[ampere]

Originally Posted by isiv

The head makes a compelling argument so the heart will have to work hard; pray I do not end up with the Etios (Ugh... from the heart again)

I am not arguing for the "Kitna Deti Hai" regime, but if you are looking at a 10 year ownership, it dies become an important contender especially if you running is high. I am not saying switch to the other extreme of extremely frugal side. But do consider this aspect too.

Also note Karthik drives a Punto diesel for the city and takes out the T-Jet mostly for the highways.

[azhar915]

Hi Karthikk. First of all thank you very much for this amazingly written ownership report. This thread and our fellow member Puchoo's thread had a great deal of influence in my buying the Black T-jet Emotion about 25 days back. Although the car was a marriage gift for my brother, I get to do most of the driving .

The car is wonderful to drive except that in city conditions, the acceleration in 2nd gear in slow speeds(10-20kmph With half clutch released) makes the rev meter jump to 2000-3000 RPM. This leads to me downshifting to 1st gear. I also searched through the forum and figured that a fellow BHPian CARWATCHER has also experienced this issue. But not sure if he has in low speeds. Link below.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...machine-6.html

Am i doing something wrong here? Because i owned a Alto K10 VXI before and never had to downshift to 1st gear in slower speeds.

[KarthikK]

Here's a long overdue update from my side. The past few months have been full of leisure travel (most of it in the T-Jet) and I have really been procrastinating as far as the updates are concerned here. Apologies for that!

14700 km update: Routine Wheel Alignment and Balancing report

I last updated the thread when the odometer was nearing the 10,000 km mark and the update was for the third free service. I have since then clocked 5000 km, all of it coming from highway drives. I have some pictures coming up from the trips done driving the T-Jet to various locations, but that's for the next post. The 5000 km milestone brought about one important visit to Madhus enterprise in January - wheel alignment and Hunter road force balancing for the Michelin Primacy LCs which were fitted on the car around the 7000 km mark. I didn't have any pulling problems or wobbling issues either, but routine maintenance is routine maintenance.

It was a no-nonsense affair at Madhus as usual, and the staff were ever ready to help me out with both the alignment and balancing. I was in and out in 1 hour flat.

Awaiting my turn for the wheel alignment session at Madhus





Wheel alignment in progress



And then it was time for the tyres to go on the hunter road force balancer









All the wheels were balanced and kept ready for fitting



Hunter road force balancer report - self explanatory

[KarthikK]

Creating another post since I had more than 30 photographs in total, while one post can only hold as many.

Ownership experience so far in summary (updated at ~15000 km and 33 months):

No. of major niggles faced: 0

Reliability score: 10/10

Customer satisfaction score (T-Jet as a product): 10/10

Customer satisfaction score (Fiat service): 9/10

No. of scratches or dents: 0

The scratchless / blemish-free period continues for me (touchwood multiple times ). The vehicle is almost 32 months old with me. I got it on the 1st of July, 2011. I have been largely lucky, but I have to admit it is also because I take the vehicle out only when the rest of the city is sleeping, and I am back before the traffic wakes up (early morning or late night long drives). The color has been maintained glossy thanks to the car wholly being under the able care of the folks at 3M car care. I don't wash the car at all unless absolutely dirty. Whenever it needs a wash after long trips, it gets it at the 3M outlet and for routine dry dust, the Jopasu duster works wonders.

As an owner, I can't really find any flaw with this brilliant machine, barring the prohibitively high running cost if used for longish intra-city commuting everyday. For me it is still only used only for weekend leisure getaways, long drives and trips, and never fails to put a smile on my face every single time I am behind the wheel. I still find the same driving thrill I used to feel with the T-Jet in 2011. This car has the ability to get you addicted to highway driving, and I'm not exaggerating. Sometimes I end up picking up friends and driving 200 km to have dinner on a lazy Saturday night, or the very next day drive a 100 km to have a cup of hot chai or idlis in the early morning fog. Meals are an excuse, nature is an excuse. Driving pleasure is the main reason!

