[ghodlur]

I happened to be in the Fiat showroom at Thane when they were to relaunch the T-Jet (in fact they made me pop up the paper cracker to indicate the launch). The owner of the showroom said that T-jet+ was discontinued (couldnt really believe it). New T-Jet was priced very attractively and would compete with the Vento's, City's and the likes. The top end variant Emotion would be selling at 10.5L on road in Thane which includes Octroi/LBT & registration. The entry level Active would be priced somewhere around 8.5L on road Thane cost and the Dynamic between the Active and the Emotion prices.

The prices are yet to be declared officially.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Actually I don't find anything wrong with the ride quality on my 2012 Punto with 185mm GC, its not significantly different from the 2011 T-Jet.

I do, but I think its the pathetic GT3s that are to be blamed. They are rock hard and all small road irregularities that should be absorbed by the tyres are transmitted into the cabin. The bigger ones that requires involvement of the suspension are handled better.

Also - many owners set 32 PSI as mentioned on the car, however 29 is the best if the car is not fully loaded.

[Biraj]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Actually I don't find anything wrong with the ride quality on my 2012 Punto with 185mm GC, its not significantly different from the 2011 T-Jet. There is slightly more body roll, but the difference is not so much to sit up and take notice. I feel there is too much concern now on these threads about the 185mm GC upgrade affecting handling.

I have a slightly different opinion. I felt a pronounced difference between the ride quality of 2012 Punto and T-jet+. I traveled from Delhi to Ahmedabad on Sunday in my Punto E MJD. The 950 odd KMs on Golden quadrilateral was perhaps the best test as it has all sorts of roads. Some broken sections where construction is happening, extremely smooth expressways and the ghat section between Udaipur and Gujarat border. I have done similar roads in my T-jet as well and if I compare the two I find the T-jet head&shoulders above the Punto. While it's not fair to compare the two but I feel the difference in ride quality is significant especially at high speeds. Till 120 the car felt as sturdy as any Fiat does however, beyond that the car bounced a lot. It gives the floating sensation on roads that's aren't completely flat. Even the body-roll makes one take the corners at slightly higher than sane speed whereas in T-jet one can take the corners at insane speed. With the increased ground clearance Fiat has gone for a softer suspension while that's brilliant for bad roads at slow speed, it does reduce the fun on highway.

The increased ground clearance does have its advantages and I felt it after driving through water-logged streets in Ahmedabad.

I agree that even with the softer suspension and increased GC, the ride quality is much better than competition. It's just that we T-jet+ owners have been spoilt by Fiat.

[h@r$h@l]

An interesting Linea Advert i came across on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yppxI-hnYOI

Regards,

[GTO]

Awesome to see the T-Jet again in the game. The definitive petrol sedan is back.

Sorry if this has been touched upon earlier, but can anyone point out a logical reason why the T-Jet was discontinued in the first place? It just doesn't make sense to the businessman in me. Not a wise decision at all.

[Biraj]

Originally Posted by GTO

Awesome to see the T-Jet again in the game. The definitive petrol sedan is back.

Sorry if this has been touched upon earlier, but can anyone point out a logical reason why the T-Jet was discontinued in the first place? It just doesn't make sense to the businessman in me. Not a wise decision at all.

Since everyone loves to bash Tata, let me also do it. Fiat was responsible for manufacturing while sales and distribution was Tata's responsibility. Fiat manufactured a good car but Tata couldn't sell it. Let's hope Fiat is able to sell it this time. If it doesn't sell now don't know when it will.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by GTO

Awesome to see the T-Jet again in the game. The definitive petrol sedan is back.

Sorry if this has been touched upon earlier, but can anyone point out a logical reason why the T-Jet was discontinued in the first place? It just doesn't make sense to the businessman in me. Not a wise decision at all.

The only reason I can think of is dismal sales, almost zero demand and the huge inventory pileup in 2011. I guess Fiat over-estimated the sales (that too with zero marketing/advertising) and ended up over-manufacturing T-Jets in the Nov-2010 to May-2011 period. Too much built-up inventory had them shutting production and scurrying to clear the stock pileup by offering huge discounts later. That was a big blunder.

That said, I still recount the days when people used to ask me how a petrol variant can cost more than the diesel variant , and why I made that 'foolish' decision. The variant line-up should have not been so bizarre earlier. This (relative pricing) could be another reason.

Perhaps sometime later, the thinking heads realized that the way forward for petrol engines lies in T-Jets and not in those dated, sluggish NA FIRE engines, so they probably decided to resurrect it in the petrol lineup.

In hindsight, I wonder if all this could have been prevented by just marketing/positioning the car better in 2011 instead of sleeping over it all these years, having a 'factory seconds clearance sale' and re-launching the car again now. Reminds me of that king who changed capitals due to some silly reason and went back again to the old city when things didn't work out.

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by Biraj

Since everyone loves to bash Tata, let me also do it. Fiat was responsible for manufacturing while sales and distribution was Tata's responsibility. Fiat manufactured a good car but Tata couldn't sell it. Let's hope Fiat is able to sell it this time. If it doesn't sell now don't know when it will.

