[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by speedzak

Blue and me.
Man! This is/was one of the greatest and most talked about distinguished feature in the Linea. Ain't it?
Now, it seems like many aren't able to get it working. Some were even ready to change the phone for this feature to work. Sad!

Agreed. When technology advances, it brings in limitations also. preferably new technology should be open-source to succeed. am surprised as Microsoft is known for open-source technology unlike Apple. it should have catered to all mobiles with bluetooth technology 1.1 profile.

Having ssaid that, its still a very good system & works very well, Voice recognition will add more puch, or shall we say THE punch

[opendro]

Originally Posted by mazherr

Just got back from an aprox 600 Km drive to Panchgani (from Mumbai).... Turns out she returned 17+KMPL with AC.
(as per onboard comp)
She is indeed fantastic on the highway.

A more detailed FE report once i top her up to full, later maybe today.
Doing panchgani and back, and drives within mahableshwar on a tank of gas with fuel to spare is FABBBB !!

We had with us another .... NHC, with us, poor liittle thing, was breathless keeping up and needed another tank of gas mid way.

We headed up via Wai / Panchgani on the Express way, and returned via Mahad. We had a full load of 500LTS of boot space of luggage and 4 of us in the car with the AC on at all times (including ghats, well mostly).

Was really good, especially down the ghats at Poladhpur .... handles surefooted like a mountain goat. Felt safe, maybe too safe, one of the passengers was "strawberry milk shaked" with the long swooping curves at better speeds than we're used to, safely.

T'was fun, overtaking was no problem on 2 lane moderate roads too .. the third gear is magic.

I do feel that if we had done the express way both ways, were lighter on the load , and drove without as much "safe-fun", it would return 18.5 - 19Kmpl, surely as i've read others report.

Cheers

Maz

Sure man! I'm too just back from Kudremukh, four adults and trunk full of loads. It is not so steep and there are not hair pin bends, but decently ascending and winding. It was unbelievable grip, composure. I bet any other car wouldn't have done better. I felt very very safe even when buses or trucks were approaching from the opposite on the curves and I had to brake. Fantastic! I would say. It was also pulling neatly on the ascending slopes too.

[manish7]

Originally Posted by amit

Can you tell us how the car behaved on uphill sections of the ghats? Did it climb up well or huffed and puffed up? Your's should be the final word on the 'underpowered' engine as you had a full compliment of passengers, full load in the boot and AC on all the time.

Exactly! I am also eager to hear from you on this front!

- Manish

[rajagopal_j]

Originally Posted by mazherr

The other Ipods were Windows Formatted .. but thats no excuse, i've never seen MS treating Ipod file systems differently. Its FAT32 which is standard. Ipod support for Mac is not negotiable or optional.
(hello, Mac made Ipods, didn't they)

Pen drives work fine formatted / used on macs or PC's ?

You got it wrong there, iPods formatted on MAC are not FAT32. They are HFS (Heirarchical File System). This is a proprietary file system developed by Apple and is supported only by MAC OS and OSX.

Originally Posted by mazherr

Thats not true. USB's work fine. Ipods mac managed do not work. even though all tracks are DRM free MP3.

Which part of my statement is not true? I never said USB Pendrives dont work. Again, iPods are recognised as Mass Storage Devices and will work only if they are PC Formatted. DRM free mp3 will definitely play and so will DRM protected mp3, it will basically play all mp3, wma and wav files. AAC files will not be supported by MS.

Try formatting your USB pendrive in your Mac as HFS, it will stop working as well.

Originally Posted by mazherr

Sorry, but thats no excuse for blue & me not to take voice commands, or be serviced / explained / updated. Of course the purchase of a 9.3 lakh car was not specifically for the blue & me, but did it play a part in the decision making process along with ABS , Design, etc ? ... of course it did, and it should work like it has been advertised.

