1st December 2009, 14:36
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Chennai
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| Fiat Linea MJD Emotion Black - 14000KMS in 7months. This thread is my long-term ownership report of the Fiat Linea MJD Emotion. I had been a fan of Fiat cars as my father had owned the petrol as well as deisel UNO in the late nineties. Those were my first experience with the European cars and I was astonished to feel the solid and sturdy drive of these cars similar to a bigger car. In comparison to the Marutis the Fiat UNO gave a feeling that I was driving a big car. Both the petrol and deisel were good machines and I had a satisfying ownership. My first look of the Linea was at the Auto Expo in Delhi in January 2008. It looked stylish and stunning. There is a lot said about the awesome looks of the Linea in this forum already. I was eagerly waiting for the launch which happened in January 2009. Delivery I took the delivery of the car in April 2009 from VST Motors Chennai. The booking and delivery process was smooth except for one issue where the sales person was saying there might be an increase in price and they would apply the rates existing on the day of invoicing the car.(That is not the date of booking and issue of the cheque)They would invoice the car only after the cheque is realised and if the price is revised by then I would have to pay the new price. I was not happy with this and had an argument with the management. I threatened them that I would not buy the car if they passed on the price increase to me after I have issued the cheque. After a heated arguement they relented and agreed not to pass on the price increase to me. As they were expecting, the price was raised by Rs. 15,000/- after I had made the payment. But they did not charge that amount on me. I had asked the dealer to fix the sun control at the showroom before delivery. I opted for the 3M which costed Rs.3500/- and the floor mats costed Rs. 1,500/-. The first thing I did on taking the delivery was to change the tires as I wasnt happy with OE. I opted for the Yokohama 205/65 R15 which was an upgarde from the factory fitted 195/55 R15. I got the Yoko tires for Rs. 2800/- each against the exchnage of the OE. I also fixed the Plati Alloys with five spoke design. These were my favorite alloys and I had decided long back that I would buy these for my linea. I fixed a broad chrome muffler.Attachment 237112 Attachment 237113 Attachment 237114 Attachment 237115 Attachment 237116 Attachment 237117 Attachment 237118 Initial Drive. I wasnt very much impressed with the initial pick up. It was very sluggish and the zip was missing. Within 3 days of taking delivery of the Linea I took it to Pondicherry. On the highway it was a pleasure to drive as after the RPM crosses 2000 it picks up good speed and I was able to clock 160KMPH as the top speed. 120KMPH - 140KMPH was constant. Here I noticed the 90BHP engine was responsible for such high speeds. As with the Dzire which has the same engine there is initial pick up but on the long stretch the 75BHP Dzire lags behind the Linea. The up sized tires gave a solid road grip and I was very impressed with its highway manners. The drive was confidence inspiring. The ECR has lot of twists and turn and sharp corners. The Linea was capable of handling those without any problem.The engine is very smooth and the sound insulation inside the cabin is minimal. Comfort The Linea Emotion has so many comfort features which are available in the C+ segment only. The seats are broad and comfy with the right stiffness.Manual Height Adjustable. The centre armrest for the driver is at the right position with cushioning on top. The central locking is programmed in such a way that once the car goes past 20KMPH it locks automatically. I liked this feature a lot as its good when there are kids travelling in the car and one tends to forget to lock the doors sometimes. This feature was not there in the Skoda Octavia 1.9TDI Ambiente!! There is ample storage spaces like 2 glove box on the dash the door pockets are spacious and the centre arm rest has a storage space too. For the rear passengers there is an Aircon vent and the centre armrest. The middle passenger has a headrest too. Another feature which many luxury cars dont have. The sun visers have vanity mirrors with auto light facility. The power windows have one touch down for driver side.There is a sun glass holder on the driver side. The in side lighting is good with front and rear lights. ORVM have eletronic adjustment from inside but do not have electronic folding system. There is day/night rear view mirror. The wash wipe has three outlets for the water to come out which is again good. The blaupunkt music system is very good for an OE. Boot space is huge. As huge as the Skoda octavia I guess. (I am comparing the Skoda Octavia because I own that car as well). The Electronic display gives information such as Range (DTE) it is very precise. Average Speed Average Fuel consumtion Instant fuel consumption Trip A and Trip B Travel Time. The display also gives out information about the CD Track is play or the radio station info. Service interval prompt, speed limit beep(which we can set it. I have set at 120KMPH) Date Day and Time. the display is orange in color very well illuminated and catching to the eye. The speed RPM fuel and Temp dials are silver grey and look really classy.      