Will You Buy a FIAT if the Mentioned Things are Changed?

[jayadev]

I agree with Ravi here but quality of product in South America is different from the ones we have here.

So, it all boils down to quality of product at a price Fiat is asking for.

there is a saying in our national language hindi, "hathi ke daant dikhane ke alag khaane ke alag. in english it tanslates to " all those glitters is not gold.

I am at 13500km in my punto. still happy and very positive about owning a fiat product .
Whatever fiat provided were more than what i expected becuase, it was all bad reputations and no perfomance as everybody said when I bought it but ownership experience turned to be vice versa.

 

[Tornado]

I will definitely buy if they put the price correctly.IMO their cars are overpriced

As far as Fiat is concerned, I like there cars and would definitely like to own one but after paying 6 or 7 lakhs. What would I be getting ?

a) Interiors are in bad shape or do not justify paying such a huge about of money.
b) After sales support, hmmm I cannot comment much as I have not experienced it but people says it is bad. So word of mouth wins here.
c) No efforts being made my the company as such to sell their cars, literally no efforts. (Again personal opinion)
d) Low ground clearance and higher wheelbase of Punto makes it touch on almostevery hump in the city


So according to me they have to literally stretch their socks and start thinking about it.

Ofcourse, tie up with TATA should be a "TATA" (bye bye)

This is what Ratan Tata has told to Fiat in an interview published in ' Financial Express',' Bussiness Standard' in june 11, that fiat needs to bring new models to keep dealers intrested, fiat needs to reconsider prices of spares components. This was decided at the time of jv agreement.Ratan said that they need to critically examine the jv relationship.

Now , fiat has come with linea with 22 mm higher GC , I will definitely ask my friend to buy one only after knowing the effects of improved GC on handling and ride quality.
If handling and ride quality gets hampered then they need to reduce the prices.

 

[Marun]

I heard fiat bravo CBU was under cards. But not sure how long they'll take.
I feel the fate of fiat is in the diminishing side day by day. New models and healthy dealership pay them way to clear victory.

22mm higher GC is a real good news. how could they achieve it? Any change in the tyre profile?

This is what Ratan Tata has told to Fiat in an interview published in ' Financial Express',' Bussiness Standard' in june 11, that fiat needs to bring new models to keep dealers intrested, fiat needs to reconsider prices of spares components. This was decided at the time of jv agreement.

Now , fiat has come with linea with 22 mm higher GC , I will definitely ask my friend to buy one only after knowing the effects of improved GC on handling and ride quality.
If handling and ride quality gets hampered then they need to reduce the prices.

 

[bharathbigb]

Anything we say, Fiat is Fiat.It's different from everyone.IMHO I feel Punto 90HP Emotion pack is way better than the i20.Actually it is not the car to compare with anyone.She is a league of her own .Fiat needs better A.S.S and Gearbox.They need to have spare parts Ready.Fiat must have more TVC.There are NO ADS about their cars.Better sales men and Introducer.They are pathetic and they don't know anything about the car.Not even what is a T-Jet engine.Punto definitely deserves better sales.Just look at the design of the current Punto !! Beauty !! Thank you

 

[TSIVipul]

Linea needs a higher displacement diesel engine, that's it.

The 1.3(1248 cc to be precise) may produce even 100-110 bhp but what's the use if the turbo lag till exists. Instead its always better to have a higher displacement engine with even less power figures of 90-100 bhp.

 

[acechip]

People are talking as if turbo lag does not exist in any of the other cars. Every car with a turbo will have some turbo lag, those which dont, have problems at the other end of the power range. The 65/86bhp Renault DCI engine runs out of breath in the higher band. Whereas the MJD esp in the 90bhp avatar can still accelerate after 120kph. With regards to the TJet, its altogether on an another planet as compared to other engines in its class.
The only problem is that Fiat is simply not aggressive and "in-your-face" with respect to its market presence. In my nearly 3 years of Linea ownership, I have faced zero reliability issues.
In contrast, I faced more problems with my Dzire and my Santro.
This whole Fiat-skepticism in the Indian buyer is frankly , quite irritating. And whats more annoying is that Fiat is doing very little by themselves to overcome the issue.

 

[Tornado]

@acechip, loved your post.
Just a correction, mjd are yet not fitted on mini SUV (Aerodynamics matters here)
Mjd in sedan is like a love marriage while Mjd in a mini SUV is kind of a arranged marriage.

In case of a hatch back it is like a love at first sight, ask any Punto owner.(former or present)

 

[TSIVipul]

People are talking as if turbo lag does not exist in any of the other cars. Every car with a turbo will have some turbo lag, those which dont, have problems at the other end of the power range. The 65/86bhp Renault DCI engine runs out of breath in the higher band. Whereas the MJD esp in the 90bhp avatar can still accelerate after 120kph. With regards to the TJet, its altogether on an another planet as compared to other engines in its class.
The only problem is that Fiat is simply not aggressive and "in-your-face" with respect to its market presence. In my nearly 3 years of Linea ownership, I have faced zero reliability issues.

1) You need to drive a Rapid/Vento, Duster is also an under engined car in my views. Its still heavy for a 1.5l unit.
2) T-Jet is a turbocharged GDI engine, comparing it with any mpfi won't do justice. Still, the way i-vtec revs is still unmatched and let me tell you - acceleration of City is faster than Linea T-Jet.

