Review of Fiat Linea 1.4 turbo petrol

Fiat stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. This Italian firm was founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli. It is tinsel town’s largest car maker and having many brands within its umbrella like Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Vespa, Piaggio and so on. Fiat’s brand spread across the world and they want a chunk of the pie from the third world market. They started their Indian operations partnering Premier and giving Indians the Premier Padmini, Fiat UNO, Sienna, Palio and their estate versions. However poor image, lack of impressive after sales service, availability of spare parts and reliability factor marred Fiat’s sales quotient. Fiat did a rethink and invested 300 million into the Indian market and plus had a tie-up with Tata to take care of its sales and after service. They redid the Palio and then introduced the stonker Linea.

The Linea is a good all round car but always lacked a bit of power from its puny 1.3 diesel and 1.4 petrol, both developing around 90 bhp.Fiat understood this and taking into heed customers feedback, introduced a new engine for the petrol Linea. We give you a complete review of the same.

Looks

The Fiat Linea is designed by Italdesign and so looks isn’t a problem for this big saloon. Its Aston Martin reminiscent head lamps as well as the Puntoish look from its own stable, gives it a really big car feel. Its grill is split by the bumper acctenuates otherwise, it would have looked very much like an Audi. The Fiat’s logo sits proudly atop the upper grill. The head lamps have multi reflectors added to them and this makes night driving less of a chore. The air dams are subtle but house one of the best fog lamps and the chrome inserts around the fog lamp slot as well as chrome lining above it lend it an air of Italy. The whole grill is also outlined by chrome. Italy is famous for curves and the Linea is as curvier as it gets.

The rear view mirrors are petal shaped and look small and they are similarly placed like the previous generation Honda City, very easy for careless bike riders to break it. However electric assistance from inside takes care of this. The door handles are all in chrome on the higher versions like the Emotion and Emotion plus. There is also a chrome strip running from wheel to wheel.

The rear now sports 3 reflectors for the improved T-Jet model. The boot is also curvy enough. Two chrome strips line the rear bumper. The boot loading lip is a bit on the higher side.

The changes on the exterior also include chunkier 205/55 R 16 than the earlier 195/65 R 15. The ten spoke alloy wheel design also is a new feature. It does well to cover the flaring wheel arches.

Interiors

We have always maintained that the exteriors of a car would grow on you but it’s the interiors that matter more since you would be spending more time inside rather than ogle at the Italian design from outside. The refreshed Linea holds good in this context as well. Its two tone interiors welcome you and once you close the door with a resounding thud, you are enveloped in a luxury cottage. The instrument panel is one level above the competition, housing two circular analog dials and surrounded by a race car like tell tale warning lights. There is also a multi information display which separates those dials. All the plastics seem at par with the competition though a few seem iffy like the door map pockets don’t seem well finished.

The 3 spoke leather wrapped steering wheel is a delight to hold as its sides are contoured for the perfect grip. The integrated audio as well as climate control system works well. The Linea even features a rear AC vent, a rarity in this segment. The climate control system has been up-rated from the previous one and gives even better cooling now. The seats are also made of pleasing looking, but a chore to clean, seat covers. Cubby holes are aplenty in this cabin however we would have liked 1-2 more cup holders. The steering wheel has Audio and Blue & Me functions integrated on it. Blue&Me is a software essentially developed by Microsoft and Fiat for use in the Fiat range of cars. It lets the Bluetooth enabled phone to be paired with the car’s system and then on, the car can read your music, text messages and make or answer calls. Though this system is useful, it is a bit difficult to understand. Also, the voice commands aren’t sometimes interpreted by the system as it is not perfectly “Indianized”.

The boot space is also a commendable 500 liters however the suspension mounts do intrude and may cause loading a chore.

The only thing missing was a sun roof however most buyers wouldn’t even want it given Indian climate unpredictability.

Handling and ride quality

The fatter rubber on those 16 inchers have made the handling of the car even more rewarding. The steering wheel is also light in city use but weighs up nicely when you move on to the highways. However once you cross the 120 kmph mark, the Fiat feels a bit twitchy but nothing to be alarmed of. Fiat still persists with the Good year GT3 tyres for the new T-jet but they are of a higher profile now.

The ride is Honda City rivaling however low speed ride was a bit jiggly and the big Fiat would smother pot holes and road imperfections with aplomb once it gathered some steam. A notable feature is that while the Honda doesn’t perfectly isolate one from road noise, the Fiat does so. It has high sound deadening material lined out along the bonnet as well as the inside of the car. It is perfect for the chauffer driven however the problem lies therein that most people in this class wouldn’t be chauffer driven in a Linea if they are 6’ft and above.

The Linea has good space ahead however seating one 6 footer behind another would make you rub your knees on the front seats. Sitting three abreast isn’t a big problem as the Linea is a wide car however the sloping roof line may ruffle with your hair style.

Engine,Performance and fuel efficiency

Herein lies the biggest change and most needed change of them all. The Linea petrol never set the sales chart on fire and was always a shadow of its smaller diesel powered brother, primarily due to its low power and so called low fuel efficiency. That is all set to change with the inception of this engine into the range.

It is basically the same engine however a turbo charger has been added to it now. This is the first turbo petrol in its class. The engine now generates 114 ps of power and 207 Nm of torque from as low as 2,200 rpm. The torque has been boosted to 21.2 kgm giving the Linea scorching times of 11.1 seconds for the dash from 0-100 kmph. This car would definitely give the 1.5 liter i-vtec motor of the Honda City a tough fight.

All the poke lower down gives it good launch from start and it is also very drivable in the city as well as for overtaking on the highways. The car never feels bogged down in city in as low as 20kmph in 3rd gear nor feels out of breath on a two lane road. The engine like the Honda’s loves to be red-lined and also isolate the occupants from what’s going on outside.

Braking is now handled by Discs all round{a segment first} and assisting it is ABS followed by EBD. These all work in tandem to bring the Linea to halt safely. The safety feature is handled by 4 airbags, active whip lash head restraints and 3 point SRS seat belts for all the 5 occupants.

All this performance thankfully doesn’t come at the expense of fuel efficiency with the Linea returning 14.6 kmpl in the city a high 21.3 kmpl on the highway. This is an improvement from the old Linea petrol.

The only sore thumb in this excellent package is the 5 speed manual transmission. It is notchy and sometimes fails to get along with the engine combination. Its ratios are nicely spaced out though.

Verdict

The Linea has resurrected Fiat’s hopes of a revival in India. It has gone the right way with the Indian audience and they have lapped the Linea like anything, so much that Honda’s top boffins have started having receding hairlines. Fiat has been having tremendous success with the 1.3 liter multi jet engine but others have made a much better use of it than Fiat. They have won may awards world over for this engine and now it would be the turn of the 1.4 liter petrol. It has many goodies associated with it and this coming festival season should signal the start of one more long innings from the Fiat stable.

The Linea T-jet range is priced from 8.84 lacs to 9.29 lacs ex-showroom, Mumbai.