Linea Emotion 2012 SBB comes home

[gonugupta]

Today I went to Fiat workshop as ABS warning light kept on glowing and "ABS Un-available" message kept on appearing on MID.
It took almost full day to rectify the issue but finally its solved. They said, it was issue with wiring coupling. I did not bother to go into details as finally its rectified. Just wondering what does FIAT QA do?? How could they miss a glowing warning light while doing their PDI? then it was missed at dealer PDI and yes it was missed by me too (on the delivery day). I was too excited to notice all these things but ideally it should not have come out of Fiat Plant.

Anyways, regarding my driving experience so far:

I have done 300 KM since Thursday morning (06/28). I am getting used to the clutch and accelerator synchronization, the jerkiness is going away slowly.

Ride is amazing as my linea takes bumpy roads with a smile, which in turn puts a smile to my face

Love the steering feel.. amazing!

I was not satisfied with the sound quality but today I made few settings of sound system (after reading manual) and now the output is much better than before.

Tomorrow I will go thru the Blue&Me manual and will pair my phone

Getting used to narrow foot well (after all I am spoilt by Indica Xeta SPACE for 6 years)

AC is quite effective and cools sooner

[gonugupta]

It’s been 10 days journey with my Linea. We have covered more than 800 KM together and hence basic introduction is over and now we are getting to know more each other.

Mileage:

- I am getting 15KMPL with 100% AC on (tank full to tank full) whereas MID shows average fuel consumption of 17+ KMPL. Not sure why this difference?

Driving and overall experience till now:

- I am enjoying and loving it!

- It runs like a dream on Noida expressway!!! I am not pushing it much, took her to a speed of 110. Waiting to get 1000 KM on odo then I will take it beyond 2500 RPM

- Irritating sound coming from parcel tray which I failed to locate!

- I feel steering is lighter at low speeds as compared to Xeta’s steering.

- Auto headlamp feature is quite useful as mine is basement parking and I always switch on the headlights while going out. In Xeta sometimes I used to forget to switch off after coming out of parking but Linea’s auto headlamp feature takes care of this and switches off itself

- Sensibility of auto headlamp’s sensors can be adjusted from 1 to 3 (1 = minimum, 2=medium and 3 = maximum). Higher the sensitivity lower the quantity of external light needed to switch the headlights on. Same case is with rain sensing wipers.

- USB location is very strategically located, whole body needs to be twisted to get it fixed in slot . Even though sound quality has improved after doing certain settings but still not up to the mark. I feel the need to change it, so started saving!

- Greashifts are not as smooth as I wish to.

- Door guards still not available with dealership!!


Few Queries:

- Will gearshift get better (smoother) after few thousand KM’s or after first service??

- While breaking (not always), thad thad sound comes from rear. Is this ABS coming into action or something else that needs attention?

[vikbee]

Congrats bud enjoy!!!

[blackhorn]

Will gearshift get better (smoother) after few thousand KM’s or after first service??

yes it will

While breaking (not always), thad thad sound comes from rear. Is this ABS coming into action or something else that needs attention?

thad thad sound is unusual, when the abs comes in you can feel it in the pedal, and only during very hard braking does it get tranferred to the body, better get it checked, could be a brake shoe, have you secured your stepnee and tools well enough in your boot?

[gonugupta]

better get it checked, could be a brake shoe

Thanks bro!, will get it checked!

have you secured your stepnee and tools well enough in your boot?

yup! cross checked it.

[gonugupta]

Now my Linea is 17 days and 1800 KM old. Yesterday I took her for a drive of 460 KM trip on NH1 (Indirapuram-Ambala-Indirapuram). It gave mileage of 18.5 KMPL

Please note that I am putting down the difference(s) that I am feeling w.r.t my old drive (Indica Xeta):

Ride Quality

No doubt ride quality is much better as I feel less bumpy. There’s a particular stretch which is around 2 KM with quite bumpy right lane. While driving Xeta I used to avoid right lane as I used to feel unsettled in Xeta but in Linea I have no issues and go over them easily. I do feel unsettle on one particular bump but way less than what I used to feel in Xeta.