I leave you with some photographs of the T-Jet all taken during these past 6 months of trips and long drives - most of them from Sakleshpur, Chikmagalur and Kaas Valley (full travelogue for the Kaas drive is here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ey-beyond.html)


The T-Jet loves the outdoors, twisties and highways





Passing by the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, NH4, Belgaum.



Funny memories: A stray dog gets confused with its own reflection in the black paint surface .



Some cliffside pictures from atop Kaas plateau, off Satara







Who says sedans with Michelin PLCs cannot do 'offroading'?? I came here from that brown road on the top of the hill



Pictures taken at Sakleshpur meadows in the post-monsoon season:









A nostalgic Before/After moment: Here's a picture taken in Feb 2011, at the meadows outside Mugilu estate, Sakleshpur. It was my old (pre-worshipped) Accent 1.6 which happened to be my first car.



And here's the same shot in almost the same angle, taken in November 2013 with my current car - the Linea T-Jet. Of course, the difference in seasons shows up in the amount of greenery.



More photos from the Sakleshpur meadow 'offroading' sessions:



























Guess the age of the car *winks*



A departing view: with special effects *lol*



My next update will be later this week or next week with the paint sealant package which is due to be done on the T-Jet for renewed gloss and to remove the existing swirl marks.

[Scorpioman]

Karthik this is simply brilliant. Fiat need to put a link to this thread on the T-Jet page of their website. I am sure their sales will go up. I was one such guy who went for the Jet without a second thiught after reading your thread.

Cheers.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by isiv

Great going... yours and several others thread on the tjet are making life quite tough for me - let me explain. I'm going to upgrade to a C1/C2 (not necessarily sedan) in about 6 months. After doing a lot of research - thanks to tbhp which has evolved into a treasure trove of info on Indian auto - the first thing that became clear was that the upgrade does not have to be a Maruti. Even though their cars remain frugal and largely dependable, service costs suddenly seem to have become atrociously high for a Maruti. This is making drawbacks of Marutis very visible and I see no reason to tolerate them anymore.

Coming back to the research, the verdict by the head is - 'get the Etios diesel and pat yourself on the back for a real sensible purchase' while the heart retorted 'Etios? Etios?? ETIOS??? Ugh! did you look at the Polos? Look at the lovely fiats? the tjet!!' (Aw boy, am I bowled over by the tjet and how!!)

Hi isiv, thanks for the kind wishes! I've had a fantastic experience with the T-Jet and overall, it is a good quality product. Perhaps one of the improvement areas on the older model was the interiors, which have been fixed now with the upgraded version.

You probably figured I'd have to be somewhat separated from the 'kitna deti hai' mob even to consider a fiat. My expectations from a car in order are 1. Refinement and comfort/space 2. Safetly, reliability, durability and long trouble free life 3. Power & LET 4. Reasonable service costs 5. Looks 6. Good headlights as stock. Don't care for gimmicks like auto headlights, auto wiper, auto whatever. I would expect the car to last around 10 years.
I know you've been asked this several times, but I would like to ask again based on your experience to date - how would you rate the tjet on these parameters?

The T-Jet in general doesn't have any niggles to worry about. I have hardly ever come across a reliability issue with a T-Jet even when I enquire about this in the service centre I visit.

1. Refinement and comfort - absolutely no issues with refinement. It takes on a deep throaty growl when you floor the throttle, and at other times it is super silent when driven sanely. As far as comfort is concerned, the seats are very plush and ride quality is best in class. The only downside is rear legroom and rear headroom if both the front and rear passengers are tall. If not, this need not be a concern. Driver ergonomics are subjective. I've personally never faced a problem despite driving for 700-800 km in a single day, but some people complain about taking time to adjust to the ergonomics.

2. Safety, reliability, durability and long trouble free life - no reliability issues that I can think of. There are T-Jets which have clocked over 70-80 thousand kilometres just undergoing routine servicing, and I don't see any reason why this should be a concern. Safety part is taken care of with ABS+EBD, Airbags, FPS and the overall sturdy build. Durability also is not a doubt area. Fiats and Europeans in general age very well and I have a strong belief they will last 10 years. I myself plan on keeping this car for the next 10 years (apart from 3 years already completed). Welcome to the long term ownership aspirants' club.

