Fiat Linea-Car of the Year 2008

Fiat India hasn't had exactly smooth sailing on Indian soil.Over the years, Fiat has been known in India for those black and yellow taxies that are actually products of Premier Auto Company in collaboration with Fiat.Now here's a fact that few people in India know except for car enthusiasts.FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino) is an Italian based car manufacturer and owns marque brands like Ferrari & Maserati! In the recent past, Fiat had launched the Fiat 500 in India with an exhorbitant price tag of Rs.15lacs(thanks to the 110% duty it attracted as it was imported as a CBU).Fiat knew it would not sell the 500 in great numbers but it had taken such a move to make people realise that it is a premium brand.

Now all Fiat needed was a killer product to rejuvinate it and bring the brand back to prominence in India. And that is what it did.Fiat is back with a bang with the stunning new Fiat Linea! The Linea is a sexy Italian car with drop-dead gorgeous looks. The front grill seems to be inspired by Maserati while the rear is typical of any European car. The length of the car at 4.56m is also the longest in it's segment.So this makes the car bigger and spacious than it's rivals.The A and C pillars are perfectly designed to give great visibility through corners.The parabolic front lamps exude beauty by itself while the rear tail-lamps have exquisite detailing.

Open the Linea's doors and you know this car belongs to a class above.The airy cabin has a generous amount of space and the design is modern with some retro touches like the instrument cluster.There's a lot in the cabin that makes you go 'wow', like the beautifully crafted multi-function steering wheel, superbly built central console and the two- twone dash with a chrome slash running through it.The most intersting part of the Linea and the first in it's segment is Fiat's Blue&Me system that's made in collaboration with Microsoft.It works through an interface in the instrument cluster and is integrated with the on-board speakers.With this you can make calls via bluetooth hassle free.The system will even read out your SMSs! All controls being on the steering wheel, you don't even need to take your hands off the wheel.Other features include a Blaupunkt audio system that's Ipod compatible.There are 4 speakers and 2 tweeters on board.Plastic bits are generally good save a few like the rear cup-holders.As far as cabin space is concerned there is ample legroom in the front with good lumbar support.The rear is not the most spacious in the class but is adequate.The rear hedroom might be bit of a concern for people more than 6ft thanks to the sloping roof.

Coming to the engine and specs, the Linea comes in petrol as well as diesel variant.The petrol being powered by a 1.4L, 4 cylinder engine that churns out 90ps of power and gives max torque of 115Nm at 4500rpm.The diesel is a 1.3L engine that churns our 86PS of power and max torque of 203Nm at 2500rpm.Remember that this is the same Multijet engine that powers the Palio, Swift and the new Indica vista.Now these figures might sound less on paper but on road the car feels better.Although i do feel the car is a bit underpowered for that size but it does the job quite well.

I test drove the petrol variant at the Concorde(Prabhadevi) showroom in Mumbai.Here's a short review:

EXTERIORS
Beautiful and truly admirable.When i was driving,the car managed to turn many heads.The rear view mirrors were beautifully crafted.The exquisite detailing in the rear lamps looked gorgeous.The boot was huge but the opening a bit smaller than City.

       

   Gorgeous! Isn't she?

INTERIORS
My bro is 6ft2 and when he pulled the driver seat back as to adjust himself, i somehow felt uncomfortable cuz the legroom wasn't enough.Then due to short headroom at the extreme right and left ends of the car, the roof was touching my head.If you're sitting in the center, it's absolutely fine and there's enough headroom. The driving position wasn't difficult to find, i could find myself in a comfortable position in few seconds.Quality of materials in the Emotion variant was pretty good but not in the Dynamic variant where the center console looked very dull.Door handles inside looked great with a nice silver finish.

  

The retro style dials & Ergonomic interiors

DRIVE

Once inside and all windows up, i could barely hear any noise nor did i sense a single vibration.It was so silent that you'd be thinking if the engine is still on! The initial pick up was smooth but i could sense some turbo lag.The clutch was soft and gears shifted seamlessly.The dead pedal beside the clutch was obstructing sometimes.Engine noise only increases when you cross the 4000rpm mark but by that time i engaged into the next gear.The brakes were pretty good and brought the car to a halt in very few time.
AC was pretty effective in the rear although i was driving the dynamic variant which didn't have either climate control nor rear AC vents.Another interesting feature was that the doors get automatically locked once you cross 20kph.That's a cool safety feature.By the way, other safety features include ABS with EBD, dual airbags, fire prevention system, anti-theft engine immobilizer, programmable speed limit indicator and follow me home headlights.This makes Linea one of the most safest vehicles on road.

