[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by rajagopal_j

Since I have already paid the full amount, I am assuming that is the only reason, because there is virtually nothing different between my purchase and anyone else's (non-full downpayment)

Congrats Rajagopal_j. You are the luckiest so as RedOne. Enjoy the Ride.

Originally Posted by neotraveller

I think, RedOne & Rajgopalan have paid full cash-down and hence they are getting priority delivery.
Maybe this is the reason, some people's cars are getting delayed.

Or maybe, the dealer really has extra stock.

Yes, that could be the only explanation. But again, I've seen in my office only that someone paid full amount & got delivery after 3 weeks. Even I was ready to give full cash but the dealer stil said more than 15 days.
Anyway, congrats to both - Rajagopal_j & RedOne, got really good deal

[RedOne]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

This is possible only due to following:
- either these are TD cars
- Or the dealer was supplied huge no. of cars in last 4-5 days. Is this likely?

Just got back from the dealer. Took delivery of the red beauty. All paper work was ready, number plate fixed (got number last night), odo reads 142 km, washed and waxed etc.

It definitely is not a TD car. Concord has specific TD cars (red and silver) and they are still there. A brand new car is a brand new car, I'm sure all of us can make out the difference.

There was a problem too. The row of buttons on the console was loose and turned out to be a broken plastic rivet like thing. Though it was replaced immediately, it was unacceptable in a 9L car. To their credit, the senior service guy emailed FIAT immediately about the problem, highlighting quality of plastics used.

Gears,
Red-One.

[mazherr]

Fiat Linea Diesel 1.3 Emotion +

Initial FE report

Hey my fellow fuel sniffing junkies,

i've had the Linea for around 15 days since guddi padwa .... its been great !! (yup .. she's red)

The dealership experience at CONCORD (CONS of TATA) was appalling (terrible) but i'll save that for another post.

I just topped up the car and did some top up to top up maths ... and its given me 9.9Kmpl

Kms run : 506
Fuel consumed : 36.06 + 15 Lts (interim fill) = 51.06 Lts
Fuel type : regular diesel
FE as per onboard comp : 10.0
FE as my calculation : 9.91 !!
AC - 100% always on
Duty : In City traffic (bad traffic 85%, 15% easy in city)
Load : 2 ppl at avg in car. No luggage.


Thats pretty accurate for the computer. I can feel the engine opening up and FE for the first week was showing at 8.5 - 8.7 ..... its gone up significantly the last maybe 4 -5 days and has rested on an average of 10.0 ....

Tomorrow i head for a long drive to panchgani with a full load, i've pumped fresh moisture less Nitrogen in the tyres at 33psi (ain't i a suckker for this tech) and i'm expecting at least 15 KMPL


JUST FYI : blue and me is a let down

the comp refuses to recognize my accent, the iphone 3G works , but just a regular in car bluetooth attachement.

It does not recognise my iPods (Mac OS formatted).... but recognises other Ipods ...STRANGE !!

No update server

The TATA (trust ... they can thrust it up where the sun don't shine) dealers have no clue on the same .... ? DHUHHH


More soon....

Maz

[downsouth]

Originally Posted by RedOne

Just got back from the dealer. Took delivery of the red beauty. All paper work was ready, number plate fixed (got number last night), odo reads 142 km, washed and waxed etc.

Congrats RedOne, waiting for the Initial report, please open a new thread, if you have not done that already. 142 on the odo sounds a bit on the higher side though.

Originally Posted by mazherr

The TATA (trust ... they can thrust it up where the sun don't shine) dealers have no clue on the same .... ? DHUHHH

Mazherr, thanks for the FE update, enjoy your long drive, its a beautiful car on the highway.

Somehow the Concorde dealerships are turning out to be a Nightmare, Personally think thats related to their selling a lot of Indicabs. I think I am at that point to blow my top. Which I am going to do tomorrow.

[drashkum]

congrats redone and rajagopal. the dealer has given a chassis number/ engine number. hope mine comes soon.

[neotraveller]

My sales guy wasn't giving me a clear picture even today. All these days, I used to call and tell him that I want delivery by this long weekend.
So finally went over to the dealership to sort out things.
I gave him an earful as to how I was unhappy with his dealership. He then took me to the MD.

The MD politely apologized and placed a phone call. As we were speaking, he confirmed that one Linea Red E+ was loaded tonight for transport, expected delivery in 3-5 days. Very mysterious and coincidental.

I insisted that I want Engine/chassis number.
He immediately got me a printout of the status page and there it was "TM Invoice Date - 9/4/09 (today)". That means only after I protested, they did an immediate Invoicing.

Lesson learnt. Do proper follow-up on delivery dates and not leave it till last moment.

