[directinjection]

Originally Posted by julupani

A 195/60 R15???!!!!! I think this is a bit of a dangerous situation. A 195/60 R15 is about 3% smaller in circumference compared to the 205/55 R16. Not to mention, that when you put on the spare, one corner of the car will sit 5-7mms lower than the others.

I think manual mentions that you should repair and replace the standard wheel as soon as possible. But even so this is a bit extreme in my view.

Actually, quite a few cars in Europe come with a smaller and/or thinner spare tyre. The logic probably is that it's only meant to provide limp-home facility. Perhaps also to remind the driver to get the puncture repaired fast!

[julupani]

Originally Posted by directinjection

Actually, quite a few cars in Europe come with a smaller and/or thinner spare tyre. The logic probably is that it's only meant to provide limp-home facility. Perhaps also to remind the driver to get the puncture repaired fast!

I know that, but even in those cases the tyre dimensions are reasonably similar.

For example, the recently introduced in India Mercedes A-class comes with such a comical space saver spare. Its standard tyre size is a 225/45 R17, while the spare is a comical 125/80 R17. This case may seem more extreme that what FIAT is providing in this case, but if you actually see the rolling circumference, you will see that 125/80R17 and 225/45R17 are pretty much similar. The difference is less than 0.5% while in the case of the Linea here it is close to 3%.

I am not opposed to a space saver non-alloy spare tyre at all. But it should have dimensions as close as possible to the standard tyre. Thus FIAT could at least have given us a 195/65 R15 spare, as that would be a much better match for the 205/55 R16 standard tyre.

[puchoo]

Uploading 2 photographs of the brochure which i have. 2 photos each addressing a different part of the brochure. Apologies for the low resolution but i think everything shows up clearly enough

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by puchoo

However , i will also check this from my dealer and update. I will probably never ever use the remote. I used to have one for my system in the Wagon R and no steering wheels - it was simply easier to raise a hand and toggle around rather than the remote. But if its supposed to be provided they should - if not ill squeeze something else out instead

Yeah, that's true. In my opinion, the remote is most useful in chauffeur driven cars, where the driver has little-to-no say in what the owner listens to, but the owner is seated 4 feet away from the main ICE controls. On a different note, a chauffeur-driven T-Jet is an oxymoron *lol*.

@puchoo, I strongly suggest a reverse camera for this car if you really want to squeeze something out of the deal. It is quite easy to miss objects behind the car, even with reverse sensors.

Originally Posted by julupani

I know that, but even in those cases the tyre dimensions are reasonably similar.

For example, the recently introduced in India Mercedes A-class comes with such a comical space saver spare. Its standard tyre size is a 225/45 R17, while the spare is a comical 125/80 R17. This case may seem more extreme that what FIAT is providing in this case, but if you actually see the rolling circumference, you will see that 125/80R17 and 225/45R17 are pretty much similar. The difference is less than 0.5% while in the case of the Linea here it is close to 3%.

+1 With a greater degree of variance in the total ride height, the spare 4th wheel may not even be in contact with the ground at times! It is just meant to be a limp-to-the-tyre-shop rescuer, nothing more. They ought to have given 195/65R15, but were probably too lazy to order and fit different sized tyres for a relatively-low selling T-Jet emotion model *lol*, so they probably just decided to use the same Punto Emotion / Linea Dynamic tyre stocks (195/60R15) which might have been lying in the factory.

I am not opposed to a space saver non-alloy spare tyre at all. But it should have dimensions as close as possible to the standard tyre. Thus FIAT could at least have given us a 195/65 R15 spare, as that would be a much better match for the 205/55 R16 standard tyre.

I completely agree with you on that. This (195/60R15) is a clear case of penny pinching by Fiat. I don't see any reason why they cannot provide the 5th alloy wheel when they were doing it for my batch of T-Jets in 2011. How much more is it going to cost for them to give an alloy wheel with a tyre? I'm sure that 11k alloy wheel will be costing ~2-3k for them at factory level, and the tyre may be 1k bucks at the most. What do they save by penny pinching with 4k rupees on a 10L car? It is not like this car is setting sales charts on fire, to be able to save a considerable amount by sheer sales numbers either.

[Tats07]

The more I hear the T-Jet price quotes from other cities, the more envious I become! Emotion T-Jet in Bangalore costs almost 11 Lakhs on road, if I take the RSA and extended warranty! Can the T-Jet owning members please suggest whether RSA and Extended warranty are absolutely necessary?

God, won't you make the government implement the uniform road tax rule before I change my car?!

[sreejith.pish]

Karthikk, nice review.
The Linea owner in you was sure to be seen, very few could have even noticed the increase in height of the newer T-Jet.

In my humble opinion, the interiors of your car looks much better than the new one. Where do you service your Fiat? At the exclusive Fiat Service Centre?

The 4 wheel disc brakes & the ABS EBD are standard across all the variants, That will surely help while doing a downgrade & during wet road conditions. I really hope that their exclusive fiat service centres work out well.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Tats07

Emotion T-Jet in Bangalore costs almost 11 Lakhs on road, if I take the RSA and extended warranty! Can the T-Jet owning members please suggest whether RSA and Extended warranty are absolutely necessary?

