My first 1000kms in Linea Emotion PK

I bought a Silver Linea 1.3 MJD Emotion PK on 22.10.2010 and sharing my experience of the first 1000 kms (yes, 1180 kms in 10 days and that too in town, not even a single km driven out of city or highway). After fidling with the hight adjuster and other adjustments for a couple of days I was able to find the perfect driving position and now the ergonomics are spot on. I migrated from an Sx4 and for a couple of days I could not get the perfect accelarator modulation since the characteristic of a diesel is so different from a petrol car. After revving hard initially (not much because I was also cautious for the engine to set in) I found that the best way to drive the Linea is to built-up speeds in a slow pace rather than trying to push it hard. The strongest part of the accelaration or gathering pace in a brisk manner happens in the 3rd and 4th gear between 1500 to 2500 rpm. This is the best way to drive the Linea in town/city. Day before yesterday early morning when the roads were free I hit 80km/h (yes that is the highest speed I have hit so far because 100% of my driving happened in dense traffic conditions only) and the engine was relaxed at 1800 rpm. The average I have got so far is 13km/l with 100% A/C and 100% in town driving and that too the engine has not yet set in, so I'm expecting this to improve dramatically in future. I'm going on a trip in a couple of days and should know how Linea rides in highways. Speaking of ride quality, Linea is in a different league from Sx4, City, or Fiesta (All of which I have driven a lot in the past) and this is the best car to drive in pothole ridden roads in India. In fact, I find the drive quality equal to if not better than Altis and definitely better than Civic and Cruze. Comparing the features and equipments list, wheel base and spaciousness, and looks I think Linea makes a better buy than the Altis which is 6 lakhs more when comparing the highest variants. The excitement of using the voice controls of Blue & me (definetely to the awe of the friends travelling with you), getting different information like average mileage, range, etc. and the excitement of being able to do some settings other than the audio controls fulfills your manly thing for all things electronic and also gives the impression of owining a car from several classes higher. Overall, my first 1000 kms in the Linea has been a rewarding one and hopefully it will also not disappoint me in the highway driving in my up coming trip. Once all this hype of the new car and also the excitement of all the electronics is over after a couple of months or few thousand kilometers of driving then only the bad things about the Linea will come to surface but I'm sure that this car will not disappoint me in a big way. Long live Fiat. : :wow

 

chakrarv,

Vanakam, welcome to TFI. Good review of your Linea 1000 kms driving. My Linea has crossed 18600 kms. Have a safe & enjoyable driving.

 

congrats chakra ..on taking home the beauty.atlast few people r joining TFI from coimbatore..

 

Congrats,vanakkam and welcome to TFI
The pick up,driveability,NVH will improve drastically after 1st service and will get better as it gets old,so you should wait!
You can be 100% optimistic with linea,she will never let you down,neither will FIAT.
Have you painted the grill black??

 

Warm welcome to you and your Linea, chakrarv. Congratulations, best wishes and happy & safe driving in your Linea.

 

warm welcome to TFi.

 

Welcome to TFi chakrarv!
I just finished 1000Km on my MJD today. It took me 22 days for it. So far my average is 14.9kmpl.
I'm sure your mileage will increase in time.

 

No I have not painted the grill black, it looks like that in the picture because of the shadow, the highlight of the grill is the silver color, will never change it. Just came back from a 600km long drive. I drove the car at a very sedate pace (the maximum I did was 100 km/h) and it returned a mileage of 19.85 km/l GREAT... GREAT... and that too in one stretch where I was driving at 80 km/h constant for about 40 kms I got a mileage of 22.8 km/l (as noted on the Average consumption display), GREAT....GREAT.... I do not know what will be the mileage when the run in is over and first service is over. But I have had my BAD also already, when the car was parked some dumb ass reversed her Maruthi 800 and scrapped the front LHS door beeding, thank god no scratch or dent only the beeding came off and will have to fix it first thing Monday morning. The other thing was the AC suddenly stopped working when returning from the trip, hopefully nothing serious, most probably a blown fuse. Anyhow, I'm very happy with the mileage and the strong mid range performance of Linea even before the run in is over, so I will overlook the AC thing and continue enjoying the car....

 

Will see you at TAFE on Monday morning. My Linea is BN White colour. I fixed an appointment with Yogesh.