[h14]

One year with the Linea

My Linea has now completed one year. Clocked 14k kms as of now. The 15k/1yr service was completed 2 weeks back at Gem Motors, Coimbatore. Changed, Oil, Oil filter, Diesel Filter and wire mesh filter. Also got the balancing and alignment done from them. The total bill was about Rs.5,500/-

Few weeks before the service, I had removed the KN filter and went back to the stock filters. As I had reported earlier, I was not able to find much difference with the KN in terms of performance, but when ever the engine is revved beyond 3K RPM, the noise due to the filter was a bit too much for comfort and hence decided to do away with it.

But trust me, my experiences with the KN in Palio 1.2 was really good. So, the KN will now make its way to my Palio MJD.

All in all, one year with the Linea has been a wonderful experience just as how it has been with our other FIAT's and looking forward for many more. Next in line is a good long drive in the Linea, lets see when I'll be able to make it.

[h14]

The Linea has now crossed 18k and is doing great. Yesterday I was off for a quick visit to Palani from CBE in it. Started at 3:30pm from CBE and reached Palani by 5:30pm via Palladam-Dharapuram. The distance in this route was 117 kms. Roads were good and had a good drive.

The return journey started by 9:30 pm and reached home by 11:15 pm via Pollachi. This route was shorter by 10 kms. Here too the roads were good but the CBE-Pollachi is very high on traffic, so this route is makes sense if one is driving after 9pm.

All in all the Linea performed brilliantly especially with race chip on e,3! And the icing on the cake was the FE as usual. Let the picture speak

[Naparajito]

All in all the Linea performed brilliantly especially with race chip on e,3! And the icing on the cake was the FE as usual. Let the picture speak

Exactly! My car is running on 6,6 and i just can't explain how wonderful it is to drive. Its really awesome to see that you are having no niggles at all! Drive safe.
Cheers!

And one more thing, i think India is a very good market for Race-chip, because whom so ever i meet, shows me that he also has a Race-chip fitted in his Multijet motor

[h14]

I have not updated the thread for a long time now. The car has now crossed 25k on the ODO. Few weeks back had the longest drive in the Linea. Almost 3000kms for Coimbatore-Pune and back.

Clicked this just a day before the journey, all my FIAT's posing together



Day1 (Dec 10): Coimbatore-Salem-Hosur-Bangalore-Tumkur-Hubli (785 kms)

Started from Coimbatore at around 7am. Road works are still in progress from Coimbatore to New Tiruppur via Avinashi with a lot of diversions. After crossing that stretch, extremely heavy fog near Perundurai kept a check on the speeds. Never seen such heavy fog at this part of the Country before. The fog finally cleared by 9:30 am. Had a breakfast stop at Perundurai and proceeded towards Bangalore.








My parents were also with me and this was the first long drive for them too. They had done max 400 kms by car and not more, so I ensured to have maximum breaks as possible to go easy on them. Had a coffee break at A2B Thoppur and then another stop at McDonalds Shoolagiri where we packed our Lunch.

The roads from Perundurai to Krishnagiri are good and Krishnagiri to Hosur time consuming with 6 laning in progress. Entered NICE road and took the exit to Tumkur road.

On entering Tumkur Road, there was another toll-plaza and also there was another road adjacent to the tolled road. Not sure if there was any direction boards or not and got confused on which road to take. GPS showed both roads leading to Tumkur and hence I called up J Ravi sir. He was more than happy to guide me to take the tolled road since that was an elevated high way! Thank you sir for the help. He also told me that we have the option to pay for the next two toll's at one place itself. Thanked him and proceeded further. He called me again to enquire if I was on the correct route and if I needed anymore help

Roads were again good from NICE road exit to Tumkur. Had a stop at a HP fuel outlet near Tumkur for re-fuelling. This place also had a Kamat restaurant.

After Tumkur and upto Chitradurga, 6 laning works were in progress. Though the road works are complete, work was still on to extened the numerous fly-overs in that stretch. Hence, one has to slow down and divert into the service lanes. But unlike in some of the roads in TN, the service lanes in that stretch were in very good condition and does not cause any hassle. After Chitradurga, roads were excellent to say the least.

