You might ask me why this review is coming up so late! That’s because I admire and appreciate the company behind the product. And I believe that I must be ethical to them. So one day after the FIAT LINEA was launched by FIAT INDIA for the country, here I am writing a full detailed test drive report with pictures to make your decisions easier. Thanks to Prerana for providing me with a test drive car. The Prerana motors showroom was well decked up with shining red Fiat logos and was well prepared. for welcoming the Linea into the country!

Without much of beating around the bush, let me go straight onto the review of the car. Me and my friend Kiran wanted to check out the LINEA (since we heard its already in the showrooms of TATA) on a Saturday evening. Since my son too was looking for an outing with his parents, it was decided that we take him to see the LINEA as well. One thing that strikes me about FIAT is its simplicity. They have never made a fuss about their cars, they always have told customers about the car even before its launch date and have never kept things under wraps for long. As usual, FIAT’s LINEA launch was nothing short of spectacular with dazzling fashion shows and beautiful females, just as in the case of the FIAT 500 launch.

When we reached the showroom, the white/silver LINEA caught my attention. It was neatly displayed in the showroom. Its presence was so enthralling to me. It occupied the showroom like a gigantic being in itself and was all over the place. In the melee I forgot to see a red Linea parked outside! Since there was someone else admiring the car, we decided to see if a test drive was possible and sure to our surprise, they did say they could offer us a drive. So before I really write about the drive, let me first talk about the car. I own a swift VDI hatchback which also sports the FIAT multijet engine, which is the same with Linea with a few subtle differences. This lies in a tune up to 90bhp and variable geometry turbo or VGT feature. The comparision ends there.

Looks

This car is a stunner in whichever way you look at it. Agreed some say that the front portion looks too bulky and short, but its seriously does not malign the overall look of the car. The side profile is impressive by all standards and it feels like you are looking at a skoda octi in a way. The rear has got one of the most beautiful studded red lamps, which gel well with the overall body of the car. The boot is not too hunched up, but just in right proportion. No ugly pillars as well. So all in all a great looking car from the exterior. I did not get to check the headlamps since it was still sunny outside. But the jeweled headlamp cluster itself looks shiny and brilliant. Italian design always is considered top notch and the Linea like the Palio keeps up that promise.

Interiors

Its been an endeavour of mine to anticipate and judge the quality of interiors in cars in India. Toyota and Honda set benchmarks for this, and in the smaller car segment, nothing to beat Hyundai. In this context lets see where FIAT’s interiors fit in. Frankly the Palio’s interiors were not something to write home about. But the Linea – hold on – is way off that mark, with pleasing interiors, dashboard design, ergonomics and comfort in that order. Want more facts? Why not?

The dashboard is symmetrical, grey and silver finishings with soothing orange backlighting to set the mood for driving. The buttons, sliders and dials, offer a plush feel found only in high end luxury cars. Mind you even Honda does not fit in to the quality offered by FIAT. The best things about the buttons is the fact that they are so neatly fit into the slots meant for them and still make the dashboard seem like one flat piece where you could rest your hands on. The writing on the buttons are informative to the last level (for eg, power window buttons even show how to open the window, ie., which direction to push the button to open the window). The pad for moving the side view mirrors electically left, right top or bottom is very nicely placed and is not like the ugly joystick offered by Sx4. The dials themselves are small and nice to hold and is not about the ugly aspect of putting up chrome everywhere like in the Sx4. The door levers are much like the Fiesta’s but I personally wished they were more usable or atleast feel durable than breakable in future.

Having said this much there are a few other things inside which is worth mentioning about. There are separate lamps for both rear and front and they look solid and well built into the roof. The driver and rear passengers both have an armrest each which is thoughtful. Also, the speaker enclosure is of high quality and feels upmarket. The car I drove came with four speakers and two tweeters but was sounding quite good considering that it was a fitment straight out of the factory. I thought it also had USB/AUX support. There is also an A/C vent towards the rear which is again thoughtful and provides good cooling. FIAT’s consistency was always with the AC which chilled people within seconds (not even minutes). By adding a climatic control one can set precise temperature inside this car which makes the cooling just right and not unbearable. The headroom in this car was more than sufficient to accomodate tall people both in rear and front. No complaints here. Also one another thing I really loved in this car was the simplicity of the dials. They looked so (Oh!) retro and gave me an ambassador feeling when I first saw them. But dont be fooled by these looks. The digital display on the dash shows you really interesting information on fuel left, distance you can travel, etc. The boot is huge and you can hide two kids in it! Jokes apart, its really sufficient to carry your luggage whereever you wanna go.

