Fiat Linea Royale - My Italian Stallion!!

[akmalazim]

Somewhere in the middle of June , 2016.

The Ikon was ageing gracefully… With 3K kms short of 30K kms in it’s 8 year stint with us. A replacement was not considered till the roof dome lamp’s plastic disintegrated and fell on its own.

In addition to that the diverter valve conked off making the Ikon’s cabin a oven on wheels in our scorching Sun. A new one would cost 8k, to cut expenses I had asked the FASS to bypass it completely as extreme winters are a myth in my region.

All was well for 2 months, Ikon never failed to put a wide grin in my face as I threw her at the corners. And again, the aircon stops working throwing hot air!
Dad lost his patience and went to Fass the next day to mend it . Surprisingly FASS had the part in stock (never in my 8years of service they had the ikon’s spares in stock, we had pre ordered them a week ahead of the service.) .
The need of a new car never came into picture until this.

WHICH CAR?

A ford customer since 8 years, great service experience with Madurai FASS every 6 months meant that the next car had to be a Ford!
I had no idea about dad’s budget nor what car was in his mind, since he wasn’t going to drift away from ford , I was at peace.
His pick was the ford Ecosport.

It ticked all the checkboxes except the rear bench. I had been on a Ecosport (never driven one) but I had my doubts about accommodating a 5th member in the rear bench .

THE REAR BENCH TEST

My doubts proved to be true when dad, me and mom tried to squeeze ourselves in at the rear seat of the ES.

ES was an immediate thumbs down from mom and me and eventually dad agreed ( he was sad though) . Our eyes drifted towards the Figo aspire that was parked next to the ES in the auto expo at Chennai trade centre.
And again, the aspire was put to test. We 3 fitted in snuggly. (claps)

Budget: check

Features: double check

Build quality: thumbs down

This was a major setback for me. The Aston martin looks had grown onto me, but when it came to safety ; it didn’t matter how your car looks
I was waiting for the ncap results to convince myself to go for the Aspire (petrol). In the mean time I managed to push my dad for a TD at Madurai ford.

He liked the car and he didn’t say anything against it. But then the devil in me made me to TD aspire at Chennai on the same date.

THE TEST DRIVE

After the exchange of formalities, I told the SA that I’m here only for a TD and can’t buy the car from him. His face changed at that but still he gave me the TD.

Initial impressions

The ergonomics were nothing to complain about
Cranked her up; started without a fuss into a silent whimper. slotted the gear and set her in motion.

The petrol mil was an average one as per many reviews, I was Ok with that, but during the entire TD it didn’t feel that I was driving a ford.

There were rattling noises here n there in car that had done less that 5k kms.
The EPS steering did offer feedback much better than the rest, but it was nowhere close to what the Ikon had offered me.

After the TD, I quietly got down from the car; thanked the driver and left without taking even a glance back at her.

Heart told me that this is not it! this is not a car that would replace Ikon in my stable.


So what’s next? stay tuned

Memories.....

 

[akmalazim]

So what’s next?

Since I wasn’t convinced with the Aspire, the search continued. But dad was keen on going for one .
Days passed on and I was still in a dilemma .

I was still trying to come up with extra reasons to convince dad to opt out from Aspire . With these thoughts in mind , I slowly coasted in 2 gear in my nano in my office parking ; trying to locate a spot to park her.
Then I found a spot next to a stunning red FIAT PUNTO EVO .
It was love at first sight. The Reindeer headlamps the no nonsense side profile was the real deal.
The rest of day was spent in going though various forums n threads about punto .
99% of the ownership threads I bumped into where some kind of poetry about that car.
The kind of bond it shared with its owners was beyond my understanding.


I LET THE CAR OUT OF THE BAG

The very evening I told dad about Punto .

Dad ( d) : what make is it ?

Me ( m) : It’s a Fiat.

D: what a fiat ? I have never seen more than one fiat in our town .

M: yeah I know they are scarce , you know about the herd mentality of our population. But I have to TD it before I zero it down.

D: is it a sedan ?

M: No dad , it’s a hatch. The one with airbags costs a lakh over the Aspire , but I’m sure that we can cut some good discounts and it’s a diesel .

D: What it’s a hatch ? I’m no way going for a hatch after using a sedan and more ever, it’s a diesel . our usage doesn’t need a diesel.

M: Let me first take a TD n then we shall see .
Saying so , I hung up .

Well whatever he tells makes sense . Ikon managed to clock less than 30k kms in 8 years . why on Earth would we need a diesel.

For unknown reasons the TD plan kept postponing ..

Some Sunday in September, 2016.

A month had passed since I said no to the Aspire and 2 weeks since I had brought Punto into the picture, but still the test drive of Punto hadn’t materialized . But that day , I made up my mind to get my hands on her no matter what .

In these two weeks I had got in touch with one of our TAI members Bharath , who had given me a brief idea about the Punto. Thanks to him, I had a sound knowledge of what’s best in the car n what not .
Despite my schedule I pulled myself to Ramkay fiat , Velacherry.

While i waited for the sales adviser; The Punto pulled me towards her and I didn’t wait for the sales executive to show up.
As I was exploring her on my own, the SA ( Rajesh) came up and introduced himself.
I told him about the purpose of my visit and added a side note that if good discounts where thrown in, I would pick it up from you.

He took time to explain me some of the Ups of fiat over its competition and I didn’t hurry him at all ,
One of the common things that many had cribbed about a fiat was ergonomics. But I didn’t find it as a deal breaker. (slow claps) .

10 mins later we were at the ground floor to TD the multijet Punto. It was the 75 hp one . Sadly the 90hp one had gone out.

Very well, I’ll have to suffice with what I have at hand.
‘THUD’ the door closed gracefully as I pulled towards me. The solid feel of a well-built car was there. Something that the Aspire lacked.
With a twist of the bulky key, she came into life.
This was the first time I was driving a diesel car and was not quite sure of what to expect. Depressed the clutch, was and is still one of the softest in my experience. But the long travel of the clutch was a let off and that’s something we must get used to in case we buy the Punto.

Slotted the 1st gear and the gearshift was quite lifeless thanks to the rubbery feel in all the fiats these days. But every time the gear slotted in the right cog despite the lifeless feel. As I slowly let go of the clutch the evidence of higher torque in a diesel motor became evident.

She rolled slowly without the need for any accelerator input, from the parking to the bumper to bumper traffic of Velachery traffic.
It took a good 20 mins for me to come out of the snail pace traffic onto the open road. The hydraulic feeling gave me nostalgic feeling as I took a U turn on to the opposite lane; at the same time reminded me that the turning radius is huge.
As the opposite lane was not that congested, I slowly worked my way up to the 4th gear. The famous turbo lag of the Multijet was evident as I had to keep the engine on the boil.

Post the 2000rpm mark it was a hoot to drive. Took on potholes like it was nobody’s business at good speeds. But at lower speeds the potholes were felt inside the cabin. This can be attributed to the suspension setup. But hey I’m not complaining. I haven’t driven any hatch that this composed at high speeds. Most of the bestselling competition would bobble up and down like a jelly.

Managed to find a empty corner devoid of any traffic and pedestrians. After making sure that there was no harm, I floored her and took a sharp corner without touching the break.

It was the moment that I realized what the other Punto owners went gaga about it was true to every bit.

It held on to the line that I chalked out in my mind. The car turned exactly where I pointed her to and the stability during the corner was just like a dream.
This was more than enough to convince me that this is a car worthy of replacing the Ikon with.