What are they like, part 197.3: Fiat Multispaz.

[Cavcraft]

Been offered a Fiat Multispaz thing. Circa 1999/2000 1.6 petrol. Now, I have something of an aversion to Fiats after horrific experiences with a 126, various Pandas and a couple of Brava things. The Bravas especially seem to self detonate at will and seemed a pretty shoddy affair if truth be told.

 

Is it likely the Multispacker will be just as bad? I quite like the boot ugly looks and (seemed) quirkiness but are they liveable with or a heap of shit and any achilles heels to look for thankyou please? It'll probably come to naff all but everything has a price and all that.

[Mike D]

I had one as a hire car in about 2002, it was pretty good! I liked the interior and the little table effort. Mrs' friend has one she uses every day and she seems to have had no trouble, I think hers is powered by the devils fuel though

[dollywobbler]

Meant to have quite a few issues I think, so the trade doesn't like them. Prime Autoshite-modern then!

[pompei]

I've only been a passenger in one - Italian taxi - went scarily fast (though that probably applies to all cars driven by Italian mini-cabbers) reasonably comfy and spacious, GR9 visibility and not a bad ride. I think the pastic interiors fall to bits and their width can be a problem. I quite fancy one but I'm not sure I could cope with 3 up in the front (oo-er missus) and much as I love the ugliness of them, I think the charm might wear thin after a while.

 

I did see an article somewhere where a tuning chip company remapped a dizzler and it went like the wind. Though the clutch struggled to cope

[peter9000uk]

Courtesy of Honest John

 

What to Watch Out For

Make sure everything works and exhaust not blowing.

 

Lots of niggling faults, especially with alarm/immobiliser.

 

Some of the trim is a bit cheap: rubbery plastic on ashtray peels off, seat material not very robust.

 

Petrol engined model lacks the splash undertray of the diesel and in really bad wet and salty road conditions the engine can ingest water and self destruct.

 

One-piece exhausts of petrol models (from car back)have a fairly limited life and cost £275 for the part alone to replace.

 

Clutch master cylinders can have a relatively short life of 15k to 20k miles, but the problem is usually nothing more than a broken spring inside them and a local garage can fix that for the cost of an hour's labour.

 

If it loses 4th gear the reason is often a bit of broken alloy casting getting lodged in the groove of the selector shaft, stopping the cogs from engaging. But means a transmission strip to fix it.

 

Timing belts, tensioners and pulleys need replacing every 36k - 40k miles. Also need new waterpumps because pumps are driven by timing belts and if they fail the belt gets flung off.

 

Dual mass flywheels on diesels fail earlier than you would expect a clutch to fail.

[Lankytim]

I think they look a right laugh, wheel in each corner bubble-mobile. I'd imagine you can fit a few sofas inside the back, too. i'd deffo have one.

[Cavcraft]

Many thanks. Suspiciously it has a new full exhaust then a bit later on he tells me the the exhaust is blowing. Sod £275 for a game of soldiers like!

Thanks once again, will see what he says if/when he mails me back.

Ta muchly!

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

My uncle had a Brava 1.4 and a Multipla JTD for ages, apart from odd electrical maladies with the JTD (ECU) they were both fine and never failed to proceed.

[dollywobbler]

I'm sure 90% of exhaust blows could actually be resolved with a bit of weld. The old garage where we used to live (two houses ago, run by two proper old geezers) kept the exhaust on my wife's AX alive for years with judicious use of a welder! Sadly, the Landy's blowing on a joint so can't really weld that up.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

The 9000 has a mostly new exhaust, sounds 'parpy' yet isn't actually blowing anywhere - I've checked a few times. Annoying.

[Tayne]

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[lovejoy]

Cavette ? "Horrific experiences in a 126" ?? who was she ?? tell me more ! if it was an air-cooled 126, they are bulletproof, but not so that dog of a water-cooled hatchbacked Polish run- out model, so perhaps it was that you experienced....

 

The Multipla's are FULL of character, a removal-van version of a Matra Bagheera. The facelifted version lacks all the luvverly earlier " squashed toad " appearance, but they are competant vehicles generally, and definately Autoshitefodda. I'd av 1.

[Espacetic]

Exhaust for the petrol model is £100 complete, they must get that price from Halfrauds.

I've got a 02 plate one sat outside and it wasn't that bad to drive, fairly reliable if somewhat boring.

Not that quick for a Fiat tbh and rather juicy, too.

Quite funky inside and marmite looks. It would have to be cheap...

[Cavcraft]

Cavette ? "Horrific experiences in a 126" ?? who was she ?? tell me more ! if it was an air-cooled 126, they are bulletproof, but not so that dog of a water-cooled hatchbacked Polish run- out model, so perhaps it was that you experienced....

 

The Multipla's are FULL of character, a removal-van version of a Matra Bagheera. The facelifted version lacks all the luvverly earlier " squashed toad " appearance, but they are competant vehicles generally, and definately Autoshitefodda. I'd av 1.

 

MUCH LOLZERNESS. Erm, being careful how I answer this, it was my mum's car. I think it was about a 1980/1 model, the one with the pull start thing and pull choke lever next to it.

Soz and all that but it was incredibly hateful. I mean mind blowingly, laughably, God awfully fucking hateful. I could deal with it being slow and noisy, it's what you'd expect, but I couldn't deal with it being comically unreliable, hateful to drive and having the sort of build quality that would make even Iveco blush.

[Pete-M]

I've not driven a Multispaz since they came out, but I remember the early ones as amusing to drive and a pretty good quality ride.

 

However, they were brand new when I drove 'em, so what an oldish saggy one is like to drive I don't know, or dread to contemplate.

 

As someone who actually quite likes the look of the last Scorpios, I'm not gonna comment on the looks thing.