I thought the Emotion was ~10.5L on-road now. RSA and extended warranty collectively can't be more than 15k as per my guess. RSA should be ~4k and extended warranty probably 8k or something if I remember correctly. Buyers like puchoo should be able to tell you what's the exact amount on the quote now. I didn't observe pricing details since I won't be buying it anyway, so no clue on the exact stuff.

I've had no issues with the car whatsoever, but there's no harm in taking extended warranty for a 10+L turbocharged European car. Your total coverage of warranty will then be 3 + 2 = 5 years, which is decent peace of mind. With a Honda, you can think about that question, but extra precaution never hurts with a European *winks*. You should take as much as they offer.

[Tats07]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I thought the Emotion was ~10.5L on-road now....

I've had no issues with the car whatsoever, but there's no harm in taking extended warranty for a 10+L turbocharged European car....

Emotion in Bangalore is 10,92,334 to be exact with RSA and extended warranty.

Thanks for the input on my question, you are correct on the Turbo Euro sedan!

[CliffHanger]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Steering feedback :

There is a marked difference between the 2011 version and the 2013 versions. The older T-Jet+ steering feels a little stiffer and tighter at city speeds and crawling pace parking speeds. The 2013 T-Jet's steering feels a lot lighter in the city at speeds <30-40 kmph. Once you gain speed, the 2013 T-Jet weighs up nicely and matches the feel of the old T-Jet+.

It is like having the best of both worlds now with the 2013 version. You can no longer grumble about a hard steering when parking the car (the test drive car was almost as light as an EPS with more feedback), and yet you can't complain about loss in feel at higher speeds. The overall steering feedback and communication about the road surface irregularities remains the segment benchmark. The older T-Jet has a tighter setup at low speeds and gives a feeling of being in command of a heavy tank-like build. I personally preferred the older heavier steering.

Nice review there.

I just have a small thought on the above quoted section of your review -Generally when the tyres are new, the steering feels light, but as the tyre wears out, the steering gets tighter. I had the same impression when I got my second Punto, but now having driven ~37k on C-drives, the steering feels very similar to my 2009 Punto.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

Nice review there.

I just have a small thought on the above quoted section of your review -Generally when the tyres are new, the steering feels light, but as the tyre wears out, the steering gets tighter. I had the same impression when I got my second Punto, but now having driven ~37k on C-drives, the steering feels very similar to my 2009 Punto.

Thanks a lot CliffHanger! That's true, new tyres would make the steering feel different, but in this case both cars sport new tyres. My T-Jet sports brand new Michelin Primacy LCs of the exact same size which have just done ~1400 km, and the test drive car had Goodyear Eagles with ~400-500 km on the clock . If anything, the Michelins should feel the lighter of the two if tyres were the reason.

Also, I had driven the T-Jet with the same Goodyear Eagles since day 1 of purchase. The amount of lightness is considerably different between the 2 versions, so Fiat has definitely done something to lighten the steering at low speeds, probably owing to the complaints by customers. I find this steering tightness difference even between my 2011 T-Jet and 2012 Punto. In the 2013 T-Jet it is even lighter than the 2012 Punto. Looks like they loosen the steering a bit once every year.

[KarthikK]

Don't know if this has been posted earlier. I just stumbled across this old video review of the Linea T-Jet on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZX00VC8r5M

The video was okay, but for one funny part: Aravinda De Silva (cricketer) says "On the straight, the car handled pretty well" !

[puchoo]

You are right. The RSA is about 3000-3500 and the extended warranty should be about 7000-8000.

I checked with the dealership again since i plan on opting for it as well and they have not got the official amount yet for the T-Jet but this is what their projection is.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I thought the Emotion was ~10.5L on-road now. RSA and extended warranty collectively can't be more than 15k as per my guess. RSA should be ~4k and extended warranty probably 8k or something if I remember correctly. Buyers like puchoo should be able to tell you what's the exact amount on the quote now. I didn't observe pricing details since I won't be buying it anyway, so no clue on the exact stuff.

[khoj]

The RSA as well as the Extended Warranty were included Free Of Cost by the dealer when I bought my TJet+. Do check for the same, I do not see any reason why this should have changed.

Originally Posted by puchoo

You are right. The RSA is about 3000-3500 and the extended warranty should be about 7000-8000.

I checked with the dealership again since i plan on opting for it as well and they have not got the official amount yet for the T-Jet but this is what their projection is.

[puchoo]

Yes one can always haggle , when i was negotiating last year for the remaining T-Jets it was all given as value adds which i will try and do this year as well.

Originally Posted by khoj

The RSA as well as the Extended Warranty were included Free Of Cost by the dealer when I bought my TJet+. Do check for the same, I do not see any reason why this should have changed.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Tats07

The more I hear the T-Jet price quotes from other cities, the more envious I become! Emotion T-Jet in Bangalore costs almost 11 Lakhs on road, if I take the RSA and extended warranty! Can the T-Jet owning members please suggest whether RSA and Extended warranty are absolutely necessary?

God, won't you make the government implement the uniform road tax rule before I change my car?!

I'd say go for the extended warranty definitely. Don't opt for the RSA. The most a tow would cost is generally around 1500/-. You can simply call any tow service and take the car to the nearest station - thats what the RSA generally does as well. Don't waste on it IMO.