My Petrol Fiat LINEA Emotion Pack- A story begins

A Brief Intro : We have a Mahindra Scorp 06 model, last year met with an accident while coming back to Delhi from HP. The car lost balance and toppled 4 times. Luckily no one was hurt. As we say accidental car is never the same again so was it in my case. Search began for a new car, we planned that we will buy the Verna Petrol in Jan 09.

Went to see Verna and Deep hyundai was closed. Sideby was TATA-FIAT showroom, Dad said why waste time here lets roll. I convinced and when i entered- was awestruck by the beauty gleaming in Red. I stood still there admiring the beauty from Front and rear. Salesman came running in and explained us some features but hell who was listening. I was looking at the car from all angles. 30% sure this is my car.

Ask for a TD of Petrol, aghh not available was the answer. He promised that he will come on Sunday 12Pm. I waited till 2 Pm on Sun noone turns up. I call him and he says he will come by 4, so am pretty disappointed now and just when i picked my phone to tell him dont come, i dont need you TD, his call come and says he is waiting at the gate, come down sir :shock:

Test Drive Report

Saw the Mild grey Emotion petrol standing. Wow!!!!!! First Dad test drives, very boring and casual one. Thats not called a TEST DRIVE lol. I change seat, Ok car is running??? Couldnt make out, Salesguy said it has Double Crank protection System dont worry. Hmm good Job.
1st gear Engaged, hand brakes up, accelerator pushed. Front wheels spin and we are off. Total were 5 occupants. 1st and 2nd gear are just for the sake of it. Very very short gears. Slotted in 3rd and REVV, sweet sound came from engine like rally cars. Pickup in 3rd gear is decent enough and this is the gear for Overtaking on single roads.

ACC at 18 (Nice feature was loving it), didnt check ICE, i think its nice with 4 speakers and 4 tweeters. Back to Drive, the Car took potholes nicely enough. Suspension is good but Seats are stiffer, dont know why? Interiors are good and features like, blu n Me, My car,ACC and thats Real time mileage calculator is good for a 7.6 lakhs OTR price for a car. The Top speed i touched in my TD was around 110 or 120, didnt want the Salesman to tell me to slow down.
Yes Engine is NOT UNDERPOWERED, though would have liked FIAT giving atleast 3 digit 100 Bhp to the car.

Brakes::
Braked twice to check brakes at a speed above 80. Brakes are awesome with ABS and EBD. EBD i dont know but checked ABS by braking hard and turning the car. Yes it nicely turns without tyres getting locked. Brakes Superb.

Build Quality
Do i have to say anything. FIAT are famous for their Build Quality like the Skoda's are. Weight is around 1250kg for Petrol version which is a bit on higher side. Doors close with a Solid sound, not exactly "Thud", cant figure out why because it was a heavy door. Believe me i handle Scorpio and it felt heavy indeed. The car was in total control and felt very good to corner till 110, didnt go beyond that so dont know. Boot at 500 lires wont good enuf for packing an adult there.

Fiat's A.S.S (after sales service)
Nothing good in this regard for sure. Everyone buying a Linea right now is taking a calculated risk. If FIAT doesnt do well this time then 8 lakhs over. Before you say game over, some of my experiences:
Had a complaint regarding dealer, opened fiatindia.com, went to CEO corner and complained there. 3 days afterwards, CEO Mr. Rajeev Kapoor replies back and said my team will contact you. When i went to showroom again, Salesman said " Why did you complain SIRJI, you should have told us". Seems they got a nice whack. That was what i wanted.

So, after 4 hectic days and an Offer of 2 month old used Ivtec at 8.20 lacs to confuse me more. Finally convinced Dad to buy a Linea as brand new car gives an altogether different feeling. On 1st April, paid booking amount and booked a Mild grey (Silver) Linea. He said i can expect delivery on 13th, Baisakhi. Just now called him and he said car didnt yet started its journey to delhi :x. He said he is working things out and may give me the car tomorrow itself??? How? Maybe someone's Loan got delayed. Think i have to be more vigilant at PDI.

