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Old 29th January 2009, 19:20   #271
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@neoonwheels, looks like you are the first here to test drive the petrol Linea. Good to here its not underpowered, being just a 1.4. Don't really know whats stopping Fiat from offering more powerful engines though. Anyway, I will soon check it out once they make it available here in Bangalore.
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Old 29th January 2009, 22:16   #272
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neoonwheels. You got the first Petrol test drive car in bhp.
Have you driven the diesel? Could you compare the diesel with Petorl?

I am also waiting for Petrol test drive car at chennai
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Old 29th January 2009, 23:03   #273
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All right so here i am with my novice review. Had driven the diesel on the 15th itself but i wanted to wait for the petrol so i could compare. Neways im not a diesel addict and would anyways buy a petrol hence wanted to wait fot the petrol test drive.

Now the comparison
DIESEL
-Silent is the word.
-Did not feel any turbolag but excuse my ignorance as it was the first time i was driving a diesel. For me the pick up was good and short gearing much to my likeness as i drive mostly in crowded areas and it did the job perfectly.
-Did revv it in the 3rd gear on an open stretch,then in 4th and then in 5th. SURELY it took off and i realized i was driving at 90km/h and the salesman was holding tight to his seat so applied brakes.
-Nice nippy breaks even though the car i drove dint have ABS
-dint change the gear till around 20km/h, kept her in 5th only and it dutifuly agreed had to shift down though to take the turn.
-GREAT is the word for driveability and comfort as i started from bad patches of okhla and took her to the road where the shooting range starts.
-All in all a satisfying drive even with the diesel.

PETROL
-This is what i was waiting for jumped into the driver seat and asked for the keys, The salesman pointed that it was already inserted so cranked it. NOTHING HAPPENED.Tried again STILL NOTHING. Smilingly the salesman told me the engine was already on. MY O MY was it silent. You bet there was no vibration or noise whatsover. And the safety feature did the trick (think its a FIAT trademark present in all vehicles). They had to give it for ignorant souls like me or to compensate for their beautiful silent engines.
-Started decently took the potholes amazingly still wanting for more.
-Took her to the same road leading to tughlaqabad fort. Stopped her,revved hard twice,thrice and let the clutch go. WOOOO MAN loved the screach and the sound. Revved till 4000rpm in the first dint feel sluggish at all and touched 40 in no time
-Revved again til 4000 in 2nd iwas on 65.Then i started behaving decently realizing some poor soul could end up buying the same vehicle ( not me obviously coz i am sold on flamengo red).
-One word for the petrol MAKHAN..butter smooth

So am i buying it.Well the cheque is already with the dealer booked flamengo red dynamic petrol. Now the worst part of the review. The wait period-4 to 5 weeks, but anything for this beauty.

And yes i delibirately left out the looks part. Lemme guess why..Simple. No words to describe it . Stunning,Gorgeous,Beautiful (these words are an insult to the beauty) hence lets create some words to describe it.

All comments welcome even negatives coz nothing can dither me now even it gives me 2km/l mileage i would be happy enough just to let it stand in front of my house and take it out to showoff at nights at panditji at Claridges for a paan (ANYONE?)
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Old 30th January 2009, 00:00   #274
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar View Post
Petrol Linea test drive vehicle has arrived in Pandit Auto Pune. 40 diesel were booked in Pandit. waiting period increased to 6 weeks.

