Oct 11, 2009 02:43 PM
8909 Views
(Updated Apr 07, 2013 02:17 PM)
This is the review of the FIAT Linea sedan. We started our search for a C+ Segment Mid Size Sedan from Hyundai Verna, since we are owning the Hyundai Getz at the moment.
Verna is having good looks from out side, but we felt that, the Head room space at the rear is not sufficient for a 5 Ft 10 inch person. Also, the dashboard is very primitive and does not give a rich feel
Ford Fiesta is also a very good car, but the spare parts are costly and general feedback is that, Ford cars give maintenance problems with in 2 years.
Then, we came across the "FIAT Linea" which has been launched in India by FIAT in Jan 2009. The car has excellent interiors, very stable build quality, great exterior looks, very spacious inside, Excellent head room at the rear, good mileage, and all this at just 6 Lakhs in Linea Active and Dynamic Petrol variants.
The interiors are quite well decorated and Dashboard is also great. The Dynamic & Emotion Pack models come with integrated Audio/MP3 system of good quality, and Blue & Me technology. Also, it has foot level rear A/C which is not present in other C+ segment sedans.
The suspension is very good and you feel like sitting in Honda Civic kind of high end car. The Diesel variant of the Engine has been tuned and used in other cars like India, Swift, DZire, Indigo and has won various awards in India.
The looks of this car is so stunning that it indeed gives justification to it’s"Admiration Guaranteed" logo.
There is no other car which has such rich features at this price range. After about 3 test drives, we decided to book the Linea Dynamic Petrol variant. It is almost like owning a D segment car at the price of C+ segment car. **Fiat Linea has been awarded the Car of the year and Mid size car of the year by UTVi Autocar 2009, Mid size car of the year by CNBC Overdrive Awards 2009 and BBC Top Gear Medium Saloon 2008 by Top Gear.
Honda City has good engine and mileage but it is out of our budget. It has been priced way on the higher side as compared to Fiesta, Verna, SX4 and Linea. The features are similar to all these C+ segment cars, but the price is way beyond the C+ segment car without any proper logic.
Maruti SX4 may be a good value for money car. But from various reviews; it is quite clear that, it has A Pillar RHS visibility problem, and many people have faced this problem while driving and they have clearly indicated in the reviews that, this is a major "No Right Hand Side Visibility" problem in the SX4 car. So there is no point in buying a car worth 7 Lakhs having such a serious risk.
*Now, following is the update after using the car for 30000KMS/3.5 Years:
*We found that, pick up is good on Mumbai highway, and we were able to drive smooth with good pick up.
The ride quality is very good and the Rear suspensions can absorb most of the up/down shocks caused by poor quality Mumbai roads, and you feel comfortable in car cabin. In other cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Tamilnadu state where roads are much better than Mumbai, this car will simply rock.
The interior quality is excellent than its competitors. SX4, Verna are no where near to this Interior quality. The car looks really beautiful from out side. Many people have inquired about various details of the car in first one week. It has features such as, Automatic central locking, Orange color menu driven settings, key less entry, A/C at rear; which only D segment cars can offer.
So, our recommendation for all Readers is that, You must take test drive of this car if you are planning to buy Honda City, Maruti SX4, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Verna, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Optra/Aveo, before taking the final decision.
We are sure that, you would certainly think about FIAT Linea since it offers almost same features or better features at much lesser value. We will advise not to buy the car from Wasan Motors (Borivali East). After sales service has been lackluster, they do mediocre quality service and multiple times, the actual car problems left un-attended. Recently in the month of March 2013, our car was under service and they broke our suspender of the car dicky/boot, leaving it highly unusable.
The gear problem was not fully solved and Wasan Service center was not picking up our mobile calls and hence gear problem has remained unresolved for over one month. We highly advise not to buy any car from Wasan Motors (Borivali East) since their after sales service is not upto the mark.
