Brand new shite V brand new shite ( Bini v 500~ski)

[fiatdaft]

I forgot to add,how many of the a.c. wingers on the fiat forum winged that the car was far cheaper there than anywhere else.

 

504 so a couple of minor things went wrong,Wow its a car ,they do that.

 

And you might think the Abarth is overpriced,but much more fun than a lounge,a short testdrive isn't much of a comparison.

 

Anyway if you hate moderns,don't buy/drive them,anybodys chosen autoshite was a modern once, maybe even bought on tick !

[504GL]

The ford uses fiat parts,no ford parts in the 500.

 

And i don't think £139 per month is hellishly expensive for a brand new car.

 

No it's not, but what kind of dipper do you need?

 

I bought a new Ka in 1999 - £1000 down and £128 a month.Even then it was silly cheap motoring.

 

I'd have a 500 over a MINI like a shot. The MINI was sort of interesting 10 years ago, but now it's a fat arsed cliche that needs optioning up to avoid being dismal. The 500 is appealing even in it's absolute bog basic form. I'm assuming you can still get one for eight grand.

 

Oh, and the new Ka looks ridiculous. They've lost all the charm and funkiness out of the original. They don't sell* anything like as well either.

 

If only. I think when they launched the 1.2 pop was 7,200 or 7300 iirc. Now it's £9,900 :shock: :shock: . We bought a 1.2 lounge + leather seats, bigger wheels and side rubbing strips and before scrappage it was £10,720 so £8720 after.

 

I have to say I don't like the new Ka either. They've totally muffed up the 500's interior plus there's nothing to it, a newish old Ka still looks more modern.

[504GL]

I forgot to add,how many of the a.c. wingers on the fiat forum winged that the car was far cheaper there than anywhere else.

 

504 so a couple of minor things went wrong,Wow its a car ,they do that.

 

And you might think the Abarth is overpriced,but much more fun than a lounge,a short testdrive isn't much of a comparison.

 

Anyway if you hate moderns,don't buy/drive them,anybodys chosen autoshite was a modern once, maybe even bought on tick !

 

Hope the wife enjoys the rear wheel bearings going on her Abarth due to the rear calipers filling up with road crud and seizing on and overheating the bearings. But then again, these things happen I guess

 

I'm sorry but you seem to have awfully low standards. The big breather pipes have been going on 1.2 8v Grande Punto's since 2005 and only just this year did they actually alter the material. I'm sorry, but that's British motor industry level mongishness. They replaced it with a silicone one which is absolutely fine.

 

I've never actually testdriven an Abarth, It just doesn't appeal. I'm just going off what the motoring press and what other people who have owned 500 Abarth's have said. The whole seperate Abarth thing is also fantastically mongtastic. Lets sell our car in fewer places, lets not really push all the dealerships to deliver a great level of service....... Lets not let normal Fiat dealers do warranty work either even though there's NOTHING on the Abarth that hasn't featured on something else in the Fiat stable. A guy on Fiatforum took his car to the place in Chester and they crushed the sills on his car. MONGTASTIC!!!!!! MONG MONG MONG MONG MONG MONG

 

I've got gap insurance on the 500 for another 2 years, if it gets written off I'll be straight back to the dealers and I'll be ordering the same car but with the twinair engine. I love Fiat's, but they're far from perfect as cars.

 

P.S MONG!!!!!

[pompei]

Mrs P very briefly strayed out of her preferred Mazda territory and bought a green 500 a couple of years ago. I was really wanting to like it but it left me underwhelmed I'm afraid. This from a staunch "old 500" enthusiast. I thought the ride was crashy and the engine coarse. I couldn't recognise all the accolades the press gave it.

 

However, a pal has a diesel 500 and loves it - had a ride in it and it was much better IMHO.

 

His outlaws have a 500 Sport and they complain of the harsh ride. On Fiat's advice, he's looking at fitting higher profile tyres on the standard wheels.

[fiatdaft]

I'm a mong for having nicer, faster cars than you?

[504GL]

I'm a mong for having nicer, faster cars than you?

 

I didn't call you a mong, I said Fiat were mongs. It's nice to see the superiority complex come out though

[fiatdaft]

Anytime !

[504GL]

Anytime !

 

Whatever We could have easily bought a 500 Abarth, but having a car in the garage which is far quicker meant that the Abarth was slightly pointless.

