Fiat Linea is the worst car made for India

Dear All,

I am writing this comment with such regret of service received from FIAT INDIA AUTOMOBILES LIMITED as well as RF Motors Cochin.

Fiat Linea and is one of the WORST CAR EVER, to be produced in this era and I would recommend not even my worst enemy to buy this car or ANY CAR PRODUCED WITH THE SAME ENGINE.

The car has only clocked 34,000kms and 2years since new and used only by myself who is the first owner. I am a 60year old careful knowledgable driver. The car was one of the earliest produced ones in India and we purchased it from RF Motors Cochin as apparently they were a well established dealer at the time.

Recently our Fiat Linea has developed some fault which has drastically reduced its power and response. Other reviews show that this a common occurance.

Upon inspection by apparently well trained mechanics at RF Motors Cochin an established dealer from Fiat Linea, they said that the timing belt needs replacing, and also mentioned that since a lot of Fiat Linea’s has had the same problem FIAT INDIA AUTOMOBILES LIMITED has authorised the dealers to replace the timing belt at their own expense. The situation surprised us because it was at such low kilometres.

The Service Manager asked us to not drive the car, and to our disgust mentioned that there was no space for them to park the car in the dealer’s premises till a later date when the timing belt could be replaced. They couldn’t confirm a date and till then we were left to find a place to pay and park at Kochi, which we did.

The car was parked in Kochi at a pay and park facility from 11th till 24th November, which is when RF Motors had availability to fix the issue.

We came again from Kumily on 24th and delivered the car.

We stayed at Kochi on the 24th and RF Motors informed that the timing chain was not the issue and that the problem still exists.

The mechanics re-inspected the car and said that he found a slight oil leak under the Turbo’s hose, and a simple fix could solve the problem. But the process took another day and we had to stay at Kochi again that night.

The next day we were told that the Turbo has to be completely replaced. We were once again surprised to hear that a car of low kilometres and period of usage had such major problems. And again I can 100% guarantee that the car has only ever been used by me, and I’m a very careful driver and love to maintain and care for my car with much prestige. 

Again with disgust of misleading several times we agreed to arrange a replacement for the turbo at the earliest convenience. Since 11th November the car is in Kochi and till date we haven’t received any assurance on when the car will be released to standards.

We checked with RF Motors every second day on an average and they kept dragging us. We have been dealing with Customer Relations Manager. Then as requested by the CRM we had to directly contact the Parts Manager for the spare parts, and for mechanics the Service Manager. So many staff but nothing seems to get done in time. After realising that the car will not be released and the case not be solved anywhere close to a satisfactory manner and we decided to directly contact their General Manager. Also to mention it took me more than 2hours to be connected to the GM, reminds me again that there has been absolutely no value for the time and money that we have spend.

RF Motors Cochin has been blaming FIAT INDIA AUTOMOBILES LIMITED for their lack of initiative to satisfy their customers. Apparently at several occasions including ours they have sent wrong spare parts and do not respond to the dealer in spite of major dissatisfaction caused to several of their Fiat Linea customers.

Meanwhile we have a business to run and rely on our vehicle. We had to hire a car for the duration and it cost us Rs.800 per day for 45days.

We went at several occasions to RF Motors Cochin and were told that the car was parked at a separate location and that it cannot be viewed. At one stage we were also told that they could temporarily replace the turbo with a used one from another vehicle which was in their custody. Now I wonder what guarantee do we have that our car is in its actual state since we dropped it there??

RF Motors haven't guaranteed that our car has not be molested in any way while in their custody.

The community/friends/family are all aware of the situation and the car’s resale value will also drastically reduce as it has been at the dealers garage for such long period!!

We have used Maruti, Scorpio, Qualis and all these cars have never developed mechanical fault at such low kilometres. This proves that Fiat Linea has produced a factory faulty turbo or such to their cars and must take responsibility to solve the issue on your own cost, and maybe also compensate for the time and money we spend due to the issue.

I am commenting with such outrage because we have faced numerours losses and expect the same not to happen to anyone, atleast in this well advance day like today where possibilities are limit less. I have already assured to both FIAT INDIA AUTOMOBILES LIMITED and RF Motors Cochin.that I will post the case via media and also place a case under consumer court against them.

Sincerley

TV Thomas