Part 1
One mighty heart. Fiat launched a pan-India drive with the Linea, Punto, Palio and the cute little 500, all featuring the famed 1.3-litre Multijet engine, with the idea of promoting the engine and their cars and also to prove their reliability. For the seventh leg of the Fiat Diesel Drives India drive, AUTO BILD INDIA chose the toughest route to put the cars on a test of reliability and endurance
Our route begins from Delhi and to Chandigarh and Day 1 sees me in the Punto, leading the pack. Being flagged off late afternoon, we make our way out towards the GT-Karnal road which is filled with usual traffic. The Multijet in the Punto makes xxbhp and never lets you forget that you are in a diesel thanks to the constant drone, especially in the higher revs. While in city, it can cruise all day long without the requirement of changing gears, on the highway it is a different ballgame. You have to keep the rev counter over 1800rpm to indulge in a quick overtaking manoeuvre and that means you will be shifting down often. However at high speeds, the Punto feels very planted on the road displaying dynamics of bigger cars. We reach Chandigarh late in the night after a long flat sttretch of highway and decide to explore the city the next day.
Day 2 begins early and I find myself in the Palio. It might look the oldest of the lot, but the engine and gearbox feel better than the Punto. We are flagged off again and head towards Palampur via Ropar and Amb. Most of the sections on this route are under construction and this meant rough roads and sudden direction changes. As night fell we hit the hills of Himachal. The roads aren’t in the best of nick with certain sections devoid of tarmac. You might be cruising at good speed when suddenly the road ahead disappears. Here the ride of the Palio impresses me a lot as it takes the hammering with ease. We are again late in reaching Palampur and while we hunt for our hotel, most of the town is already in the warmth of ‘razaais’.
While my colleagues had been driving the 500 the previous two days on Day 3 I take the keys to this car where design seemed to have been given priority over engineering. Everything in the cabin falls into hand easily. I push a button on the dash which tunes up the steering for city use. As we start our journey, the steering tuned for the piazzas of Turin is at ease on the twisty market roads of Palampur. We stop to replenish stocks, the 500 becomesthe centre of attraction in the market. Everyone’s asking about price and backing off on hearing it! After some time mapping our way to our next halt, Narkanda, we set off towards Mandi with the high ranges of Dhauladhar mountains in sight. It is all hills today and the 1.3 in the 500 seems to be in its element. It feels much smoother, less noisier and, the 500 being a lot lighter than the other Fiats here, faster accelerating. The gearbox too is a slick operator unlike either in the Linea or the Punto. We pass through numerous little towns and villages and I can see every eyeball glued to the 500. Passing through Shimla, we head to Narkanda. Being situated off the beaten track there are few signs to guide you. With about 70km still to go, we decide to push and reach Narkanda late at night (as usual) and are greeted by a deserted bus stand at an altitude of 2,708 metres. We are staying at HPTDC’s deluxe hotel called The Hatu, named after the highest peak of the region.
Part 2
Washing cars at 9 degrees Celsius is finger numbing. Half a dozen lights on the 500 tries to lead the way as evening sets. The convoy always attracts attention.
The next morning we wake up with the room heaters still trying to keep the room warm. Our plan to leave early goes to waste as the 500's battery is dead.Once ready to move we discover that the rear right tyre of the Linea is punctured! While the Fiat technician ot onto the job, we sit with our maps. Today we will cross over from Himachal Pradesh into Uttarakhand and the common route would be via Shimla. But we find an alternative route, a narrow road connecting Narkanda with Dhanolti – our penultimate stop. We start our journey with me in the Punto, and the 500 and Palio ahead. As we progress the roads keep narrowing down. Any attempt of speeding up to cover the target 288km quickly results in the Walt Disney-ish bum of the 500 jumping up and down on the sudden crests on the road. The route passing through Khadrala and Rohru are so narrow that even the 500 has to be on the edge of the cliff to let the occasional truck pass! Late in the afternoon, I shift to the 500 and as dusk falls I find that the 500's half a dozen headlamps hardly illuminate the road. We are speeding through rough tracks in the darkness when the 500’s sump takes a hit from the rock strewn track! Immediately I am told that the 500’s sump had been repaired on a previous leg! Nevertheless, the 500 keeps pace with the rest with the occasional hard braking for a sharp rock or rut. It is late evening before the arduous nature of our route actually hits us. We have to head towards Chakrata, and with no signs of inhabitation around, my colleague Ashish takes a decision and we follow him. A few kilometres later (which felt like an eternity) we spot some lights. Our hopes of confirming our route though goes to waste as people have already retreated in. We have now travelled more than 30km on a beaten up track not knowing if we are heading the right way. We carry on anyway. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a decrepit road sign tells us we have crossed into Uttarakhand! Around 80km ahead lies Mussoorie, and a further 32km on, Dhanaulti! Some hot tea warms us up in Chakrata and we are told from here on it is a state highway. Illusions of smooth tarmac however are blown to bits as we discover it is a rough track as well. We carry on with references to the road map. We are now in dense forests and the sight of foxes and the knowledge of leopards in the area means it isn’t a good idea to get lost here! Ten kilometres later we reach an intersection which says it's another 20km to Mussoorie. The rest of the way to the hill station is pristine tarmac marked with cat eyed dividers and road markings. After a long time our cars are zipping and we soak up the fun making tyres squeal in a bid to keep grip in corners. We pass Kempty Falls and reach Mussoorie where we halt for dinner. From here on we are aware of the route and complete the rest of the 32km with ease. As we bid good night to our cars, we find them covered in dust and muck but nothing had fallen off, leaked or broken. This says a lot about these cars especially the little 500 which had already done more than 49,000km by now.
Just before we hit the dirt track.we encountered this tea garden.
The final leg of our journey sees us start from Dhanaulti at 6,522 feet from where we would head back to reality in Delhi. My ride today is the Linea. Having been on this route on numerous occasions I was aware it was a good mix of terrain. On the hills the Linea feels under powered and desperately asking for a bigger heart. Constant gear changes are needed to keep pace with the rest. The ride and handling qualities though are splendid. It turns with as much agility asany of the other cars. Once past Rishiskesh and on to Hardwar we hit the plains. There is a lot of traffic, including maniacally piloted rickshaws. We decide to take it easy and at these speeds, the Linea feels very comfortable. If you are driving in the city, the Linea feels just fine with plenty of torque to pull you through most situations. On the highway though where overtaking is a necessity things are different. On one instance I had to overtake a rather long trailer. I down shifted to second and buried the throttle. A lot of noise later the Linea was still struggling to touch 100 and still overtaking.
We reach Delhi once again late at night and head towards the dealership to bid farewell to the four Italians that have been in our custody for the past few days and the team from Fiat that had accopmanied us. They will carry on for the rest of legs through Rajasthan and onto Mumbai where the drive will end. Best of luck to them!