None of the petrol is booked yet.
I will talk to Pandit guys :-). I had booked Petrol E+on 10th of Jan itself.
They have already debited 1L from my account. Initially they told me 1 week wait.Planning to go there on weekend to either get the partial refund or car within a week
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Old 30th January 2009, 09:46   #275
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Any idea guys, for Linea Petrol, what is the claimed mileage??
Has any auto magazine, compared the petrol Linea with ANHC. OD has compared the diesel one with ANHC
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Old 30th January 2009, 10:01   #276
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grvanand View Post
@neoonwheels, looks like you are the first here to test drive the petrol Linea. Good to here its not underpowered, being just a 1.4. Don't really know whats stopping Fiat from offering more powerful engines though. Anyway, I will soon check it out once they make it available here in Bangalore.
At least I did not feel it to be underpowered. How often we get a chance to do 0-100 ?? What I was looking for is : It should not be difficult to drive with AC on and 4-5 ppl on board. In this dept, Linea did not let me down and thats it !!. It was a smooth ride and I just fell in love. Goddamn this recession otherwise I would have jumped over it by now.
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Old 30th January 2009, 17:18   #277
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Originally Posted by ahshahid View Post
I will talk to Pandit guys :-). I had booked Petrol E+on 10th of Jan itself.
They have already debited 1L from my account. Initially they told me 1 week wait.Planning to go there on weekend to either get the partial refund or car within a week
oh.. sales person gave me wrong information. But he was eager to give me test ride for Petrol. And I was not in a mood to drive in that Traffic filled Tilak road.
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Old 30th January 2009, 21:12   #278
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Yet another test drive...1.3MJD

After reading the various accounts of the Linea 1.3 MJD, I decided (out of curiosity) to TD it.. My previous car was a palio 1.2 and my current one a petra 1.6 - so I was looking forward to the experience.

My aim was to find my own answer to 2 questions - (a) is it underpowered ?, and (b) has the customer service changed in any way ?

(a) Is it underpowered ?

I recently test drove the Octavia and Verna to get a feel for diesel cars. I did not TD the palio diesel or the swift or dzire as I have no intention of buying in this segment.

In comparison, the Linea doesn't even respond to the accelerator in 1st and 2nd gear. Someone told me the Turbo only kicks in at a higher speed (40 km/h or so) - I wonder why this would be so. The car accelerates well in 3rd gear - didnt get to push it beyond that as I was doing more than 80 km/h and I was not on the highway.

One can argue that 1st and 2nd are good for the city and 3rd for faster speeds etc but I did not feel comfortable with this performance - if I am in 1st or 2nd, I would have to consciously wait to get to a certain speed and then shift to 3rd to accelerate ? This would not help me get into fast moving traffic in a hurry - be it in a city or the highway. (who knows - one may need need this power to get out of a dangerous situation).

I did not find this of either the skoda or verna which both responded very well to my flooring the car (maybe I am comparing the wrong cars...)

Whether you call it underpowered or made this way by design, I was not at all comfortable with the performance..

Not to compare but my Petra 1.6ELX felt like a rocket in comparison when I drove back home !

(b) What about the Fiat Service ?
I asked the dealer about service and they said it was much better - then I decided to explore the responsiveness to my existing vehicle - I need to replace the lever that keeps the bonnet (or hood as you like) open and a motorized headlight for my petra - I tried my luck - no luck. So essentially, one has to struggle to get parts for 3 or 4 year-old cars. Maybe tata-fiat intend to take care of linea customers and drop the owners of palios, petras etc... Will Linea customers be taken care of when the next model comes in ?

Much as I have enjoyed driving Fiats, and much as I am tempted to buy the Linea for the way it looks, I would not even consider it till there is a more powerful engine and the A.S.S. has improved...

P.S. One more thing - the rear legroom of the linea is non-existent when the drivers seat is pushed back all the way - odd for a car of this size..
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Old 31st January 2009, 00:51   #279
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Finally.
There's no point talking about the interiors or the exteriors. I was left amazed & breathless.
I sat on the drivers seat, positioned it accordingly and got off.Went to the backseat, legroom was horrible,i'm sure i can't sit in that position for more than 7 minutes. Head scraping against ceiling, a speed breaker would cause quite an injury. I knew it right then, for a 6 foot + like me the back seat was impossible.
The person there, i believe he was the manager wasn't very aware about the car, he admitted it himself. The following points i thought were worth sharing:-
1: No corporate discount
2:Strangely placed dead pedal/clutch pedal height.For some reason i found the clutch system very unfamiliar.
3:Audio system-Pleasant, nothing extraordinary.
4:Massive boot space
5: recommendation by manager to always sit front when questioned about the bizarre head scraping problem i was having. I promptly told him my mother would at times like to sit with my dad.