But while going over few potholes or uneven road surface passengers do get unsettle (less than as compare to Xeta). I expected that Linea would take all potholes without letting passengers know! Was my expectation wrong? Did I expect a lot?

Steering

As I mentioned I earlier post that I am feeling steering is light at city speed limits (40-50 KMPH) as compare to Xeta so getting used to it. But at higher speed (I took it maximum at 140 KMPH) its rock solid and loved it on my highway drive.

Drivability

If gears are shifted at higher RPM (read more than 2K RPM) then it picks up nicely else takes time. I loved the way it picks up with each gear shifted at higher RPM.

Rear moving sideways ??

While going over a pothole or rough surface even at no so high speed (read 60 KMPH or more), rear portion of Linea feels to move sideways. This is scary feeling especially while overtaking on a twisting road. Hope I am able to explain! Lot has been said (positive) about suspensions of Linea so I guess this “sideways” moment should not happen, right? Or suspension has nothing to do with it? If so then who’s the culprit here? Please help!

[Guru]

I expected that Linea would take all potholes without letting passengers know! Was my expectation wrong? Did I expect a lot?

For any car to be able to do that it would need a very soft suspension. Ride quality will improve a lot, but handling will take a toll. What they have tried to do in Linea is achieve a golden mean - get a good ride quality without affecting the handling much.

While going over a pothole or rough surface even at no so high speed (read 60 KMPH or more), rear portion of Linea feels to move sideways. This is scary feeling especially while overtaking on a twisting road. Hope I am able to explain! Lot has been said (positive) about suspensions of Linea so I guess this “sideways” moment should not happen, right? Or suspension has nothing to do with it? If so then who’s the culprit here? Please help!

This is indeed something weird. Does it have something to do with unbalance in tyres? Pease get it checked during the first service. Would be best if you can replicate the issue in front of the service person.

In any case tagging other linea owners for this - Linea-Lover, Italia-Linea, dj.nish, J.Ravi, kvk, bbllaazzee for their inputs on this.

[Linea-Lover]

But while going over few potholes or uneven road surface passengers do get unsettle (less than as compare to Xeta). I expected that Linea would take all potholes without letting passengers know! Was my expectation wrong? Did I expect a lot?

The passengers are getting unsettled due to the suspension setup. Its neither soft nor hard. If taken on a bad patch of road at slow speeds the car does sway from one end to the other.

If gears are shifted at higher RPM (read more than 2K RPM) then it picks up nicely else takes time

This is due to the turbo lag. This will reduce a bit, read not too much, after about 5~7k kms.

While going over a pothole or rough surface even at no so high speed (read 60 KMPH or more), rear portion of Linea feels to move sideways. This is scary feeling especially while overtaking on a twisting road. Hope I am able to explain! Lot has been said (positive) about suspensions of Linea so I guess this “sideways” moment should not happen, right? Or suspension has nothing to do with it? If so then who’s the culprit here? Please help!

Moving sideways is not what should happen. I'd suggest the same as what Guru did. Get the balancing and alignment checked.

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Congrats bro, sorry for late wishes.
Your ride is looking like a king, in this colour.
I also bought my ride from oberoi cars noida sec 1. It was a nice experience.
Have you got seat covers for your ride?
If you are interested i can tell you the address of person who installed seatcovers in my ride.
Pics for reference.



If you go for ass in oberoi cars. Do get in touch with Mr. Gopalan GM service Deptt. Takes a lot of interest resolving issues with fiat owners. Very humble and nice person.
Or if you go to the Him Motors Patparganj go and meet Mr. Soni. His priority is to make the customer satisfied.

Best of luck.
Drive Safe.

[J.Ravi]

While going over a pothole or rough surface even at no so high speed (read 60 KMPH or more), rear portion of Linea feels to move sideways.

In any case tagging other linea owners for this - Linea-Lover, Italia-Linea, dj.nish, J.Ravi, kvk, bbllaazzee for their inputs on this.

I haven't experienced this in my Linea so far.