[nareshov]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

...
The air intake plumbing is also one of the reasons for low city economy. It ends behind the headlamp assembly. When you are idling along, the engine is basically pulling in hot air from within the engine bay. This is a sure shot way to kill economy as turbo's and engines perform best with a higher density of air or cooler air.

Is there a solution to this? A not-too-intrusive mod, perhaps?

[puchoo]

Meguiars is good , and just to provide another option even this is good and works for me very well. My rear seats are absolutely brand new but the front and the driver have taken a lot of punishment and i used this one this time around to clean them up. Quite happy with results.

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

Any suggestions to prevent the Italian leather upholstery from getting dirty? They came in off-white color and I think is getting a 'worn' appearance (esp the driver's seat). I had inquired about seat cover at the time of buying the car and was told that it is not necessary.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by nareshov

Is there a solution to this? A not-too-intrusive mod, perhaps?

I have not attempted any so cannot comment. The diesel Linea's have a much better set up. Acts like a ram air intake. Too afraid to ask the authorized outlets to do this. It should be possible though.

[nareshov]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I have not attempted any so cannot comment. The diesel Linea's have a much better set up. Acts like a ram air intake. Too afraid to ask the authorized outlets to do this. It should be possible though.

Oh, that's good to know. Is it only the Indian Linea TJet with such a physical setup? Or do the Turkish / Egyptian TJet Lineas too face the same problem?

I'm fascinated by the prospect of "officially" using the 120bhp-spec ECU on this car as reported in another thread. If the air-intake setup too, if different, could probably be ported here, no?

[sparameswaran]

Dear friends,
Can you please suggest a good GPS Navigation Device for my car (Linea T-Jet 2014)?
I've been using Google maps on my android phone till now, but I am considering the option of buying a GPS device.
I searched the forum & came across a thread, which is pretty old (started in 2009) now.
Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[shramik]

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

Dear friends,
Can you please suggest a good GPS Navigation Device for my car (Linea T-Jet 2014)?
I've been using Google maps on my android phone till now, but I am considering the option of buying a GPS device.
I searched the forum & came across a thread, which is pretty old (started in 2009) now.
Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

My Skoda Rapid has a GARMIN device, but when compared to Google maps, the Garmin is pathetic. I advise staying away from it, & if possible, stay with google maps.

[sparameswaran]

Nightmare of an experience, while traveling at night in Kerala:


I would like to share an extremely bad experience I had, while traveling last week, with the hope that it may benefit others.
I had planned the trip the following way: Pondy - Coimbatore - Aluva - Kottayam - Kumily - Dindigul - Trichy - Pondy, starting from Pondy on 17th July (by noon), reaching Aluva by late night and stay there, proceed to Kottayam the next day (Saturday) and return back to Pondy on Sunday.
I left from Pondy by 1:30pm on Friday, driving my Linea T Jet, with my wife along with me. The initial part of the trip was uneventful and we reached Coimbatore by about 7:15pm. I filled by fuel tank immediately after leaving Coimbatore and stopped for Dinner near Palakkad.

It was raining almost continuously since we entered Kerala. By about 9pm, I had crossed Vadakkencherry and was hoping to reach Aluva by 11:30pm or so.

Around 9:15pm, we were at a place called 'Chuvannamannu', driving at a speed of about 70-80km/hour (it was dark and it was drizzling). We were going down a gentle descent, a bug vehicle came in the opposite direction and I moved slightly to the left, but never went out of the road on to the gravel / mud. The car seemed to have entered a large pot hole near the edge of the road (not visible readily in the dark). I did not notice any sound, but immediately after falling into the pot hole, I realized that there was something wrong and the vehicle began deviating to the left significantly. Simultaneously I could make out the sound of metal hitting the road. I stopped the car after moving out of the road to the left side, got out and checked - the front tire was flat!!

This itself was shocking to me, because the tire (and car) was just 9 months old and we run only 13000kms. The T Jet came with Good Year NCT tires (205/55/R16). I was of the impression that those tubeless ones do not burst just like that.

It was 9:15 in the night, it was raining and there were no souls to be seen, other than passing vehicles! I had never changed my car tires myself and I knew that it was going to be tough for me to do it, all alone, on a rainy night.

I looked around and saw light coming from a building about 200 meters ahead on the opposite side and decided to go and explore.

It was a small hotel run by a family. The owner (Mr. Biju) readily agreed to help. The hotel was already closed and there were no customers. Mr. Biju and one of his staff took out the jack of their Mahindra utility vehicle (Maximo Mini van) and accompanied me to the car. I proceeded to the rear, opened the boot to take out the spare tire, while Mr. Biju went around checking out the flat tire. He immediately called out to me and I went to the left side of the car and he pointed out to me - it was not only the front tire, the rear tire too was flat!! I couldn't believe my eyes, but then, there it was!

