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Old 6th March 2014, 14:46   #61
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

Krishna, Such a beautiful review. Gave much deserved 5 *****
There are some issues and there will be, but none of them are deal breakers.

Old Vs New- there will always be mixed opinions. Old is elegant and timeless design, where as new, continuing the same lines and curves, it is indeed refreshing!

Back with the chrome and rear bumper diffuser gives more mature stance and has good appearance.

Interiors are best and feels really good!

By addressing most of the shortcomes in the current linea, new linea is all set to take the market leaders.

I hope and wish all the best to FIAT!
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Old 6th March 2014, 16:11   #62
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

Nice review.
Though I have not seen the car in person, the exterior design looks more old school and similar to the old generation Hyundai Verna especially the front grill section. I feel FIAT could have done little bit more justice by making it look futuristic. Come on FIAT, your home country is known for their design panache. But the interiors and feature list is appealing.
One question to nkrishnap, other than the carved seat backs, is there any real improvement in the rear legroom and turning radius ?
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Old 6th March 2014, 17:03   #63
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by JayKis View Post
Now the choice is yours. Stats can show a lot of thing and stats can hide a lot of things. (Am a stats guy btw) You like something but you do all stats and get stuck to a car which you never wanted in the first place.

I would rather buy a car which I like and live with it and have a lower resale value at the end of it rather buy a car which I dont like, live through the agony and get a better resale value.
Totally agreed. But this post of yours is different. My argument was against your original statement that resale doesn't matter for a 5 year old car. It sure does. I sold my 7 year old City Vtec with 75,000 kms for 3.5 lakhs (the next best offer was 3.3 lakhs). If I had a 7 year old Lancer SFXi, I'd be lucky with even an offer of 2 lakhs (Mod Addy bought a 7 year old Lancer for <1.5 lakhs, with lesser owners & 1/3rd the mileage of my Vtec).

You buy a car based on your requirements & priorities. Whether resale matters or not is an individual preference (though 100% of car owners push for maximum $$$ at the time of selling).

Last edited by GTO : 6th March 2014 at 17:05.
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Old 6th March 2014, 18:23   #64
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Totally agreed. But this post of yours is different. My argument was against your original statement that resale doesn't matter for a 5 year old car. It sure does. I sold my 7 year old City Vtec with 75,000 kms for 3.5 lakhs (the next best offer was 3.3 lakhs). If I had a 7 year old Lancer SFXi, I'd be lucky with even an offer of 2 lakhs (Mod Addy bought a 7 year old Lancer for <1.5 lakhs, with lesser owners & 1/3rd the mileage of my Vtec).

You buy a car based on your requirements & priorities. Whether resale matters or not is an individual preference (though 100% of car owners push for maximum $$$ at the time of selling).
Let me bring in one more dimension. Usually the car with a lower resale would have a lower acquisition cost. I have seen that people are willing to spend a lac or so more for a car with higher resale. For ex: Linea vs City. I think that is foolish because at the end of 7 years the 1L in the bank would have grown to 2L and the money lost in resale is easily recovered.
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Old 6th March 2014, 18:41   #65
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

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Let me bring in one more dimension. Usually the car with a lower resale would have a lower acquisition cost. I have seen that people are willing to spend a lac or so more for a car with higher resale. For ex: Linea vs City. I think that is foolish because at the end of 7 years the 1L in the bank would have grown to 2L and the money lost in resale is easily recovered.
Which is why I gave the example of the Lancer SFXi. It was priced within thousands of a City Vtec.
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Old 6th March 2014, 19:50   #66
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

Sooper review Krishna. The only thing missing is the 1.6 MJD. The Linea would have been the first car on my buying list if they had launched it with the 1.6, the present engine does not do any justice to this beauty.
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Old 6th March 2014, 20:01   #67
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Totally agreed. But this post of yours is different. My argument was against your original statement that resale doesn't matter for a 5 year old car. It sure does. I sold my 7 year old City Vtec with 75,000 kms for 3.5 lakhs (the next best offer was 3.3 lakhs). If I had a 7 year old Lancer SFXi, I'd be lucky with even an offer of 2 lakhs (Mod Addy bought a 7 year old Lancer for <1.5 lakhs, with lesser owners & 1/3rd the mileage of my Vtec).

