My Petrol Fiat LINEA Emotion Pack- A story begins

With this i complete 100 POSTS in this thread.Drove my Linea again today after many days break as couldnt resist. Drove her 100 kms and now ODO stands at 899 kms. I was ripping her today and was loving the sound of exhaust above 3k rpm. Was in a mood to enjoy and 100 kms covered consisted of 40% highways and rest city drive. Gear changes were happening at above 3000 RPM and i was getting jerks from the car, car was pulling up well from the traffic and am extremely happy with the engine now. Nowhere i felt that am less than others lol.Only issues i face are:1. Irritant tyre noise which is just intolerable.2. When i turn steering full turn left or right, theres big vibration which i can feel in my left leg near clutch, will show it at 1st service.Saw 3 Lineas today and good that i can finally see some Lineas in action and not just mine.

yeah CB, its not just you but quite raining linea across nation, people have got their faith back with fiat with this superb car launched, with service backup from tata,so go on driving and enjoy admiration.

Today I saw a Linea coming out of a small road. I was standing on the road and it looked really great. More like a car to compete with the likes of Altis, Civic, etc.. Enjoy riding CB.

@ Crazy car,Thanks bro, people come in swarms to look at my car and ask details, am really loving it.@ AllI got a call from my Dealer today that he has got mud flaps for my car from FIAT and asked if i could come. Went in and was immediately given tea. Then a boy called me outside and said that MUD FLPAS ON rear bumper of the linea are fitted in a strange manner as there is no place to fit bolts from inside, bolts will come from the side of bumper and a big black chunk of mud flap will cover the side of the bumper near tyre.

Thank god that he asked me before installing them as they were looking very very bad. Took mud flaps with me and gave it to my friend who has a personal repair shop, told him to get mud flaps painted in silver colour. Will get them tomorrow and will also get it fitted. Pics will come soon.
He said that paint will not match properly as they dont have color code for Linea's silver, doesnt matter as any silver is better than black.

coolboy, there's a reason why the mudflaps are black.
Because they get dirty and black doesnt get dirty too easily. :)

Waiting for the pics though.

@ Abhinav,Well i think that dust and mud will show more on BLACK mud flaps than on a silver one. Anyways, black was looking very bad on a Silver colour so will post pics tomorrow.

Black mudflaps looks OK, They are on most of the cars even when i painted my car's bumpers to body colour the black mudflaps were looking bit odd on newly painted bumpers but soon i got used to them. :)


VT

waiting for new coloured mud flaps pics mate, keep them coming, strange that linea doesnt have space to fit them from inside wall of the tyre housing.

coolboy007 wrote: and a big black chunk of mud flap will cover the side of the bumper near tyre.

I think CB is telling that mudflap will cover some part of the bumper and i guess it'll definitely look awkward and spoil the looks(black part on body, just because of an ill-fitting mudflap). But i'm not sure whether painting will help. Let's wait for the pics.

@ Crazy cat,You got it right, mud flaps for rear really look bad, wonder why FIAT left no space for it from inside silly people. Here is the example
Got it from a friend of mine. Will get the mud flaps tomorrow only, painting shop is closed today, i forgot that. You can see, on silver this black chunk looks terrible.
SOURCE : A team bhp member has posted this and is the 1st one who i saw has got mud flaps attached.

This sure looks cheap. Looks like a job done outside. Fiat should have provided better solutions. But i would like to see how it looks when painted in body color. I'm not sure, how it is going to look in body color.