Agreed!! Never contested this in the manner you have mentioned here. All I wanted to say was Blue & Me cannot be the sole deceiding factor, and I was just trying to point out that when you remove all the marketing hype which is common to every product you will see that the Blue & Me system is just a glorified Bluetooth car kit.

Originally Posted by mazherr

On Updates, The car has an on board MS blue & me computer, and as with all operating systems firmware updates are necessary : introduction of new mobile phone models / standards, the software needs to be updated. This needs to be done via bluetooth and GPRS, apparently the server support is not available for India. The alternative is USB updates, although the tech exisits, the update files are no where on fiat or MS sites.

attempting to update Via GPRS, it does not connect, and when i asked Tata, all i got was puzzled question mark expressions.
OOOFFF !! they make me angry !

Ok now I understand what server connectivity you are talking about. I am on the same page and I am pissed off that this is not going to be available for us!

Happy Motoring to you too!

[opendro]

Originally Posted by manish7

Exactly! I am also eager to hear from you on this front!

- Manish

I can tell you, I had a similarly loaded trip. It pulls very well. On the way dropping my friends, there was one such road, worn out and very steep that bikes struggle even to climb. I had to pull up on it almost from a standstill (as somebody was blocking my way) and the wheels were spinning as the road surface was a worn out one.

[manish7]

Originally Posted by opendro

I can tell you, I had a similarly loaded trip. It pulls very well. On the way dropping my friends, there was one such road, worn out and very steep that bikes struggle even to climb. I had to pull up on it almost from a standstill (as somebody was blocking my way) and the wheels were spinning as the road surface was a worn out one.

Glad to hear that!

[ahshahid]

Hi,
I have observed a sound when I bring my petrol linea to a sudden halt.
It is not the screeching sound but something like when you try to loosen jammed nut-bolt sort of.
Is this normal or needs to be seen by a mechanic?
Regards
Asif

[amit]

Originally Posted by ahshahid

I have observed a sound when I bring my petrol linea to a sudden halt.
It is not the screeching sound but something like when you try to loosen jammed nut-bolt sort of.
Is this normal or needs to be seen by a mechanic?

Do you feel the brake pedal vibrate when you do that? In that case, it's the ABS.

[funda2max]

I took a TD of MultiJet last week in Mangalore and i am disappointed with the engine's low end torque. It doesn't feel any good. Car is solidly built and has a good rear room. I also felt rear a/c doesn't work well in summer and that too places like Mangalore where sweating is more.

[mazherr]

Originally Posted by ahshahid

Hi,
I have observed a sound when I bring my petrol linea to a sudden halt.
It is not the screeching sound but something like when you try to loosen jammed nut-bolt sort of.
Is this normal or needs to be seen by a mechanic?
Regards
Asif

It's probably the ABS kicking in. Call them and reconfirm, but i'm sure its not something to worry about. It's probably more pronounced in the Petrol Linea, cause the engine is so silent ... as i hear.

[mazherr]

Originally Posted by rajagopal_j

You got it wrong there, iPods formatted on MAC are not FAT32. They are HFS (Heirarchical File System). This is a proprietary file system developed by Apple and is supported only by MAC OS and OSX.


Which part of my statement is not true? I never said USB Pendrives dont work. Again, iPods are recognised as Mass Storage Devices and will work only if they are PC Formatted. DRM free mp3 will definitely play and so will DRM protected mp3, it will basically play all mp3, wma and wav files. AAC files will not be supported by MS

Try formatting your USB pendrive in your Mac as HFS, it will stop working as well..

Hmm ... Maybe i did, i knew NTFS Drive did not allow me to write from my mac, just read. Fat 32 is fully compliant, hence i assumed it was FAT 32. I'll probably format one of the drives and check anyway.

Originally Posted by rajagopal_j

Agreed!! Never contested this in the manner you have mentioned here. All I wanted to say was Blue & Me cannot be the sole deceiding factor, and I was just trying to point out that when you remove all the marketing hype which is common to every product you will see that the Blue & Me system is just a glorified Bluetooth car kit.

