New Fiat 500

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on October 14, 2009 at 3:44pm

Magaret! Margaret! Margaret! I am at this moment helping an eldely lady buy another car [second hand] She needs reliability. I have started at the bottom end and I have said - avoid Fiats, also French cars as their service is not considered the greatest. Your daughter needs her bottom spanked. Suzuki make a more relible small car as do Hyundai and Kia. Suzuki also make the smallest Vauxhall.
I drove a Kia for several years and I ignored the IMAGE crap and it was reliable. At that time it wasn't part of Hyundai.
The reason I moved to Honda was because I moved. Their service was SUPREME and my car was super reliable. --- Hank

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on October 14, 2009 at 4:05pm

Darling ! Darling! Darling ! . That **** about being the first is just - rubbish At the moment I am asking Ruth if I can use the word crap --- OK Ruth I don't expect a Christmas card ---Hank

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margaret Goodwin on October 14, 2009 at 6:27pm

I am gullible aren't I? I'm sure you're right and they are probably snowed under with cars being returned. However, I have to take issue with you about French cars - I drove a series of Citroens for several years and found them very reliable.......although when it came to having work done on them, the Citroen garages charged through the nose, and I was very lucky to find an independent mechanic who had been Citroen trained and was less expensive. I believe they have standardised their engine layout now and it is easier for all mechanics to work on them, so perhaps that is no longer a problem - but they may have sacrificed reliability in order to conform.

Thank goodness for my Ford Focus - I love it.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ANTHONY G WOOLNOUGH on October 14, 2009 at 7:59pm

Wait until clutch goes (mass flywheel) twice the cost of Citroen, if yours is auto big bucks to repair prefer C4 I agree about cost of repairs to Citroen but as you found out go to a independent garage, for parts GSF or Europarts are the best source for foreign car parts
Take one instant I purchased a drive belt from a local motor factor cost £17 for Xantia (which proved to be faulty) same from GSF £11 no problems, it should be noted Ford Jaguar Range Rover use Citroen Diesel, plus Rolls Royce use a version of citroen suspension

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on October 14, 2009 at 11:08pm

Margaret I had so many emails coming through that I shut down and watched the football on TV. If you read "Which?" or the American version J D Power you will find that these independent assessors do not rate Fiat highly for reliability. This lady I spoke of has an independent mechanic to do her repairs and servicing. She really needs a reliable car because of health problems so I suggested cars that were considered reliable and where spares were easily available. I didn't include Daihatsu although they are high on the list for reliability but they have few outlets in our neck of the woods. Maybe things have changed but when I drove a Citroen ZX - which I really enjoyed driving - I found the service centres were really off hand.
Honda agents are ACE plus, as are their cars. --- Hank

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margaret Goodwin on October 15, 2009 at 3:55pm

Hi Anthony - no it's manual, I don't really care for automatics - had a Jag a few years ago, which was a lovely car but it wasn't manual (my only grouch, couldn't fault it otherwise). You say the clutch might go soon??? Aaargh! It's done 140k and I have just put a new battery in.......time to switch? Probably! Citroen suspension........if only I had it on my Focus. Thant's what I really miss.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margaret Goodwin on October 15, 2009 at 4:01pm

Off hand? They're positively French!! I have even had the Gallic 'shrug' from the biggest dealer in this area.

Hope you enjoyed the footie, my son enjoyed the casserole.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on October 15, 2009 at 4:39pm

I know that a lot of people don't like automatics and I sometimes wonder why. I was forced into having one as I had an op on my left hip. I rarely see things in black and white [the one exception is religion - or had you guessed !] I think it's a way of life as Americans wouldn't give a "Thank You" for a manual box. The new Jazz has an auto/manual box and I believe it is the same system on the Fiesta but I wouldn't swear to that. Citroen suspension on the ZX - I loved it [a diesel automatic] I would deliberately drive into a quiet roundabout too fast because I got a kick out of the way it handled the pressure. I moved up to the next level eventually [clever marketing - big discounts] It impressed me so much I can't even remember the name. It was a passenger car as it wallowed like a hippo in water. People used to say it was lovely like floating and I was thinking how do control this flabby creature. The service centre was in the plus three category. When I get my Jazz I will give you an honest opinion and if those cracks about jealousy were directed at me for goodness sake give a reason - Hank.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margaret Goodwin on October 15, 2009 at 4:52pm

Can't wait to hear about this bloomin' miracle (oops, is that a bit close to religion?).

I really do hope it is as good as you anticipate, Hank......I ain't Jealous, mate!
I will be delighted for you, if you are happy with it.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on October 16, 2009 at 12:03am

The new Jazz has a six speed conventional gearbox with an automatic gear change that can be overridden manually. You would think I knew what I was talking about.
By the way it wasn't you that mentioned jealousy and I don't know who they were talking about as I never noticed any jealous comments. --- Hank.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margaret Goodwin on January 6, 2010 at 1:00pm

Guess What? The Fiat's back in dock again!!! Some kind of electrical fault which is causing it to beep in a random fashion!

I'll let you know.

Marg

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on January 6, 2010 at 1:18pm

I'm sorry to hear that Margaret. What amazes me is Ferrari is the parent company so I would have though that reliability would have been built into their Fiat cars. I saw the new Panda yesterday - very boxy like the Kia Soul.
I like the boxy look because it makes more of the available space. The strange thing is that Kia have brought out another car using the same platform as the Soul but with a more streamlined body and you would never guess they are the same car underneath. --- Hank

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page