The steering itself is meaty and chunky even without a leather wrap and this has again been a strong point of all FIATs until now. It gives you the sense of direction and steer, along with the feeling of stability on the road. The horn though was a let down and perhaps it needs a more skoda-ish horn which is what people respond to these days on the streets.

The Drive

So finally how was the drive? I ll get to it in a moment. But before that lets understand VGT or variable geometry turbocharging, which is the latest thing in today’s diesel engines. You can read more on that here. What this really means for a layman is that the time it takes between your accelerator pedal press to the time it takes to move the car at that speed, is called as a turbo lag. The VGT aims to reduce this turbo lag, leading to a more linear pull at any gear and any speed. Here is where I would like to draw a comparison of the linea to the swift I possess. Since both have same engines, the turbo kick appears in swift at about 1800 RPM, which pushes the car abruptly but swiftly forward giving a roller coaster experience. What they have done in the Linea is to keep this turbo kick come in only beyond 4000RPM (to reach this RPM you would be on the highways usually) and at lower RPMs they let the VGT feature give a more linear pulling experience even at lower speeds. So this basically means you would perhaps not get the kick you get in swift with Linea, but it will give you a sense of luxury a sedan is supposed to offer at any speed without jerking the car much abruptly. This is one area where I found it to be a bit unenterprising if not disappointing. You cannot race with the Linea, its not meant for that. However you do get a plush feel with the car, and that is what matters most. Also the suspension is soft and easily soaks down potholes without disturbing the passengers. However this also means one must be worried about ground clearance. When you load the car with many people, it tends to go down a bit, making it easy for the car to scrape on bumps underneath. This is an unwanted characterestic of the Honda’s which also seems to affect FIAT, but only when the real driving happens, one can justify if this is really as bad. As of now, we will say that this is not really much of an issue.

Technology and Safety

This car does come with Blue & Me, an initiative by FIAT and Microsoft to incorporate bluetooth sync of your mobile phone with the car. To read more about it, go here. You could answer your mobile calls on your car, without having to lift your phone. Its all about hands free functionality with voice recognition. So you could say your friends name out, and it will dial your friend and connect you to him or her! As for safety the car comes with ABS and EBD. As usual Airbags are offered only on higher models, which according to me is a shame. Every Indian must have the liberty and birth right to feel safe, even say after spending money, and automotive manufacturers have to wake up to this requirement. It is them who introduce new cars, and it is them who must also lead the way for safety. Lets hope FIAT does provide this as an option for all variants of Linea and other cars in the fray in future.

Price and Conclusions

By keeping the price point really affordable, FIAT has ensured that its next innings will go smoothly. A diesel engine with all this luxury at a little above eight lakhs seriously makes common sense compared to the Sx4’s and Aveo sedans, which dont offer the same. At this point we cannot compare the Indigo and Linea in any possible way. But just wait a while and Tata will unveil a new Indigo sedan which can be comparable to any luxury car. My conclusion on the linea – the linea mania is here to stay for a while. Lets not expect FIAT to sell millions of Lineas in a short while, but its preparedness for the launch, the launch itself and Rajeev Kapoor at the helm this time, might make it easy for FIAT to get its due recognition with the Linea. Before I end this post, here, here and here are links to the launch party, and further a couple of photos of this imposing car.

For more details, visit www.fiatlinea.in

Technorati : 1.3 litre, 90bhp, acceleration, alloys, armrest, automobile, automobiles, aux, bangalore, bengaluru, blog, blue and me, boot, braking, climate control, diesel, drive, fiat, headlamps, india, industry, italy, karnataka, linea, microsoft, mjd, mp3 player, multijet, prerana motors, rajeev kapoor, review, seats, taillamps, tata, usb, variable geometry turbo, vgt

My hand felt cold. The freezing temperature made it worse. I felt like I was holding a bar of ice. My heart was heavy too. Very heavy with the feeling of immense loss and a feeling of guilt. The body had solidified within a day and my grandpa felt like a block of stone. His eyes were blissfully closed in oblivion. With a smile of an achievement. But ours were’nt. Blood red after forty eight hours of sleeplessness the fatigue showed on everyone. It was my first major loss and emotional blow after a period of 30 years. Subbu – the legend of his era, was dead. Forty five days ago, my son slept with the same bliss on Subbu’s lap. In a few hours time, he would be christened. Both of them were immersed in a feeling of extreme togetherness, a bond which was very special. Subbu and Ved were three generations apart and it was a once in a lifetime event anyone could be part of.