Drawbacks Every car has drawbacks and Linea is no exception. The rear seat leg space is a bit cramped. This is surprising because from out side the car is so lenghty. The door handles are very hard. Its difficult for the children to open the doors. the chrome panels on the door handle tend to fall off in the rains. Apart from these I cannot recall any other thing that I dislike about this car. Performance Performance of this car is very good even after doing 14000KMS. The top speed I have done is 170KMPH. The car is planted to the surface and is very sturdy. The suspension is top notch. Everything is very solid about this car. Fuel Efficiency This is disappointing. Compared to other cars like the Dzire and even the Skoda Octavia the FE is very less in the Linea. In city I get about 10KMPL and the best I have achieved in highway driving is 14KMPL. Yes I agree I drive high speeds but the Dzire always gives amazing FE at all times.(Comparing the Dzire as both share same engines and my uncle owns one).Another factor which I feel that has affected the FE is that I have upsized the tires and also fitted alloy wheels. But I am ready to overlook this fact as over all I am very satisfied and happy with the Linea's performance. After Sales Service The first service was done at 3000KMS. I was worried about the service as TATA has had a bad name with after sales service. But to my surprise the service guys were very efficient. I had dropped the car in the morning and they promised to send the car the same evening. They offered free pick up and drop which was a pleasent thing as I had not had this facility with Gurudev motors the sevice centre for Skoda. The only compalint I had mentioned at the time of the first service was that there was a screeching noise coming from the right side of the steering at the time of initial pick up. The noise was coming from the dash on the right side. The service guy said he will dismantle the dash and rectify it. Yes it was rectified when I got back the car. But that noise started again after a week. I searched the Team BHP forums and came to know that most of the Linea's have this problem. Now I am some what used to the noise as I do not have time to take the car back to the service centre. The next service is at 15000 KMS and I would ask them to rectify that. The service intervals are at every 15000KMS which is very good and probably I would need to service the car once a year. Another plus feature for this segment.Skoda has 7500km service intervals. I opted for the 3 years/45000km maintainance package. They charged Rs. 6500/-. Which I feel is worth it as I will not have to pay for any problems arising within this period. The way the car is performing I wonder if I will encounter any problems at all!! ABS I experienced ABS first in the Linea. This is really amazing for high speed driving. The car comes to a halt from high speeds instantly. I just love this feature. Personal Experience I have done frequent highway trips to Bangalore and my hometown Gudiyatham. My home town is 170KMS from Chennai. I covered that distance in 105mins in the Linea @ 117KMPH average which is a personal record for me.In other cars I took almost 2.5 hours which is the usual time taken. For this particular drive I was lucky that there was less traffic and it was night time well past after midnight. I just wanted to mention this statistic here to highlight the fact that the Linea is amazing on the highways and it is a worthy high speed vehicle. End of Story On the whole the Linea gives a solid feel good factor on the ownership. Plus the 3 years warranty package is an added bonus as it will result in hassle free service. |
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1st December 2009, 16:44
| #2 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,195
Thanked: 120 Times
|  14000KMS in 7months. Are you eating kms for food or what!!!!!Never-the-less congrats on your new(rather 6 month old now)purchase. Linea is a nice car. very powerful. I had a drive in it and i was amazed by the raw power. Good choice. put some interior pics. So have you done any l;ong trips. If yes then put some travelouges |
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1st December 2009, 16:57
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| Senior - BHPian  | Hey Congrats and you have munched kilometers eagerly. IMO,you are the first one changing Alloys in Linea. Try to post some photos of the alloys. Enjoy and Drive Safe  |
