[TomRider]

Originally Posted by swami

4. Most importantly, does anyone know why the launch of the petrol has been delayed?

I happened to talk to the Product Manager of FIAT y'day during the official launch of Linea in Bangalore. I asked him the same question. They wanted to launch the much awaited diesel first, than the petrol version. The petrols are ready for the dispatch and will be reaching the dealers soon.

[F50]

Being Fiat and everyone knows people on Team-Bhp love Fiats. After seeing so many Linea threads on the forum and many have already bought it. So yesterday afternoon I had 30 mins to waste so decided to take a look at the Linea.
I went to Wasan, one between Marine Lines and Churchgate. The showroom has Maroon Emotion Pack on display. I actually like the way this car looks. Interiors are somewhat good. Plastic but good quality plastic. Seats are comfortable. Boot space is amazing, 500 ltrs! I didnt look around much and straight away went for TD.
Test drive car was silver Emotion. TD last just for 7 mins as there was too much of traffic in town. So not a detailed review.

Engine: I drive a Swift DDiS. This being 'Advanced Multijet' and 11 bhp more than DDiS I was curious to know the difference. And I was disappointed. 1st & 2nd gears are completely dead. 1st & 2nd gear are like formality, you need to go through them to get to 3rd where it comes to life. It screams after 2500 rpm but doesnt go anywhere. Overall, im disappointed, engine is under powered.

Handling:Steering is light. Turning radius is huge!! But one thing I noticed, within few feet, I felt as if I have been driving this car since long time. And for a moment I forgot I am test driving it.

Ride: There were not many bad roads to test it but sure it was comfortable and I could feel those misaligned roads.

I liked the car but will i buy it?

[abk]

Originally Posted by RobC

My view on this – I like the engine, as it curbs my tendency to move into rampage mode the second the lights turn green and somehow gives me a reassuring feeling (Not sure why though?).

So it is not only me who is wondering Personally, thought with a calm mind, I would actually WANT my car to make me behave better on first and second gears and deliver the grunt when needed - overtaking others on highways. Sounds like Linea is designed to do just that!

[swami]

Originally Posted by TomRider

I happened to talk to the Product Manager of FIAT y'day during the official launch of Linea in Bangalore. I asked him the same question. They wanted to launch the much awaited diesel first, than the petrol version. The petrols are ready for the dispatch and will be reaching the dealers soon.

And how does that help?? As far as i know, real time fuel efficiency figures are not out for the Diesel yet. And neither the Diesel nor the petrol are any
scorchers. So what are they trying to achieve?

According to the local (mumbai) concord dealer, petrol linea should be avbl for TD by middle of next week.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by karanraheja

Could anyone throw some light on this:-

1. How does Linea MJD perform compared to Fiesta TDCI. I know Linea is heavier but still compared to Fiesta's 68 bhp TDCI ??
2. Many reviews say that only after 2000 rpm the torque kicks in.Comments?


No TD with my dealer yet. according to him the TD car will be available tom.

Well as far as i am concerned Fiesta TDCI is more responsive and peppy if we compare with Linea Mjd.
Yes, infact i felt it kicks after 2500rpm.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by F50

Engine: I drive a Swift DDiS. This being 'Advanced Multijet' and 11 bhp more than DDiS I was curious to know the difference. And I was disappointed. 1st & 2nd gears are completely dead. 1st & 2nd gear are like formality, you need to go through them to get to 3rd where it comes to life. It screams after 2500 rpm but doesnt go anywhere. Overall, im disappointed, engine is under powered.

@F50, have you driven the Fiesta-D or the Octavia ? If so, how would you rate their engines ? Am just curious about this underpowered Linea thing.

[swami]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Umm, should we not consider the torque curve instead of discussing just the peak values?

CAM with phamilyman. However, do we have the torque & petrol curves for petrol?

To keep conversation going, have drawn up this comparison between the power, torque and weight of various models. (Image attached)

The reason why the 1000 is considered is 2 fold. (A) It was underpowered and (B) It is my current car.

A few queries

1. Do these figures mean that the Linea petrol is underpowered?

2. In my opinion, Linea compares well with the NHC on the Weight to Power stakes. That is good enough by my standards. Any engine that has enough power to drive smoothly and cool easily, is fine by me. Am no enthusiast.

3. The worrying thing is the lack of torque for the weight considered. Linea is in double digits. What would be the impact of this? I understand that torque is important to get going, but what happens after that? If power takes over, then i guess most of India will hardly bother.

4. Most importantly, does anyone know why the launch of the petrol has been delayed?

And may i request that forum members please keep this discussion focused on the Linea and not convert this into a brand bashing exercise. I have consciously posted this on the Linea thread and not on the comparison thread. Thanks for your cooperation.

Swami

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by swami

1. Do these figures mean that the Linea petrol is underpowered?

2. In my opinion, Linea compares well with the NHC on the Weight to Power stakes. That is good enough by my standards. Any engine that has enough power to drive smoothly and cool easily, is fine by me. Am no enthusiast.

3. The worrying thing is the lack of torque for the weight considered. Linea is in double digits. What would be the impact of this? I understand that torque is important to get going, but what happens after that? If power takes over, then i guess most of India will hardly bother.

1) Slightly underpowered

2) You should be fine here, though the additional torque esp at a lower rpm comes in handy while doing overtaking. If you are careful assertive driver, you should be fine.

3) Torque figures as such are fine, only issue its made at slightly higher rpm which may result in frequent gear change, esp in city traffic.