But even on this happy day there was a sense of missing something for grandpa. The sense of sight. He had been blind since fifteen years. A rather non descript doctor at the only hospital near my home tried his experiments on Subbu’s eyes, totally rendering them useless. Subbu’s hands were furiously searching my son’s body, his elation knew no bounds. All that Subbu wanted to do was touch and feel his great grandson endlessly. It was as though he lived only to see this day. Here was a display of such joy and eagerness at a time when most of our relationships were almost being written off in one way or the other in the modern world. Memories flashed past my eyes. Three years since my marriage the only wish Subbu had was for me to hand over a male new born to him. This according to him would signify his Kanakabhishekam, the event where a great grandson bathes the great grandpa in gold coins. But it also meant the end of his life, as it amounted to him reaching the gates of heaven.

A grand meal followed the event, and everyone went to their homes. Except Subbu. As I stood staring at Subbu, I could not believe that a man as hale and healthy as me had to be hospitalized the very next day. He had collapsed on the ground that morning. No one knew what was wrong with him. He could not digest what he ate. No amount of feeding him did any good and it all came out immediately. No doctor could tell us what the issue was. It was a shame of some sort in today’s world that this was happening. After a week of analysis, they decided he was afflicted with colitis – a disease of the colon. His intestines had got paralyzed and rendered useless, all because of taking heavy dosages of antibiotics at a ripe age of eighty seven. What followed was nothing short of hell.

Subbu was on his deathbed. No amount of medical help could save him from his fate. The realization dawned on all of us only after one week. Batch after batch, Subbu’s entire family tree checked on him one last time. One fortnight on, and he was going from bad to worse. He was recuded to half his weight after no food intake. His systems seemed to be giving up one after the other. He saw his grandons and wished them well for their future. He wanted them to grow up as good engineers and doctors to prevent what had happened to him. He met the unmarried grand daughters and grandsons and wished that they get married and settle well in life. Whenever he met his sons, the only thing he ever mumbled through mask fitted on his face was to ensure they take care of my grandmother with pride and care. He still was not talking about himself. Through his eighty odd years of fumbling around in the big bad bold world, he had managed to give all his sons a house of their own and married all off them to everyone’s satisfaction.

My grandma walked slowly into the hall where he lay on his bed. To call it a bed was an understatement. Even leprosy patients in government hospitals would have been treated with more respect. The toilets in the hospital ward stunk like they had not been cleaned for ages. There were no lights in the corridor. Blood stained syringes and bottles were lying unattended to. Attendants to patients had to sit next to them and sleep in the same stance all night long. They seemed more like dogs guarding their owners. As Subbu’s eyes met with his wife’s, tears rolled down the side of his eye. A slow moan could be heard. He was helpless that he would not be around to take care of her anymore. He could not even lift his hand to put it on her’s. This was the irony. I hugged my grandma and promised Subbu that I am there for her. We left the room to join the others waiting outside. Subbu had mildly lost his consciousness.

When I walked back into the room to see him all alone, he only said one thing. And it stung me like a bee. Real hard. My pulse went high. I had butterflies in my stomach. He told me the same thing. In all bravery – “My Kanakabhishekam is over. My time has now come”. It was the most difficult thing for a person to say that knowing fully well that he is about to pass away. There was an uneasy feeling in my throat, but the tears were not to be seen. My father was one of his four sons, who took care of him in hospital. Cleaning him day in and day out. He was on adult diapers for the entire month. But in reality he had become a kid once more. I left the room with a heavy feeling. Standing at a corner I saw all the others consoling my grandma, that nothing would happen, even though Subbu knew his future. All of us did too, but we never wanted to acknowledge that fact.

Deep down within myself, Subbu’s words echoed into me once more: “My Kanakabhishekam is over. My time has now come. Thank you showing me my great grandson”. The feeling of guilt doubled. Already I had not seen him enough or helped my uncles take care of him. And now I felt that the sole reason for his death would be me, more so the birth of my son. The tears came. And they came real fast. My entire body shook and trembled. I was convulsing unable to control myself. The feeling was like I would pass out before Subbu. An overwhelming sense of disgust at the juncture I was at in my life. I really did not want to see this day. Suddenly I felt a hand over my shoulder calming me down profusely. I opened my eyes slowly. My eyes were clouded with tears all over. My uncle was calming me down. I vented out my feeling of disgust and guilt to him. He assured me it was not because of that event that things went horribly wrong. Maybe yes, maybe no. But fate had it that the birth of my son and the death of my grandpa had to coincide. With an evil perfection.

