[tortoise]

Originally Posted by rkbharat

That is something I used to feel lately, but now I have understood that if I overtake and pass by a slow moving Ferrari, that does not qualifies my car for better than Ferrari. Its just that the other person might have some trouble driving fast, may be kids inside etc etc.

Reminds me of an incident 3 years ago when my Indigo overtook a vRS ( Yes - a scorching Red one.. ) in a 2 lane highway due to inexperience of the vRS driver. I weaved through the convoy of trucks and tractors and vRS was not there in my rear view mirror till I reached the toll gate. Once he caught up with me and entered the four lane way it just whizzed past me

Bottomline is that a machine is a machine and driving is an art. after years of driving, I am still learning and maturing. I will not see if it is a Bugatti or a rickshaw going past me if I dont care to be on right lane

[Parm]

since this thread is old and you havent bought any car, please buy SX4!

[Gany]

Linea should be good if GC, rear seat headroom & typical FIAT irritants like quality/*** is not a problem

[nkrishnap]

We just finalized the contract with the ALD as our preferred vendor, still not entered into the contract. This might take some more before we actually release the purchase order.

Also, an update still not decided on which car? will be test driving all the 3 cars back to back again and see how it goes from there on

[gksunil]

Yesterday I had a test drive of Fiesta and Linea also Honda city and Honda jazz
1.Linea-petrol-emotion
I will write only cons as pros are well known to any one.
negatives
- Although it was pulling nicely in city driving(5 adults+three kids on borad!), when it encountered a slope on a rough road; it struggled to move up in 2 gear with accelerator pedal pressed to the floor. The rpm was also not increasing. Strangely it didn't knock. Iread it somewhere that it is FIRE(fully integrated robotised engine) which is not supposed to knock. Hence the pull is less. It is okay when it picks up speed. You will feel a sudden pull also when it touches 3500-4000rpm.
- ACC was on set at 18 deg. With the car fully loaded with people and outside temp 35(partly cloudy), the cooling was not there. In the test drive of 20 minutes it was never that much cool in the back seats(even with rear vent open), The air coming out of the rear vent was not that cool.

2. Fiesta-diesel
I wanted to TD petrol Fiesta. But the dealer was unable to arrange it. Hence we drove diesel one with all the people inside it.It pulled better than linea in the slope mentioned early in the post. It's road noise insulation was better. Back seat space was less than that of linea but it may be 1-2 cm only. Seriously i can not complain.
The rear leg room was also less than linea again by very less margin.
Like in GP, the linea seats also got great travel. Hence when moved fully back it troubles tall people.
3. Honda Jazz
-It is big!
-Its driving was very smooth
-It was sluggish in the slope test! Exactly similar to Linea.
4. Honda city
- It was the fastest on the slope. On 2 gear when I pressed the pedal it was acceleretingto 40 km/hr! On 3 gear it was pulling without knocking, slightly better than linea! I loved city but a bit beyond budget
City salesman
Q1- Why city is not giving fog lamps?
ans- City's head lamps are so much powerfull that it will penetrate all fogs.
Q2- What is your opinion regarding fiesta/linea
Fiesta-It has big problem SEFI engine. These electronically firs valve system is prone to knocking and gets broken down easily. My friends are facing this problem . Then fiesta does not have double wishbone set up. It has got only one. When it is loaded, it gets bottomed out.
Linea- problem prone vehicle. Fiat will leave it in the middle. When you order a spare part it takes months to come/

Please guide me on these issues mainly SEFI/double wishbone
Today morning I got a phone call from Tata motors. He gave me a "confidential" information.
"Sir today we have recieved a noting from Fiat. They will be launching 1.6 petrol engine within a month. This is confidential. You can expect a faster vehicle sir"

It is great news!!

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by gksunil

Today morning I got a phone call from Tata motors. He gave me a "confidential" information.
"Sir today we have recieved a noting from Fiat. They will be launching 1.6 petrol engine within a month. This is confidential. You can expect a faster vehicle sir"

It is great news!!

Common Sense says Fiat should not launch 1.6 engine on Linea so soon. If it does, it'll probably entirely mess up a decent start Linea has given to Fiat fortunes.
But then does not Fiat have a habit of making mess of good products ?

[gemithomas]

Hey guys. Iwas just about to make a new thread but thought this one is almost simmilar and could as well avoid a new thread.