3. Power and LET - I'm not sure what LET means. On the power front, many have already commented about the superior feel of driving the turbo petrol on city roads and highways alike. I suggest a test drive to personally experience the feel and see if you like it as compared to your other purchase options.

4. Reasonable service costs - I have spent around 13,000 on servicing over the past 2.5 years (you could check the previous page for details of individual services). No unexpected niggles have cropped up ever, and whenever I have occasional rattles cropping up after trips on bad roads, the helpful service centre staff always help me by fixing the rattles, they don't charge anything either since there is no part involved.

As far as looks and headlamps go, I find the stock headlamps sufficient for highway driving even with the low beam. You could consider an upgrade if you feel they are underpowered.

The head makes a compelling argument so the heart will have to work hard; pray I do not end up with the Etios (Ugh... from the heart again)

Haha, but you can take a look at other options similar to the T-Jet. There is the Polo GT TSI or even the Polo GT TDI, Vento TSI/TDI which may not offer the same driving experience as a T-Jet as far as dynamics, braking and steering feedback go, but they have their own strength areas.

Originally Posted by ampere

I am not arguing for the "Kitna Deti Hai" regime, but if you are looking at a 10 year ownership, it dies become an important contender especially if you running is high. I am not saying switch to the other extreme of extremely frugal side. But do consider this aspect too.

Also note Karthik drives a Punto diesel for the city and takes out the T-Jet mostly for the highways.

True. I use the MultiJet Punto 90HP (well, actually 120HP now ) for the city because the T-Jet works out to be prohibitively expensive for my 70 km a day running rate. But as an occasionally used car on weekends (and more so if it involves highways), the T-Jet makes a lot of sense to own over a 10 year period, with the timeless design and good durability of parts.

Originally Posted by azhar915

Hi Karthikk. First of all thank you very much for this amazingly written ownership report. This thread and our fellow member Puchoo's thread had a great deal of influence in my buying the Black T-jet Emotion about 25 days back. Although the car was a marriage gift for my brother, I get to do most of the driving .

The car is wonderful to drive except that in city conditions, the acceleration in 2nd gear in slow speeds(10-20kmph With half clutch released) makes the rev meter jump to 2000-3000 RPM. This leads to me downshifting to 1st gear. I also searched through the forum and figured that a fellow BHPian CARWATCHER has also experienced this issue. But not sure if he has in low speeds. Link below.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...machine-6.html

Am i doing something wrong here? Because i owned a Alto K10 VXI before and never had to downshift to 1st gear in slower speeds.

Thank you for the kind words azhar915. Glad to know this report log of mine helped you in some way with ownership information of a T-Jet.

Pardon me, I didn't understand what you meant by rev meter jumps to 2000-3000 rpm and you have to shift to 1st gear. Do you mean to say revs climb up in spite of not giving throttle input??

At slow speeds, this being a turbo petrol, it will take time to get used to, compared to driving an Alto K10 which is peppy all through the rev range. There is some amount of lag until the 1500 rpm mark, and the explosive power begins to kick in only after 1800-2000 rpm. If you are in the wrong side of the turbo lag, you may have to downshift but most of the times, the low end torque is enough to potter around town in 2nd gear

Originally Posted by Scorpioman

Karthik this is simply brilliant. Fiat need to put a link to this thread on the T-Jet page of their website. I am sure their sales will go up. I was one such guy who went for the Jet without a second thiught after reading your thread.

Cheers.

Thanks for the kind words Scorpioman! Glad to know once again that my thread was of use to you in your purchase decision. Wishing you many happy miles and smiles with the T-Jet

[deepakhon]

Your T-jet in black looks amazing! I own a black T-Jet too, all of 2700 km as of now in 3 months. I can understand your comments about the car being great on the highway. Every time I push the pedal, my car has managed to bring smiles to me. I have loved every one of these 2700 km, and I hope to enjoy it over a long period of time. The T-Jet has replaced my Palio of 10 years, and so far, I have enjoyed it.