My grandma walked towards me. I regained a bit of my composure and hugged her. For the first time in my life, I wished someone died. Subbu, to be precise. I could not tolerate the trauma he was undergoing in his body. Each and every injection of the sodium and potassium salts mixed with his blood, burning him from the inside. If this is not worse than hell, I dont know what is. I wanted an outcome – either he dies peacefully or he lives healthily. I discussed this with all my family, but they were as helpless as I was. Two days later the sons huddled close to each other, discussing what the next step was. Subbu had expressed his wish. He did not want to die on the streets. All his sons had houses and he wanted a death of pride. All of us decided to grant Subbu his wish. He was brought home and fed good tasty food according to his whims and fancies. He felt his bed with his hand and felt very good. A caretaker from Kerala expressed great amount of maturity in taking care of him well. One week passed. On that fateful day, after a light breakfast and a cup of juice, he collapsed on his bed. Never to wake up again. He was one with the almighty.

His last rites were done with full honours and his ashes were dissolved in the river Cauvery. The river of life and death. My hand felt cold. It was the same wintry night one year after. I was trembling. I held his framed photo tight in my hand. Subbu was alive. Very much alive. He was one year old and slept beside me. As my son.

So you must be wondering why there has been no update on this blog since ten days now. Is this a new year hangover? Is this a relief to people who are fed up of my blogging? Is this an anticipation of something big? – Well, I understand the thoughts in your mind. And believe me the last fortnight has been the most electrifying part of my life for the past ten years. Keen to know what’s behind all this high voltage? Movie making!

Download Movie Maker (7MB) Download Video Spin (148 MB!)

Yes! I have been busy venturing into another creative area which I badly needed to explore in recent times. And the way its turning out is nothing short of impeccable. I have been involved in creating a funny video sequence which involves shooting sequences, writing scripts, editing, processing, direction, production, animations, titling, and what not! A true cinema making experience. I have been using two tools to help me around with this, Windows Movie Maker and Pinnacle Systems Video Spin. If you need these tools, click on the icons above to download them and experiment.

Meanwhile, I’ll be back sooner than later with more updates on Namma Bengaluru !

Technorati : Pinnacle systems, Windows Movie Maker, animations, audio, bangalore, bengaluru, blog, cinema making, direction, editing, experience, india, karnataka, microsoft, music, namma, processing, production, sequence, shoot, titling, video, video spin, videospin, writing scripts

Its time to bid adieu to the old year and usher in the new once more. Lets hope that in the next year all of this years losses are made good for, all the lessons learnt this year are practised more efficiently and that the new year 2009 generates the same joy and enthusiasm that the recession of 2008 has subdued; all once more again.

Wish you all my dear readers, a very happy and fun filled prosperous year 2009!

Technorati : 2009, Bengaluru, Christmas, New year, bangalore, blog, india, karnataka, koramangala, party

So it all started off with NICE introducing a toll for their private BMIC-P perhipheral ring road south of Bengaluru. There was absolutely no intimation given to anyone among the citizens in anyway and drivers were caught unawares to pay money on that day. It would have still been fine, if not for the high toll collection which further raised the anger in people.

Now these were the rates in comparison with those elsewhere in the country and also showing a map of the NICE road in Bengaluru and their different rates for different sections within Bengaluru.

This obviously did not go so well with anyone in the city, though Ashok Kheny was stressing that he was going according to the law and rules signed with Deve Gowda who had then initiated this whole shit on himself. BJP obviously kept quiet, becuase it never was responsible for this mess. And to top it all Ashok Kheny said he had done this for the people! Ridiculous. So Mr.Kheny, did you atleast consult your Abhimanigala Sangha before you did this? or everyone else who liked your road and would patiently listen to you? Or were you in other terms just aiming that no one must be using your road at all in a way by making the toll so high. Your hard work, dedication and honesty is appreciated, but just come to think of it, why is your toll so high compared to so many other states in this country? Privatisation does not mean you can do whatever you want beyond whats permissible isnt it ?

So what would you expect next? All parties slamming this decision and ofcourse public violence, which was inevitable!

You brought this on to yourself Mr.Kheny. And when you saw your prized properties being destroyed and vandalized did some sense return to your mind and you then decided to ‘revise’ the toll to make it lesser by 25% as though you were considerate on the people of this city. The real fact was that you could not be prepared to lose your creation and had to listen to the people on the other side. Citizens matter always remember! So you then had to succumb to public pressure and reduce the toll finally:

Think again Kheny, was this all necessary for a man of your stature? How many governments and how many people will you go against to achieve what you want? Its good to some extent but beyone some extent it will backfire on you the way it did. Now if you raise the toll again in January, you know what you can expect again. Hopefully you will think and think for your own profit. Rather than for our loss.

Technorati : BMIC, BMIC-P, NICE, ashok kheny, bangalore, bannerghatta road, bengaluru, blog, booth, btm layout, electronics city, gottigere, hosur road, kanakapura road, magadi road, mysore road, nice road, rates, silk board, toll, tumkur road, violence