heart.

[RaghavEvoX]

Fantastic review of a great car !!

I have test driven the car at least 5 times and was convinced that it was the best driver's car during its time.

After having a Ford ikon and with expensive maintenance costs, I couldn't convince myself to buy a Fiat at that time given its poor reputation of service issues.

Fiats are like the batman among Indian cars - "he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now".

[FamilyTraveller]

Loved the post. I was a TJet plus owner for 10 years until yesterday before giving it for an exchange for a 330i. My beautiful ‘white Bangalorean’ as I used to call her, took me to almost half of the country to places like Jaipur, Puri, Pune Nashik, Goa and entire south India. Never once did she ask for anything. I did not spend even 1 Rs beyond regular maintenance.

What a machine Fiat built for us. Drove 110K KM. I believe the joy she delivered in those 10 years is way above the money I spent to bring ut home. Will miss her! Her power, ride comfort etc. I hope my new ride will be able to match it.

[Shreyfiesta]

Superb review, with a great eye for the small details! Attention to detail is good. The way you have kept the car in mint condition is worth appreciating.

Wishing you many more happy years and miles together !

[eyesice]

Fantastic review. This used to be my dream car. However, I could not afford to buy it during those days. Only if Fiat did not close shop in India and if Fiat had provided the car as is (may be with Android Auto & Apple Carplay), I would have bought it eyes closed. Only if!

[nibedk]

Into my 8th year of ownership of Fiat Punto 90 HP MJD (used to be called Sport) and still don't have any itch to upgrade or look elsewhere. Mechanically both the Linea and Punto are so sorted I haven't yet found something close to them costing less than 2 million except the New Ford Fiesta. Based on just the drive experience I would rate it slightly ahead of Linea just by a little margin. Overall I would still rate the Linea ahead of it. As driver cars these Fiats along with the Figo and Fiesta were the best cars in last decade. Ford later on diluted its cars in every possible way and have now exited our market. One less option for us enthusiasts.

No rattles, squeaks yet in the car. BnM has stopped working for me and a 14-15 K cost is not something I want to incur. I can live without the Bluetooth and usb functionality. Even today it doesn't feel like a 8 year old car. Its as good as new though I never warmed up to Fiats interior. It didn't feel a 8 L car back then and feels much worse today. Though I agree that it was very functional and never gave me any surprises. Few nicks and scratches through out the body but nothing alarming. An overall paint touch up should be good enough. I plan to keep the car as long as I can though I believe in a couple of years we may have issues getting slow moving parts etc. The only reason I am looking at a upgrade is space. The boot and overall space isn't anything to write about. The other reason would be specific features like Cruise control (age catches up whether one wants or not) , TPMS, sun/moon roof (makes a lot of difference to the ambience) and better safety features. I still don't need an automatic even though, but cruise control makes the drive a lot more pleasurable (better mileage, lesser stress of maintaining speeds).

I still regret not picking up the Linea. Every trip we make we miss the big boot that it offers. Abarth wasn't available when I bought my Punto else I would have bought one eyes closed. MJD on Linea was more sluggish and the TJET still was more warm in Linea than being hot as it is on Abarth. If Linea had an Abarth version I would have preferred that. I have clocked 1.1 L kms (no drives since last Mar due to COVID and very less travel in 2017 as we were doing the interiors of our house). Most of the distance covered has been in rest of the 5 years so diesel always made more sense for me. But I still regret when I see a Linea or an Abarth on road.

Since the Covid times our travel has been reduced to literally naught (finally a trip coming up after 19 months when we travel to our native), but there is a real need to upgrade especially due to space. But there really hasn't been a car which has excited me except for Compass (way too small for a big price). I really am not looking at a car in that range (though I may pick one couple of years down the line if there still aren't any options). Tata excited me with its Harrier and Safari but both still don't see to be even 90% of what they ideally should have been.

So the wait continues. Hoping that Jeep will launch the Renegade (or small SUV with 4*4) and it would be priced just right but irrespective the Punto will continue in the garage as a second car if I buy a new car in next 2 years or till its possible to maintain the beauty without losing sleep.

[ads11]

Absolutely delightful read! Fantastic to see such a lovingly maintained and cared for example of a beautiful car. Agree on all counts of your review, that hydraulic steering set up is to die for, my parents and I all agree that in our stable it still has the best ride and handling (more so than our A4 in fact!). Actually the only car whose steering I enjoyed even more was our erstwhile Ikon - the notchy short throw gearbox of that was a delight, comparatively I've found the throw of the gears a bit mushy on our Linea. One thing I absolutely wish we had when we got ours was the T-jet motor because on the naturally aspirated FIRE engine on the long highway drives, in 5th gear you can really feel the engine getting stretched.

My parents still argue over who gets to drive our Linea, which is testament to how good a driving car it is. Those looks to us are timeless and we'll hold on to ours for as long as we can. Hope you too get to have many more happy miles on your beauty!

[abhi_tjet]

Thanks a lot guys for the compliments and sharing anecdotes from your experiences.
I have learned a lot from various threads and reviews in team-bhp over the years and easiest way to reciprocate was sharing my side of story.

Originally Posted by cogWheel

@abhi_tjet, your car looks great,……..There are bolt-on intercooler upgrades available. My experience with such an upgrade for my Abarth Punto has been good.

