Linea Diesel&Petrol (Emotion PK)Comparative Report. Review on Fiat Linea

Hi! Before I start my review, let me tell you, this is purely my opinion on the cars, and I do not remain responsible for any choices you make post reading this article.I have owned Maruti 800, Santro, Fiat Adventure and presently own Honda City(2009). I am planning to buy a new car, and stuck between Fiat Linea and Toyota Corolla Altis

Fiat Linea:- Looks are one of the best in any car on the road as on today upto a price level of 16-17 lacs. External finish of the car is superb. The door trims, crome handles, side moulding, bumper guards are very elgantly placed and worth the looks. Linea takes your breath away at its looks, there is no doubt and no one will disagree on this. Even the ardent FIAT haters will vouch for the looks of the car. The side indicators cover the entire bi-parabala headlamp area when switched on and give a classy look to the front of the car. The car has a follow me head lamp feature, which will remain on even after you are out of the car and will switch off after few seconds, depending on how you program it. This is for your convinience, when you are parking in the dark. The rear boot has a hydraulic release.The rear boot cover is well protected with carpet matt, with Fiat written on it. The boot space is 500 litres. The italians have taken great care to ensure to give a foldable spare wheel cover holder, so that, when you are getting the spare wheel out, you don't have to hold the spare wheel top cover with your hand.

Interior, could have been done better in terms of quality of plastic. This is only when, you compare this car to Honda City/Civic, Corolla Altis, Optra(top end) and Skoda. All others in that segment, such as Fiesta, SX4, Verna etc. are either similar in interior quality or inferior to Linea. I have compared the interior quality of the car with that of 100% imported Fiat 500, and found that, the quality of almost same. Which means, Fiat is giving the similar quality what they are selling in western Europe market. Interior space is generous. Though the rear space could have been better. The dash board, door trims are very well done. Fiat has taken care to give crome plated internal door handles as well. All 4 power windows are one touch down(Not seen in the 12 lac plus corolla & Skoda). Only the driver's window is one touch up as well. A very significant feature such as impulse down is missing in Linea(This means, the window of the driver seat will go down automatically if there is any obstacle between the window and glass. There is a rear sun shade. The rear A/C vent is a great feature though the quality of plastic of the vent could have been better. The top end(Emotion PK) version has vents belw the front passenger seat as well to give leg cooling to its rear passengers(Great thinking). The front cabin light has laser lights to give you the view of the gear box area, just in case you do not want to switch on the cabin light. Of course, we all know about the Blue&Me and Advanced My Car options. The dirver side arm rest is well placed and usable.(Unlike Honda City, where its of no use). Rear arm rest is not of very good quality, but solves the purpose. The music system is adequate. The seat height adjustment lever and the seat back rest lever are of average plastic quality. But they solve the purpose.

Now Let's come to the Heart, first the DIESEL -Well, the diesel engine is remarkably smooth and produces lesser noise that usual diesel. The cabin noise is also insignificant(At least in the car which I drove, that had done 10000 plus kms and very poorly maintinaed, as it was a test drive car). The diesel engine responds well, but responds like a horse after 1500 RPM. It pulls the car to a great extend. You tend to forget, you are drving the 86HP car which is close to 1300kgs. The handling is marvellous. The car's suspention is just like any other Fiat. Ride of the car is superb. It rides beyond 120kmph with ease. All those who need more power than this, must look elsewhere, because they must not be driving in city. I was convinced that, this car is more than adequate in city and will give decent power on the highway. The car's steering feels excellent. The car returns more than 13kmpl in city and close to 20kmpl on the highway. I strated the petrol engine as well as the diesel engine to check the differential noise levels. But, remarkably the diesel, obvoiusly noisier than the petrol was much less noisier than usual diesel. I was quite impressed with the refinement of this engine.

.and Petrol -My brother-in-law owns a petrol and while he is very happy with the car otherwise, is little unhappy with the lack of knee-jerk pick up which he is looking for. Frankly, I was not expecting much out of this engine. This car also had done about 9500 on the ODO. I drove the car. To my surprise, the car was respondng decenlty. On a pure 0 rpm when you revv the engnine, the engine responsed pretty well in 1st gear but on 2nd gear with a soft clutch there was a little lag in response. But with a heavy clutch and high acceleration, the 2nd gear also responded quite nicely. 3rd gear onwards, the car was in control. Very good engine for adequte city drive. If you love drag race on the highway and get a kick leaving other cars behind from the moment you are on 1st gear, then this is not the car for you. But if you are practical, and think that, reaching 0-100kmph faster than anyone else in the world is not much of your life's priority, then this is a fairly placed engine. All those, who have written about this engine to be poor, have forgotten the 77BHP Honda City engine which was sluggish but pulled through by thousands in the country. Ditto for Skoda Octavia diesel, which produced 90BHP for a 1300kg car and many bought it without complaining about the engine. Its all in the mind. I was frankly confused between the two, as I did not find great difference between the two. The company offers 2+2 year warranty. The service interval is 15K kms.

Honestly, diesel engine was more peppier but petrol more silent. But diesel is 1.25 lacs costlier.If you drive less than 40kms/day, petrol will solve the purpose. But if more, diesel is a sure recommendation. I have a Honda city which produces 118BHP @ 6600 RPM, but the car feels very shaky beyond 100kmph. It has got very poor back seat ride and the overall ride is very bumpy. What's point of you feel so in such a powerful car? On the contrary, Linea @ 160kmph makes you feel rock solid. I have been driving a Fiat Adventure which had 100BHP @ 5500 rpm, I found the Linea's petrol engine slighly underpowerd than that one but not to a great extent. The torque in the diesel is excellent which will give the intial pick up which you will miss in the petrol, if you enjoying frequent knee-jerk pick ups. But diesel looses the power post 4000rpm, petrol pulls on till 6500rpm.

Verdict: Its a value for money car. VFM cars normally do not extend the luxury you are looking for, but Linea is VFM with loads of luxury. I never faced any issues with Fiat service(given by Tata) in last 3 years. That calls for a reason that, its India plan will be in place, I think. Whether you agree or not, it's a MUST EVALUATE car when your budget is anything between 7 lacs to 12 lacs. Whether you will buy it, will depend on so many other things.