Ford Fiesta vs Fiat Linea

Yes, it’s really cliched, but all good things have got to come to an end. After three months of daily driving and living with it, I’ve had to wave goodbye to our Fiat Linea 125S. Being a heavy, fuel guzzler, there was never any rush to grab the keys among fellow testers but now that it’s left our fleet, it will be missed.

The Fiesta is one of the globally-acclaimed cars from the Ford stable. It carries huge respect. Even in India, the car formerly known as the Fiesta is the one that picked up the mantle from the Ikon and took Ford to greater heights – but the new Fiesta was a quantum leap ahead. Unfortunately, it jumped into a price bracket where suddenly rear seat space was a requirement, not an option – and the Fiesta always was about the driver, not the backseat. Sales plummeted, and the Fiesta was largely ignored despite a first-in-class feature and a fantastic automatic gearbox that was added later in an update.

I am happy to report that my love of small turbocharged petrol engines has only been augmented since I took charge of our Fiat Linea 125S long termer. Although I was initially sceptical about its compact engine having to lug the Linea’s heft, I’ve grown to appreciate the motor’s everyday potential.