[ajay_satpute]

Hello Cranky

Sorry for the late response.

That was a fantastic report of the T Jet. I think this deserves 5 stars from the mods. One of the very few reports on Team BHP which I read from start to end without a pause.

T Jet is one heck of a car to own in the <= 10 lacs catergory. No other car in the segment comes any closer to T Jet in most parameters. Let us not compare Vento TDi since its a different engine.

FTA T-Jet is pretty rare I would say. But, the T Jet looks mind blowing in all colours, due to its overall rocking looks and those stunning 16 inchers.

Please keep updating the thread as and when you can. And , post more pics. Just 2 pics is like no pics.

Also, I wanted to let you know that don't bother too much about the Tata-Fiat A.S.S. Its improving and its looking much better than how it was 2-3 years back. Infact, Pune already has a exclusive Fiat A.S.S. center, which is a great great sign of improvement.

Wishing you lots of happy and safe miles with the Jet.

[NoRules]

Cranky, congrats on your T-Jet. Very good review, worthy of T-BHP though a little too technical for someone like me

[fiat_tarun]

Firstly congrats on the beauty. Great choice of colour as well.

Originally Posted by cranky

6. B&M and the entire music system will probably have to leave the car. The quality of sound is unacceptable, and the software is very quirky. I set the music volume to 3 (very low) and a call comes in. While attending the call I turn off the engine, the call continues. So far so good. I notice I need to bring the car slightly forward. I turn on the ignition. Music system volume goes up to 19. Which results in a deafening rattle because that's all the speakers can manage to produce with that level of power going into them. I managed to hack in a 320GB drive with lots of music, unfortunately the process of moving through the folders is so slow with just two buttons, I'm having serious thoughts about staying with this system.

I think there is a setting for the volume when the car is switched off (should it remember the last volume setting or you can set a level that the system will start at everytime you switch off and on). I personally love the B&M me and find the voice recognition very good. Change the speakers first and see if you like it before you change the whole system.

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Infact, Pune already has a exclusive Fiat A.S.S. center, which is a great great sign of improvement.

- Ajay, which service station is this ?

[Sathya_sc]

One thing I can surely comment on T-Jets handling as I drove the Linea MJD previously for over an year.

If I would have to rate both in terms of handling-

T-Jet = 80/100
MJD = 95/100

I dont find T-Jet as perfect as the MJD in the handling department. Initially I thought this was just my apprehension.. but now I have realized that I have to change my driving habits (mainly while I push the car to limits in corners) to adapt to the driving dynamics of the T-jet which is a mark lower than the MJD.

[cranky]

^^Thanks for the kind words.

I couldn't buy a red/maroon or black car because of superstition in my family.

I didn't want a white car because pretty much every car in Delhi seems to be white.

I didn't like gold and the bronze was too dark, the car would get very hot in the summer sun.

That left a grand total of one colour. In the end I really didn't have a choice.

What I really wanted was silver (minimal grey). Ivory is what would really look great on a Linea, but Fiat doesn't offer that colour here. Or the bright blue posted in some other threads, which is again not sold in the country. These guys need an image consultant.

Anyway I'm pretty happy with the look of the car. In real life it's a lot less saturated than the pictures seem, so it's a steel blue colour. I like

Actually, scratch that. I'm very happy with the car. Overall. It's not perfect, but lest you get the impression from my threads that I'm unhappy. I'm not. There are a few issues, but every car has a few issues no matter what price.

I should have more pictures soon enough. Will update in a few weeks. Till then, cheers!

[Speed Pujari]

In addition, I also find the behavior of my S-drives a little wierd.
If the steering is turned while the car is stationed, if I drag the car in 1st gear then the car tends to move forward rather than going in the direction of the wheels. Is it normal?
And sometimes the tyres tend to stick on road I mean I can feel that while manuering the steering at slow speeds.

The placement of pedals is also quite a bit differnet. The spacing between the brake and gas pedal is very less. While panic braking I tend to press both gas and brake pedal. Things were different in Palio (Boy I am unable to forget my first love)..

What are other guys observation on this?

[Sathya_sc]

Speed Pujari.. Man we are sharing the same sentiments here.. Even i am not able to get out of my first FIAT love - My beloved Linea MJD. It was close to perfect in all aspects. It had a great balance between power, mileage, handling and ride.

Still, the T-jet finds it difficult to occupy the place of the MJD eventhough this one is more engaging to drive.

[cranky]

There's quite a bit of torque steer on the T-Jet. It's a little disconcerting if you've never experienced it before.

Basically under acceleration the differential takes some time to catch up with the rapid increase in torque. For the period in between, the wheels are 'steered' by the difference between left and right driving wheels. If the steering is turned the effect is magnified specially in low gears.