@ Crazy cat,Yes indeed it looks cheap so didnt get it fitted. Looks like Linea owners are getting mud flaps from "chor bazaar". Will get mud flaps fitted most probably tomorrow and will post pics too if i have time as Tuesday am off to Himachal to enjoy my car.

congrats on ur new ride dude, i suggest you to get the mud flaps from the company itself because the flaps whch are available arent that good... they tend to bend and go out of shape in just a couple of weeks....the quality is very bad,

as u said, there is no space from inside to fix the mud flaps rite?? then how bout holding it on with the help of a 3M doubleside tape?? :stupid:
just checking if its possible... hw ever its far better than these screws when it come to the look factor, :scratch:

@ Napster,Thanks a lot. Mud flaps have come from FIAT itself as it took 1 month after delivery for dealer to deliver them to me. 3M or any other doubleside tape wont hold in place as Mud flaps are accustomed to huge pressure when car is at 120-130 and also when splashing through water (i love it lol), dont think this tape will hold through. Yups, Screws will surely Screw the looks but then we have no other alternative.

hmm, how bout painting the screws??
just grab a 10rs sample paint box from ur nearest paints store and just apply it on the screws, atleast they wont be visible as they are now..
what say? :stupid:

Black Mudflaps doesn't looks much odd to me but those screws are surely!, painting the whole mudflaps will do.

VT

I have given the whole mud flap kit for painting including the screws and the thing which holds screws in place, its a gasket i think. Everythin will be silver painted now. @ Napster,Have done exactly what your mind said. We both are too intelligent lol.

:agree: yeah ur rite, hw bout painting the whole mud flap including the screw to body color?
im sure it'll look cool for any car

My Himachal trip is already screwed. My Santro met with an accident in evening just now. A drunk biker collided from left side with my car when my sister was driving (had everythin License RC and all). The place was just 300 meters from my home and i and my dad rushed to place.
Biker just rushed away after talkin to police as he was1 drunk.

My Santro's Left fender, completer bumper and headlight is broken with a big dent on bonnet. Left the car in my friends place where have left the mud flaps to be painted.
Dont know if we are going out tomorrow or not. Sad... the car is just 1.5 years old and has completed 14000 kms.
Didnt take any snaps, nor do i intend to, thank god my Linea wasnt involved, i would have killed that drunk idiot.

oh, Sad to hear about your Santro accident, These drunken drivers must be punished, Didn't cops took any action? :x

VT

@ Vibhor,What action will cops take despite taking money from accident sufferers. As we were on safer side they couldnt mint money from us. The biker guy was a poor man and had suffered hugely. His legs were bruised and toes were heavily bruised. Seeing his condition, dad told his bro that police will ask for money from you as your brother is drunk, so just buzz off from the place quietly and they left away. He was poor so dad left him but he caused a big mark on my car, everything will have to be replaced. Though my friend said he will try to minimise damages and take out dents from the car. Cops were tyring to mint money from him but he was heavily injured and the human in us couldnt allow cops to take him away, he should have been punished but we didnt want to get involved in this fiasco, we have to leave tomorrow for a marriage and i still dont know whether we are goin in Linea or in a taxi, yet to decide. Every1 is shaken and seems this accident chain which has started after 18 years of us owning cars is just not ending. 

Cops are more are less robbers in uniform or beggars in uniform. But there quite few, who are good. After accidents, it is better to keep a safe distance with cops, unless it is your mistake and the cops are the only savior. It is better to clear the spot immediately, if the impact is less enough to not to go for Insurance.
It is good to hear that your dad left them away, as per the situation. You can only hand the wrong doers to the law, especially when they are on bikes. Because you can't get money from them for the damages. This will automatically make us to file a case and claim insurance, as you can never get huge money from them. So its better to leave them, as per the situation.

cops are all legal thiefs, specially the indian cops, they make both the opponents to make it an issue first and then lateron they convince each other and take money from both and settle the argument,
this happened to many people in hyderabad, screw these cops:x

I agree you all.

@coolboy; Hope your santro gets repaired soon and do keep us updated before you update it on any other forum ;)


RoadRocket

I reached delhi safely today a few hours back so thought to update all of you.
All my observations and things to note in points about Linea.
1. We started our journey of 545 kms to himachal on 5th may at sharp 5 AM. Started the AC straightaway set at 23 and off we went. Till about Haryana highway i was sedate in driving and we at most touched 80-90 km/h. MID showed 14.8km/l. As soon as i hit the highway, forgot abut RUN IN etc and started zipping the car. As traffic was less we were constantly at 110-120 km/h and car was gliding beautifully.

