Comparison Linea Vs Honda City
I am only comparing high end City and Linea Diesel as this was my comparison criteria.
Price
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I am taking price as the first comparison, cause that also will have big impact on your decision.
Below x-show room price,
Linea Diesel Emotion Pk – 8,47,000/-
Honda City Vxi MT – 9,27,000/-
1. Steering Wheel
i. Look :- Both are comparable and I don’t give much weightage to either. However Blue and Me panel in Linea gives a more sophisticated look. Mounted buttons are great since phone also integrated in linea.
ii. Comfort. Honda City is far better, thanks to EPS. Believe me, its just superb in low speed as hydraulic PS is no way near to this comfort. You feel like using only a finger to handle it. If you are planning to drive yourself most of the time, this is a major factor to consider.
iii. Tilting. Honda City is superb. You can place in any angle and the liver is so smooth. On the other hand Linea has only two positions and liver is difficult to handle. Linea is the looser here.
2. Gear
i. Comfort. Honda city Gear shift felt more smooth compared to Linea. However the City I drove has done already 19k Kms and Linea was just 400 Kms. So I just say both are fine, but many articles says Honda City is better. It is not a major point to consider as the difference is trivial.
ii. Look. On par.
3. Speedo Meter and Panel
i. Linea scores high. It gives a classy look. Also the calendar display in the from panel is eye catching.
ii. Information related to the vehicle supported in both the cars are on par. However My Car is a great feature rich common display panel in Linea. Linea scores high.
4. Accelerator, Clutch and Break.
i. It was a surprise to see that Linea’s clutch was silky smooth compared to City. City being petrol I expected other way round. I think city I drove was not serviced for some time. Clutch smoothness is really important for any long drive hence it was very important for me. However I don’t make call here, instead would say even though Linea is diesel, its clutch is smooth. No specific comments on Accelerator and Break.
ii. Break System. Both are ABS with EBD. Both I drove around @120-130km and applied the break. Both responded well and good control. However I am not that expert comment on minor differences if it has. Also Honda city claims Power Assist, which I didn’t see in the spec of Linea. But the city guys itself said Power assist is required for EBD to work.
5. Music System, Dash board Panel
i. Music System. I couldn't really compare the music system performance. I planned to check the system by playing the same music from my Ipod. However I didn’t take my USB cable along with. But the many articles suggest both are on Par and City performing well in high volume.
ii. Look. Look of this panel is far better in Linea as it has My Car extra. The buttons and color combination in Linea looked better for me. However overall standard/quality of buttons looked cheaper to me compared to City.
iii. Here there are lot of feature difference between Honda City and Linea. My Car, Automatic climate control, Outside Temperature info etc. Big difference is the automatic climate control, which is great and only available in even higher ranges. Linea scores very high.
6. AC
i. Honda city AC is very standard like other good cars. Linea claims to have automatic control. The temperature set in the car I drove as 16 degree. However it never reach 16 and was always working for 30kms I drove (I guess the actual temp would have been 20+). Back vents are specific to Linea and may be good in long drive when fully packed.
7. Mirrors.
i. Side mirror in Linea is electric controlled. Even the left mirror can be controlled by sitting in the drivers seat. I found this very useful and a good point to Linea. However the controlling buttons looks to be very cheap.
ii. Rear view mirror is day and night, which is standard in any good car. So no comments.
8. Other Features : Linea supports Blue & Me which is very unique even though it is from Microsoft. It has speech recognition mechanism and you could dial by telling the number/contact name. However you need to pair your mobile phone each time you start the car (there should be some way to avoid this). Speedo meter takes multiple values like, range/avg speed/inst consumption/avg consumption/travel time. Linea scores very high.
Linea has remote boot open using the key. HC has petrol tank remote open in key. Both car has immobilizer, a great feature to have.
9. Engine :- HC engine is well proved i-vtec and very durable. Linea diesel engine is the world wide supplied one and very well proved. Maintenance intervals are very less in Linea (15K KMs) vs 5K interval for HC. Engine noise is almost nil in HC, but diesel engine makes its presence very clear when driving especially 2000 RPM or more. HC scores high.
i. Power : - No comparison, petrol zooms faster. 115 HP vs 86 of Linea. However torque is more in linea, means it pull harder. If you looking for reaching 100 km/h 5 seconds faster HC scores higher. If you don’t mind that, you can give equal weightage. You don’t have to bother whether Linea can take you to a steep hill.
10. Inside space :- Linea is longer and heavier. Space inside looks to be same. However while sitting on the seat of HC with max height was almost touching the roof. There may be 1-2 cms difference here I guess. Not a real concern.
11. Seats :- Is on par. However the sitting comfort on the seat is better in HC. It looks to be more wider and soft. Linea has very hard seat. HC scores better.
12. Fog lamp :- Linea comes with front and back fog lamps. HC has only front fog lamp. Back glass of linea comes with a heater defogger with timer (20 mins), not sure about HC.
13. Service :- Fiat Marketing/sales team was not as professional as Honda. I had 3 test drive on Linea and two on HC. Fiat doesn’t even followed it up with me, however HC team called up twice to see any assistance was required. Even a request for test drive in Fiat website was not answered, nor the sales team of Tata dealership. After fixing a date and time for test drive of Linea no one shown up.
Summary
If you are a techie looking for lots of features without compromising on look and comfort go for Linea. If you are sporty and wants higher power and zoom on highways, HC is better option.
Both cars easily reaches 120 KMs without much effort on high ways and are very steady. As per many analysis Linea has slightly better control in high speed.
If you would consider price as another parameter Linea saves you almost 80k with less maintenance cost.
Service could be a problem with Linea as it is evident from the marketing team of both cars. HC team is thorough professional and you can expect the same after sales, however TATA/Fiat has to the prove it.
Please send your comments feedback.