I am running on the stock tyres and I haven't observed (maybe due to lack of trying) such severe effects - however there is a general lack of front-end grip given the loads the front tyres go through in this car. One other thing you'll notice is the amount of nose-dive is fairly large. I'm assuming this is due to the very heavy block up front. It does need to be considered when dealing with the car.

I am thinking of upgrading to the very grippy Michelin Primacy LC, but have been quoted a ridiculous price (8K/tyre for 205/16) so am using the good offices of the marketing people there (Michelin is my client as well) to see if and when I may get a better offer. Unfortunately I've already done 400ks on the stock Goodyears.

I read of many issues with the S-drives on this forum. Not sure if I want to go that route.

I have no problems with braking. The one time I've had to panic brake, the car shed speed very rapidly and I didn't press the throttle. I'm good with the pedals, I only have a problem with the floormat.

[bottle]

Is the T-Jet engine heavier ? I drove crazy_eddys 1.4 petrol and thought the handling was pretty good. I guess you cant avoid the understeer in these front heavy cars

[cranky]

20kg heavier than the diesel, and 50kg heavier than the 1.4 petrol. All of it in the engine bay.

That's like carrying a block of concrete on the bonnet. And you can feel it.

[asitkde]

Cranky,
Thanks for the pictures. The colors are different in the two shots. Did you take them in RAW and post-process? Or were they shot in jpeg?

I guess we are all waiting for more pictures (close shots of an area, interiors, different perspectives etc).

I am not an expert, but let me just say that unless you have beautiful roads there, Michelins may not be the best. Based on my experience, they are too soft for our conditions. I bought 2 sets of 5 Michelin tyres (XM1's) for our 2 cars, 3 years ago (with a bit of help from experts like iRaghava here). The drive, dry and wet grips, comfort and noise-level was way better than the stock thinner Goodyears. However, the tyres have worn out well ahead of time, despite moderate to low mileage. Correct me, if I am wrong, but I hear Yokohamas are very similar (although they are substantially cheaper). I have now switched to Bridgestone Turanza's in one of the cars, and thinking of doing the same for the older car (perhaps even Apollo Acelere, have very good reviews in t-bhp). The Turanza ER-60s so far have been great (at least equal to the XM1s, perhaps a bit better) and the steering feels so much lighter at low speeds. I do not know which Bridgestones are available at the TJet's size, probably Potenza GIII's (I know they would be wonderful for your enthusiastic driving style) . Please do consider them seriously.

Regards.

[cranky]

The XM1 have been replaced by the XM1+ which were made to address that complaint.

A little bird told me that the XM1+ is also to be replaced I have more details but can't share in public forum. Will call you.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sathya_sc

I dont find T-Jet as perfect as the MJD in the handling department.

I don't understand why it should be so. The T-Jet also has better low-profile tyres which actually improve the steering response & grip levels (lesser flex).

The only reason the T-Jet would understeer more is...well, it has MORE POWER! Therefore, it's way easier to explore & touch the T-Jets limits than the under-powered MJD. I've also noticed the same in the Alto; the 0.8 liter Alto is fairly composed, primarily because it doesn't have the power to exploit the chassis' limits. However, the K10 can actually get scary in fast corners in the hands of a good driver.

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

Both the steering and the clutch/gear is a matter of adjusting.

I wouldn't agree. I've driven the Punto & Linea a fair bit and still can't get myself used to the weird driving position.

[niranjanrvce]

Originally Posted by GTO

The only reason the T-Jet would understeer more is...well, it has MORE POWER! Therefore, it's way easier to explore & touch the T-Jets limits than the under-powered MJD. I've also noticed the same in the Alto; the 0.8 liter Alto is fairly composed, primarily because it doesn't have the power to exploit the chassis' limits. However, the K10 can actually get scary in fast corners in the hands of a good driver.

I agree with this. If we assume a driver is holding a higher speed into the corner in the T-jet than the MJD - here the slightly higher understeer is understandable but even that will be only till the apex of the corner.
The T-jet's higher power should mean you accelerate faster out of the corner and thus take it with lesser understeer overall.
I think a fair comparison would be if someone can drive both the T-jet and the MJD at similar speeds into a corner and then see how they behave there. I will be surprised if the T-jet doesn't come out better here.

On a side note: does anyone think that the 15 inch T-jet will handle better than the 16 inch T-jet Plus overall (stock)?

[cranky]

Maybe.

Unfortunately I don't have an MJD to test (hint, hint)...

The other reason for understeer is the fact I'm not able to goose it too fast out of the corner because the car is brand new. Maybe additional power on the exit is what the car needs.

If it's not very clear, I get the understeer on exit of the corner, not into it.

Not sure about 15" vs. 16", the 15" steel wheels look out of place on the T-Jet once you see a car fitted with the alloys. Also the wider tyres may help a bit with grip. Not sure if the smaller wheels will mean a more nimble car.