|
does anybody know what the fiat cinquecento is like to own, i am looking to get my sister one, i have been offered a 900 sx version, 1993 (L), with 77.000 miles, the guy wants £750, what does anybody think.
|
It's cheap enough, but the ancient pushrod engine has a nasty habit of emulsifying its oil which blocks the oil feed to the tappets leading to severe rocker shaft wear. Gearboxes also tend to break. But the car is cheap.
HJ
|
My sister in law has had one for about 4 yrs or so, and small things go wrong such as a radiator leak, seatbelt mechanism broke. On the whole she's been pleased with it, and more importantly, I've not had to fix it too often. Like most fiats, handbrake efficiency is hard to get come MOT time.
Mike
|
My brother has one of these, and has been quite happy with it around town and low-speed journeys. When his job changed (he went freelance) he had to travel more and since then it's been gradually falling apart: coolant problems, overheating at speed, continual tracking and suspension problems. Almost finished now on 49K miles. So don't go for high-mileage newish ones thinking they are a bargain- they don't like the motorways at all.
Chris
|
|
|
|
|
Try and get a Sporting version, great fun to drive. Apart from a bigger engine - 1108cc - they had a Punto sourced gearbox that was far better. My wife had one, albeit from new and apart from the usual build probems inherent in new cars, it proved a perfect runabout for the 3 years she had it. Take no notice of the comments about motorways, it held it's own when wound up properly. A cracking little car.
|
Dave Etchells wrote:
>Take
> no notice of the comments about motorways, it held it's own
> when wound up properly. A cracking little car.
Yes, my brother's is a "Sporting". It certainly can handle motorway speeds quite happily, but he's putting 15K a year on it and the deterioration is amazing. As I said, it's more or less finished at 49K. I guess because everything is small and light it wears out quicker.
Chris
|
|
|
|
My fiancee drive a '96 N-plate 900S with 64k on the clock, and though I'm concerned with it's long-term durability it's a great little drive, infact I tend to prefer it for local runs to my 2.0 Focus!
A prime example of small things going wrong with these cars though happened last week when I drove my fiancee to a party in her car, so as she could do the return leg (she can't drink due to being with child). When it was time to leave the party at 1am she climbed into the drivers seat, pulled up the lever to slide the seat forward (due to it being set fully back to accomodate my 6'1" frame) and found the mechanism had bitten the bullet. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the metal bar you pull upwards to slide the seat had disintegrated around one of the pins on one side, not good!
|
|
|
I have seen one of these giving a very good "boy racer2 account of itself.
Can't comment on how long it could keep it up, though!
|
|
|
![2022 Fiat Panda 1.0 Mild Hybrid City Life [5 Seat] 5dr](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/images/holding.jpg)
_COLON_no_upscale()/cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/2839d57408bffdc7e4d83883cda0d5be/41b435984f86351fac60b66ad121c462.jpg)