The petrol wasn't available so i decided to settle for the diesel. The car's started but i'm unaware(very silent at idle), i crank it nothing happens,feel slightly embarrassed so crank it again, and again.NOTHING.
whisper to salesman and ask him how to start the car

He tries cranking,nothing switches off and on, car starts(i realized now it was already on);and we're off.
This being my first diesel drive i decide to be a little conservative. Immediately i realize that the 1st two gears are very short & lack power greatly. A lot of revving, a lot of noise no more.
Move on to third and it feels like a completely different car,though i've never experienced it i found there to be no turbo lag, the car just seems happier 2000rpm onwards. I wouldn't call it underpowered, just smooth as hell, looked at speedo to find myself at 65 when i thought it would be somewhere in the 40's.
Quite definitely it's not a powerhouse but neither am i sedate driver;to me it's just a different way of engineering, the first two gears would be a delight in day to day driving conditions, i've found both the swift and the baleno very irritating in such conditions. while you can't rip it, it's not slow either. I took her upto 5th gear @ 60 upwards and the car felt very composed,refined,controlled.
The steering control is precise,braking is excellent. Nothing much more to say. I'd rate the car 8/10. A point for just a little less power, another point for a certain rear seat madness. Thankyou;looking forward to driving the petrol
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Old 1st February 2009, 22:26   #280
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Petrol Linea driven... and I LOVE IT !

Ok here it is; my 2 cents on the Petrol Linea. Had been waiting for a while to get my hands on the petrol version and so was quite excited when the dealer here in Delhi called me up to say that I could get a TD of the petrol engined Linea. I must say that before the TD , my mind was biased towards it being a sluggish car based on the Tech specs; 1.2 tons and only 89 bhp to power it? I had my doubts, but then again the old Honda City(not the VTEC) was only 77 bhp and well, nobody said nothing about that being a slowcoach!!!
Start the car, and one would have to listen hard, and I mean really hard, to hear the engine ticking over in the bonnet. Instantly , one gets the feeling that this car belongs to a segment higher than the one it is in. Slot the gear into 1st, and the car pulls away effortlessly. It's not going to pin you to the back of your seat when you suddenly hit the pedal to the metal, but it surges ahead gently, which will definitely be appreciated by the co-passengers as they wont get to experience that jerkiness which one would experience with sudden acceleration.
( At this point, I think I should make one thing clear that I'm not looking to emulate a certain M.Schumacher or even trying to set a new lap record in my Grand Prix to nowhere. No Sir ; This car is being evaluated as a family sedan that will be comfortable, luxurious, and safe for the three of us(me, the mrs. and our 2 year old baby girl). For all my racing aspirations, I have a 1.6 GTX Palio with a free flow air intake, dual Elevo air intake superchargers and of course the headers with the free flow exhaust.)
OK back to Linea drive. The steering is definitely lighter than in its diesel engined sibling and the FIRE breathing car also feels much lighter and quicker to drive, simply beacause of the absence of turbo lag. But the thing that really blew me away was this; 4 people in the car, 3rd gear, 20 kmph speed and the car never felt like it was gasping for air; instead, it was crawling along peacefully in the traffic that we encounter in our daily commute. Step on the gas, and the linear acceleration of the Linea pulls you away with a kind of smoothness that is yet to be experienced in a car of this segment. As the speed builds, so does the confidence. Didnt have to think twice or stamp on the brakes, to negotiate the almost 90 degree corner at speeds nearing the 90 kmph mark; instead, the process was very straightforward; just point and shoot and the Linea held its line without any hint of understeer; something that front engined cars are famous for.
Big smile on my face, scary look of disbelief on the sales executive's face, and we proceeded sedately back to the showroom. Time to calm him down and what better way than to play some soothing music on 6 speaker Blaupunkt system. Luckily I'd carried my cd of "Death Cab for Cutie" and proceeded to fine tune the bass, trebel and equalizer settings to my taste. While most people would be happy with the quality of sound, but honestly I feel something is missing; like maybe a 12 inch bass tube and a couple of 4 channel and monobloc amps to really feel the music. The guy said that any modification to the electrical system of the car(read wiring) would deem the warranty null and void . Hmm, I guess then I'll have to have all this done by the dealership itsellf which didnt seem to be problem with him. I'd also wanted first hand to check out the Trip computer with all its special functions but these can't be accessed through the buttons on the steering wheel. Instead one has to use the buttons on the dash to the right of the steering for this purpose! How wierd is that?(Unless the guy did'nt know what he was talking about ,which could quite likely be the case).
OK, I'll have to take another TD to solve this conundrum.
But what about spares and after sales service ? The great thing is that the Linea needs to be serviced at intervals of 15k, which means that you could finish the three free services for a brand new Maruti while there would still be 5k km to go before the Linea is even due for an oil change!!! Spares ? According to the dealer, Fiat cant afford to screw up this time and they've taken steps to ensure no problems in this dept. I want to believe him, I really do, but I wont till i see it for myself. But this is a brand new dealership in Okhla, Delhi. Everything looks clean, polished and i made sure to explore the service area and was quite impressed by the manner in which the cars were being treated. Happy, with what I had seen and felt, I now have to finally decide whether to trust Fiat again with my hard earned money. Will they be able to love and care for my car the way I do ? What about the resale value of the car? Such questions come to mind but then.... its settled. The Linea, true to it's catch line, is a very attractive car. It has a kind of magnetic personality, a charisma which just draws one to it. The Italians have always been known to make beautiful things; and who does'nt love beautiful things. I'm a full blooded man and yes, mine will be the Flamenco Red one.