Now I was in real trouble, because there is only one spare tire! And there was no chance of buying a new tire at 9:30 in the night in the middle of nowhere!

Myself and my wife accompanied Mr. Biju to his hotel. He rang up one of this friends who runs a tire / puncture repair shop for buses / trucks and lives nearby and promised to come and try to help out. The plan was that one tire can be replaced with the spare one, and for the second tire, a tube can be placed inside the tire so that I can make it to Alva / KTYM.

The person came over in about 20 minutes' time. We replaced the front wheel with the spare wheel.
The rear wheel was taken out and we went to the person's shop about a couple of kilometers away in Mr. Biju's van. After the tire was taken out of the rim, we found two large tears on the side wall of the tire - beyond any repair. Unfortunately he did not have any spare tubes suiting 16 inch wheels.

We set out in search of tire / repair shops to try to buy a tube. After travelling about 12kms and passing a couple of closed tire repair shops on the way, we found a shop which was open (it was already about 10:30 -11:00pm). The shop was 'open' because they were slaughtering cattle for the next day (Ramzan) in the shop! Anyway, they had stock of a suitable tube and we bought it and returned. An attempt was made to repair the torn tire by sealing the torn area (from inside) with the material usually used to seal punctured tubes. He also placed a couple of cut pieces of tubes inside for 'support'. Then the new tube was placed inside the tire.

Then the tire was inflated - it was holding the pressure!

We returned to the car to replace the rear tire, but had to wait for about 20 minutes because of heavy rain.
Finally the rear tire was also changed. We were ready to restart our journey by about 12:30am.

Mr. Biju refused to take any money from me, but I paid the other person for his work and also paid him some extra bucks. I took the contact details of Mr. Biju, profusely thanked him and gave him my contact details in Pondy, requesting him to contact him in case he need any help.

Once I started driving I noticed, as expected, that there was wobbling of the left front wheel (in the absence of wheel alignment and a different size tire). I drove at 45 - 50km/hr till I reached my cousin's place at Aluva by about 2:00am.

I decided to get a pair of new tires the same day, once the shops open, because the next day was Sunday and I also had to drive back to Pondy on Sunday - was just impossible with the current tires.

We went to a Bridgestone tire showroom (Tyre clinic, Pulinchode, Aluva) known to my cousin and inquired about availability of tires of the required specs - they had stock.

I was always keen to get Michelin tires, even when I took delivery of the new car, but I was told that Fiat provides only Apollo or Goodyear tires, I didn't bother to change them at that point of time - thought this to be an opportunity.

I insisted on Michelin Primacy 3ST tires, which they had stock in their godown. It cost about Rs 400 extra compared to Bridgestone (Rs 10000/tire for the Michelin ones, Rs 9600/tire for Bridgestone). I decided to go for Michelin.
Also did wheel alignment and balancing - total expense for the tire replacement etc: Rs 21140/-

I drove to Kottayam Saturday afternoon and back to Pondy on Sunday - the trip was uneventful otherwise.

Looking back, I am not sure whether to thank my stars or to be upset.
If this had happened when I was driving faster (average speed 110km/hr on TN highways), it is possible that something worse could have resulted. If this had happened in an isolated stretch of highway in TN / more desolate place, I would have been in real trouble trying to get some help.

How often has this happened to others?
Anyone have had similar experience in the same stretch of road?
Can anything be done to protect from such 'disastrous' events?

(Mods: If this post is not relevant in this thread, please feel free to move to another thread - or please let me know where it will be appropriate. Thanks!)

[shramik]

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

Nightmare of an experience, while traveling at night in Kerala

You have most probably (& very unfortunately) hit a large pot hole with both left wheels going in one after the other. You perhaps did not realise it due to the heavy rains, & perhaps the pot hole was water logged. When you hit a pot hole with force, the tyre can momentarily get displaced with the wheel, breaking the air tight seal so essential in tubeless tyres. This is enough to let the air escape rapidly, & deflate the tyre/s.
It is just bad luck, I suppose, & nothing really can prevent this "accident". It is perhaps the Linea's superb suspension set up which insulated you from the sound.

[sparameswaran]

In continuation with my previous post, here are a couple of snaps.

The first picture shows the rear tire, after replacement with a new tire, at the tire shop in Aluva. The tire had two tears one its side wall - indicated by the pen placed though the tears.

The second snap shows one of the new Michelin tire (taken after reaching Pondy).

The damaged front tire is there in the boot of my car, shall take a snap of the tear and upload here later.

And here are the receipts for the new tires - do you think the price was reasonable?
I didn't have the time and opportunity to search for a better price, since this was sort of a 'distress purchase'.





And here are a couple of snaps of my T Jet - taken near the Carody Goody (Karadi Kuzhi) Tea Estate near Vandiperiyar, Kerala, while on my way back to Pondy.
It was raining (poor lighting) and i took the snaps on my cellphone.

