Fiat Linea 125S Long Term Review – Second Report

Fiat Linea 125S Long Term Review

Long Term Test No. 133

Car Tested: Fiat Linea 125S
Kms Done: 2821 kms
Test Started at: 12,225 kms
Test Concluded at: 15,046 kms
Mileage: 8.35 km/l, 11.2 km/l (best), 5.5 km/l (worst)
Fuel Consumed: 337.84-litres
Fuel Cost: Rs. 26,689/-
Rs. per km: Rs. 9.46/-

The Fiat Punto’s practical & powerful cousin is here to justify its existence!

The Fiat Linea is a very well known name in the Indian car market. It has been over 10 years since the car entered our market and overtime as the population of this iconic name once grew, it has now started to see its demise. Few might argue that its probably because the competition outdid it, while some might say it’s because the Linea hasn’t changed over a decade and has nothing but minor tweaks to the original design. I’d beg to differ but as my time with this car passed and the kilometers piled up, I started to realize how badly this car needs an update.

I’m going to dive right into it and talk about the looks, I think this is a very handsome looking car. I get “Don’t fix what’s not broken” but somehow this handsome sedan has started to age, as it’s left with nothing but mere elegance. Carrying this familiar face around isn’t a bad thing given how rarely you’ll see it. In a jam pack of Honda Citys, venturing around Volkswagen Ventos and coming across Maruti Swift Dzires, the Linea manages to be the rarest and still one of the prettiest of them all. With its curvy design and tall stance, it really gets your attention as it’s out on the prowl. As I started to move around the car, I noticed the exhaust muffler sticking out and boy does it look out of place! It honestly looks nothing short of an aftermarket fit and ends up awkwardly sticking out of the curves.

The design doesn’t look as crisp as that of its competitors but is tasteful

The integrated turn indicators are a nice touch and make the car seem a little more up to date on the outside. The headlight illumination is quite decent with the throw being wide and far (by stock halogen standards), especially when you tag team it with the 2 high beams and fog lamps. The tail lights are quite nice and a good reminder of how tail light designs used to be before the whole LED facade took over. I must say the car has quite large profile tyres that look nice, thick and attractive, especially as it sticks out of the wheel arches, talk about sticking out of the curves (sit down and take note, exhaust). The ground clearance is quite high for a sedan and grants this car good command over Indian roads, as it crawls over bumps, ruts, and potholes with ease. I’ve traveled over bad patches of road with this beauty and it actually performed quite well.

Coming to the interior, it’s still pretty much the same design as the previous Linea with a touch or two of difference. It’s a simple interior, and while it will need some getting used to, it just generally feels old but not entirely dated. The cabin has a nice and airy feel to it, while space isn’t exactly the best. The front is quite a comfortable place to be but the rear ends up feeling quite cramped, especially for a tall person like me. It feels as though most of this car’s length goes into boot space and not in the legroom. The seats are quite supportive and have good cushioning, I could totally see myself doing long distance trips in this car. The interior really lacks in storage spaces as the door pockets seem narrow and quite useless when it comes to storing broader items like a bottle of water. The central console has some place for you to keep your wallet or even phone if I were to be optimistic, but in general, this cabin lacks room. The instrument cluster is quite clear, easy to read and get used to.

The Linea 125S comes with a decent sounding music system, navigation (which mostly never works) that’s glitchy, buggy and takes forever to load, the screen is small and is a touchscreen (that also doesn’t work that well). Due to the small size of the screen, the options are equally small and given their size and how bad the touch screen is, it’s quite difficult to input anything onto the display while driving. Even before you start driving the car, it’ll give you this warning about not using the interface while driving and that’s fine but over time it gets so annoying to hit “OK” each and every time you start the car. This car also gets a little strip of orange lighting at the front and I cannot emphasize on how much of a difference mere ambient lighting can do to spice up a cabin. This small addition alone makes the car feel a little more premium.