2. Engine is very sluggish below 1800 rpm or so. If you slot in 3rd and below 1800, whatever you do car refuses to budge. Have to do quick downshifts to keep up, thanks to 1260kg of weight.

3. Till chandigarh journey was awesome and everyone happily sleeping at back seat. Suspension and handling is mind blowing, too good. I was around half tank and got my Linea filled up with NORMAL petrol at IOC.
DISTANCE- 269 . Fuel IN 19 litres
FE : 14.15 km/l. MID showed me 13.8 Km/l. Avg speed 79 km/h
I was quite surprised with the figures as i drove quite hard and contsantly was cruising at 120 before the trucks slowed me down. A lot of braking, downshifting and accelerating. I expected below 13.

BRAKING ABILITIES : What so say, braking is legendary, full control of the car at whatever turn at whatever speed. Inspires so much more confidence.

4. BEST incident : Near Kharad, its single road and one of the most treacherous roads in regards to accidents. A Fiesta diesel ahead was troubling me as he was braking repeatedly for no reason. Tried to overtake him 2 times but he blocked me.
I then saw a opportunity, switched off AC, slotted in 3rd and saw a AUTO rickshaw coming in opposite lane. Blew horn and took on the fiesta, was at 3000 RPM, to my utter surprise Fiesta started pushing hard with me side by side and pushed me more to the right side. Had no way out, pressed full accelerator and thought Airbags will open today as auto was coming at full speed but Linea conquered the battle and overtook just in time with me in 3rd gear. Gave a look at RPM METER, 6000 RPM, roar from the engine was phenomenal. 6000, Lol thats too much for a new car and then cursed myself to punish our new car that much.

4. Hill hourney started (AC ON) and with Dad in drivers seat. Heavy rain throughout the hill journey and not even gave me time to click some pics. Linea conquered all steep inclines mostly in 3rd gear, as its handling is good and car goes effortlessly around all bends. GOODYEAR tyres are noisy but provide good grip. Not even a single screech sound from the tyres which am used to in Scorpio.
NO PICS, sorry heavy rain.
At last reached, parked the car and on tankful car gave 11.2 km/l in that single road stretch (6000 RPM one) and hills. MID TIME TRAVELLED SHOWED 9 hours 23 minutes to cover around 550 kms.

Yesterday morning, at 6 AM, dad always goes and checks out the car in the morning at parking area in Himachal as its a bit away from where we sleep. Woke me up and told something scratched our Linea heavily from Drivers side. I woke up and ran barefoot to check my car. Front bumper side, Driver door all full of white scratches, to add to misery the area above tyre the bulge Linea has had even paint chipped off in some places and black marks were visible. Rear bumper 7 scratches.
Till anyone could figure out who it might be, my mind caught that it was the DJ who went back with his metal speakers and floors. Told the groom to call him and tell him to take away his money which was due. I was red in face and everyone told me to calm down, how could i?
He came within half hour, i was watching TV, mother said he has come, go talk but dont fight ;).
Dad was talking to him, i couldnt control myself seeing my baby scratched and straightaway hurling abuses at him from a distance, slapped him 3 times until Dad pulled me away. It wasnt a mistake, mistake happens 2-3 times not 10 times. Big mood spoiler, car is not even 1 month old and scrtached so heavily.
Will take my car to my friend's workshop (3 rd visit, 1. Mudflaps 2. Santro banged 3. Linea scratched )and see if rubbing can remove some white scratches.
Mood was so off that didnt even click good pics in the hills with those ugly scratches, you wouldnt have liked them. Sorry buddies.
Return trip details and photos to follow.