Linea Test Drive - A gentle beauty! (Petrol). Review on Fiat Linea

So I was at the Fortune Cars dealership checking out the linea from the outside, I was here for the test drive, but I just wanted to get a feel of what the car is like from the outside so I spent sometime walking around it, looking at it from far and near..

I was finally content with the craving that I have had for checking this car out, ever since its launch I have caught only glimpses of a couple on the road, which left me thirsting for more.From the outside: I dont know how to explain it, but the linea's face is like a cute baby with big eyes... there is nothing about its appearance that says aggression, its all very soft and subtle.

The car also feels smaller in real life than what you would expect after looking at the posters, it is though a good length and occupies a wide field of view when looked at from the side... Moving forward, the build quality is what you would expect, its good, nothing about it feels cheap, the rubber linings, the panels, fittings, tail-lights, head-lights, fog lights all fit nicely into their slots, also unlike many other cars that come fitted with lame looking mags, the Linea’s mag wheels really suit the car and add a lot of richness to its overall visual appeal, you would not find the need to replace those wheels.

The styling although contemporary, does reveal a design bloodline of one of those sports cars (especially that baring teeth front grill) designed by the Giugiaro Design House for other european car makers, I loved it as much as I did even before it was launched! so from the outside it’s all good and full marks to design!On the inside: From the pictures that I had seen, there was one thing that I was not too happy about… the center console. I could not understand why they had it all in silver…

But that instantly vanished when I saw it in person, I mean my preference for a more conventionally designed center console went out the window, when I saw the linea’s console, the color was actually a tinted shade of silver, something more like a champagne gold, but very subtle, subtle enough to not tell the difference from silver if you didn’t look closely… So as you can see, my attention was naturally drawn to the center console first… The 2 DIN system, AC controls, radio controls and every bit of switch/button is in perfect harmony with each other and it all looks very very neat! When you turn on the lights the all orange color of the lights look simply stunning…

So the center console was a “pass” for me. As a matter of fact now I have come to realize that it is one of the best looking center consoles I have ever seen.Coming to the steering wheel, I like how the mould on the steering wheel gives you the added grip required for straight-line control… The steering wheel cover is also soft to touch and has a good feel and grip.Looking beyond the steering wheel, I noticed how the instrument cluster felt a little too compact… They could have used more space to layout out the dials and the glowing icons, which currently look all over the place…

I was not impressed with the instrument cluster at all… not to mention the font used for the numeric markings were the types that you would find on vintage cars, this is of-course a deliberate attempt to give it that classic euro-sports car feel, but I didn’t like it one bit, to make things worse, its all on a white dial… (Before reading ahead you should know that this the only thing that put me off about this car) I would prefer a more contemporary approach here, because there is nothing else about the car that says vintage.

Also another thing I wanted to mention is the DIS which sits between the dials, it simply didn’t make enough impact for me to give it a good look, but that’s fine, I later asked the sales guy and he told me it displays outside temperature and phonebook entries if you chose the blue & me as an option pack, a device that lets you make phone calls using the car’s audio system.Looking around some more I found the switches and buttons for the headlight swivel and ORVM controls and also other switches/buttons on the doors to be of really good quality and well fitted (unlike the pathetic fitments on the sx4)…

I noticed however that the cigar-lighter is not slotted in the center console, but right next to the hand brake, which could be a little bother for me as a prospective owner, because I have a daughter whose curiosity levels are extremely high for her age of 1.5 years. But again it’s not such a big worry but I just thought I’d mention it.In this version without option pack, the car has two glove boxex, one on top and one below, because the slot above would have otherwise been used for the airbag fitment. The test drive: Before turning on the ignition, I noticed how the key was like a switch blade knife… you can press a button and fold it and then press it again and it swings open again…

After turning the ignition on, I could not feel the engine running at all, there was no sound and not even the slightest vibration… the only clue was the tacho needle reading above the 0 mark… even the sales guy asked me to turn the ignition when I engaged in reverse, because he too didn’t realize that I had already started the engine.So I drove out of the gate which was up a slope and off we went (My wife, my daughter, my brother-in-law and the sales guy)…The car was fairly loaded… I immediately realized how smooth the car actually was, the Steering had enough weight to not make it feel too light, the gear shift was buttery smooth and precise, slotted perfectly each time I made a shift and the short travel made for quick changes! I loved it!Moving on, I drove for the first few minutes with the AC on (which was fine and sufficient for the cabin space), then I turned it off to get a raw feel of the engines power…

What I found out it that this engine is not zippy but it can get you there fast for sure… The pick up is very gentle, I would not agree with others who say that the car is underpowered, it has enough meat to pull load and speed up to the 100 mark fast enough, its just that it feels like the car seems to pick up speed at a little less than in a hurry… I found absolutely nothing wrong with that, it especially suits my driving style. So I weaved in an out of traffic on the road and car handled well, potholes and dents in the tarmac were also well received, the suspension is about as good as it gets in this range of cars so I will not write about it. The car behaved well and the body mass was well in control at all times, the tires felt just right to handle the body mass and offered good grip on braking.

One thing though I would like to stress on is the ABS w/ EBD braking system! AMAZING!! TURLY AMMMMMAZING!! The brakes on this car simply blew me away, I have never driven a car with such good braking power as of yet! (even with ABS/EBD)However when it came to the clutch foot rest, I found myself fumbling with it, because switching between the two requires some “getting used to”. As for the other driving comfort aspects, everything else was good...I could not accommodate the complete review because of the word limit so View the complete review at https://hangar77.blogspot.com/2009/03/fiat-linea-test-drive-review.html