My friend is looking for a new sedan The short list is the Linea, the Fiesta and the SX4. What i want to knw is why did the sx4 not do well. Its got good power, great ground clearance, good gadgets, and looks are not very bad. What was the real reason for its failure. Does the car have any major problems.

[sgiitk]

The SX4 got clobbered by a few factors - poor fuel efficiency (we forget it is much heavier than its predecessor, the Baleno), overlap with the Swift Dzire, and essentially the image of Maruti as a lower end vendor. It is a very competent car nevertheless.

[aka_iitd]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

The SX4 got clobbered by a few factors - poor fuel efficiency (we forget it is much heavier than its predecessor, the Baleno), overlap with the Swift Dzire, and essentially the image of Maruti as a lower end vendor. It is a very competent car nevertheless.

Don't agree with fuel efficiency
I think in this forum people has reported fuel efficiency 10 to 12.5 in City and 14 to 15 on Highway for SX4 so I think it is OK for 1.6L engine.
Check this link
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...e-kya-hai.html

[rajneeesh]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

Hey guys. Iwas just about to make a new thread but thought this one is almost simmilar and could as well avoid a new thread.

My friend is looking for a new sedan The short list is the Linea, the Fiesta and the SX4. What i want to knw is why did the sx4 not do well. Its got good power, great ground clearance, good gadgets, and looks are not very bad. What was the real reason for its failure. Does the car have any major problems.

Gemithomas,

I would like to know what is the definition of "doing well". For me the SX4 has been a successful product with sales of 14000 plus cars last year. Agreed, that it does not sell as much as the Honda City.

It outsells every other competitor in its segment. ( Petrol variants only). The Verna and the Fiesta petrol variants sell far less than the SX4 and same is the case with the Linea, and the Aveo. Some prospective customers who visit the Maruti Showroon also end up buying its younger brother the Swift Dzire.

I have been using this car for over 15 months now. It is a fantastic car and I have never regretted the decision of having bought one. Most owners on the forum are very satisfied as the numerous polls show.

A perception that the car is a fuel guzzler, rattles a lot or has poor interiors was created. This was done by people who do not own the car.

Maruti also is seen as a manufacturer of small cars, and does not enjoy the same Brand equity as say a Honda in the higher end of the market and this does effect the sales of the car. Many of my friends have gone in for a Honda solely on account of the prestige the Honda badge commands although they do accept that SX4 is a good package.

Any car which is labelled as a fuel guzzler does not do well in the Indian market. This scared a lot of prospective customers away. However, the people who have bough the car are happy with the car and Maruti Service.

Please tell your friend that there is "nothing wrong" with the caar and he can safely go ahead and buy it.

[himanshugoswami]

Gemi, if it helps, I bought an SX4 yesterday after selling my Safari- I evaluated everything in the market and the SX4 just came out on top on all parameters.

[neotraveller]

The only drawback why I see SX4 not being successful like Honda City is:
The rear seat cannot seat 3 people comfortably.
That was the deal-breaker for me. Else I liked everything about the car.

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by neotraveller

The only drawback why I see SX4 not being successful like Honda City is:
The rear seat cannot seat 3 people comfortably.
That was the deal-breaker for me. Else I liked everything about the car.

That has been rectified in the MY 09 version. the back rest has been redisigned to sit almost flush with the seat back, so middle row passengers can sit pretty comfortably

[gemithomas]

Originally Posted by rajneeesh

Gemithomas,

I would like to know what is the definition of "doing well". For me the SX4 has been a successful product with sales of 14000 plus cars last year. Agreed, that it does not sell as much as the Honda City. ........

........I have been using this car for over 15 months now. It is a fantastic car and I have never regretted the decision of having bought one. Most owners on the forum are very satisfied as the numerous polls show.

A perception that the car is a fuel guzzler, rattles a lot or has poor interiors was created. This was done by people who do not own the car.

Please tell your friend that there is "nothing wrong" with the caar and he can safely go ahead and buy it.

Thank for the review. I'm not sure but i always had a feeling that the sx4 ws not that successfull and the 50K discounts that maruti is giving just made me feel that i was true. HAve you had any problems like rattles, gear/clutch issues or any other niggling problems. How much km haveyou done till now.

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Gemi, if it helps, I bought an SX4 yesterday after selling my Safari- I evaluated everything in the market and the SX4 just came out on top on all parameters.

Thanks. Could you elaborate on the reasons for choosing sx4 over others?

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

Thanks. Could you elaborate on the reasons for choosing sx4 over others?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-men-back.html

here you go....