Short Change

Was more power really the need of the hour for the linea?

- Raunak Ajinkya

There’s something to be said about Fiat’s prospects in India. There’s so much promise surrounding each and every one of its cars, and it’s all done away with because of tiny yet consequential details here and there. If I can draw a parallel, I’d liken Fiat to Italian racer Teo Fabi who, during his 64-race F1 career, scored all of three pole positions, but he has the distinction of never having led even a single lap. Cruel fate, indeed, and it seems like Fiat, in India at least, seems to be suffering the same kind of there-but-not- really-there fate.

Its new Linea 125 S is, I’m positively not delighted to say, more of the same. The highlight of this update is the 1.4-litre T-Jet engine that’s been tuned to put out 11 bhp more than the earlier one. The thing is, though, that the Linea keeps playing ping- pong when it comes to its good and bad bits. Find two good bits and I’m sure you can follow that up with two bad ones.