+1 to this. In 2012, when I was checking out Linea, the salesman had told me "Sir, Please buy the Manza instead. You will some lacs and its much more spacious than Linea.". So as mentioned already, Fiat did not sell this product well due to lack of control over Tata-influenced sales teams.

[julupani]

Originally Posted by GTO

Awesome to see the T-Jet again in the game. The definitive petrol sedan is back.

Sorry if this has been touched upon earlier, but can anyone point out a logical reason why the T-Jet was discontinued in the first place? It just doesn't make sense to the businessman in me. Not a wise decision at all.

The initial lot of Tjet's were made using engines imported from South Africa in one single lot. Once this lot of engines was used up, production stopped.

The fact that import duties on the engine and extra features made the Tjet costlier than the diesel plus diesel was significantly cheaper than petrol in terms of running cost and the sales woes at Tata dealerships, all these factors meant the FIAT couldn't get rid of their existing stock.

Also the slow acting management at FIPL is not blameless either. By the time stocks were down low enough to get another set of engines from South Africa or wherever, the direction of the company had changed.

FIAT probably finally listened to its customers and looked at the competition and decided to make the Tjet engine in India rather than import it. This probably caused further delays in reintroduction of the Tjet.

As of now it looks to me like the face-lifted Linea, with the improved interiors, will be coming with the Tjet and the 1.6MJD engines, while the present design will probably continue as the Linea Classic with the NA 1.4 and the 1.3MJD.

So it may be that in less than a year's time this low price Active variant of Linea Tjet may disappear from the price list. So, Lap it up while it lasts people.

[Tats07]

While dismal sales were definitely a reason for withdrawal, I feel it had a lot to do with the marketing part as well. Firstly, they made the mistake of launching it late, and after the under-powered petrol. Even a common man could tell that FIRE was under-powered after driving it. A turbo charged petrol does not always ring bells to the regular car owner, Linea should have withdrawn the FIRE engine altogether and then launched T-Jet saying that this was a much more powerful car than the FIRE variant.

The few who thought of Linea, thought of the Multijet variant as a better car, and lack of proper hype didn't even tell the mass community (I don't mean enthusiasts of course) that a way better petrol machine was available. Though Laura TSI is in a different segment, it suffers the same fate where you see multiple TDIs, and hardly any TSIs. The common man does not understand turbo petrol, and in India, the word 'petrol' sounded scary even a while back. Why would T-Jet and TSI production be stopped otherwise?

Add to this the TATA angle and reputation of FIATs as fuel guzzlers (as a commoner would interpret the Palio). In my view, a little bit of educational adverts wouldn't have caused the withdrawal.

[WindRide]

Was going thru some pics of the new linea t-jet in a different forum. The panel gaps continue to dog this release as well. How complicated is it really for Fiat to iron out this age-old problem

Source - as in watermark.

[utanka]

Got the following ex-showroom Bangalore prices by calling up Bangalore Fiat Caffe:
Active 7.82
Dynamic 8.65
Emotion 9.02
As per the sales guys, the test drive vehicle should be available from tomorrow evening. Disappointingly though, more than 24 hours after the launch, they still are not in a position to provide the on road prices, or the official feature list per variant. Has anyone managed to get the official updated feature list from Fiat?

[Guite]

^^ Isn't the PDF brochure available from Fiat website the latest, applicable for relaunched Linea TJet? I have been referring to it from last few days. There was a query by another member about auto AC; the brochure lists it for top two variants.

The Linea is so long, it's about 7 inches longer than Vento and City. It must be quite cumbersome to turn and park in tight spaces. What I find attractive is the impressive torque (so much available at such low rpm) and sturdy built.

[rider_no46]

The aggressive pricing of 2013 Fiat Linea T-jet is a very good move by Fiat . Fiat is most preferred brand for driving enthusiats in India , who for many years have been shying away from it because most were worried about the aftersales service . Linea and Punto offer best in class driving experience with fantastic ride and handling package with superb steering feel and accuracy . Good Job Fiat

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by WindRide

The panel gaps continue to dog this release as well.

It is impossible to fix this when the car is being put together on the same assembly line as the Manza and Vista. Forget about it. For Fiat India, this ain't the reason the car is not selling. On a different note, my car has not run much but in 13000km, there is not a squeak or rattle from anywhere. For the most part, the quality of materials used are very acceptable. Its the Grande Punto that struggles in interior appointments. It is low rent even on the Sport. Unacceptable for a top of the line hatch.

Originally Posted by Guite

It must be quite cumbersome to turn and park in tight spaces.

Yes it is. The incredible turning radius does not help matters as well. I used to struggle with this in the early days. Not any more.

Originally Posted by utanka

Emotion 9.02

Relieved to see this number. I paid a shade under 10lac on road when I bought my car so I still managed a cheaper deal. Some have got it a lot cheaper too.