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1st December 2009, 17:05
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1st December 2009, 17:05
| #5 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: MUMBAI
Posts: 416
Thanked: 99 Times
| Congratulations on owning the beauty!  I see that you are using the spare key . Any reason for not using the Default key with the keyless entry feature ? btw , my Petrol Linea has done 14073 km as of now in 7 months 5 days Last edited by FastLove : 1st December 2009 at 17:14. |
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1st December 2009, 17:08
| #6 |
| BHPian  | |
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1st December 2009, 17:13
| #7 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Melbourne
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1st December 2009, 17:19
| #8 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
4 People + heavy luggage + full ac + winding roads + normal driving gave me 15.7 Kmpl (Avg speed 28Kmph) 2 people + no luggage + 10% ac + highway + normal driving gave me 22.5 Kmpl. (Avg Speed 55 Kmph) I think 5th gear is tall and gives you good FE - just notice how much the rpm meter goes down when you shift from 4th to 5th! Whereas in my Palio, there is not much difference between 4th and 5th and both are overdrives! Last edited by clevermax : 1st December 2009 at 17:28. | |
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1st December 2009, 17:24
| #9 |
| BHPian  | Congrats on cloking 140000 kms in 7 months, that was really fast.  End of Story On the whole the Linea gives a solid feel good factor on the ownership. Plus the 3 years warranty package is an added bonus as it will result in hassle free service. I think the 3 years warranty package comes with a certain number of kms. (i guess 100000 kms or 150000 kms). I may be wrong but just check the fine print on the warraty card. Cheers. |
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1st December 2009, 18:36
| #10 | ||||||
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Chennai
Posts: 435
Thanked: 789 Times
| Uploading the exterior pics.         Quote:
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I have just uploaded the photos with the alloys fitted. The first time I uploaded the link was not working. Hope its fine this time. Quote:
Thank you. No I am using the remote key. Its just that I have fixed the key chain to it. Hence you thought that I am using the spare key. Congrats. You are neck to neck with me . What is the mileage you get on the petrol Linea. Have you put up your ownership report?Quote:
@ Extreme Torque. I did not check with the After Sales Service regarding the mileage. I shall do it during the next service which is due on completing 15000kms. @ J.Ravi - Thank you. Quote:
The slow you drive and maintain constant speeds the mileage is excellent. Problem with me is I cannot drive slowly. I like high speeds. In the Skoda Octavia my top speed is 190KMPH and in the Jetta which is my FIL's car I clocked 199KMPH. The top speed mentioned in the vw website for Jetta is 186KMPH!!!! Quote:
I guess 45000KMS is sufficient as I plan to drive the Linea for max 4 years. Last edited by Jaggu : 1st December 2009 at 19:03. Reason: Back to back posts, use multi quote please. | ||||||
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2nd December 2009, 15:36
| #11 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: MUMBAI
Posts: 416
Thanked: 99 Times
| Quote:
I generally drive fast too and have taken Linea to 190kmph on my trip to goa recently (as per the speedo) . However, iam sure the speedometer reading is approx +5 in terms of actually reading. The car is beautiful and stable at that speed . Do let me know how you feel Linea behaves at that speed. My ownership thread is below: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ck-goa-17.html Last edited by FastLove : 2nd December 2009 at 15:39. | |
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2nd December 2009, 15:56
| #12 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: bangalore
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2nd December 2009, 18:21
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| BHPian | Quote:
Sameer: same question can you confirm the PCD | |
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3rd December 2009, 10:01
| #14 | |||||||
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Mohali
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| Firstly Sameer congrats on your buy. Wish you many more great kms ahead in your Linea. Quote:
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3rd December 2009, 11:03
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| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Chennai
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