OVERALL RATING
I would give the Linea 8.5/10.-1 for the low engine power and -0.5 for less interior space.It is surely worth all the money you spend.So the Linea is definetely gonna be the benchmark for the C/C+ segment.And with it's shocking price tag ranging from 6.2 lacs to 7.2lacs for the Petrol variant while the diesel going upto Rs.8.2lacs, this car is surely the Car of the Year 2008 and is true value for money. It has given the newly launched Honda City a run for it's money.

I have decided that the Linea is gonna be our next car.It's only a bit of convincing required for dad who is among the ones who thinks that Fiat's image is not very good in India and the Sales,Service & spares might be a problem. I'm probably going to book the emotion pack.Yet to decide on petrol or diesel cuz i haven't driven the diesel yet.By the way, let me tell you that Tata motors is going to handle the ASS for Fiat now onwards.So i don't think it should be a problem.

The "Ultra-Luxury" Cars

The other day i read that Daimler CEO Dr.Dieter Zetsche is contemplating shutting down Maybach.And that makes me sad.Not that i care too much about Maybach.Don't like it at all,in fact.But the reason it makes me sad is because the epitome of luxury cars, Mercedes, seems to have failed in the ultra-luxury market.Before i say anything further let me tell you something about Maybach.The brand is owned by Daimler AG.It currently has 5 models in line-up:Maybach 57,62,57S,62S and the recently introduced 62 Landaulet.Mayback had also showcased a prototype model called the Exelero which is apparently an 8-Million dollar car at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor show.You can read more about each model here. 

Like with all things, people have strong preferences when it comes to cars too. And even stronger ones when you talk of luxury cars.For example, I've always liked the BMW 7-series and the new Merc S-class.But the S-class has always been the world's ultimate luxury car.BMW and Audi have never quite been able to dethrone the S-class from it's pedestal with either the 7-series or the A8.And they probably never will.That's no small achievement for Mercedes, staying top dawg against such fierce competition.

Then why couldn't Merceded crack the ultra-luxury market? Why did they manage to sell only around 150 vehicles in 2007, a number nowhere close to Merc's projected annual sales of 1000 for Maybach?

Both the Rolls-Royce and the Maybach have pedigree, even though the latter was introduced after a hiatus of 70 years RR spent catering to every monarch, dictator, and the Maharajas of India.And a continuous production run was the only advantage RR had over Maybach.In fact, the Maybach launch preceded with much hype, with everybody(rich) receiving e-mails about the Maybach's features- it's panoramic roof, fully reclining seats and chilled champagne-glass holders.On the other hand, the Phantom's most talked about feature was the umbrella in it's door.

Seriously though, both cars are very big, very powerful, have more features than a luxury house, and cost just as much.How then the RR Phantom manage to sell almost nine times more than Maybach? The simple one-word answer to that question is... design.

No, I'm not suggesting that the Phantom is better looking than the Maybach.They both look equally ostentatious. But you see, it's not about what they look like. Its about what they don't look like.The Phantom doesn't look like a 7-series.So it scores. A Maybach on the other hand looks like a glorified current generation S-class, inside and outside.So it loses.It's that simple.Design screwed the Maybach over! As you can see in the pictures the rear of the Maybach(left) is very much similar to that of the S-class(below).

Honda is facing a similar problem in the luxury segment with the Acura. Everyone knows that Acuras look like glorified Hondas.But Honda is working hard to define a new design for the Acura.One that will be significantly divorced from the conventional Honda designs.And that's a good move.

Now, here's a happy example.Remember VW's luxury sedan, the Phaeton? For all it's brilliant technology, W12 engine and rave reviews in the press, it sold nowhere close to it's competition,Why? Because none wanted to spend US$70,000,i.e,Rs.70 lacs in India(including duties) on a luxury car made by a perceived mass-market brand like VW.SO what did VW do? They used the same engine and mechanicals, used a different design, slapped on a different badge and decided to sell the car in three different body-styles that ranged between US$170,000(Rs.1.9cr) and US$200,000(Rs.2.24cr). Ambitious?Stupid? Not really. VW sells more than 10,000 caars a year between these three bodystyles, buyres can't get enough of them, and there are long waiting lists for these cars.They are called the Bentley Continental GT, Bentley Continental GTC and the Continental Flying Spur.

And here's the final, and perhaps the best example of how much design matters.The Cadillac Escallade, when introduced in the late 90s failed miserably. Why? Because it was based on really ugly looking GM SUV, the Yukon Denali.As you may have guessed, it didn't work. Then came the new Cadillac Escalade, with new edgy styling that Cadillac called 'Art and Science'.That changed it all.The car went from being a model bought by old rich guys to one that every rapper, sports star and movie star had in his garage.The Escalade became the king of bling.It was in every rap video and even shared screen space with Keanu Reaves and a Ducati 998 in The Matrix.

So, Dr.Zetsche, before pulling the plug on Maybach, may i suggest you pull the plug on the bloated S-class design and try something new? Sure, the design could fail too, but atleast it will have a chance to succeed.Something the current design never did.