I still say, "Higher displacement engine is a must".

Example: Verna with its 1.6l unit produces 120+ bhp while Laura M/T with its 2.0 unit churns out 110 bhp. Drive both and see the difference, at least the way both deliver their power. Laura feels more responsive and more powerful despite being a heavier car as compared to Verna(Look at the power to weight ratio and you will be further astonished).

 

[acechip]

I am willing to bet that TJet will pull hard at the 120kph mark, and continue its pulling well beyond 150kph, a speed at which the Honda City will feel distinctly unsafe . The Linea is way more planted at triple digit speeds.
I agree that there is no replacement for displacement. Hence the Honda Civic or Corolla will still be able to sustain high speed and overtake with their 1.8 litre powerplants. But in the C2 segment, I think the combination of Linea chassis and 1.4 TJet engine is unmatched in the petrol segment. The Vento 1.6 TDI engine is better than MJD, but then the Vento still not as good as Linea in the dynamics department. I wont even bring the "loveboat" Verna in this discussion.

 

[TSIVipul]

I am willing to bet that TJet will pull hard at the 120kph mark, and continue its pulling well beyond 150kph, a speed at which the Honda City will feel distinctly unsafe . The Linea is way more planted at triple digit speeds.
I agree that there is no replacement for displacement. Hence the Honda Civic or Corolla will still be able to sustain high speed and overtake with their 1.8 litre powerplants. But in the C2 segment, I think the combination of Linea chassis and 1.4 TJet engine is unmatched in the petrol segment. The Vento 1.6 TDI engine is better than MJD, but then the Vento still not as good as Linea in the dynamics department. I wont even bring the "loveboat" Verna in this discussion.

And what about the situation where the engine is not powerful enough for one to enjoy the chassis and dynamics? Linea is that case where the underpowered engine takes away all the joy.

 

[acechip]

Please clarify- are you suggesting that the TJet is an "underpowered" engine ??
Or is it the MJD?? Like I said, the MJD is sluggish upto 80kph, but it has plenty of pull in the higher rev bands past those speeds, in fact you dont have to even downshift to accelerate, which you do need to in case of the TJet.
Of course, the VW TDI is more powerful than the MJD, and so is the Hyundai 1.6 CRDI for that matter. The figures tell the story. But if you look at the overall car, then Linea is dynamically more accomplished than the Vento and even more so than the Verna.
And it is pretty feature rich (Emotion version) too, and both the Tjet and MJD are "fill-it-shut-it-forget-it" reliable.
I have faced no issues with Fiat's ASS whatsoever. They are quite flexible and not at all costly.

So honestly, car-to-car, Linea is very much a frontline competitor. Now if only Fiat could improve its own market perception , that would be the icing on the cake.
I am not a Fiat employee btw..

 

[TSIVipul]

Please clarify- are you suggesting that the TJet is an "underpowered" engine ??
Or is it the MJD?? Like I said, the MJD is sluggish upto 80kph, but it has plenty of pull in the higher rev bands past those speeds, in fact you dont have to even downshift to accelerate, which you do need to in case of the TJet.
Of course, the VW TDI is more powerful than the MJD, and so is the Hyundai 1.6 CRDI for that matter. The figures tell the story. But if you look at the overall car, then Linea is dynamically more accomplished than the Vento and even more so than the Verna.
And it is pretty feature rich (Emotion version) too, and both the Tjet and MJD are "fill-it-shut-it-forget-it" reliable.
I have faced no issues with Fiat's ASS whatsoever. They are quite flexible and not at all costly.

So honestly, car-to-car, Linea is very much a frontline competitor. Now if only Fiat could improve its own market perception , that would be the icing on the cake.
I am not a Fiat employee btw..

I am not talking of the acceleration and all, what I am talking is "The MJD is not the engine that the Linea chassis deserves".
Take it to hills and you will understand why I am always shouting about 'higher displacement engines'. You put a turbo, you spool out a lot of power - fine. But still when you need that quick shove of power(to joyfully exit the corner) while you are on the midst of a corner, that is the time where 'displacement' shines. Either you need to keep your engine on boil, which is really very tough task as it needs a whole lot of clutch and gearbox working, or you have an engine big enough to respond when you need it to.
Linea has got dynamics, no doubt but the engine is not the one this chassis deserves. It should have got at least 1500cc unit with at least 100 horses on tap with a twist of at least 23-24 kgm.

 

[atulkumbhar]

I will definitely buy if they put the price correctly.IMO their cars are overpriced

Dear Friend,
Sorry to say but it seems your homework is pending for cost point of view...
Compare the other OEM's and see the list of features FIAT provides is more than what you get with others with a handsome price tag.

 

[acechip]

The ideal C2 segment car- Linea body/chassis, VW diesel engine, Hyundai features and Honda snob appeal (in India). .
But no, I'd still go for the Linea amidst all of this. That thud of the door just makes it feel in a different league..Others feel like tin cans. Honda City, even more so. Even my DZire felt sturdier.

 

[priyadarshi06]

I would suggest the following

1) reduce prices by 50k in comparison to each of the models they are competing with
2) Make engines more powerful
3)Independent service network
4) Give something to buyers which makes it standout from others