Reached Hubli by 6:30 p.m. and halted at Hubli for the day. Initially I booked my stay at Hotel Metropolis in Hubli after the reviews from Trip Adviser, but upon arrival, I was told that the car parking was closed due to some renovation work and hence I have to park on the road! I did not want to take the risk of Parking on a busy road and hence moved out of there and got a room at the Hans Hotel.

The Hans Hotel is a much better place away from the crowded streets of Hubli and on the Dharwar highway (Old highway and not the by-pass). The hotel was adjacent to a TATA-FIAT dealer.

So anyone planning on Hotel Metropolis be advised of unavailability of parking.

Day2: (Dec 11) Hubli to Pune (419 kms)

Started the day very late. It was about 10:30 am when we checked out of the hotel in Hubli. Joined the highway after crossing Dharwad. This Hubli Dharwad streatch was the old two-laned road with heavy traffic.

After joining the by-pass, it was pure bliss. Roads were brilliant and very well mainitained. Had a blast till Kohlapur and stopped there for lunch at McDonald's Kohlapur. Initial plan was to lunch at Sai Food court, but had already fallen for the McSpicy Panneer Wraps on day 1 and hence lunched again at McD.

On entering MH, the roads the roads are Concrete instead of Tar and they were extremely noisy in spite of being in good condition. Nevertheless enjoyed the drive and reached Quality Hotel Regency in Pune around 4:30 p.m.

Trip Details for CBE to Pune









Day 3: (Dec12) Pune-Ahmednagar-Shirdi-Pune (410 kms)

Day 3 was for Pune and this time started the day early. Plan was to visit Shirdi and return back to Pune by evening. The tickets for temple was booked online in advance and the time slot was 11am to 12:40 pm and so had to be there before 11.

There were 2 routes available from Pune to Shirdi and hece posted the query at HVK forum and HVK sir himself suggested to take the route via Ahmednagar. The distance for our Pune Hotel-Ahmednagar-Shirdi was 204 kms all four-laned with bad roads for the last 30 kms

Started around 7am, it was very cold and on joining the highway, it was mist again. It was heavier than what we experienced at Perundurai and more
over traffic was very heavy. Infact the traffic was heavy almost upto Ranjangoan, which was about 60kms from there.

The last 30kms to Shirdi was patched up 4-laned roads that was really bad. Finally we reached Shirdi by 10:30 am.

The return journey was also in the same route and this time, we wanted to check out the FIAT factory enroute Reached the factory gate around 5:30 p.m., took a pic and then started back to Pune.



After Ranjangoan, the traffic was pathetic and had to crawl for the last 50 kms

Trip Details for Pune-Shirdi-Pune









Day 4: (Dec13) Pune

Day 4 was more of a reserve day My initial plan was to spend the day at the hotel but also wanted to get the car washed well. So, I dropped my parents at Phoenix mall and then went to 3M car care that was present in the road adjacent to the mall.

Did not have an appointment, so went wondering if I can get the job done. It was a large outlet when compared to the Chennai one. They said they can do it. The adviser suggested me to go in for the UV treatment rather than just foam wash, but I turned down the offer. But later, I felt that I can go in for it as the car never had any waxing done since the day of purchase, so opted for the UV treatment.

The UV treatment includes foam wash followed by manual waxing using 3M paste wax. It also includes polishing all the rubber and plastic parts including the dash board, tires etc. The cost for the same was Rs.895+tax for medium segment.

As usual the workmanship was top-notch, but then I did have an issue at start.

When they started filling the job card, I asked for the cost and he quoted me the cost for large segment, when I asked him that Linea is in medium and that is how the Chennai store charged, the SA was not ready to believe me and said all Linea's are in large segment.

I was not ready to take this and asked him to check with his manager and get back. He then went up and checked with the store manager and then agreed with me that Linea is in medium.

I was really surprised by such claims at the 3M store, either they have never served a Linea before me (which is highly unlikely for a city like Pune) or they have been over-charging all the Linea customers so far or even maybe they tried to over-charge only me seeing that I was from out of Pune. Nevertheless, all ended well and the Linea got a well deserved wash and wax job.

