[opendro]

I also picked up my Emotion pack multijet on 6th Feb (couldn't take the delivery as I was on vacation). My office parking already had a black Linea two weeks before me.

I generally go by the trust in life and I didn't do much of the pre-registration checking, etc. etc. I will write a full version review on Monday after a long drive this weekend. In a nutshell, I have the following to share:
1. The odo was showing 150Km when I took the delivery. When inquired, they mentioned PDI as reason. I had to be content with the answer. My disappointment was that I wouldn't be able to do a non-conventional run-it-hard initial break-in procedure which I was planning for the engine, because it had to be done in initial 50-100Km. Still I decided to blast whenever I felt that engine is warmed but not too hot, road is free (got speed limit ticket Rs.300 fine on first day within city, on Bannerghatta road to be precise, with a color photo from the speed gun system) Pickup is excellent (remind you, I'm a diesel guy and know very well on how to extract from it and studied Linea's gear ratios and strong points in the rev ranges)
2. I generally don't like the gift wrap ribbons for the item I purchase (not a gift). Since the sales team were realy excited and nice to me, I accepted whatever they had to do. But I humbly declined the pooja offer even though the priest and materials were ready. I trust more in human than the uncertain one.
3. They took photos and gave a print. I am generally not interested in photos and videos and wouldn't have taken myself. Ok. They gave one. They were lining up as I drove out and were clapping!! A new experience for me.
4. After picking up from the delivery, I hit the road. I didn't see the speedo initially and I was already 5Km away from the showroom. I saw that speedo was not connected. What!! Odo already 150Km and speedo not connected. I called the sales guy immediately on the Blue&Me and told him that I would be back in an hour or so. They connected, but it left me a feeling of dissatisfaction which I didn't see a real benefit of voicing it strong. I however felt that I should check the engine oil and change at the earliest even at my own cost.
5. That night the odo was reading 180 and it was at home. Time to read the manual and get to know some things. I reset the Trip A and Trip B. Both were showing the same reading as the odo. As I reset the Trip A, the odo got reset. Well, I suddenly thought that the reading was for Trip A and I would have to find where I can see the total odo reading. As I couldn't find it, I called the dealer next day and complained about the same. They showed me the odo and I complained that it resets along with Trip A. I rest Trip A in front of them and this time odo didn't get reset. Another shock!!! I called the sales guy and reminded him of the odo reading of 150 when I took the delivery and now, showing a smaller number as it was reset. He noted and I told him that I would observe and will revert back. They must be lucky that it all happened to me (because I'm one of the nicest guys they can get).
6. Now I have blasted some more short bursts. Engine oil is almost black and I want to change it at the earliest. I had followed them many times. The service manager has noted my number to inform me as soon as the engine oil is available. Two week since then still no engine oil. They cannot put the Palio multijet oil as Linea's has less viscosity and are different altogether.
7. No mud flaps, no floor mats and no accessories. I had already fit the sun film from Garware, IceCool Elite 50. I avoided for the front windshield as I was not happy with night driving in my previous Spark specially when opposite vehicle puts high beam on me.
8. I had taken around the outer ring road, to Aero show, with four adults and two kids of 18Kg each. So, you can count as five adults. It smooched on some of the speed bumps and I was dead slow in some of them and avoided mostly. 161mm should have been enough, I earlier thought. Now, I will have to wait till I change my tyres to 205/65R15, which will give the ground clearance another +8mm. That should do. I could see that underbody is pretty well protected, one reason that lessen my worries for now at least. When driving alone or with my wife and kid, it has not been a problem.
9. Rear head room is not a problem. I sat in those Kolkota Amby cabs and checked the head rood. It is almost same and we all know that Amby rear seats are one of the most comfortable ones. My father-in-law is 6 feet tall and he didn't have a problem when sitting without driving. I had not driven with him sitting in the back.
10. I read somewhere that somebody making a comment like, the whole world would have moved after a speed bump. Yes, it does, but not because of pickup, but I'm afraid of the ground clearance. For humps that I'm confident, I always zoom and find the pickup very good. I want to stop praising Linea since I own now, but honestly, I would love to race on the real condition roads with those who think Linea is slow!!
11. My daily commutes are very short and every time I reset the trip settings, the mileage would show more than 13Kmpl in peak city traffic and by the time I park, it would be already below 11. In short, I drive about 5 to 10 mins and the average mileage of 12Kmpl is great I would say, that too with the short bursts that I love.
12. Forgot to mention that the bonnet opening knob has fallen off and is almost loosely hanging. They said that they would change it but no parts yet.
13. I'm loving the drive and I literally zoom on rough roads and loving the experience. I love the outer lane on curves and my confidence has increased a lot more with Linea.
14. Except on that trip to outer ring road, I had not got much chance to try the overtaking and real cornering. I don't think it would be a problem below 120Kmph, below which this car has very strong mid-range acceleration and I'm generally quick in gear shift.
15. Blue&Me is too good. Voice commands work 80% of the time. When not working, I use the manual buttons on the right fingers.

