Protect your eyes - Fiat 500 content
Discussion
Surveyor junior turns 17 this week. She is quite keen to drive, and given that she has a part-time job in a restaurant I'm keen to get out of dad taxis and that she driver herself. Neither mine nor my wifes car is appropriate to learn in, so we went shopping.
My brief was Fiat 500. Anything Fiat 500. I resisted quite a lot. However, it turns out they are quite cheap to insure for a 17 year old girl, and have a good amount of safety equipement. More on that later....
Looking on the bay of evil, I had a choice that appealed of a one owner car, with history and 12 months mot for £2.5k, or the car that was chosen for me, a 2008 . 1.4 Lounge with a short mot, no history and 'should pass no bother.' More on that later...
. Cost - £1k less than the one I wanted to buy
On picking up the car I was a little disappointed. A little tatty, airbag light on, a blowy exhaust (knew about that), and a tatty interior. The daughter though was very pleased. And the other stuff dad can just 'fix'.
It does drive well though, and the 6 speed box is nice. It has a sport button - which seems to do little.
The interior was to be left till later, until a 1/2 leather one complete dropped into my hands for £100.
When I discovered the interior light switch the daughter lost the ability to speak for several minutes.
Currently chasing down the airbag fault. The codes relate to sensors on driver and passenger doors. This seems unlikley. Airbag ECU faults look common on these, but there are a number of places offering repairs reasonably.
I also need to check the exhaust. I thought it was blowing - but there are a number of MOT's saying that the exhaust is louder than standard. I'm wondering if it has an aftermarket pipe on it..
My brief was Fiat 500. Anything Fiat 500. I resisted quite a lot. However, it turns out they are quite cheap to insure for a 17 year old girl, and have a good amount of safety equipement. More on that later....
Looking on the bay of evil, I had a choice that appealed of a one owner car, with history and 12 months mot for £2.5k, or the car that was chosen for me, a 2008 . 1.4 Lounge with a short mot, no history and 'should pass no bother.' More on that later...
. Cost - £1k less than the one I wanted to buyOn picking up the car I was a little disappointed. A little tatty, airbag light on, a blowy exhaust (knew about that), and a tatty interior. The daughter though was very pleased. And the other stuff dad can just 'fix'.
It does drive well though, and the 6 speed box is nice. It has a sport button - which seems to do little.
The interior was to be left till later, until a 1/2 leather one complete dropped into my hands for £100.
When I discovered the interior light switch the daughter lost the ability to speak for several minutes.
Currently chasing down the airbag fault. The codes relate to sensors on driver and passenger doors. This seems unlikley. Airbag ECU faults look common on these, but there are a number of places offering repairs reasonably.
I also need to check the exhaust. I thought it was blowing - but there are a number of MOT's saying that the exhaust is louder than standard. I'm wondering if it has an aftermarket pipe on it..
Great cars. The back box doesn’t look standard from the image. The 1.4 engine and 6-speed ‘box didn’t stick around for long, only the early cars. It was a shared engine and gearbox with the Panda 100HP I believe, and the Sport button replaced the city steering button which you got if you bought the 1.2.
Funny little cars, sold them for many years and still have such fond memories of them.
Funny little cars, sold them for many years and still have such fond memories of them.
My wife had a twin air from new 2012-2019 did circa 50k mainly city (with the odd long trip) miles in it, never put a foot wrong just routine serving, can’t speak of others but it certainly didn’t spontaneously combust like the internet would have you believe a Fiat should. Was also quite enjoyable to punt about in 
surveyor said:
I also need to check the exhaust. I thought it was blowing - but there are a number of MOT's saying that the exhaust is louder than standard. I'm wondering if it has an aftermarket pipe on it..
It's got those bits of plastic around door windows and had a rear wiper delete which would go with a non standard exhaust. I actually dealt with something a little similar a year ago. I bought an old Corsa automatic for my OH (she didn't want it particularly but it worked out a lot cheaper than the crapped out Clio we had at the time, which she didn't like much either), which the previous owner had modified. Small wing mirrors, wheels that were too big for it (from an Astra) and a gobby exhaust. I actually had a good bit of fun returning it to standard...
