mmarshall

We're getting Fiats, and you're concerned about CHRYSLER's build quality?


The term "Fix it Again, Tony" (FIAT) didn't just come out of nowhere. Of course, we can only hope that Fiat, like Hyundai/Kia, has finally gotten the gremlins out of their notoriously unreliable products.

IS-SV

lol, those certainly were the good old days of FIAT and FORD and what those names stood for, more flashbacks....


Does anybody have any current data on Fiat build quality or reliability, like within the last 10 years at least? We do have some European forum members.

UberNoob

also Fiat 500 has been getting lots of good reviews lately so maybe for a simple small car like that, they did an OK job with reliability and build quality???
i hope...

Big Andy

My wife chopped in her Audi A3 for a new FIAT 500 1.2 Lounge model. She absolutely loves it - even going so far as to name it! (what can you do - you marry for better, for worse?)

It doesn't have the power of her Audi, but for running round town it's great, the gearchange falls easily to hand and encourages you to drive the car with a bit of verve. The interior quality is excellent. The plastics, with the exception of a couple of mouldings carried over form the Panda, are almost the equal of those in my IS, everything feels chunky, the leather steering wheel feels great and the cabin is light and airy with the fixed glass roof. The seats are firm and you tend to sit on them rather than in them, but again the quality of construction and materials is very good.

Her 500 came with electic windows, aircon, CD player with USB input for MP3 playback - that's all part of the "Blue and Me" package that dispays track names in the centre of the speedo and gives you bluetooth handsfee integration and it even reads out text messages if you're sent one while driving along. It's pretty roomy inside - there's far more room in the back than my MINI had and the boot (trunk) isn't bad either.

Externally the paintwork is flawless and everything shuts pretty solidly, with nice (plastic) chrome accents and a decent set of alloy wheels and low profile tyres. The 500 has a better ride than the MINI - probably due to the lack of runflats, but doesn't handle quite the same. We're averaging about 45mpg around town from the 1.2 (69bhp) engine. It does have a decent amount of torque so subjectively it does feel more powerful than the numbers suggest.

We've had the 500 for 6 months now and nothing has broken or fallen off yet, though we did have one recall for a wheel bearing issue. Other than that it's been trouble-free for 3000 miles, services are every 18,000 miles, it costs £200 to insure fully comprehensive and £35 a year to tax, so it's pretty cheap motoring.

Over the last 15 years we've had a FIAT Panda, Cinquecento, Punto and Bravo and none have given us any real problems, with most of them being passed onto family or friends and continuing to give good service. Yes, FIATs aren't as reliable as Toyotas but there's not a massive difference in my experience - certainly the Polish built ones such as the 500 and the Panda seem to be getting good reports.

We did look at the Toyota iQ as an alternative to the 500 but it was quickly discounted as too wide (no good for darting through traffic) and too small inside - it's barely a 3 seater and there literally is no luggage space - you can get a thin briefcase in the back at best. In the end it wasn't worth paying an extra couple of grand to get a car a foot shorter in length - the Toyota Aygo is a 4 seater,3 grand cheaper, and only a matter of inches longer than an iQ, so that's where my money would go.

IS-SV

Big Andy - Thanks for a real time/modern era Fiat perspective for the UK. I certainly need to visit the UK again.

Faymester

good mini-review

This
has got to be one of the smarter ideas I've heard of.

muhbuhtuh

just watched the newest episode. the new Porsche Panamera is in it. it looks pretty nice. i love how the sat nav is next to the speedometer.

and poor evo

dunnojack

today's episode matches the Z4 to the 370Z

clarkson says the twin turbo feels like a pair of testes.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

Can someone PM me the time and channel that TG is on? I have satellite cable..

Thanks

Faymester

Man, I wish I had BBC ... I have to wait for it to be up somewhere & watch it then or DL later on ... goo!

lol, race a letter? eesh. I guess they're running out of things to race that aren't each other.

LexFather

Thanks Andy for the review!

RXSF

lol hillarious. my fav part was when jeremy was racing the mustang.

and the z4 looks good too!

does anyone know why they call him "jezzer"? is that the british way of saying jeremy

I8ABMR

Neither did fords ...fix or repair daily saying. These cars have this reputation because they are junk. I wouldn't spend my hard earned cash with either regardless of how improved people say they are.

dunnojack

richard hammond takes 2 aussie cars for a spin.

his behavior is funny.

gotta watch it.

RXSF

btw, its the final episode of the season until November

guest in reasonably priced car: Jay Leno
James and Jeremy try to made an Ad for the VW scirocco
Aston Martin V12 Vantage in a weird ending to the show