All in all, i love my Linea, everything about it and the engine for me was adequate enough and kept me happy throughout the TD. A.S.S is improving and will update you people as i get updated.
Your Views and Questions, i will be happy to hear from you friends.

Rajat Sharma

-2nd Post -
Regarding Hyundai Verna,
It just slipped out my mind and then never went to even TD it. Verna is good for Diesel buyers i heard. Dont like looks of the car( No offence , looks are subjective).
Hope i get car by 14th or else i will kill my Dealer :D

Admin : Posts Merged (Posted under 15 Mins)

Very nice report coolboy. Please share more when you get delivery. Silver is my choice too.

Tata guys are not competitive and try to convince us with their limited knowledge. They even said me that Palio mjd got an engine upgrade and now more powerful than Swift DDis.

@ Crazy cat,

Thanks. Yes am awaiting Delivery of my car now. Cant wait more, will clog CEO's mailbox with my mails if i dont get delivery in time.:evil:

Regarding Palio n Swift. I think Fiat remapped the ECU and it has very few BHP'S more then Swift. Read it in autocar i think, dont know whether its true or not.

But he said that engine has been upgraded to 1.4l. I got really embarrased, what he thought, am i a fool to believe whatever he says. I just walked away :frustration: . I don't think Palio got a ECU remap, it still is slower than Swift. The main reason is the gearbox, according to me. It is just the same found on 1.9D.

And hope you get delivery on time.

So today i called my salesman, first he didnt pick up and then i felt that these people have started their ill mannerism :frustration:
Then after 4 minutes, he calls me back and tells me that MY LINEA which i booked hasn't yet started its journey to Delhi :war:. What the hell? Its already 7th day, is it a Linea or Mercedes SLK?
He calms me down and said " Sir, our Transit is coming today to delhi by 6-8 pm. There is 1 silver emotion pack which you have booked. Thought its already BOOKED by someone else, i dont think he will be able to do the payment. The booker said he would like to buy the car in May so sir am trying to give you delivery tomorrow itself". Lolz. What do i do?

If i get this car then good otherwise not till 20th atleast. Friends pray for me ;) and hope the guy is not springing up a story.
This is the update for today.

Salesmen are well trained to build some nice stories. The same happened for my FZ. I got irritated and asked him to be real and tell me the correct date. Then later he changed the date and said and i got it in time.

Friends latest Update for you...
Yahoooo!!!!!! Am getting my Linea tomorrow. Delivery date was to be 13th but the Transit came today and the guy who booked the car was unable to pay. My Advantage, am really happy that whatever i was promised i got it.
Going to get the car tomorrow evening. Will get my Mild Grey emotion pack petrol Linea tomorrow.

Will update on Thu on my Dealership experiences and pics of the car with a review. :)

Congrats .
Waiting for pics and reviews on it.
All the best.
Do a proper run-in before exploring the corners. :)

Also , i want to GIFT MY salesman something as he did a very nice job and gave me the car very quickly.
I am thinking of a SHIRT , help me friends, pour in some more IDEAS???

give a book on honesty!
or give him a book for success!
congrats coolboy!

Give him a box of chocolates. :)

Hi coolboy,
I've entered quite late in this thread anyways talking about your latest query, I would also suggest same as abhinav, Give him a box of sweets or chocolate, Thats the best option and congrats to you on your linea!:cheers: Please do share some pics of it here.

@ Archit, Abhinav and Vibhor.

Thanks a lot for your feedback on my query. As soon as i click pictures, will share them with you all.
Am a bit worried about FE and feek i should atleast return FE of Double digits lolzz :affraid:

I am giving him Kaju barfi 1kg( which whole showroom personnel may also eat) and Bottle of something which i wont post here on a public forum :evil:. Hope you understand.
Any tips on PDI??

oh i see what bottle is that!
i think the kaju barfi is great choice!
i love it too
send some here too!

archit wrote:oh i see what bottle is that!
i think the kaju barfi is great choice!
i love it too
send some here too!

Kaju Burfi is indeed great and we get when some big happiness comes. Here is the KAJU Burfi for you
.

A Virtual one, come here we will have the real one together :P .
Hope this Image comes, getting practice how to post pics.