[guyfrmblr]

Very nice photos Karthik. Your car looks better than showroom condition. I always like to see the black car owners maintaining their cars in pristine condition.

Good to see your PLCs holding well. I too was skeptical while going for A-Drives since many had mentioned that its not suitable for Indian road conditions. Its almost 20K KM after changing to A-Drives and I haven't faced any issues with it. I have taken it to some places where even Jeeps think twice to go but it has never complained. I may switch to Michelins next time.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Funny memories: A stray dog gets confused with its own reflection in the black paint surface.

You were quite lucky. The dog just got confused. I had a similar situation last time I visited my hometown. A dog came near my car and saw it's reflection. But instead of getting confused, it got angry and started attacking on it . I had to then shoo it away with great difficulty. The end result was some minor scratches on the door. I then applied some Meguiar's UC to get rid of those scratches.

We have another dog in our hometown which keeps its claws on the panel below the window to check who is present inside the car . I have no idea how to change it's behavior.

[azhar915]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Pardon me, I didn't understand what you meant by rev meter jumps to 2000-3000 rpm and you have to shift to 1st gear. Do you mean to say revs climb up in spite of not giving throttle input??

Sorry for the confusion. Let me give you and example:
I'd be driving in normal traffic, say in 3rd gear and then encounter a speed breaker. I then downshift to 2nd gear, reduce the speed to around 10 - 15 kmph and drive over the speed breaker. After this, i gradually release the clutch half way through and parallely accelerate so that the engine doesn't stall(a normal procedure) and this is the moment when the rpm suddenly jumps to 2000-3000 while the engine roars(Please note that the clutch is not fully released). This is when i have to downshift again to 1st gear.

I drove the car again today and i think i'm getting the hang of it now. Directly shift to 1st gear when the car slows down to around 10kmph so that i don't have to hear from my passengers "Re hallu chala. Nayi gaadi ku kharab kardaltay"(Drive slow. You will spoil the new car) . This they say because of the engine roar

[isiv]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

The T-Jet in general doesn't have any niggles to worry about. I have hardly ever come across a reliability issue with a T-Jet even when I enquire about this in the service centre I visit.

1. Refinement and comfort -
2. Safety, reliability, durability and long trouble free life -
3. Power and LET - I'm not sure what LET means.
4. Reasonable service costs

Thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. BTW, LET is low end torque. You've addressed that too. Allow me to share some more background:
My tryst with fiats started around 2003 when brother-in-law picked up a Palio 1.2 at a huge discount - which was his main attraction, not brand fiat. The more time I spent riding in and driving the car, the more deeply I fell in love with it. Everything starting from the slightly-tilted-towards-the-driver console, to the solid feeling doors, chunky steering, solid suspension and smooth drive made me wonder why the car was so poorly rated. Aren't these qualities (apart from mileage) valuable and worthy of appreciation too?

To make things even better, around 2006, BIL upgraded to a Palio Adventure 1.6. Needless to say I hogged it a lot - the the 1.6L engine was nirvana on the highways. The only issues I ever had with these cars were 1. Not so great brakes and 2. If you stalled the engine, you have to turn the system fully off before you're able to crank again. (BTW, is this true even of your new gen fiats?)

Of course, it was only on rare occassions we managed to get double digit fuel efficiency numbers on 1.2; the lesser said on mileage about he 1.6, the better - 1000 bucks worth juice would last maybe couple days and it wasn't uncommon to hit 5 digit montly fuel bills.

Brilliant cars nevertheless IMO and I've had my eye on this brand ever since. The fact remains that BIL eventually disposed of the 1.6 becuase of parts & service problems. From your posts, things have apparently improved, more so ever since fiat divorced tata.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

As far as looks and headlamps go, I find the stock headlamps sufficient for highway driving even with the low beam. You could consider an upgrade if you feel they are underpowered.