[504GL]

Mrs P very briefly strayed out of her preferred Mazda territory and bought a green 500 a couple of years ago. I was really wanting to like it but it left me underwhelmed I'm afraid. This from a staunch "old 500" enthusiast. I thought the ride was crashy and the engine coarse. I couldn't recognise all the accolades the press gave it.

 

However, a pal has a diesel 500 and loves it - had a ride in it and it was much better IMHO.

 

His outlaws have a 500 Sport and they complain of the harsh ride. On Fiat's advice, he's looking at fitting higher profile tyres on the standard wheels.

 

Personally if I were to do anything to make the ride quality better, it'd be to fit some Koni FSD's. Apparently they absolutely transform the ride quality.

 

The early cars which your green one would have been had the old style rear beam which was completely cack. Some decent dampers would have sorted it out.

 

The diesel's had a slightly different setup which was geared towards comfort.

[andrew e]

Only connections I can recall between Fiat and GM were that a) the 1.9CDTi engine is (allegedly) a Fiat lump and when GM decided to stop giving cars away to BSM (as part of a cost cutting measure) Fiat jumped in.

 

I only found out last week the new Croma (all 1200 odd right hand drive ones) is Vectra wagon/Signum/93 underneath, the FIAT forum is full of links to the Vectra C forums for parts!

[Cavcraft]

So they're not all bad then these Fiats?

 

One thing* that's always concerned me ref. buying a new car (especially on finance) is that what happens when you get bored of it a few months down the line? You must lose shit loads of money.

 

*And lack of money of course.

[Guest]

So they're not all bad then these Fiats?

 

One thing* that's always concerned me ref. buying a new car (especially on finance) is that what happens when you get bored of it a few months down the line? You must lose shit loads of money.

 

*And lack of money of course.

 

Hang on it to it then, and not give a shit, like me. Of course you can skip the 'harrowing first 18 months' of ownership if you like, that only comes with new Citroens.

Girl at Uni has a red 500 with a FO great white stripe below the window. It looks smart.

[andrew e]

You do lose a bomb granted, but you tend to spend 'f all on running costs. Horses for courses I guess. Saying that Mrs E's 16V domestic appliance is now 18 months old, and CAP says it trades in for £1600 less than we paid for it new. Its cost £119 on a service in the last year, so £1719. She can go anywhere with complete faith and run your and other peoples daughters about when your 65 miles from home on a nightshift. Thats what your buying really I guess.

[Cavcraft]

Indeed, good points raised. Not anti-new car, quite the reverse as there's several I'd like (especially a nice black 159 for example) just worried about my fickleness.

[Barry Cade]

A wee bit off track here, but this is gods honest truth. On the way to work in Dundee this morning- I saw a Mini TAXI. granted one of the big ones, but FFS...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

A wee bit off track here, but this is gods honest truth. On the way to work in Dundee this morning- I saw a Mini TAXI. granted one of the big ones, but FFS...

 

Too big. The backbone of the taxi fleet in Bogota is this:

[overheadvalve]

Indeed, good points raised. Not anti-new car, quite the reverse as there's several I'd like (especially a nice black 159 for example) just worried about my fickleness.

That's great but you would need a large house with a large lounge to park it in. They are great to look at but you just know that they *are* going to go rong in a spectacular fashion.

[504GL]

You do lose a bomb granted, but you tend to spend 'f all on running costs. Horses for courses I guess. Saying that Mrs E's 16V domestic appliance is now 18 months old, and CAP says it trades in for £1600 less than we paid for it new. Its cost £119 on a service in the last year, so £1719. She can go anywhere with complete faith and run your and other peoples daughters about when your 65 miles from home on a nightshift. Thats what your buying really I guess.

 

If properly maintained though, that car can go on to be driven in complete faith for many years though WHy people get to 3 years and suddenly jump ship I'll never know.

[Cavcraft]

/\

 

Probably because a salesman/friend/neighbour has warned them of imminent massive MOT failure costs and the huge loss of value of the car.

[dollywobbler]

Either that or it's OMG IZ SO OLD! I FEELZ SHAME!

[504GL]

Either that or it's OMG IZ SO OLD! I FEELZ SHAME!

