Jun 27, 2009 12:35 AM
10822 Views
I have been waiting for this car for a long time. Was interested in this car as many auto magazines published that it saved Fiat from bankruptcy. After getting to know that the car has arrived in the showrooms visited one in Bangalore on Mysore road. I wanted to take advantage of the highway to test drive the vehicle. So went all the way from Indiranagar to Mysore road's showroom.
The welcome from the executives was too bad....When asked how long should I wait for a test drive....they ignorantly answered .....'It's lunch time, it will take 1 hour !!! ' OKAY......1 hour....looked around at TATA cars and the Fiat Linea just to kill time....Finally got a EMOTION PACK model to drive both 1.4 Petrol & 1.3 MJD. First took out the petrol....which was a little sluggish in pick up.....Speed was linear....Was not enthralled by the pickup when compared to looks...It definitely looks outstanding....especially the red one. I had to press hard the acc pedal to feel the power but a little disappointed. But the Fiat has done a fabulous job with the shock absorbers. They are truly Shock absorbing stuff....the car just sails on the rough roads. The doors when shut make a THUD noise which justifies its good build. Fiat claims a mileage of 12 km/Lt for 1.4 petrol...I doubt that.
The quality of interiors looks okay....I was able to check out only the higher end models which has a dual tone dash board. But the plastics are too bad especially the plastic which covers the gap between bonnet and the wind screen....its a third quality plastic....it looks like rubber rather than plastic/fiber.
Then got a diesel version to drive...since I had drove a Maruti swift diesel which carries the same engine under the hood.....so expectations were huge. But it again was disappointing...you can feel the rush in Maruti....means you can feel that thrust.....here its tooooooo linear and carries a lot of engine noise to the cabin. But if you have not driven the swift diesel....you will like it....it just rocks. The gear ratios for MJD could have been better....but swift scores over this..... Overall if you just don't want to be an owner of swift which is every other car on the road and need an identity for yourself you can go for Grande Punto.....Suggestion is to wait till all the models arrive in the show room and check out the kind of service that TATA/Fiat has to offer.