I hear you my friend, but let me tell u, I'm in the music business, and if they had declared / disclaimer ed that my ipods would not work ..... it would have changed my mind (i'm a little bit of a suckker like that). Yes, i would not have bought the FIAT Linea ... just for not playing my iPods !!
But then again, thats just me.

Anyway, looking for the silver lining .... Full Blown CD's in .wav sound SOO much better. Out comes the ol'school CD collection for me. :-)


Blue and Me is alright ... yeah, A glorified Bluetooth car kit that doesn't understand english (indian english might i add). Does anyone know how to control the phone ringer volume on it ? .... It shakes me up every time i get a call !!

Originally Posted by rajagopal_j

Ok now I understand what server connectivity you are talking about. I am on the same page and I am pissed off that this is not going to be available for us!

Happy Motoring to you too!

Hopefully they would take this and run ... make it work for us.
FIAT EcoDrive, another blue&me program sounds so promising !!

For those not in the know, this is a program that shares and improves your driving style with analysis on your home computer ..., plug in a USB and its charting your drive ... totally !!

P.S : Conjecture -
like i'd imagine it'll be saying "go easy on that third gear, your burning more fuel than you should in the city" like a back seat hippie ! :-)

Again , not available to india just as yet


Hope you got delivery ... what color are you ?
Cheers & Enjoy

Maz

[mazherr]

Originally Posted by amit

Can you tell us how the car behaved on uphill sections of the ghats? Did it climb up well or huffed and puffed up? Your's should be the final word on the 'underpowered' engine as you had a full compliment of passengers, full load in the boot and AC on all the time.

She was FINE !! , did a lot better the the NHC, and we had a ANHC also with us, a friend was driving, and he did mention of lots of revving and in-car noise whilst on the way up. We wern't racing or even comparing closely, t'was just a lovely drive, but surely, i had no problem on the uphill.
Dont' get me wrong, its not going to win any races off the block, but it wasn't built for that. General happy motoring with power on tap for a safe overtake in moderately fast traffic ... NO PROBLEM.

Cheers
Enjoy your next long drive :-)

[mazherr]

Originally Posted by funda2max

I took a TD of MultiJet last week in Mangalore and i am disappointed with the engine's low end torque. It doesn't feel any good. Car is solidly built and has a good rear room. I also felt rear a/c doesn't work well in summer and that too places like Mangalore where sweating is more.

Really, maybe you have something your comparing it to... I hear ppl say this once they are used to the Verna Diesel. That apparently has a true deep low end like J Lo !! :-)
For me, a petrol driver all my life, Turbo charged Diesel, although a little but advanced motor ....this seems great on the highway.

The Climate control is a bit tricky, Note : if you manual override the fresh air / circulation to circulation and keep it on a 22Degree with vents on Front deployed ..... I had no problem in 38 degrees and no sun film.

I hope the showroom guy with you on the TD knew how to use Climate Control properly in close to 40 degrees. he probably worked for TATA, and my guess is that he know very little beyond the workings of the IndicaB !!

[mazherr]

Originally Posted by funda2max

I took a TD of MultiJet last week in Mangalore and i am disappointed with the engine's low end torque. It doesn't feel any good. Car is solidly built and has a good rear room. I also felt rear a/c doesn't work well in summer.

You know, after re reading your post, i may have to agree / concede that the rear vent is a little poor and does not blow like the ones in front. But then again, it is quite useful, at a lower speed anyway.

[mazherr]

Originally Posted by opendro

Sure man! I'm too just back from Kudremukh, four adults and trunk full of loads. It is not so steep and there are not hair pin bends, but decently ascending and winding. It was unbelievable grip, composure. I bet any other car wouldn't have done better. I felt very very safe even when buses or trucks were approaching from the opposite on the curves and I had to brake. Fantastic! I would say. It was also pulling neatly on the ascending slopes too.

Good one ... what was the FE u got on that trip ?