[hirajan]

I've registered online for TD in FIAT website. To my surprise i did not receive any acknowledgement email from FIAT or a call on my mobile for TD date and timing. Come on FIAT wake up...

This really made to think if FIAT really understood why they failed in Inidan market till now. They dont seem to understand what customer care/relationship is. I am pretty sure that with this kind of attitude they are going to fail again with the beautiful car - Linea.

Do you think we should give some more time to FIAT for their existence in India? Why should i buy a product from a company who care a damn about their customer's?

[shantyrocks]

Originally Posted by hirajan

I've registered online for TD in FIAT website. To my surprise i did not receive any acknowledgement email from FIAT or a call on my mobile for TD date and timing. Come on FIAT wake up...

This really made to think if FIAT really understood why they failed in Inidan market till now. They dont seem to understand what customer care/relationship is. I am pretty sure that with this kind of attitude they are going to fail again with the beautiful car - Linea.

Do you think we should give some more time to FIAT for their existence in India? Why should i buy a product from a company who care a damn about their customer's?

dude...
they cant entertain all online requests for test drives.
i have read some where in the forum about someone getting regular updates on the linea after registering online.
please call up the show room and they might send a t.d car over at your place

[Vid6639]

an online request will never work for most manufacturers and not just FIAT. Long time ago I tried for Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and Skoda. Only toyota responded and confirmed TD for Camry.

[akshay4587]

Two days ago I test drove linea for around 25Kms on Nh1.
First thing that I fell for was the way she looks.
Much better and bigger than its competitors.
Inside,yes interiors are a bit dated,but well built and felt built to last.

On the engine front,as someone said first two gears are nothing to talk about,torque is non existent and my petrol accent feels much peppier in City.
I hardly drove around 500meters in city,but the motor felt very very lazy.
Once on the highway,I opened her up and I revved her,the turbo spun up quite late at around ~3K RPM to be felt.But once up and running it didnt felt lazy and performance was good.

As I pushed her and touched 100,it beeped,the dealership had set the speed limiter to sound at 100.
Its no slouch on the highway,and in my opinion its very good highway cruiser,should I say almost as good as a Skoda tdi,I pushed her till 150-155 and kept at 140 for 1km and car was well planted and was crusing pretty well.
In all a very good car considering the fact Emotion pack MJD costs 8.37 on road here.

Only grudge being engine's performance within the city,where it feels very lazy.

[shankar.balan]

my brother in law and I test drove the linea - he's an ex-racing driver (MMSC Formula Maruti) and I trust his judgement.

Feels solid, very comfy both back and front. Excellent leg room. decent performance from the MJD engine and we both thought the car was pretty well loaded with features at the 9.26 lac price (OTR BLR).

Areas of concern are:
1. Tyre Size.
2. BHP (86 BHP) certainly doesnt seem much power given the positioning of the vehicle.
3. Turning radius is 5.5m - similar to Scorpio/ Xylo - it could have been less, considering our traffic here.
4. Slightly low seating position
5. They could have used the space below the front arm-rest between the driver/ passenger seats in a better way, by providing some extra storage the way the Merc C Class has done.

Plus points:
1. Superb chauffeur driven sedan option
2. Amazing monster size boot
3. Decent performance in the city.
4.Good braking
5. Superb FE (Claimed)
6. The blue tooth feature is good but we are not sure how useful it will prove.
7. Car looks very nice undoubtedly but has a rather large-ish looking "rear end".

Good vehicle but given our experience with Fiat in India as well as Tata's general After Sales experiences, my guess is that potential buyers could be a bit wary before buying wholeheartedly.

Potential customers for this would find it tough to choose between the Xylo and Linea - however, the definitive "tipping point" would be whether they are in the market for a city driven "executive sedan" or a "people mover" over long distances. Both vehicles IMO would be best enjoyed if one uses a chauffeur instead of driving one's self.

However, lets wait 6-9 months and see the sales figures of this car.

Cheers

[nehamit]

As mentioned earlier, I am waiting for my Emotion Pack Linea, but yesterday I have put a break on this. I came to know that only 4 alloy wheels are there and not all five. I inquired and was informed that only 4 alloy wheels are part of standard pack. Also in their product brochure, under the haeding ''LUXURIOUS INTERIORS', its mentioned that - "3 choices of seat fabrics, AC fascia and instrument panel" - Now no one at local dealership is able to provide proper clarification about this. All they say is that this points to different versions active, dynamic and emotion. What team-bhpians believe? Even tollfree helpline 18002095556 failed to answer this. If this is the presales attitude, what will happen post sales?
Please wakeup fiat India or else you will be lost in this jungle of feature packed four wheelers.

[amit]

Originally Posted by nehamit

As mentioned earlier, I am waiting for my Emotion Pack Linea, but yesterday I have put a break on this. I came to know that only 4 alloy wheels are there and not all five. I inquired and was informed that only 4 alloy wheels are part of standard pack.

This is the industry standard. Most manufacturer's only give 4 alloy's. The spare is always a steel wheel. Maruti, however, gives all 5 alloys. I don't consider this as a deal breaker.

in their product brochure, under the haeding ''LUXURIOUS INTERIORS', its mentioned that - "3 choices of seat fabrics, AC fascia and instrument panel" - Now no one at local dealership is able to provide proper clarification about this. All they say is that this points to different versions active, dynamic and emotion. What team-bhpians believe?

Similar discussion is there on the forum. From that discussion, your dealerships explanation is correct.

Even tollfree helpline 18002095556 failed to answer this.

I never understood why the call center guys are never trained properly. Few days back, I called Airtel for their DTH services and the guys were pathetic.