Do Fiats still live up to their reputation?

[Marc]

I'm lookng at buying a car, an S reg Fiat Punto S, 92k miles. It'll be my first car so it doesn't have to be anything special. The car is on the forecourt for

 

[ianmacd]

Would start low and get them to throw in a new MOT too (unless its already got 9+ months on it).

 

[Marc]

Would start low and get them to throw in a new MOT too (unless its already got 9+ months on it).

That was the plan, just spotted a V reg punto 2 minutes up from this garage for

 

[ianmacd]

Never owned a fiat (and tbh never plan to) so can't really comment on reliability.

 

[Lurch]

TBH a car of that age it doesn;t really matter as even a car that was decent when it was new at 10+ years old anything could happen to it now. More of it depends on who has driven it really and whether it has seen a garage or new tub oil in the last few years, seen plenty of cars that look nice and have had the one old couple popping to the shops once a week for 10 years in it but has not been near a garage for a while and everything has corroded or seized so ultimately it's no better than one that has been thrashed by some young lad with a death wish.

 

[PC Electrics]

Fiats have got a lot better in the last 20 years. Go to the car by car breakdown here:

www.honestjohn.co.uk

 

[steptoe]

<500

then its probably OK with some MOT and tax,

just remember you are only buying a years driving, nothing more.

Aggies mate has a fiat stilo, I do the odd bits and bobs for her on it, nothing major,(prob about 30/40

 

[PC Electrics]

S = 98/99

 

[revjames]

I think most makes have improved an awful lot in the last 20 years. You can regularly see 20 year old cars. It used to be fords and jap cars as well as fiat/alfa/lancia that were bad for rust. You dont see many rusty cars. A mate at work has a 95 Nissan Primera and it looks and goes spot on and he only gave

 

[Marc]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Steptoe - I've no idea what the year is, didn't have time to talk to them about it properly.

Ended up going for a '98 Xsara 1.6i, 97k miles. Got him down from 895 to 650 for it. All being well with the MOT I'll be picking it up tomorrow.

Having left myself with nearly nothing, I'm a bit worried that I've made the wrong choice.Pray

Thanks again.

 

[Lurch]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Steptoe - I've no idea what the year is, didn't have time to talk to them about it properly.

S reg is 1st August 1998 to 31st July 1999.

Ended up going for a '98 Xsara 1.6i, 97k miles. Got him down from 895 to 650 for it. All being well with the MOT I'll be picking it up tomorrow.Having left myself with nearly nothing, I'm a bit worried that I've made the wrong choice.Pray

Hard to tell, as someone said above you have to look at it as a years motoring hopefully, maybe more. The Xsara's weren;t all that bad, but they are from around the time when the French cars were all going downhill so don;t be too hard on it! My 3 year old Laguna on an X with 35,000 miles only lasted me 18 Months before I got fed up of fixing it, threw it in the auction as the gearbox had collapsed and the rear suspension all wanted replacing. The CD player had stopped working as well.

Unless you know that it has just had all the work done, and done properly, then first thing I would do is drop all the fluids and change all fluids and filters etc... (fuel, oil, air, coolant etc...) and stick a new set of belts on it, or cam belt at the very least. Some may say it's excessive, I always do it.

 

[steptoe]

S reg is 1st August 1998 to 31st July 1999. Hard to tell, as someone said above you have to look at it as a years motoring hopefully, maybe more. The Xsara's weren;t all that bad, but they are from around the time when the French cars were all going downhill so don;t be too hard on it! My 3 year old Laguna on an X with 35,000 miles only lasted me 18 Months before I got fed up of fixing it, threw it in the auction as the gearbox had collapsed and the rear suspension all wanted replacing. The CD player had stopped working as well.

Unless you know that it has just had all the work done, and done properly, then first thing I would do is drop all the fluids and change all fluids and filters etc... (fuel, oil, air, coolant etc...) and stick a new set of belts on it, or cam belt at the very least. Some may say it's excessive, I always do it.

+100%

about

 

[NozSpark]

New belts are a must on older cars...

We bought a N reg 1.6 Vectra last year.....

 

[Apache]

change all fluids and filters etc... (fuel, oil, air, coolant etc...) and stick a new set of belts on it, or cam belt at the very least. Some may say it's excessive, I always do it.

So I let the tyres down, then blow them up again?

:|

 

[NozSpark]

So I let the tyres down, then blow them up again?
:|

With your mouth patch.... we know you can

 

[Lurch]

I will never as long as I live buy another Vauxhall....

To be fair, that's not really Vauxhalls fault, that's a cheap second hand cars fault that clearly was due a cam belt replacement.

So I let the tyres down, then blow them up again? :|

Don;t forget the air in the carb.

 

[NozSpark]

Oh no....

It's not really the cam belt thing that drove me to that decision.

The ride was awful... like some a wallowing sponge when general driving and cornering, but shakes your fillings out when you hit a bump!!

also there were other build quality issues that I didn't like (not component wear!)

 

[Lurch]

Well yeah, the Vectra B was a bit old fashioned with the handling and they were a bit random at working for a decent length of time.

 

[88daveb]

I'm lookng at buying a car, an S reg Fiat Punto S, 92k miles. It'll be my first car so it doesn't have to be anything special. The car is on the forecourt for