ilango[speed thirst];39713 said:
Thanks, ilango[speed thirst]. Yeah, I agree with this statement of yours.
FE of 1.4 FIRE is really impressive!
Yup. I agree.
Beautiful is only what I can say about Linea. J.Ravi, How your experience has been with Fiat India, yet?
Wow... She is really beautiful.
Share us your experiences about your visits to your service centre also.
Thanks, 350Z & blackbeauty. You asked for it and you are getting it now.
I had a very bad experience during my first test-drive of Fiat Linea at Concorde Motors [India] Ltd., Mysore Road, on 29.8.2009. I wanted to test-drive 1.4 petrol version, which they did not have. They had 1.3 MJD diesel test drive demo-car only. Even then, I accepted it. Before test-drive, the sales executive [a nice gentleman, I must acknowledge] explained to me the salient features of Emotion Pk variant show-room car When I asked about the folding of ORVM in the opposite direction [towards the fender], he blinked. After my demonstration, they were taken aback about this feature. He said, he did not know about this earlier!
Then, we went for test-drive. The sales executive deputed his colleague to accompany me during test-drive as the former was busy with some other customer [multi-tasking!]. During the test-drive, the sales guy commented: "What sir, you made a wrong decision [of buying Maruti Suzuki Versa]", commenting on my present Maruti Suzuki Versa. I replied that from the past 5.5 years, it was serving me faithfully without any worries. Now, Fiat Linea has attracted me, that was why we were thinking of replacement to Maruti Suzuki Versa.
Here begins my horror story! After driving for a few km, My Car display unit displayed 'Low Fuel'. I pointed out this to the sales guy. That person laughed and replied carelessly that I need not worry. After sometime, at a busy pedestrian crossing near Kengeri Bus Station, the vehicle came to a grinding halt with engine switched off. Many attempts to start the vehicle became futile. Then only, it dawned on me and the sales guy that there was not even a drop of diesel left in the vehicle! He started requesting me to bring the vehicle to the left side of the road, as I was on the right side lane of busy Bangalore-Mysore State Highway. With great difficulty I brought the vehicle to the left side of the road, as it was sloping and halted using hand-brake. When we got down from the vehicle, we noticed that fuel was leaking from the engine bay. Now, it was my turn to taunt the sales guy: "My Maruti Suzuki Versa has never stalled in the middle of the road in the last 5.5 years!". The sales guy was profusely pleading sorry. After more than half hour, another demo-car Punto came and took us back to the show-room.
When Concorde Motors have not bothered to keep the test-drive vehicle in good condition, how they will provide good service for customers' vehicles, is a million dollar question. I found the sales executives unprofessional. A great product Fiat Linea has to suffer in the hands of inexperienced and unprofessional service staff of Concorde Motors. However, I had two more excellent test-drives on 1.4 petrol version, from another dealer Prerana Motors Pvt. Ltd. and Concorde Motors, Dairy Circle. I decided in favour of Fiat Linea after test-driving Maruti Suzuki SX4 [twice] and Honda City [once].
More in my subsequent posts.
Thanks, RSM, for compliments.