Linea My Love

Hmm,this is a Fiat Fan,I became one when I first test drove a Fiat Sienna 11 years back!!.I instantly fell for the brand Fiat ,what a car it was,though I wanted to buy one,I did not do,because we were owning a bigger,better Cielo then and it would be a downgrade :confused1(but the car we purchased next was the worst of all downgrades,a Swift!).Hmm,the Swift we owned was a nightmare,I did not like it for even a minute in the entire ownership of 3.5 years,well,then why did I buy??.I fell for it's look and bought it thinking that it was a sports car! .Well,now I was waiting for FIAT to launch Linea for over a year.I bought all the auto journals for information and all of them were in awe of the car and said that it was to be launched in the middle of 2008.I waited anxiously,but it didn't happen.Then one journal predicted that it would be launched it in september.but,no,it was not to be.Finally,FIAT announced it's launch in the month of December in it's website,but alas,then the Mumbai terror attack happened and the launch was postponed again(so was XYLO's launch for the same reason).Well,I was growing imaptient and was counting down the days of launch.This time FIAT did not mention the date in it's website but I knew that it was 15th of January,the auspicious day in Indian calender.Now I was counting down days again and felt happy just visiting Fiat's website looking at Linea's picture every single day.
Well,finally the big day arrived and the car was launched.The next thing I did was to go to the showroom,with a signed blank cheque ready for booking!.Hmm,this is one customer who bought a LINEA without even a test drive!
...to be continued

A case of love at first sight, indeed. I am very happy to see you and your Fiat Linea here, Bala. Welcome to Team Fiat.

Bala - U r the True Fan..!
Welcome

Thanks Ravi,Punter,Grandeur and Amogh.
Yes,iam a huge FIAT fan but well,did the company lived to the expectations???,mostly yes,though not completely.
That's true Amogh,writting at 1.39 A.M Ihave to be a fan,but what to do,even if I sleep,LINEA comes in my dreams!!.I always think and dream about my car,even to a fanatic extent of saying just the name alone,atleast 10 times a day!!
Well,to continue the ownership story..I was in the showroom with the signed cheque,but did I give it??no.I doubted if the showroom was interested in selliing the car,there was only a lone person assigened to the car,he did see the cheque too,I showed it to him,but he kept qiet,so did I!I was in the showrrom stunned by the beauty,I did not go into the nittygrittys of the car,because am going to buy it anyway,even if it didn't have an engine!
I wrote in their visitor's book to send me an invoice to purchase the car and I called them daily three times,but they did not bother to send an invoice,so I eventually bought the car from another dealer,whom I have never visited till date
On 29th of January 2009,my 3 year old Swift was sold off for half the cost price and a Linea-diesel active variant was booked the next day,with a delivery in 2 weeks promise,but it didn't happen that way.
...to be continued

Bala, nice and interesting start. Keep flowing (ofcourse, with pictures !)

+1 to what all have mentioned.

Keep it coming, Bala.

Thanks Binzi,Amit and Soundar,yup,this is a true Fiater,but,but,.
Well,my Linea was booked on January 30th and why was it an active variant?!,no,not because of the money/cost part,by God's grace.Frankly I've seen only the Emotion pack variant in flesh.To me,with chrome all around,it looked like an ageing Aishwarya rai with an over done make up!to hide her age!Linea without the chrome looks like a Katrina Kaif with a minimal make up!The black grill with chrome outline in an active variant looked better to me like an Audi grill,better than the all chrome grill of other variants.Plus I have a particular dislike towards chrome,reminding me of our old Premier Padmini.Add to it that am not tech savvy at all,am never going to learn blue and me an all the stuff,so why an Emotion variant??.Plus it will always be the driver behind the steering,due to the not so strict Daddy's strict order!(the only son syndrome!).So,when the steering mounted countrols are not going to be used,better to settle for the base variant.Besides in the emotion variant,there was no harmony in colours,take for example the door pad,there were four colours,the black platic,the beige plastic,the beige fabric and a chrome handle,not so soothing to eyes,to me!.Why the active and not the dynamic variant??,well,beige is a strict no,since we have two dogs at home(me not inclusive!),so beige door pads of a dynamic variant can not be maintained.Well,this is the big story of choosing the variant.Colour,it had to be Red,which ever car I purchase,for religous reasons,so no other colour can be considered.
Well,I had booked a Linea,did I ever try other cars,never.I always tell who ever questions my purchase of a FIAT,see,I bought this car because I wanted to buy this car and not because I wanted to buy a car.
But,once I ventured into a Honda showroom for a test drive of an ANHC,but,the moment I sat inside I sprang out of the car and walked out even with out a test drive.Come one,where is the space inside for ten lakh rupees??.It felt so claustrophobic that I wouldn't have bought the car even if it was priced below Linea.I did not even consider a Fiesta or a Verna,I would buy an European car anyday over a South Korean or a Japanese or an American.I was going to buy only a FIAT for which i was waiting for just not one and half year,but since when I first saw a UNO at launch,booked one by the family and which was never delivered,so FIAT it was going to be anyday
..to be continued