[h14]

Day: 5 (Dec 14) Pune-Ranjangoan-Pune (120 kms)

Day 5 was reserved for the FIAT factory visit that was organised by TFI. It was a wonderful gesture from FIAT and they played wonderful hosts. The hospitality extended by FIAT was awesome. Come April 2013, we as FIAT fan's would have a lot to cheer for. Thanks primarily to Mr.Enrico.

Enrico's Speech : Enrico @ TFI factory visit

FIAT had the Bravo, AlfaRomeo 159, 500, Linea and a Punto lined up at the entrance. The Bravo and 159 was just out-of-the-world!





Had a great time at the factory and started back to Pune by 5:30 p.m.

Had one pic of my Linea. Shot somewhere near Chitradurga.



Day: 6 (Dec 15) Pune to Bangalore (860 kms)

Day 6 was the return journey. Had a plan of visiting the Mahalakshmi Mandir at Kohlapur. At first I thought that this would be some small temple on the out skirts of Kohlapur, but I was wrong. The temple was huge and the entire town has been built around the temple. I felt it to be something similar to Madurai.

Temple Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalak...mple,_Kolhapur

Getting in and out of Kohlapur, visiting the temple etc. took little over 2 hrs. The temple was crowded and the streets were very buys. Incidentally, Kohlapur is also famous for Chappals. There were numerous chappal shops all around the streets leading to the temple.

Kolhapuri chappals are made from processed leather. Hides of buffalo are processed and grazed. Grazing of leather makes the leather hard enough for daily wear and tear use. Some of the traditional designs of Kolhapuri chappals include Kachkadi, bakkalnali, and pukari. These chappals are stout, sturdy, day long usable. These are very popular in rural areas of Maharashtra.

After that, it was destination Bangalore. As usual, we had lots of elaborate breaks in between. Started from Pune at about 9:30 am and reached Kohlapur by 1:30 pm. Finished the temple visit, had lunch and then started off to Bangalore at around 3:45 p.m. and reached Bangalore by 1 a.m.

Day 7 (Dec 16) Bangalore to Coimbatore (350 kms)

Again it was a late start from Bangalore. Started by 11:30 am and reached Coimbatore by 6:30 p.m. This time took the Krishnagiri-Mettur-Sathyamangalam-Coimbatore route and hence the long travel time.

The reason for choosing this route was simply because we felt bored of the 4Laned roads all over and badly wanted to drive in the old fashioned 2Laned roads

All in all a wonderful road trip of almost 3000kms. Had a great time with the Linea

Trip details for the complete journey









Request to Mods: Please help to move the thread to the Long-term reviews section.

[h14]

2yrs / 30,000 kms service updade

The Linea completes 2yrs on Feb 14. Its 26800 kms on the ODO and I gave it for service at Gem Motors Coimbatore on monday. Initially I was thinking on getting it serviced at Salem True Sai works, but due to lack of time to take it to Salem and get back to CbE, I decided to give it to Gem as usual.

I called them on saturday to fix an appointment for monday. My call was routed to a SA and he requested to bring it on Monday morning and said delivery by Monday evening itself. I said that all fluids (GB oil, PS oil etc) has to be changed every 2 yrs and he was clueless on it and said it is not required now and it is to be done at the 45k service. I was Duh and decided not to insist and decided to do those once the FIAT exclusive was opened in CBE. Best part is that he neither asked for my car no nor my name for appointment. I thought maybe the SC was very free

Monday around 10am I reached there expecting very few FIAT's in there, but there were quite a lot of Linea's and Punto's being serviced and some waiting. Upon reaching, my details were noted in a list and I was the 10th car for the day.

A service adviser was asked to attend to me and he immediately started with the job card. He asked me for any specific complaints and I said none. He filled the job card and asked me to sign. He had written 30k service and change of oil, oil filter, diesel filter, air filter and wire mesh filter. Additionally he had included engine oil additive, fuel additive and ac duct cleaning. I requested that I do not need those and he removed the same without any fuss. When I asked him regarding the change of GB oil and others, he again said that the same is to be done at 45k. I didn't bother much on that with them and delivery was promised by 4:30 pm

Got a call at 3pm stating that there is a small coolant leak and they have found it to be from the heater hose and requested more time to replace the hose in warranty and test it again. I said fine and delivery was promised by 11:30am yesterday. I then checked with my dad and he confirmed that there were few droplets of coolant leaking occasionally and he forgot on that. Seems it was a very minor leak and happened rarely. I was happy that Gem Motors found this without me complaining. Full marks to them.