[puchoo]

It is just bad luck , nothing to do with the fact that the tyres were more or less new, the impact would have been sufficient enough to generate forces which resulted in the output that they did. Potholes can be pretty rough on the tyres especially at high speeds. I currently have a 1 inch tear on the wall of the rear left tyre , received thanks to running going over those 4-5 small speed breakers in a single lot at 60 KMPH, dark , breakers were unlit and did not have any chance of braking on time.

[sparameswaran]

15000km Service Update:

I took delivery of my T Jet on 29th September 2014.

I had completed about 14400 km by the first week of this month (August 2015) and was about to give my car for service without waiting to reach 15k kms. But an unexpected event in my native place in Kerala required me to rush home - I drove myself home and back. The result - I exceeded 15000km.


One of the first things I did upon reaching Pondy back was to call up Manakular Motors and fix up the service - I was asked to bring the car the very next day.

There was one issue which I wanted them to address - the steering wobbling issue which had bothered me from the very beginning. It actually never completely disappeared, though wheel balancing els when attempted by them. It appeared much better following the tyre change and realignment which was done recently following the unfortunate event of tyre rupture I shared earlier. However, I had noticed significant wobbling while driving back to pondy this time.

To convince the staff at Fiat service, I took two of them with me in my car to the Pondy - Tindivanam 4 lane highway and drove at speeds up to 120km/hr. There was not trace of doubt left in them!

I told them that they can keep the car for however long they want, but when the car is returned it should not have wobbling of steering, even when it is driven at 120kmph or higher.

The other usual stuff required at 15000km were planed, along with the complimentary Wruth Car polish.

The car was returned after 48 hours.

I did a 'test drive' along the highway again - there was no wobbling, whatsoever!! :thumbup:
And after the car polish my T Jet is looking like brand new!!

Total expense for the Service: Rs 5200/-

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

How often has this happened to others?
Anyone have had similar experience in the same stretch of road?
Can anything be done to protect from such 'disastrous' events?

I am not surprised, and blame the Goodyear's, this has happened with me thrice. Once on Goodyear's Eagle F1s and twice on NCTs. Do hard breaking on NCTs and flat-spotting in inevitable. Have made it a point not to go for Goodyears anymore. Thanks for sharing the experience, my Tjet is getting delivered in two days, will go for Yokos or Bridgestone immediately. BTW, lucky you, Linea seem to have handled well, despite of tyres burst and wet condition.

[sparameswaran]

Originally Posted by throttleking

I am not surprised, and blame the Goodyear's, this has happened with me thrice. Once on Goodyear's Eagle F1s and twice on NCTs. Do hard breaking on NCTs and flat-spotting in inevitable. Have made it a point not to go for Goodyears anymore. Thanks for sharing the experience, my Tjet is getting delivered in two days, will go for Yokos or Bridgestone immediately. BTW, lucky you, Linea seem to have handled well, despite of tyres burst and wet condition.

I am sorry to know that you had to go through this thrice.

I was not sure what tyre to buy to replace the burst ones - any specific reason why you are preferring Yoko and Bridgestone?

Or in order words, how do we go about deciding what tyre to buy for the T Jet? (I have gone through some general articles on choosing tyres, but they didn't enlighten me much).

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

I am sorry to know that you had to go through this thrice.

I was not sure what tyre to buy to replace the burst ones - any specific reason why you are preferring Yoko and Bridgestone?

Or in order words, how do we go about deciding what tyre to buy for the T Jet? (I have gone through some general articles on choosing tyres, but they didn't enlighten me much).

Based on my first hand experience with both Yokos and Bridgestone. I used Yokohama S-Drives and ES 100s on my Optra Magnum TDCI. Bridgestones on Zen and Safari. I can vouch for their durability on Indian roads. Even Michelins are also very good, durable, grip, breaking, wet performance, however i find them very expensive.

This time I am not getting Bridgestone Potenza GIIIs, so I might settle for Yokohama A. Drives R1 or Micheline Primacy 3 ST.

[puchoo]

I bought Pirelli's , P7 to be exact a few months ago after i had a tyre burst. They have clocked approximately 4000 Km's as of writing this and i am very very satisfied with them , be it performance in terms of grip or NVH levels , they are really being good all rounders. I have a highway trip coming up in about 10 days which included a lot of driving in the hills and that looking forward to seeing how they will react on the heavy foot i have in the hills, but given how they have been so far i expect it to be a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

I am sorry to know that you had to go through this thrice.

I was not sure what tyre to buy to replace the burst ones - any specific reason why you are preferring Yoko and Bridgestone?

Or in order words, how do we go about deciding what tyre to buy for the T Jet? (I have gone through some general articles on choosing tyres, but they didn't enlighten me much).