| One more Linea review on the cards ....
Dear Linea Owners,
Just boarded this community today after qualifying stringent rules of Team- BHP for new joinies. I have been hooked on to this great initiative ever since I bought my brand new Flamen. Red Linea Emo pack + Diesel , but never really got a chance to join officially until today.
Firstly , I would like to thank all the members and moderators of this club who have been sharing invaluable information and experiences so far to make this community better , comforting and extremely friendly specially for new entrants.
Well here is my personal experience on Linea which I bought in Aug 2009 and since then it has clocked almost 3358 Kms with first service recently completed.
I returned to Mumbai from UK in Aug 09 after 5 years and was looking for decent family sedan with some luxurious interiors and classy looks. For me , well I don't know , but somehow I always felt that looks of the car should be on top of my list. Power and performance will anyway follow.
I had been browsing for bunch of new sedans launched in India lately and I had almost zeroed down to either Skoda Laura or Hyundai Verna and had decided to take TDs once I am in Mumbai. In fact I also booked my TD dates with the respective dealers and got a confirmation too.
Well here it is how all started ....
On my departure back to Mumbai , I met a guy on my flight with whom I was chatting on new cars in India and told him my plans .He quietly listened and then asked me whether I have checked recent FIAT cars and if I had any previous experience with them. I immediately responded as a big NO and would never ever thought of going for FIAT.
He just nodded his head and with a smile, he began insisting that I should give a shot to check out the new Linea for which I replied okay and will give a try. After two days I came to know that Tata Fiat had formed a joint venture for Fiat and Wasan Motors , their dealer, just happened to be very close to my residence. So I decided to start my hunt with Linea first and then later take TDs of Skoda and Hyundai. I thought the more number of cars I would try , the more choice I would get to decide the right and perfect car.
When I approached the dealer , I just passed by a big gorgeous red beauty saloon standing gracefully in front of the dealer gates. I went in and was immediately relieved by the cool ,good and spacious sales showroom. I was then greeted by one of their staff who then accommodated me to his desk. After I sat down , before he could ask , I asked him which is the car that is standing out in Red. He mentioned it is the Linea. I got struck for a moment and recollected that the guy who mentioned about this car couldn't be possibly wrong. Then the world turned completely for me ...for better of course I would say.
I immediately requested the staff for TD for diesel after he explained me the features of the vehicle and the punchy Advanced Multijet engine technology it had. I spent almost 10 mins just gazing at the beauty externally even before I entered inside and found that it was truly an Italian masterpiece. I then entered inside and was again stunned by the interiors and styling . The cockpit with big dials , controls , Blue&me telematics and all the computerized intelligence just took my breath away. I turned the ignition and slowly started cruising at 40 KMPH speed and then eventually touched 60 -70. Pick up was smooth and good and noticed that Linea had good power to cruise brilliantly in city and highway (although short patch for TD ). The EBD, AC cooling , comfort ,ride and handling was just mind blowing .After a satisfactory ride , I was quiet for some time as I had seen and felt something which i thought I would never think in terms of considering Fiat. I stepped out and I saw a white Hyundai Verna standing couple of yards away from this car parked. I quickly had a close glance at it and started comparing it with Linea Flamenco Red and did not find impressive at all. Also later I didn't bother to check out Skoda as well and canceled the TDs of both the cars. I found that there is no car that I could match with Linea in looks. I told the Wasan staff that I would let him know after two days and went home excited. I started reading reviews about Linea and from then on I had hit almost every website where I could find its reviews.
Team-BHP reviews further heightened my spirit towards this classic and I immediately decided to book one. I paid the entire amount as down payment to avoid going through hassles of bank loan since I wanted to own it as quickly as I can.
Flamenco Red flavour was finally delivered to me on 24th Aug 09 without any delay on time and I feel that I am privileged to get this beauty home. Everyone in the family was delighted at this fantastic choice and they mentioned that I did at least one good thing in life by choosing this car. I wish I could have taken the contact number of the person whom I met on the flight to inform him that I complied to his advise and thank him. I rated Wasan Motors as 9 out of 10 for its good service , professional recommendations and salesmanship.
I won't go deep into further description about its performance till date but the more you talk about it the less it is. All I can say it that it has been absolutely trouble free so far and I have been driving it very cautiously as I am still getting used to Indian traffic conditions. The max speed I have touched so far is 80 - 90 kmph and the avg returned is approx 17 KMPH.I have not really been on highways or any big road stretches yet. The steering wheel is just great and highly responsive to sharp turns and bends. There were issues with driver side power windows as the glass was not passing through the rubber rim properly and had some misalignment somewhere. But it was quickly fixed by Wasan. Since then no further problems or issues. I have been enjoying techno and trance music on its Blaupunkt music system which I would say is not that bad and have also kept a CD of bhajans and aartis as standby for my elder family members to show them that 'I care for them too' whenever I take them out. The rear cooling is quite impressive and very relaxing.
I am now planning to go on long drives with her who I guess is 'desperately seeking' and I will post some pics hopefully by this weekend.
I just wanted to take your inputs on fixing a sun film ( RTO approved ) which will look good on the car and also help to ease Mumbai heat to some extent enhancing AC cooling a bit. Budget would be approx Rs 6000 - 7000 max . I know Vkool but I heard it is too expensive . Any suggestions please ?? Also kindly let me know which brand of mobile phone ( dual SIM) works well with its Blue&Me for calls and reading SMS. I need to buy one as well. I have also updated the B&M version to 5.4 successfully.
I will now be sharing my further exp. with this car moving forwards specially after long weekend drives on her performance. I have started loving this car so much that I even now like its diesel engine noise when you rev up to speed on a highway. Feels like a jet rolling on a runway...
Overall a magnificent piece of automobile bundled with the latest state of the art technology simply incomparable to any other sedans in its segment class.
Hats off to FIAT !!!
Thanks once again to you all and have a great weekend ahead . | 
22nd November 2009, 15:26
