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Old 7th March 2010, 22:30   #1
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A blissful ride on my Linea - Flamenco Red

Dear friends,

This is my first post in the forum and I wanted to share my first few weeks with my new Fiat Linea emotion Pack. After having spent most of the last few years in my Santro it was a real thrilling experience. The initial drive was a bit aprehensive as I was trying to get a feel for the car.

but as I drove on for few more days this car was making me very comfortable. Yes it is a little bit low on power when you are on full AC and in the second gear but I am not a racer. The drive was very smooth and the controls were excellent. I felt a bit of drag on the right side, maybe it was some alignment with the steering. With full music on from the system and a drive on the NH it was an amazing experience. I am not a technical guy but this is a good start. I have done 3M filming and it is very cosy.

I am waiting for the seat covers to arrive and then think about adding some more additionals.

Would put some more details soon...
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Old 7th March 2010, 23:26   #2
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Congrats mate!

Do post the buying and initial ownership experience. Do post some pics as well
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Old 7th March 2010, 23:28   #3
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Congrats for the acquisition. Its certainly raining Lineas and Puntos at T-BHP.
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Old 8th March 2010, 09:19   #4
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Congratulations.
Drive safe and enjoy.
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Old 8th March 2010, 09:38   #5
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Congratulations,

Have fun and Drive Safe.

Keen to see complete review and few snaps.
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Old 8th March 2010, 09:47   #6
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Congrats Auk99,

Welcome to Linea Club.
Enjoy and Drive Safe
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Old 8th March 2010, 10:13   #7
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Congrats on the buy buddy.
Elaborate the buying experience, delivery etc.
Pics are also due to post.
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Old 8th March 2010, 11:05   #8
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Congratulations and best wishes.
 
Old 8th March 2010, 11:16   #9
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congratulations dude. Flamenco red is the most common sighting car among Linea still we want mandatory pics of your car Please post them soon.

Have safe journey in your Linea!
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Old 8th March 2010, 11:51   #10
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Many congrats for owning the elegant beauty. Do take care of her. Drive safe. Enjoy the admiration!
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Old 25th March 2010, 11:40   #11
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Initial Buying experience

Dear friends,

Apologies for the long break. Just back from a trip to Singapore. Here is my whole experience of owning this italian beauty.

After having spent four years on Hyundai santro(amazing vehicle), I decided it was time to shift to a bigger vehicle. Based on budget and the requirements I narrowed down to 4 vehicles - Honda city/optra/Sx4/Ford fiesta. Linea was never on my list as I did not have much faith on fiat's after sales service.

I did a test drive on all these four vehicles and was surprised with the difference each one of them brought to the table..to the drive.I never got comfortable with the sx4 & ford. It was down to new honda city and optra but my eyes were fixed on the cruze(even though it was beyond my budget). I finally came to a conclusion that Honda would be my final choice and I spent time working out the modalities at crystal Honda.

One fine afternoon I happened to cross the Tata showroom in Pashan and my wife suggested that we have a look at the Linea as well. There I was looking at this Azure emotion displyed in the showroom. The first thing that hit me was the design. The vehicle was lengthy and the looks were amazing. The sales guy explained a lot about the vehicle and the functionalities. The interiors were smooth and the controls were nicely done. I was still not impressed with the front design ( I had honda in mind).

The leg space at the rear was good and one could get in and get our easily without much effort.Ample boot space, steering mounted controls, blue & me and other features were playing havoc with my decision. The total price finally did it. I read a very extensive review of this vehicle on this website and finally decided that this was the vehicle for me. I am not a racer so was not much worried about the lack of power in comparision to Honda. I did my test drive on the highway and found the vehicle a bit heavy and with full AC on it was definately low on power. After a few KM the ride started to become smooth. I was liking this vehicle.

I closed out the deal at BU Bhandari, got a few frebbies and was ready to take possession at the end of feb. I did an initial PDI when the vehicle arrived at the yard and was ok with the vehicle. The delivery was delayed by a few days but it was fine with me. I took the delivery of the vehicle on a sunny afternoon after the sales guy ran a complete demo of all functions. They buying experience was not without the usual arguments/complaints etc but overall the dealer have to go a long way in improving customer service. I felt that BUB were more into tata vehicles than fiat.

I had seat covers, 3m filming and reverse on done from carax which was very smooth. The seat covers took 10 days to arrive from dehradun. Mine was offwhite with walnut lining. I also had underbody coating done for the vehicle.

The last one month has been a good ride on the vehicle. some minor issues do have come up with USB not reading at times and setting up the mobile with the blue and me. Maybe I would take some time out this weekend to read the manuals and understand this vehicle better.

I would definately post some pictures next week for all of you. I understand it is long post and thanks for bearing with me.

cheers.
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Old 31st March 2010, 19:50   #12
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My first 1000kms in the Red Italian Beauty

Hi Mates,

I completed my first 1000kms today and listed below are my observations:-

1. The drive seems to be getting smoother by each passing day.With full AC on it is definately low on power but I have still not breached the cardinal rule of the initial speed limit of 80km/hr.

2. There seems to be some problem with the USB as it displays no media found. Kindly suggest any solutions to this. Initially it was fine but somewhere along the line it stopped working. Other media is working fine. I still have not started using the Blue & Me function..yes I can hear you guys . I gave it a try once but did not work out so I am planning to synchronize it during my free time after going thru the manual.

3. The drive initially was a bit hard..seemed like some friction or drag but now it seems to be flowing in fine.

4. There is some clicking noise while I press and release the clutch,it is very minor like a noise you hear while you lock or unlock something. This has come up in the last few days. I am not sure what this is?

5. All the warning systems are working perfectly fine. Very helpful are the parking brake and the door opened warning signs.

6. Ground clearance really seems to be a problem in this vehicle. Twice the vehicle brushed the surface while on rough terrain. Have to virtually take it over very slowly.

7. Have not checked the mileage yet but hoping to do so soon.

As most of my driving has been within the pune city limits, I still have not tested it out on a longer drive stretch. Hopefully I will try it out soon.

Overall my first 1000kms seems to be good experience without any major issues, but I still have not explored the full potential of this vehicle.

Have to do some catching up...

cheers
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Old 1st April 2010, 00:06   #13
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Congrats Auk99 on your new ride. Regarding USB, make sure that you have all the songs and folders under one top level folder.

USB>My Music>Folder1>songs... OR
USB>My Music>songs...

If by chance you have added a new file or folder at the top level of your master folder then the media player will not read your USB.

If this doesnt help then try with another USB.

-PK
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Old 1st April 2010, 08:15   #14
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Congrats on your acquisition auk! For USB, you can try formatting the drive in FAT32 once and copy songs under various folders.

For clutch, may sound stupid, but please check if you floor mat is in any way obstructing the clutch travel. Otherwise, your Linea also will be due for a change of clutch slave cylinder, which you can get done during first service.

For ground clearance, I feel most of times it is the ungainly mud flap that is the culprit; making scraping sounds.

You have not mentioned if it is MJD or FIRE.
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Old 1st April 2010, 11:52   #15
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Short & Sweet review. Try negotiating the humps diaglonally. This will solve the problem to some extent.

Love the F.Red in Linea. Pics pls.
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