 

Well tbh our 500 is on an 09 plate, I should probably buy a new one to impress cnuts I don't even know.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I love Fiat's, but they're far from perfect as cars.

 

 

Well, if you can show me a car that never goes wrong, I'll have one please. You'll find it's the same for everything now. Vauxhalls have issues, so do Fords. Jap stuff isn't quite as great as you think it is and a mate of mine who is a mechanic at a Peugeot dealer has plenty of horror stories. You can spend £30'000 on a new car, and still have problems. It was ever thus I'm afraid.

[504GL]

I love Fiat's, but they're far from perfect as cars.

 

 

Well, if you can show me a car that never goes wrong, I'll have one please. You'll find it's the same for everything now. Vauxhalls have issues, so do Fords. Jap stuff isn't quite as great as you think it is and a mate of mine who is a mechanic at a Peugeot dealer has plenty of horror stories. You can spend £30'000 on a new car, and still have problems. It was ever thus I'm afraid.

 

Of course, but like I said, the breather pipes were going on Grande Punto's back in 2005 and still in 2011 they were fitting the same crappy parts. When I say they were going, they were ALL going, I asked the stealership what the failure rate was and he said that every single 500 they've had in for a service has had split breather pipes. Does it really take 6 years of having parts fail to spec some proper materials?

 

Minor problem thankfully and I'd much rather have the breather pipe fail 10 times than have the power steering fail as tends to happen on Mini's. But it's still annoying.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I love Fiat's, but they're far from perfect as cars.

 

 

Well, if you can show me a car that never goes wrong, I'll have one please. You'll find it's the same for everything now. Vauxhalls have issues, so do Fords. Jap stuff isn't quite as great as you think it is and a mate of mine who is a mechanic at a Peugeot dealer has plenty of horror stories. You can spend £30'000 on a new car, and still have problems. It was ever thus I'm afraid.

 

Of course, but like I said, the breather pipes were going on Grande Punto's back in 2005 and still in 2011 they were fitting the same crappy parts. When I say they were going, they were ALL going, I asked the stealership what the failure rate was and he said that every single 500 they've had in for a service has had split breather pipes. Does it really take 6 years of having parts fail to spec some proper materials?

 

Minor problem thankfully and I'd much rather have the breather pipe fail 10 times than have the power steering fail as tends to happen on Mini's. But it's still annoying.

 

 

Yes. And 5 year old cars used to be MOT borderline rust buckets 30 years ago, now they aren't. And engines last 100'000 miles without a rebuild. Breather hoses are a minor irritation and cost bugger all to replace. If you had a 5 year old 127/Mini/Escort and had to weld the sills back on, you'd be REALLY pissed!

[504GL]

Yes. And 5 year old cars used to be MOT borderline rust buckets 30 years ago, now they aren't. And engines last 100'000 miles without a rebuild. Breather hoses are a minor irritation and cost bugger all to replace. If you had a 5 year old 127/Mini/Escort and had to weld the sills back on, you'd be REALLY pissed!

 

I know, but things move on and standards go up I would still happily recommend a 500 to anyone with the caveat that you need to keep on top of the little issues and be strong with the dealers.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Well, if you can show me a car that never goes wrong, I'll have one please. You'll find it's the same for everything now. Vauxhalls have issues, so do Fords. Jap stuff isn't quite as great as you think it is and a mate of mine who is a mechanic at a Peugeot dealer has plenty of horror stories. You can spend £30'000 on a new car, and still have problems. It was ever thus I'm afraid.

 

No, it wasn't. My dad bought a brand new Corolla Estate in 1992. It was such an early example of the new shape that, unless you wanted to wait for 4-5 months, you could only order the absolute boggo-spec 1.3 XLI (no central locking, leccy windows or much else beyond a rev counter and a vinyl load cover) and only in red or white (gr9 where metallic paint had been a no-cost extra!). To my knowledge, despite it being a brand new design, there had been no recalls and it didn't undergo any warranty work. He and my mum kept it till about 2004 and, apart from tyres, brakes and a battery or two and a spectacular accident I had coming down a hill (I was late in slowing down for a bend, then panicked, no ABS and I crashlanded on the kerb leading to a side street, completely fucking up the steering), the only repair work in 12 years and 160k km was something to do with the cooling system that cost 100 Euros to put right.

 

Good luck finding such an unbreakable, no-nonsense car nowadays!