I do have the upgraded lights on my present car, but after seeing the way it was done, I prefer keeping vehicles stock as far as possible, hence the question.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

There is the Polo GT TSI or even the Polo GT TDI, Vento TSI/TDI which may not offer the same driving experience as a T-Jet as far as dynamics, braking and steering feedback go, but they have their own strength areas.

Yes, you guessed it, the only other appealing cars (to me and within my reach) are the Polos. No taking chances with DSGs, so if it's a VW, it's either the TDI or a petrol comfortline. Somehow the ventos dont catch my attention. The perceived dampeners are VWs below average service quality and above average service costs. But from what I read, things have improved on the service front.

Originally Posted by ampere

I am not arguing for the "Kitna Deti Hai" regime, but if you are looking at a 10 year ownership, it dies become an important contender especially if you running is high. I am not saying switch to the other extreme of extremely frugal side. But do consider this aspect too.

Also note Karthik drives a Punto diesel for the city and takes out the T-Jet mostly for the highways.

Forgot to mention my running is low (about 30K over 6 years) and I do not foresee any drastic changes to this in the near future. So I guess a fuel inefficient petrol should not hurt much. Regardless, I'm more than willing to give up fuel efficiency so long as I get something in return - in terms of power, quality, longevity headache free ownership etc.

Unfortunately, I neither have the parking space nor the means to own more than one car. If I read you right, you're saying the tjet as the only car does not spell wisdom? (there, the head goes to work again..)

[ampere]

Originally Posted by isiv

Forgot to mention my running is low (about 30K over 6 years) and I do not foresee any drastic changes to this in the near future. So I guess a fuel inefficient petrol should not hurt much. Regardless, I'm more than willing to give up fuel efficiency so long as I get something in return - in terms of power, quality, longevity headache free ownership etc.

Unfortunately, I neither have the parking space nor the means to own more than one car. If I read you right, you're saying the tjet as the only car does not spell wisdom? (there, the head goes to work again..)

As long as you have accounted that aspect into your decision making you should be good. I just meant to say do take that thinking into account. If you have done 30k in six years then surely T-Jet is for you.

[carwatcher]

Just go through 2nd para in this post of the GTOs official review.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post2109786
This is one 'feature' of T-Jet I tell all the friends and relatives beforehand, whom I allow to drive otherwise they end up surprised/confused.

Originally Posted by azhar915

The car is wonderful to drive except that in city conditions, the acceleration in 2nd gear in slow speeds(10-20kmph With half clutch released) makes the rev meter jump to 2000-3000 RPM. This leads to me downshifting to 1st gear. I also searched through the forum and figured that a fellow BHPian CARWATCHER has also experienced this issue. But not sure if he has in low speeds.

[KarthikK]

The Terrestrial Jet just turned 3 years old on July 1st, 2014 .
That also means the 4th service is due to be done. Unfortunately I couldn't get a slot last week at Vecto motors since I was a bit busy. I just got off the call with the Vecto motors service booking hotline, and should be heading there for my service on Monday. My first paid service with the T-Jet, thread will be updated on Monday evening with the 4th service details.

[hothatchaway]

Hi Karthikk - how did the first paid service go? are the first 3 services free? What is the typical average cost of an annual paid service for the Tjet?

Was thinking of picking up a Tjet/MJD (the heart says the Jet but considering that I do a lot of driving wondering if I should let the head rule )

Do you know if a used Tjet (2-3 yrs/20 - 30k kms run) is more expensive to maintain? What I mean by that is if the service costs per km of a used Tjet is more than that of a new one? Note that am excluding any denting/cosmetic jobs and referring to any parts which are prone to failure as the car ages.

BTW your log just adds fuel to the fire of owning a Jet

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

...Do you know if a used Tjet (2-3 yrs/20 - 30k kms run) is more expensive to maintain? What I mean by that is if the service costs per km of a used Tjet is more than that of a new one? Note that am excluding any denting/cosmetic jobs and referring to any parts which are prone to failure as the car ages...

An abused car will naturally incur a lot of expense in the long run while a well maintained one will be reasonable to service even after munching a lot of miles. Am sure you can find well maintained & cared used T-Jets on our very forum for good prices.