" I'm a war, of head versus heart,
And it's always this way.
My head is weak, my heart always speaks,
Before I know what it will say."
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Old 1st February 2009, 23:29   #281
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P.S. One more thing - the rear legroom of the linea is non-existent when the drivers seat is pushed back all the way - odd for a car of this size..[/quote]


I beg to differ here. It has more leg room and head room in the back with the seat pushed all the way back than a Skoda Octavia. Try it sometime for yourself and you will be surprised/shocked.
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Old 1st February 2009, 23:48   #282
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Went for a test drive today. Liked everything except rear sear comfort and rear space. This looks like a deal breaker for us. Very unfortunate.

It has even lesser space than the Indica Vista we also test drove according to the folks at home. We are not considering the Vista. Just test drove because the car was there.

What other options are there? Really sad because the car seemed very good in all other parameters. Looking at a used Elantra CRDI/Corolla/Baleno now.
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Old 2nd February 2009, 00:29   #283
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Active has better seats

Hi today got the chance to check diesel active and dynamic at concorde hyderabad. Both were on display today. Since a lot has been said about the seating comfort i adjusted the driver seat in both the cars to my comfort levels. Suprisingly the active seat felt far better than the dynamic version. Even the rear leg room seemed better in active. I double checked with the sales man whe initially denied that but later confirmed my feelings. Do you think this is because of the seat height mechanism in the dynamic varient that people are complaining of the lack of thigh support? Or is it because of the different kind of seat fabric used in the active? Your views
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Old 2nd February 2009, 08:21   #284
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Hi today got the chance to check diesel active and dynamic at concorde hyderabad. Both were on display today. Since a lot has been said about the seating comfort i adjusted the driver seat in both the cars to my comfort levels. Suprisingly the active seat felt far better than the dynamic version. Even the rear leg room seemed better in active. I double checked with the sales man whe initially denied that but later confirmed my feelings. Do you think this is because of the seat height mechanism in the dynamic varient that people are complaining of the lack of thigh support? Or is it because of the different kind of seat fabric used in the active? Your views
That is very interesting. Sounds like good news if it is true.
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Old 2nd February 2009, 09:49   #285
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Went for a test drive today. Liked everything except rear sear comfort and rear space. This looks like a deal breaker for us. Very unfortunate.
Which option /variant did you TD? Did you look at the posts after yours? (by damodar) Did you try adjusting the front seats?
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