On paper, the Fiat Linea 125S has a really punchy motor but due to the weight of the vehicle, it cannot properly stretch its feet unless you ring its bells. In city traffic, the motor feels quite smooth with power delivery being very linear, and this makes the engine feel quite smooth in slow-moving situations. Put the pedal to the metal and you will notice how linear and gradual the power delivery is. It has got no real kick in the pants feel and smoothly builds its way into triple-digit speeds, which I can appreciate. What does come as a real kick in the pants though is the amount of fuel this engine consumes.

This really does have quite an appetite for petrol and no matter how or where you drive this machine, you’ll be extremely lucky to get anything above 10 km/litre. This would majorly put off anyone because it doesn’t have the performance to match or justify such dismal fuel economy figures. Another thing that really ruins your experience of driving this car is the gearbox. It’s a terrible gearbox and there is no way to sugar coat it. Gear shifts are far from smooth and sometimes you’re not even sure if it’s in gear. There is no getting used to the notchy feeling and it’s something Fiat should really work on.

This cars feels very mechanical to drive which is both good and bad

The brakes aren’t the best in business but do the job well. They lack a tad bit of pedal feel but offer good progression while braking. The clutch is somewhere in the middle between light and being too hard, it’s just that the pedal travel isn’t shallow and will require you to press the clutch all the way over and over in traffic which can get a little tedious and tiring. The steering wheel on this car feels quite dated, to be honest. It’s a pretty bland and boring looking steering wheel and once you get past the driving position (which let me tell you is really high), you start to notice the stiff nature of it. Normally, harder steering wheels are associated with better driving and steering feel but it’s not the case with Linea. The steering feels quite hard through traffic (which will have your arms ache after a day of city driving), you have to get used to the large turning radius too. Yes, you heard it right, you’ll be turning this hard wheel a lot more often than you’d like to.

Once you’re out on the highway or say some back roads, you literally have no idea what the wheels are doing or where they’re pointing. The hard wheel doesn’t feel all that accurate and this is a car you’d rather prefer not to push into hard corners. The Linea 125S doesn’t exactly feel agile either. With a soft suspension set up and a bulky design, this car has a lot of body roll going for it through hard or sharp turns. This just lets you know that S doesn’t stand for Sport but for Smooth, because that literally is how this car prefers to be driven, in a relaxed manner.

Fiat Linea 125S Service Costs

1. Service Schedule – 15,000 kms/12 months (whichever is earlier)
2. Cost of Service per 1,00,000 Km – Rs. 60,000/- (est.)
3. Cost of Spares –

* Engine Oil Per Service – Rs. 1900/-
* Brake Oil – Rs. 190/-
* Oil Filter – Rs. 430/-
* Fuel Filter – Rs. 2000/-
* Brake Pads (Front) – Rs. 4000/- (with labour)
* Front Bumper (without painting) – Rs. 4500/- (est.)
* Rear Bumper (without painting) – Rs. 3900/- (est.)
* Headlamp Assembly (Each) – Rs. 4500/- (est.)
* Tail Lamp Assembly (Each) – Rs. 2800/- (est.)

It was quite an experience driving this machine and its design has stood the test of time. That, has granted it more recognition in terms of form but over time, the car seems to have lost its functional side. The car genuinely needs a refresh and this feeling is quite prominent. Nothing about this car makes sense, the ergonomics are off, the performance isn’t exactly mind-blowing, and such fuel efficiency figures, don’t even get me started on the practicality. Due to all of these factors, this car feels less like a hit and more like a miss in 2018. Still, the Linea 125S isn’t a bad car as such and the only thing that makes it worse is the fact that the competition has gotten just that good.

What’s Cool

* Lovely design has aged well over the years
* Ride quality is splendid, suspension does a good job on bad roads
* Ample power coupled with gradual power delivery makes it well-suited to open roads

What’s Not So Cool

* Steering wheel is too hard, gets tiring in city driving
* Notchy gearbox is a huge letdown
* Though not an outright performer, this motor is still a fuel guzzler
* Lack of dealers and service centres

Testers’ Note:

Further Reading –

Fiat Linea 125S Long Term Review – First Report
Fiat Linea 125S Test Drive Review