Hello All,
I have recently purchased my most awaited big car . Linea 1.4 Emotion perla champaign.
To be honest been born and bought in mumbai and living in this city for over 27 year, never did I think that I shall buy a car made Fiat . Fiat for me was always the black and yellow taxi and their horrible service reputation .
Then arrived this beauty Linea! I always belive that ppl deliver the best when the expectations are low and I think Fiat just did the same . No one expected Fiat to comeout with a car that will take the market by surprise . And this one really did!
Well I got this car on Gudi Padwa this month here is the experience I had so far -
Ill start right from the time when I thought ill upgrade from a santro to a big car-
I had choices between the following -
SX4
CITY
Linea
Fiesta
Aveo
and Verna
Test driving all these cars I finally pinned down on SX4, N-City and the Linea.
between these 3 cars I then looked at the following
Price
Mileage
Performance
Features
and service
City no doubt was very good but was way too over priced for its brand name compared to the other 2 cars. Also spares in case of Honda are quiet expensive, an example - the tail light for NHC is more than twice the cost of an SX4.
For such high cost the N Honda City had some basic functions missing . eg no alloys even on the top end, No waist line molding on the door or the bumpers, no cd player, no protection for the engine at the base, you can see this once you open the bonnet.
The biggest deciding factor was the 2 L price difference. In terms of engine power there not too much difference between Linea and CITY, City tough is a lill more powerful than the Linea. Interms of the interiors and the features offered Linea outperforms the City.
In terms of driving comfort I would honestly say City is better than the Linea!
The big question is the price factor!
Then came in the SX4 - great car, looks masuline from the outside(truly Men are back kinda look), good power and well packaged, Again Maruti is known for its good service reputation and lower cost of spares. And this car is no expection - the spares of SX4 are 10-15% cheaper than that of the Linea and approx half the cost of the NHC.
However these are the problems you would find with and SX4 -
High boot so reversing is a problem.
Pillar A difficult to take turns as view is obstructed.
Low Mileage(heard from friends who own SX4),
Uncomfortable seating for 3 passengers on the back seat due to the arm rest.
Again the interiors in the SX4 are not so great compared to the Linea.
Finally I got my hands on the new Linea-
I got this from Wasan motors in mumbai, the experience with the dealer was just about alright.
I wouldnt say it was that great. I think Fiat/Tata can do a much better job around the customer service.
I got this car for around 7.6 L on road, The features are great.
KILLER LOOKS!
Auto climate control is very good, nice music system by Blaupunkt(with 4 speakers and 4 tweeters), well made interiors and exteriors. Great looking alloys .
So far I have clocked about 800 kms with AC on all the time, the car has given me an avg of about 9 kms/lt but like most ppl say its pointless to track the mileage for the first couple of months or say the first 3k kms.
The car has a host of features on the digital display Im yet to try most of them.
However the Distance to empty and the fuel efficiency display is quiet good.
The boot is quiet lavish with 500 lts.
The seating is quiet good and comfortable
The steering control and suspensions are quiet good.The steering is quiet receptive.
The handlin is quiet impressive.
The suspension handles bumps and pot holes quiet well
The service intervals have a good gap, so I dont really have to care for the maintainence cost for the first 2 yrs.
The warranty is for 4 yrs or 150k kms which is the best in its class.
I like the dimming effect on the lights when you step in or step out of the car.
Coming to a few flaws -
The doors dont close at once, I find them a bit hard and I have to close them hard(which I hate to do on a new car) similar is the case with the dashboard inside.
The car is a little underpowered, you can feel this when you have 5 ppl in the car and you drive on a mumbai roads. And the car in itself is quiet heavy as compared to its peers.
The seating at the back is a bit uncomfortable as the roof actually tapers down, so for anyone who is 6 ft+ cant sit on the back seat very comfortably.
There is slight sluggish sound when you break on low speeds, not sure what it is need to get that checked in the first service.
Spares as mentioned above are 10-15% more expensive than that of the SX4, but are far cheaper than others in this segment.
Last but not the least - Dealer satisfaction - When the car was delivered to me the car had already clocked 115 kms and the dealer told me it was because they had to bring the car from the Dock also the petrol in the car was just not there . fortunately the petrol pump from the showroom was just about 1 Km away . but this in a way reflected very poorly on the customer service aspect of the dealer!
Apart from these tiny tits and bits its a fabulous car to own.
There is one imp piece of advise for anyone who plans to buy a new car.
*Ask the dealer if you could go for insurance on your own and still avail cashless ins.
Trust me you will save over 10k on this as you could get the same insurance from ICICI lombard or Reliance at a much cheaper cost, The dealers have a big margin on the insurance, If you negotiate Im sure you could save a few bucks!
I shall be interested to know if anyone has a Linea petrol and what is the Milegae they get out of their Linea!