Overall, except for Fiat not giving the option of 16 or 17 inch rims and not showing fractions in odo or trip meters, I'm quite happy with the experience of the vehicle. But service parts unavailability at this point of time really puts me off. I hope they stock up those regular consumables as I would clock 3000 on odo very soon.

As I mentioned earlier, I would be going for the tuning box from Petes after the 3Mm service.

[gaurav911]

Congrats Dr. Amit. You have got yourself a beautiful machine.
So, doesn't Cargo Motors provide service - is it only a sales outlet for Fiat ?
Also, kindly let me know the OTR pricing of the vehicle.
Looking forward to seeing pics of the beauty. The d-day is nearing. Enjoy!

[swami]

Congrats Dr. Amit. As mentioned by Rudrah ensure that you call up the dealership and warn them not to use your car as a TD vehicle.

Originally Posted by opendro

7. No mud flaps, no floor mats and no accessories. I had already fit the sun film from Garware, IceCool Elite 50. I avoided for the front windshield as I was not happy with night driving in my previous Spark specially when opposite vehicle puts high beam on me.

Opendro - Nice and frank feedback. look fwd to your Long Term ownership report. I would tend to agree that you must be a pretty nice guy. If i was in your shoes the dealership would have had a tough time esp with the odo reading and the disconnected odo.
How much did the sunfilm installation cost you?

[nehamit]

Originally Posted by gaurav911

Congrats Dr. Amit. You have got yourself a beautiful machine.
So, doesn't Cargo Motors provide service - is it only a sales outlet for Fiat ?
Also, kindly let me know the OTR pricing of the vehicle.
Looking forward to seeing pics of the beauty. The d-day is nearing. Enjoy!

Yes, Cargo Motors is just a sales dealer for Linea as of today. You can check this on fiat web site also. OTR in Ahmedabad is Rs.9,14,225.00 for MJD E+ including 2 years extended warranty.

Originally Posted by opendro

6. Now I have blasted some more short bursts. Engine oil is almost black and I want to change it at the earliest. I had followed them many times. The service manager has noted my number to inform me as soon as the engine oil is available. Two week since then still no engine oil. They cannot put the Palio multijet oil as Linea's has less viscosity and are different altogether.
12. Forgot to mention that the bonnet opening knob has fallen off and is almost loosely hanging. They said that they would change it but no parts yet.
Overall, except for Fiat not giving the option of 16 or 17 inch rims and not showing fractions in odo or trip meters, I'm quite happy with the experience of the vehicle. But service parts unavailability at this point of time really puts me off. I hope they stock up those regular consumables as I would clock 3000 on odo very soon.
.....

This is a particular issue everyone is worried of. Just call any of the Fiat official and they will resolve all of your issues, that's what my experience with them in past few days. Probably your dealer is culprit. My MJD E+ shows total 8 Kms. odo reading and its parked in a corner covered up as I am going to take delivery only on 21-02-2009.
Another fact for odo reading for Linea is interesting. Service people can not adjust it to zero once it crosses 150, so the dealer has to inform the buyer in case of it has run for more than 150 Kms as they can not hide/adjust this. ECU is configured in that fashion.
Here in Ahmedabad, my dealer has all spares and other stuff ready. Yes, they still do not have accessories, which they are going to get in a day or two.
I hope this information is useful to all prospective buyers of Linea.

[Prash]

Opendro - 1. The odo was showing 150Km when I took the delivery. When inquired, they mentioned PDI as reason. I had to be content with the answer. My disappointment was that I wouldn't be able to do a non-conventional run-it-hard initial break-in procedure which I was planning for the engine, because it had to be done in initial 50-100Km. Still I decided to blast whenever I felt that engine is warmed but not too hot, road is free (got speed limit ticket Rs.300 fine on first day within city, on Bannerghatta road to be precise, with a color photo from the speed gun system) Pickup is excellent (remind you, I'm a diesel guy and know very well on how to extract from it and studied Linea's gear ratios and strong points in the rev ranges)

Prash - I have also bought a red multijet and the odo was reading 333 when i took the delivery. They said that the car was driven from its plant near Pune as previously the trasport facility had not started.
Can you please throw some light on 'non-conventional run-it-hard initial break-in procedure'. I dont know what that means and how important is it for the car. You have also stated that 'Still I decided to blast whenever I felt that engine is warmed but not too hot'. Can you explain me this also to as what exactly is to be done.
Also when do you think should I go in for an oil change? i have clocked 1000 kms on display and the 1st service is on 3000 kms or 3 months. And you have mentioned driving in right gear and with right ratios you get good performance. Can you provide me with some suggestions on that.
Please let me know when you add pete's to your car. I would like to know the difference and would go in for if you recommend. And for any of your problem regarding the non availibility of spares or oils you should get in touch with Fiat officials. In that manner your work is done on top priority basis. Do let me know if you need contact numbers of Fiat officials. Also you can mail at service@fiapl.com.