I again got a call promptly at 11:30 and told car is ready. Total bill value was Rs.5748. Was charged 4 litres for the engine oil and the balance oil was returned back in a can.

Once again a very pleasant experience with Gem Motors and the car is doing just great. So will have to change the fluids once the new SC is up in CBE or maybe get them done myself at home.

[aks_karthik]

As far as i know, All fluids will be changed at 60000 kms or 5th service only (Service Intervals : 3000, 15000, 30000, 45000, 60000).
I am going for 60K Kms service to VST, Chennai on coming Monday.
I plan to stick with Service Manuals.
So i have to change
Air Filter, Pollen Filter, Oil Filter, Fuel Filter
Engine Oil, Power Steering Oil, Gear Oil, Brake Fluid, Coolant

[h14]

Karthik, if you check the service booklet, it is clearly mentioned to change the GB oil, coolant, powersteering oil and brake oil every 2yrs or 60k kms which ever is earlier.

[aks_karthik]

Originally Posted by h14

Karthik, if you check the service booklet, it is clearly mentioned to change the GB oil, coolant, powersteering oil and brake oil every 2yrs or 60k kms which ever is earlier.

Oh I might have missed this 2 years and eventfully I planned to do it on 60K Kms service and it's been advised by my Fiat Service Advisor at VST, Chennai.
Now a days I am feeling a drag in my car and once the Oil/Fluids will be changed, it will be back to Normal.

[scofield]

Originally Posted by aks_karthik

Oh I might have missed this 2 years and eventfully I planned to do it on 60K Kms service and it's been advised by my Fiat Service Advisor at VST, Chennai.
Now a days I am feeling a drag in my car and once the Oil/Fluids will be changed, it will be back to Normal.

Karthik,

Replace the timing belt as well. Recommended by FIAT recently to change the timing belts of all the 90 HP engines at 60K.

[aks_karthik]

Originally Posted by scofield

Karthik,

Replace the timing belt as well. Recommended by FIAT recently to change the timing belts of all the 90 HP engines at 60K.

Thanx, But I have replaced this before an year under warranty.

[scofield]

Originally Posted by aks_karthik

Thanx, But I have replaced this before an year under warranty.

My o My.

Replaced under warrantly ? I mean this isnt done as per my last conversation with SA during 45K service.

[aks_karthik]

Originally Posted by scofield

My o My.

Replaced under warrantly ? I mean this isnt done as per my last conversation with SA during 45K service.

There's some problem with the Timing Belt and Fiat itself religiuosly changed the upgraded Belt under Warranty for all cars with their VIN no.
I have fully furnished details in my thread.

[h14]

Time for some updates:

Camp and service experience at CAI, Coimabtore

As like most of us in here, I too visited the service camp two weeks back. Took the Linea to CAI Coimbatore. This was my first visit to CAI and Senthil was supposed to join me there. Once I reached there, there was a SA who was prompt in recieving me and started the job card for the camp. Additionally, I had requested for the Absolute mud flaps and the FL wheel liner was broken and asked them to fix that too.

The SA infomred me that they will not be able to change those during the camp due to the expected high volume of vehicles and also due to the regular service. Hence he suggested I book an appointment the following monday for fixing the same with the applicable parts and labour discount that is provided on the day of camp. I was fine with that.

Once the formalities were completed, the car was taken in and I was guided to the lounge. They had some merchandise and accessories on for sale with a 10% discount on offer. I picked up a T-Shirt, key chain and the illuminated door sils for the Linea.

By the time I completed my shopping and did the billing, I was informed the car was ready but informed me that they have identified coolant leak.

The leak was from the HVAC and EGR. They gave me an appointment for Monday as I insisted I needed the car by Wednesday even as I had a trip on thursday. They provided me an appintment for Monday affternoon and promised delivery by Wednesday evening.

Left the car on monday 3 pm. I did not do any followup post that, neither did they call me for any updates. Finally I called the SA on Wednesday morning to check the status. He said work is complete and the car is on observation for the leak test.