Even better still, I managed to polish up the exhaust, and sell it on, along with the oversized wheels and undersized mirrors, which paid for the replacements with change to spare!
Even better still, I managed to polish up the exhaust, and sell it on, along with the oversized wheels and undersized mirrors, which paid for the replacements with change to spare!
The Bearded Tit said:
I actually dealt with something a little similar a year ago. I bought an old Corsa automatic for my OH (she didn't want it particularly but it worked out a lot cheaper than the crapped out Clio we had at the time, which she didn't like much either), which the previous owner had modified. Small wing mirrors, wheels that were too big for it (from an Astra) and a gobby exhaust. I actually had a good bit of fun returning it to standard...
Even better still, I managed to polish up the exhaust, and sell it on, along with the oversized wheels and undersized mirrors, which paid for the replacements with change to spare!
The 'smaller wing mirrors' are actually standard Corsa mirrors, just off a 1.8SRI. They don't fold so subsequently got smashed to pieces by bellends that couldn't judge gaps properly - now worth a fair chunk of change to people who still give a f*** about Corsa Cs so might be worth advertising them on Fbook if you can be bothered Even better still, I managed to polish up the exhaust, and sell it on, along with the oversized wheels and undersized mirrors, which paid for the replacements with change to spare!
Pistonsquirter said:
I semi want one after reading this 
but don't they fall to bits at the mere sight of a corner and stop working when it rains?
Edit: it's probably blowing at the flexi pipe btw (aka bellows)
Pretty much, I've repaired 3 gearboxes on these now for the faulty input bearing issue and various other things - they're built massively down to a budget and it shows as soon as you look underneath one. Nice looking little cars but I wouldn't be wanting one that's not been looked after myself! but don't they fall to bits at the mere sight of a corner and stop working when it rains?Edit: it's probably blowing at the flexi pipe btw (aka bellows)
PhillipM said:
Pretty much, I've repaired 3 gearboxes on these now for the faulty input bearing issue and various other things - they're built massively down to a budget and it shows as soon as you look underneath one. Nice looking little cars but I wouldn't be wanting one that's not been looked after myself!
Me either!Chunkychucky said:
The 'smaller wing mirrors' are actually standard Corsa mirrors, just off a 1.8SRI. They don't fold so subsequently got smashed to pieces by bellends that couldn't judge gaps properly - now worth a fair chunk of change to people who still give a f*** about Corsa Cs so might be worth advertising them on Fbook if you can be bothered
Oh I know I've owned a different Corsa for 10 years, put tiny DTM mirrors on that, put the standard mirrors on this one, and sold the Hagus SRi mirrors as mentioned. Part of why I had so much fun with this one - selling all the tat 
My suspicion about the MOT prospects were very valid....
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
Rear Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Repair immediately (major defects):
Rear fog lamp not working (4.5.1 (a) (ii))
Nearside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (6.1.2 (a))
Exhaust Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (8.2.1.2 (c))
Nearside Inner Drive shaft joint constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.1.7 (g) (ii))
Nearside Front Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (5.3.2 (b))
Offside Front Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush (5.3.2 (c))
Rear Brakes imbalanced across an axle Axle 2 (1.2.1 (b) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Front Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge both (5.2.3 (e))
A hefty amount of lucra and my bargain is no longer a bargain. On the plus side, the garage now knows the car very well and believes it to be decent.
The exhaust deserved a special mention of being a home made affair, complete with oval section being welded to round section and a comedy silencer.
I still have my reservations. We will see how we go.
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
Rear Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Repair immediately (major defects):
Rear fog lamp not working (4.5.1 (a) (ii))
Nearside Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (6.1.2 (a))
Exhaust Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (8.2.1.2 (c))
Nearside Inner Drive shaft joint constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.1.7 (g) (ii))
Nearside Front Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (5.3.2 (b))
Offside Front Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush (5.3.2 (c))
Rear Brakes imbalanced across an axle Axle 2 (1.2.1 (b) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Front Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge both (5.2.3 (e))
A hefty amount of lucra and my bargain is no longer a bargain. On the plus side, the garage now knows the car very well and believes it to be decent.
The exhaust deserved a special mention of being a home made affair, complete with oval section being welded to round section and a comedy silencer.
I still have my reservations. We will see how we go.
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