[opendro]

Originally Posted by Prash

Can you please throw some light on 'non-conventional run-it-hard initial break-in procedure'. I dont know what that means and how important is it for the car. You have also stated that 'Still I decided to blast whenever I felt that engine is warmed but not too hot'. Can you explain me this also to as what exactly is to be done.
Also when do you think should I go in for an oil change? i have clocked 1000 kms on display and the 1st service is on 3000 kms or 3 months. And you have mentioned driving in right gear and with right ratios you get good performance. Can you provide me with some suggestions on that.
Please let me know when you add pete's to your car. I would like to know the difference and would go in for if you recommend. And for any of your problem regarding the non availibility of spares or oils you should get in touch with Fiat officials. In that manner your work is done on top priority basis. Do let me know if you need contact numbers of Fiat officials. Also you can mail at service@fiapl.com.

I followed quite a few sites on engine break-in (which we call run-in here). The one that quite fascinated was Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

Agreed, that involves a risk as it is not manufactured approved style. But then, most people tend to blast once in a while. Since I know from experience about overheating a tool, such as drilling bit, hack saw blades, or file, spoil the teeth or hatches without really doing the job. So, I believe to a great extent about the glazing part.

Then I thought I would take a little safer route. The one I decided to follow was from: New Engine Break-in Procedure

Anyway, I don't believe that the PDI would have done a slow break-in. They would have blasted whenever possible.

About the engine oil change, I'm one who don't like to change oil unnecessarily. Many experienced members in the forum will advise to change engine oil every 5Mm or at most 10Mm. For me 15Mm is already shortened period However, I don't want the first oil change to be delayed as the break-in is supposed to produce much more dirt and debris. Well, I have heard of some arguing that manufacturers are aware of the debris and takes part in further break-in. I wouldn't believe it because the dirty oil when heated everytime could do much more harm to the internal parts. So, I don't want to take chance.

Sure, I will write to the Fiat if I don't get the engine oil and filter by next week at the latest.

About the gear ratios and gear shift. I know that first and second gear are well spaced and if we need to move quicker, first gear has to go a little further till say 15Kmph and second gear would fall at above 1500rpm. Second gear and third gear are closer and I change a little earlier. During gear changes, if I release the acceleration pedal fully before I touch the clutch pedal or release clutch fully after gear change and before touching the throttle, then I see quite a jerky and dead period before it starts picking up again. So, I sort play the acceleration and clutch together in a way it will just avoid revving uncessarily with clutch pressed. It goes like this:
1. When I want to change gear, I started releasing accelerator, but before I fully release, just as I start feeling that the engine is pulling too much back on the vehicle, I start pressing the clutch.
2. After changing the gear I do a similar excercise, by releasing the clutch but start pressing the throttle before the clutch is fully released.

I mastered this from the five speed Pulsar 150, where the gear ratios are very close and next gear always expect still to be on an rpm, not so less for an upshift. I think it is more of facilitating the synchronization in the gearing (take that more of an assumption from me )

[navpreet318]

well i for one would not trust any of these guys for the break in procedure.What happens if something goes wrong.Its your money.these sites or authers of these articles will not give you a single penny as compensation.

the manufacturing companies are not fools.they spend millions of dollars researching these things.Moreover rebuilding an engine in a place like USA is very very cheap.even cars are way cheaper than here.so they have little to loose.I cannot understand how a person can put his lakhs of hard earned rupees at stake on the saying of these so called experts who don't even have a workshop of their own,let alone a manufacturing unit.
If they are that good why doesn't a company hire them for thousands of dollars.lol.why are they sitting idle posting stupid articles.lol.

[shantyrocks]

nice review opendro!
waiting for some pics dude...

[sharanramesh]

even on the test car that i drove in concorde bangalore the bonnet release handle was lose and at one point came off in my hand. if gthere are more complaints regarding this, it surely is a worry. are the parts suppliers for fiat the same as that of tata, is that the reason why some of these parts are this flimsy??

fiat really needs to put in more checks in their quality. they dont have a great A S S, atleast the owner should be contend with the product that is being bought from them.

[rajen83]

The showroom display car here in Hyderabad also had the same problem with bonnet lid. Also the glove-box lid near the front passenger-side was opening by itself pretty easily with even a slight jerk (when shutting/opening car door!). This thing hit my leg pretty hard as soon as I sat and closed the door.

The sales guy just shrugged and said .. "you know how all the customers abuse a display car, this is a result of that, no quality issue".

ppl who have taken delivery please watch out for these issues. I see a pattern here ... maybe they used flimsy parts for these.

[SkyWalker]

opendro - nice frank feedback. I am a little appalled the the service, hope that would get better soon. I guess its time for you to open a new thread for your beauty.

[nehamit]

Hi! Everyone!
I managed to get few pics of my Linea. Here are initial pics at dealer's place:

[SSN]

Wow!!!! Looks great. I have booked a Petrol Emotion Hip Hop Black too. Delivery expected next week.

[karanraheja]

Congrats Dr. Amit. Request for one more pic from front angle. Im sure black would look awesome from front esp. thanks to the chrome grille.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by nehamit

Hi! Everyone!
I managed to get few pics of my Linea. Here are initial pics at dealer's place:

Your car looks chic. Congrats!! Italian cars and women.....simply wow.

Rgds,