He called me again by 3:30 pm and said work is complete and bill of Rs. 3250. This includes new HVAC hose, Absolute mud flap, FL wheel liner, EGR cleaning and the labour for the same.

I went in by 4:30 and the car was ready. Billing took some time as they had to calculate the part and labour discounts as the FIAT system was not implemented yet.

All in all a good experience. The car was also washed and the washing quality was very good. Only negative I felt was that I was not updated on progess before I called up on the delivery date.

Drive to Coorg & Mysore

Started off to Coorg the very next day. Had my BIL's innova for company for the drive. The leak was fully arrested and car ran very well. It was a wonderful drive in the rains. I stayed at Club Mahindra in Coorg. It was raining all day in Coorg for the entire 4 days of my stay. Climate was awesome and so was the resort Did not venture out anywhere and chose to be within the property.















The Return journey

On my return from Coorg, stayed back in Mysore for a couple of days before returning back to Coimbatore. The Mysore Palace was breathtaking to say the least! Since it was a sunday, we were able to witness the lighting of the Palace which is done only on sundays.









Over all trip details for Coimbatore-Coorg-Mysore-Coimbatore. Includes, city driving, highway and ghat sections.

[h14]

Quite few updates pending!

Re-mapped

The Linea completed 3yrs and clocked a little over 35000kms when the re-map was done.

Got it remapped by Code6 when they visited coimbatore! The remapping experience was very nice. They listened to my requirements patiently and we did various combinations. Finally I was happy with one map and they were'nt too keen and wanted to tweak it further and it was even better.

They had suggested to drive for atleast 300kms and then said we can tweak and improve it further. Happy with the map and waiting for the next tweak to make it even better.

As far as the remap is concerned I believe a minor tweak is required. The drivability has improved a notch better after installing the K&n. Fuel efficiency has remained unchanged after the map.

Airfilter cover replacement

In March 2014, made a trip to cai to get the air filter cover replaced.

Seems there was a recall for this long back and many like me were not intimated during the Tata split. So got the same changed now. It costs Rs. 150

Also got the air intake sensor cleaned.

Old/Existing type



Modified / New type



April 2014

Got an opportunity to put the Linea to proper test after the remap.

Drove Coimbatore - trichy - Jeyankondam - ulundurpet - Chennai - Perambalur - Karur - Coimbatore over a period of 4 days.

The onward journey was on the aggressive side. It was a route will decent two laned roads with dense traffic. For the first time I never missed my palio mjd especially considering the quick overtaking required in such narrow roads.

The response on every gear was wonderful and I loved the 4 and 5 gears too.

I did Coimbatore to Trichy in 2:50 mins and still got a fuel efficiency of 19.7.

The return leg from Chennai to Coimbatore was very relaxed drive just to see how much I can extract and the results are below :



City driving in Chennai for 3 days delivered 15.2 kmpl. So the remap has done more good.



40,000 kms service update

The odo stands a little over 40,200 as of August 1. Had been experiencing a wierd noise whenever the car is over a speedbreaker or a hump. Had the same checked and the mech said the FL shock is completely out. Was tough to digest the same for two reasons, one the car has run just around 40k and two, there has been no other difference other than the noise. The car being used pretty gently and primarly on good roads was another factor.

Considering all the above, decided to use it as it was but the noise became more evident and hence decided to change both the studs and that's when another noise was experienced when the steering was rotated and it was narrowed down to the elastic pads. So in the weekend of July 26 decided to change both studs and elastic pads. Since the car is out of warranty and no extended warranty, the works were done at home. Also done were the oil and oil filter change. Switched to Mobil 3000 fully synthetic.

So with FL stud and FR elastic pad flunked, the work started and upon removing the suspensions, we found that even the FR stud was very weak. I presume a clear case of manufacturing defect and unfortunately it failed after warranty. Probably a lesson learnt on not to be too gentle on the car during run-in / warranty period; else this would have definitely been noticed in warranty peroid itself.

The elastic pads too were the old type and subsequently FIAT had changed the pad type but not sure whether there was any recall for this. So ended up changing 2 studs and 2 elastic pads at 40k kms.

Front studs x2
Elastic pads x2
Mobil 3000 fully synthetic engine oil
Oil filter

Diesel filter planned to change at 45.


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