Yes, cogWheel. That’s on my to-do list. I will get it done when budget will permit 😀

[HTC]

Fantastic review. Thanks for taking time and sharing your love for Linea. When one of my
friend went to test drive Fiat Punto (and eventually purchased it), the salesman asked him to take test ride of Linea. The sales guy or the expert driver told him about the excellent stability of the Linea and went on to demonstrate it by keeping a glass of water on dashboard and taking a sweeping U turn with out spilling a drop of water !! My friend recalls that test drive even now. Before IC era is gone and EV's take over, who ever got their hands on pure handling cars from Fiat and Ford are lucky I would say.

Same with my first gen Figo. Already my friend has reserved if I plan to upgrade or change. Which I guess is not happening any time soon LoL.

Take good care of your steed and keep it as long as possible.

[HTC]

Fantastic review. Thanks for taking time and sharing your love for Linea. When one of my friend went to test drive Fiat Punto (and eventually purchased it), the salesman asked him to take test ride of Linea as well. The demo car driver told him about the excellent stability of the Linea and went on to demonstrate it by keeping a glass of water on dashboard and taking a sweeping U turn with out spilling a drop of water !! My friend recalls that test drive even now. Before IC era is gone and EV's take over, who ever got their hands on pure handling cars from Fiat and Ford are lucky I would say. My first gen Figo, already my friend has reserved it for himself if I plan to upgrade or change. Which I guess is not happening any time soon LoL.

Take good care of your steed and keep it as long as possible.

[W.A.G.7]

Absolutely beautiful looking car! This one will easily last 2L kilometers with proper TLC. The colour is absolutely fab too. One of my ex-manager, in the previous company also owns a Linea T-Jet from 2014 (approx. same age as yours) in the golden colour and he is also extremely satisfied with the car. He still says he has no plans of selling the car and will continue to use it. One of my relatives owns a Punto Dynamic Multijet and is also satisfied with the car. Once again, no plans of selling the Punto.

It is sad, that Fiat once again wound up their business most likely through complacency or being in the comfort zone for too long. They probably kept on flogging these old models till the very end rather than evolve and get more models in the market. How and where do you do the servicing of the car in Pune? Are the spare parts easily available, now that both models are discontinued long back?

[abhi_tjet]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

How and where do you do the servicing of the car in Pune? Are the spare parts easily available, now that both models are discontinued long back?

Hey W.A.G.7,
Thanks for the compliments. As mentioned in log, I get it done from Wings Auto, Bavdhan(ex Pandit guys). There is no problem for mechanical parts. However, not all plastic(cabin) parts are easily available. There is a wait time for them.

[acestormtrooper]

Awesome abhi_tjet!

I have fallen in Love with Fiat totally. Its a complete drivers car.

Rahul, Ravi and Anil from Wings Auto are too good at maintaining the car. I have known Rahul since he was at Pandit Auto at the Tilak Road Branch and I was an Intern at the Sahakar Nagar Workshop.

I had a 2009 Punto Emotion Pack on which I had clocked around 2,10,000 Kms and was completely PERFECT! But then, due to my job, had to purchase a new car. Did not want to let go of the Punto but then my pocket did not permit me to maintain two cars. I was considering the Punto Evo then, but unfortunately in 2017, the CTC scheme did not provide for a Fiat car, due to which I was somewhat forced to go in for a Swift.

I literally cried the day i let go of my blue baby!

This was the last picture which i had clicked when the guy at the exchange place took her away.






A friend of mine then bought the car immediately. He still has it and does not want to part with it at all!

Then in Oct 2019, My swift met with a bad accident, where an auto rickshaw driver slept off on the wheel and rammed into me from the rear. This was at around 5am and I was heading for my office at Chakan, Pune. The impact was so bad that the driver seat mountings broke and the car was totaled. Thankfully, he did not have any major injuries and I too was safe.

After this incident, I did not want to purchase any car other than Fiat! I was searching for a Linea all over the country. Fortunately, an ex-colleague came to a rescue who had just joined FCA. (perks of being from the Automobile Manufacturing Industry) I asked him if any company owned cars are available. He checked up and one Fiat Linea MJD 2017 model which was registered with FCA and was up for sale.

Completed all the formalities and I instantly got this beauty home!















It had just clocked around 3000 Kms. Drove it and was in love with her.

Got the tyres replaced as the car was idle in the factory / with the company representative and they had gotten real hard. Installed 4 Pirelli Cinturato P6 and then she just flew on the highway!

I've made a solemn promise to myself, I will never sell this car come what may.

Very happy to see this thread in the forum.

Also a big thanks to BrakingBad

This car "HAS AN ENGINE!"

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by abhi_tjet

It might look dated to some now but pleasing nevertheless. I still can stare at it for hours admiring its elegance. No bad angles for this beauty.

Spot on.

Cars that are designed like this are long gone. The Linea and the first generation Punto that was sold in India are easily the best looking Fiat's. Aside from some inconsistent plastic quality, the car held up surprisingly well. This I guess was due to using the same plastic molding that TATA used. There were bits that were excellent and some that felt like they were taken out of a Winger. I found a big difference from my T Jet Plus (now sold) to an Active Punto. That latter was horrible.

I had a 2011 T Jet Plus which with 170mm (or 175) of ground clearance. It was a problem. I just made my peace with it and drove slowly over all the speed bumps in Bangalore. It was only under full load that the car scrapes its belly. Honestly; I don't know why Fiat India bothered raising the height of both their cars. It ruined the look and more important, the handling of the car. Most folks who owned these cars managed with the low clearance. It was not something that was a deal breaker when it comes to buying one.

Hold on to your Linea for as much as you can. The ride and comfort this car offers will put some higher segment cars to shame, even today.