You buy a car based on your requirements & priorities. Whether resale matters or not is an individual preference (though 100% of car owners push for maximum $$$ at the time of selling).
Same with the Swift. My company VP sold his 7 year old Swift with some 50K kms on it for a whooping 3.75 lakhs. This was the base LDi trim for which paid just short of 5L when new.

Try selling a Palio 1.3 MJD for that price even though both cars were similarly priced.
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Old 6th March 2014, 20:14   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by finneyp View Post
Nice detailed review Krishna! Overall New Linea looks great & adds to the beauty it already possessed, only gripe is lots of chrome especially in the rear...
Even I was not sure about all that chrome when seen in pics, but the car looked much better in real. The chrome felt nice and chunky- a premium feel to it, specially the front grill.
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Old 6th March 2014, 22:20   #69
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

What I like are the new interiors of the car, its not that old ones were bad but these are good design wise. I did no really like the changes on the outer body, the elegance is almost gone, its still a beauty but not as much as previous version.

What I hate is no Automatic Transmission. I would happily buy this car if FIAT puts in an AT gearbox. Please FIAT, put AT box in base model, Jack up price by say 50-60 grand and I will buy it instantly.
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Old 7th March 2014, 07:23   #70
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

Great review... Slightly OT question - from the look of it (I saw the new car from a distance), the old and new front grilles have the same dimensions. Wondering if the old grille can be used to replace the new one? The new grille makes it look like old Verna - other one is a timeless classic.

I am not thinking to buy a new car, but every time I go past Fiat Caffe, the displayed T-Jet attacks the heart way too much - one never know
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Old 7th March 2014, 09:40   #71
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Which is why I gave the example of the Lancer SFXi. It was priced within thousands of a City Vtec.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vid6639 View Post
Try selling a Palio 1.3 MJD for that price even though both cars were similarly priced.
+1

Another example : My own case.

I bought the Fusion instead of the then new Honda City. Almost Similar pricing. But I got much-much lower price on re-sale compared to what I would have got on the City.

Yes I did enjoy Fusion during my ownership and I got into it knowingly. But the conjecture remains the same. Re-sale does matter. Its a question of priorities.
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Old 7th March 2014, 10:54   #72
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

I see lots of people crying for 1.6 MJD. I guess they want it mainly for more power, right? If some enthusiastic people really wants this car just for power & handling, joy ride, then why not go for T-jet then? Its a gem of a car & come for very attractive price tag of 10 Lacs (approx OTR) with almost all of the features people want. Its a petrol with Turbo & its one of the best cars available in market for enthusiastic people. So instead of spending 2-3 Lacs more on Linea 1.6 MJD OTR (1.3 MJD is already around 1.5 L costly, so assuming 1.6 with will be 1-1.5 lac more than it), why not save that money for petrol bills and go for Linea T-jet? In long run it will be better choice i guess as Petrol cars are better than diesels on many parameters.

I am of the opinion that instead of crying for something which we don't have, start enjoying what we already have. Here in this case, Linea T-jet is readily available

Just think over it guy's. Does it make sense to you?
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Old 7th March 2014, 11:22   #73
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by Vid6639 View Post
Same with the Swift. My company VP sold his 7 year old Swift with some 50K kms on it for a whooping 3.75 lakhs. This was the base LDi trim for which paid just short of 5L when new.

Try selling a Palio 1.3 MJD for that price even though both cars were similarly priced.
IMO comparing Swift and Palio is unfair :-)
Swift is running model, Palio is discontinued one, But still palio MJD fetches a decent money if not 3.75. It is the diesel engine which is selling.

If you compare Swift and Punto, they both goes hand in hand in todays scene.
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Old 7th March 2014, 12:48   #74
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by _raviShankar_ View Post
Will we be able to get the new ORVMs with the blinkers from the fiat service centers ? I certainly hope so, cause i would like to fit those on my Tjet
A lot of existing Linea owners are looking at this if it is not too pricey.

Maybe the existing Tjet owners can also have the CC installed. The ECU already supports the same.
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Old 7th March 2014, 13:05   #75
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Re: The 2014 Fiat Linea Facelift - Test Drive & Review

As mentioned , i am definitely in the line for this , if someone could help us out with probable costs that would be great. I will try and figure out from my guys and see if they have any information available.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sommos View Post
A lot of existing Linea owners are looking at this if it is not too pricey.

Maybe the existing Tjet owners can also have the CC installed. The ECU already supports the same.
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