[drashkum]

tomorrow i am going to the dealership to give my piece of mind. got the cue from neotraveller. wish me all luck. poor sales guy he will bleed through his ears tomorrow.

[rajagopal_j]

@Maz
Great to know your ride is doing great. Hope mine does well too!

Originally Posted by mazherr

JUST FYI : blue and me is a let down

the comp refuses to recognize my accent, the iphone 3G works , but just a regular in car bluetooth attachement.

It does not recognise my iPods (Mac OS formatted).... but recognises other Ipods ...STRANGE !!

Blue & Me is a microsoft technology, I am not the least bit surprised that it doesnt recognise a Mac OS formatted iPod/iPhone. Were the other iPods you tried also Mac OS formatted??
As for what features will be supported by Blue & Me with the iPhone 3G, please read the following:

iPhone 3G

Couple of other things about the iPod support.

the iPod is connected through a USB port, and is recognised as a Mass Storage Device. Meaning, its no different than connecting a USB pen drive.

Only wma/mp3 music will be recognised by the blaupunkt HU. It will not recognise AAC or mp4. iPods dont support WMA. hence if you want to use an iPod then all your music has to be mp3. If you have any music downloaded from iTunes store, they will not be recognised as they are .aac and these files are DRM protected and hence legally cannot be converted to mp3.

As for Blue & Me, if someone has bought an E+ variant just because of blue & me expecting some kind of magic to happen then that person is in for a rude shock. Blue & Me is nothing more than a simple bluetooth car kit like Parrot or the clarion/alpine kits.
In my opinion, the reason a person should coose E+ should be more important things like ABS, Air Bags, steering wheel mounted audio controls etc rather than something like Blue & Me.

Originally Posted by mazherr

No update server

I didnt understand this??

@RedOne
Congratulations on your car!!

Am still semi excitedly awaiting mine! I hope I get to see mine tomorrow at the yard.
~R.

[neotraveller]

Seems like at least 20 bhpians have booked Linea (me included).
I guess Linea is a VFM buy with several cool new features and people seem to be lapping it up, Fiat's ill-reputation notwithstanding.

When SX4 was launched in 2007, it was also a VFM buy with several new features at that time (std Alloys, ACC etc).

Just curious, was SX4 also met with such enthusiasm on TBHP when it was newly launched?

[rajneeesh]

Neotraveller, The SX4 had a roaring debut and thee was a very long waiting period for the initial 6 months for this car.

[drashkum]

i had gone yesterday to the dealer to have a talk about delivery of my car. i blasted him left and right and also the loan guy. now i got a definite date of delivery of the car. its coming on 15 th of this month and the vehicle is indeed in transit and expected to reach chennai on saturday.

i had to pay the whole amount and get it invoiced yesterday as the price is going up from midnight of yesterday. i dont know about deisel but the price of petrol variant is going up by rs.19000/-. the dealer said it will be updated in crm at midnight. lucky me. just escaped from the hike.

[diabloo]

Looking at the dealer attitude, I think Skoda is rich man's Fiat.

[neotraveller]

oh no! I guess I will end up paying 19k more

Although the general norm is "prices at time of delivery will apply", my dealer was billed by factory before the price hike (9 Apr). So technically, the dealer got it at the old rate.
Can I make this point and bargain with the dealership to not apply the hike (especially since they are the ones who delayed my delivery to next week).

What do u guys think I should do?

Originally Posted by drashkum

the price of petrol variant is going up by rs.19000/-. the dealer said it will be updated in crm at midnight. lucky me. just escaped from the hike.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by diabloo

Looking at the dealer attitude, I think Skoda is rich man's Fiat.

You are absolutely right.

Both the Fiats and the Skodas are built solidly and drive well. They are true driver's cars that are oodles of fun to drive. Fun that can never reflect through figures on a piece of paper but, is palpable once you are actually behind the wheel. Solid? Yeah they do not dent in hailstorms or even with 2 wheelers running into them.

My dealer has a ok attitude especially now that he knows that I know a wee bit about cars.

Will someone pass me the keys to the Fiat / Skoda?!

Cheers,

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by neotraveller

oh no! I guess I will end up paying 19k more

Although the general norm is "prices at time of delivery will apply", my dealer was billed by factory before the price hike (9 Apr). So technically, the dealer got it at the old rate.
Can I make this point and bargain with the dealership to not apply the hike (especially since they are the ones who delayed my delivery to next week).

What do u guys think I should do?

Try your luck.

They might not be willing to part with cash, so try to get freebies like accessories, discount in insurance RTA agent charges etc. These might not cost the dealer anything but mean real savings to you.

Cheers