:lol!: Coolboy, Kajubarfi is a good choice, and thanks for sharing virtual one here and yes, we do understand what the bottle is!

Congrats on your linea cool boy, and congrats once again because you have successfully posted the picture and yumm nice kaju barfi, BTW we shall now come back to linea topic other wise we will have to rename this thread to "The Kajubarfi" Thread! Lol! :lol!:


Road Rocket

Yes, Sorry for going off topic. Most probably will update all of you tomorrow on my experience and some pics too.
Will call it a night now , have to make DD, do PDI and then come home and tell you guys about the :drive:....

P.S Yet to find my camera :stupid:

Great News I really felt happy reading ur updates It was as if I am getting the Delivery of car. Congrats..

And yes, do check few things in PDI..
1) Completely remove the stepney and check tyre.. My Scorpio came with a stepney which had a cut on the tyre and we realised only after 7 months when we had a flat tyre..
2) Check all emblems..
3) Check the body paint for any minor scratches (They won't dare to deliver car with major scratches)..
4) Check all tools like spanner kit, Jack & Tommy, First Aid kit, emergency warning Traingle, etc
5) Check the mileage (odometer)
6) Check interiors
7) Open the bonnet and check if engine bay is clean..

And yes, Thanks for those sweets. :)

congrats cool boy. looking forward to more in depth study of the car from you.

Coolboy, I think by now you must have got your car, So please update us, I'm also quite excited. 8)

I got the car yesterday on time. Will tell you about car later, let us hear about dealership now, did all external obs and under bonnet with spare tyre propely observed.
Car was cleaned and had run 97 kms. I was ok with it and other delivery car's ODO had 114 on it. There was 1 minor scratch on boot, but i was okay with it. We get the delivery, take the car out and soon we cover 5 kms for getting Petrol filled. Wow!!! Speedo is disconnected and kms stuck on 97 :frustration:. WTF.. We fill the tankful and return back to dealer. Dad blasts him with full shout. I know it cant be Test Drive car as they have both TD cars Petrol and Diesel standing outside the dealership. Dad accuses them that they gave a MORE RUN car to us. They apologise and correct it within 5 minutes. I went to mandir to get Pooja done and notice they didnt give me CODED KEYCARD with Car keys as there is an Engine Immboliser in the car. Dad gets furious lol and they said there is no card which comes with cars :war:. My car can get stolen if they make extra keys with this car. I tell them to give me back my card and they say the 8-9 deliveries they gave, they didnt provide card to anyone and now only workshop can tell which card is for which car... Pre Delivery experience was fantastic but they ruined everything with their silly mistakes.

Now the Car, only Dad drove today (very obvious, how would i get a new car)
As i got the fuel filled, and Speedo connected, we picked up speed and excellent suspension as compared to my Scorp, no vibrations inside and excellent pickup in 3rd gear. Top speed touched was 90 but then Speed limit beeper beeped like crazy and we slowed down. We drove a total of 60 kms yesterday with 70% AC and my Avg fuel consumption meter showed 13.2 when i stopped my car at my home.
Will post some pics by tomorrow 12 as its a holiday.... gr8888 car.

Many many congratulations coolboy!Finally you have got the delivery of your linea, its sad to hear about those silly mistakes made by TATA - FIAT dealers but fiat's service has become quite better than before after this tata fiat joint venture.Linea is almost a civic sized car available at SX4's price, Its really great and feature loaded package as i always say, Congrats again and waiting for its pics. :cheers:

@ Vibhor ,
Yes, today have to head back to Workshop to get my Correct Coded keycard. Silly Tata.
One word for Linea, Car is Awesome. And yes, its Admiration guaranteed, all throughout my journey people were turning heads from their cars and trying to see what car is it. They forged forward to check the front end. Lollll great feeling.
Till now car is fantastic and hope it remains like this. Will check back the mileage meter as dad comes back home, i will get to drive and will snap some night interior shots of the car. Noise levels are just nil and when the car stalls (happened 2 times as engine is new), a long Beep comes, ACC, headlights and everything switches off automatically so we can start without any problem. Will post photos shortly.