[geeash]

oops!!!. The plastics used in linea are pretty cheap and thats what is causing all these issues. Next time i have to be careful while washing the car.

I dont think plastics are covered under insurance fully too.

Why dont you take your car to guindy concorde and have a talk with rajkumar and show him and ask the fiat to replace it for free. Its hardly been a couple of weeks since you got the car, so u can tell them to replace it for free and take a couple of photos and send it to rahul jhadav to show him how pathetic the plastic quality are.

[pranava999]

Originally Posted by RedOne

Will check the footwell to see if the upper part is covered.

Re ac vents under seats, If you keep the airflow directed to your feet (press the down arrow in ACC), you can feel some air movement behind and under the front seats.

My plastics woes continue. The right side side indicator is broken. I was washing the car and it just fell out when the towel passed over it. I can see one of the 2 clips holding it in place is broken.

Gears,
Red-One.

yes those indicators on the sides are loosely fitted, one of them almost came out while I was washing the car...the chrome beading in some places are not adequately glued or the adhesive is not strong enough...these small niggles are an annoyance am making a list now for the first service

[pranava999]

@vahan, geeash, redone thanks for the replies mate, can now breathe a sigh of relief

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by RedOne

My plastics woes continue. The right side side indicator is broken. I was washing the car and it just fell out when the towel passed over it. I can see one of the 2 clips holding it in place is broken.

i somehow feel FIAT should have been a little more careful around here. Its a great car, this kinda irritating niggles will irritate the users.

Enjoy your car, RedOne.

[pranava999]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

i somehow feel FIAT should have been a little more careful around here. Its a great car, this kinda irritating niggles will irritate the users.

Enjoy your car, RedOne.

true fully second that

[loving_alaap]

Beware guys, Linea seems to be heading in SX4 way (lots of niggling issues)

[amit]

Lots of build quality related problems cropping up. What could be the causes?

- Is the pricing really that aggressive that margins got so squeezed which made Fiat resort to cheaper parts in the 'not so easily visible' areas?

- or has Fiat been Tata(fied)?

They are also increasing localisation in all probablity with Tata vendors. I hope the worst isn't yet to come!

Can Linea owners comment on whether the parts are of poor quality or the fitment is the problem area?

[opendro]

Originally Posted by RedOne

GC is less, I have already scraped the bottom twice in 2 weeks. Both times, it was not on a speedbreaker, but places where the road was dug up for construction/repair. But it does have a fairly robust sump guard which should take most of the hits.

I do not remember scrapping the bottom of the OHC this frequently. But it has a tyre upsize, not sure if that increased GC.

Gears,
RedOne.

Congrats RedOne on your Linea. I too have the same color and variant.

About the GC, I too used to get bogged down, specially with four adults. Now, I don't face it anymore. I filled Nitrogen for all five tyres at 33 psi. I go a little slow over bumps.

When it is really bad road, where you think it could really scrap at the bottom, you choose a track where the wheels will be on the higher level. It all the wheels are not possible, at least one side of it. If both left and right wheels are at some lower level track and something popping up in the middle, it will surely scrap.

Best thing should have been to upgrade the tyre to 195/65 R15. This would have given an almost 10mm of extra GC, which could have made a lot of difference. That would have also made some correction to the speedo as well, which overruns with the stock tyres.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by amit

Lots of build quality related problems cropping up. What could be the causes?

- Is the pricing really that aggressive that margins got so squeezed which made Fiat resort to cheaper parts in the 'not so easily visible' areas?

- or has Fiat been Tata(fied)?

They are also increasing localisation in all probablity with Tata vendors. I hope the worst isn't yet to come!

Can Linea owners comment on whether the parts are of poor quality or the fitment is the problem area?

I've not yet faced issues with build quality/ plastics. But then, I've hardly used it, only 600-odd kms on odo till date & only on Mumbai roads. Plastic parts are very very fragile & I wonder why fiat has done such a job on such smaller thingies.
However, I've experienced something related to this which I mentioned in my thread. PDI may not have been done properly on my car as after delivery I found Steering not aligned exactly to centre but aligned slightly to left side. Also there were those water drop marks all over the car as if someone during PDI sprayed the water & forgot to wipe it & the drops dried leaving whose marks. Quite a few faint marks are still there even though dealer washed it multiple times & applied 3M polish

[RedOne]

Originally Posted by opendro

When it is really bad road, where you think it could really scrap at the bottom, you choose a track where the wheels will be on the higher level. It all the wheels are not possible, at least one side of it. If both left and right wheels are at some lower level track and something popping up in the middle, it will surely scrap.

Thanks Opendro. Both time I scraped the bottom, it didn't seem bad enough to scrape so I was not being careful. Meaning if I was on the OHC, it would not have scrapped. But the OHC is on slightly taller tyres than stock as well.

Gears,
Red-One.

[RedOne]

I had the brake creaking sound issue that others had written about, the sound coming just before the car completly stops. But I didn't think it was a big issue and the manual also said brakes would take some time (km's run) to settle in. I had read somewhere that new pads needed to be "heat cycled" to bed in properly. As per the recommended procedure, during my long drive, on a deserted stretch, I took her up to 100 and rapidly braked to 10 kmph. This was repeated 3 times in quick succession. Once even got the ABS to kick in; it was just a mild pulsing action, nothing dramatic. Tyres also behaved well with minimal squealing.

Anyways, after that, the creaking sound from the brakes is gone now and they also feel more linear.

Gears,
Red-One.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by RedOne

I had the brake creaking sound issue that others had written about, the sound coming just before the car completly stops. But I didn't think it was a big issue and the manual also said brakes would take some time (km's run) to settle in. I had read somewhere that new pads needed to be "heat cycled" to bed in properly. As per the recommended procedure, during my long drive, on a deserted stretch, I took her up to 100 and rapidly braked to 10 kmph. This was repeated 3 times in quick succession. Once even got the ABS to kick in; it was just a mild pulsing action, nothing dramatic. Tyres also behaved well with minimal squealing.

Anyways, after that, the creaking sound from the brakes is gone now and they also feel more linear.

Gears,
Red-One.

Very Good. I think I'll also have to do it. The challenge is to find such a deserted road in mumbai, have to take her out. Did you feel when ABS kicked in? how do we come to know that ABS has kicked in?

[RedOne]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

Very Good. I think I'll also have to do it. The challenge is to find such a deserted road in mumbai, have to take her out. Did you feel when ABS kicked in? how do we come to know that ABS has kicked in?

Yes, you can feel the ABS activating when the brake pedal pulses. You can feel it on your feet. The third time, I didn't progressively brake, just slammed the pedal down and could feel it pulsing.

Gears,
Red-One.

[pranava999]

would not say build quality is all that bad! yes a little more attention to detail woul have been better. nuthing so serious it can't be rectified at the first service at least in my case

[Machine freak]

My car just completed its first service 3000km from Abs motrs sector 34 Gurgaon. the car just had a slight squeeek in the right side over hard bumps which was rectified.

i was unable to pick up my car during normal work hours and hence went after the work shop was closed. To my horror the car was dustier on the inside then what i had left it as. they had not cleaned it. just serviced it. i called the service adviser today to tell him the same. he apologized and said i can get the car again, i am pissed with this. they v even offered to get the car picked up and dropped. But i m not gonna send the car there again..

-1 for fiat A** from me...