Fiat Springs

[2cvbloke]

We ended up with a 2008 Fiesta - and its a complete heap of crap. The build quality isnt good, the fuel economy is woeful and I certainly wont be having another Fiesta.

When you see the Ford logo on a vehicle, run!!!!

 

[Analoguesat]

We have had 4 in a row all of different body shapes & this is by far the worst one. We have always run our cars into the ground (anything between 5 & 10 years of ownership) but after 2 years with this pos I want a change after 2.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I'm happy with my 51 focus, although a spring hasnt gone yet and they do like to kiss the tyres.

 

[Lazarus]

It has to be said that we are in Pothole Central here.

Some years ago, on holiday in the Alpajurras in Southern Spain, we saw worker-type-chaps wandering along behind a slow moving lorry , removing splodges of tarmac from its flatbed with a spade, slopping it in potholes and tamping it with a deft flick of the back of the spade.

Gosh, we thought - Glad we don't see that in Engerland.





How wrong I was.

 

[Analoguesat]

10 years ago we holidayed in Turkey. Their idea of resurfacing the road was to spray several hundred metres of both sides of the road with hot tar - then let the cars drive through it. With the air temperature in the 40s you can imagine just how runny the tar was!

Our hire car was white......

 

[Lazarus]

Actually, that happened to us in Puglia during the height of Summer - I borrowed a can of petrol from the owner of our villa and spent a jolly evening sponging off acres of tar splashes from our rented Fiat 500 (Cream coloured, by design)Hellish. Bits of squashed snake were in there too.

 

[Captain Jack]

Might be time to invest in a Honda or two...

God, no. Had a 3 year old Honda Accord CDTI and in the first year of ownership, I had to replace the clutch, the clutch master cylinder, the exhaust manifold (cracked - letting fumes into the cabin) and the turbo. The former three were done under warranty. The latter would have cost me nearly £2000 to replace by the main dealer so I wrote it off on insurance. This experience has put me off anything Japanese for life - like my dad says: Jap Crap. Most of their cars are dead dull as well.

Now in my 5th year of ownership of a trusty old 406 HDI with very few issues. My old 406 did snap its coil as well - again, when reversing! I've yet to hear of a case of one breaking when at speed.

My former SWMBO has a Fiat Panda, 2007 model and it's been trouble free. I like the newer (>2004) Fiats...

 

[2cvbloke]

The problem with filling potholes is that it results in bigger potholes, they fill 'em up with patching tarmac during the less wet & cold months, rain falls and gets in around the patch, then winter comes along and freezes saidwater, then the road surface around the patch breaks up, and hey presto, the patch pops out and you have a huge hole in the road, and lots of insurance claims against the local councils roll in for damaging peoples cars due to inadequate road reapir...

 

[2cvbloke]

God, no. Had a 3 year old Honda Accord CDTI and in the first year of ownership, I had to replace the clutch, the clutch master cylinder, the exhaust manifold (cracked - letting fumes into the cabin) and the turbo. The former three were done under warranty. The latter would have cost me nearly £2000 to replace by the main dealer so I wrote it off on insurance. This experience has put me off anything Japanese for life - like my dad says: Jap Crap. Most of their cars are dead dull as well.

If it was a 90's one, then it was probably built by Rover, as they had a deal with Honda to build the European Accord and to use the accord chassis and drivetrain as the base for the Rover 600...

 

[Analoguesat]

Actually, that happened to us in Puglia during the height of Summer - I borrowed a can of petrol from the owner of our villa and spent a jolly evening sponging off acres of tar splashes from our rented Fiat 500 (Cream coloured, by design)Hellish. Bits of squashed snake were in there too.

We just took it back and grinned sheepishly. The hire place wasnt in the slightest bit bothered - "the boy will clean it later" was all the chap said.

Obviously a regular occurrence.

 

[purplemarina]

The way cars are built today, is that every part is built to do a job Just !! Every part has been designed and tested on a computer. years ago developement was done by trial and error and a slide rule, a margin of safety was built in. today if a part is designed to go up and down it'll do it, but push it sideways it bends or breaks. If a manufacturer can save 0.1mm of metal thickness on a part thats a lot of saving over a million cars. Also the relative price of a car is cheap today, if they made it to last, how would they make any money? i drive a 92 passat with over 200.000 miles on the clock ive had it from new, it has given me very little trouble over the years, 1992 in my opinion was when the last of the good cars were made pre electronics and plastic ! it also has windey windows.( by hand)

 

[Lazarus]

@AS:

Glad you had a phlegmatic (As opposed to Manual, or Automatic!) Hirer ............. many of them charge a fortune for cleaning "above and beyond".

 

[Captain Jack]

If it was a 90's one, then it was probably built by Rover, as they had a deal with Honda to build the European Accord and to use the accord chassis and drivetrain as the base for the Rover 600...

It was a 2005 one. They only started doing diesels in 2003, I believe. I also believe that this was one was built in Japan...not Swindon. No idea, but I wasn't the only one with these faults.

 

[Lazarus]

All fixed now: Took an eternity, though. Spring had arrived yesterday so the car was up on the hoist at 08.15 for a one hour job.

I phoned at 12.30 and they said it would be another hour and a half: They had been sent the wrong spring and another had to be acquired from the Distribution Hub in Leeds (50 miles away).

Got to garage at 14.00 and of course (as I anticipated) they'd destroyed the drop-link in removing it, so I had to wait another half hour for that to arrive and be fitted.

But, they only charged the quoted labour at £35, so all in all it was £120 notes. I did mention that the parts were just so much cheaper on eBay, but could not fully comprehend the swearing noises from behing the counter!

And they can do me a Cam Belt Kit, fitted, for £120 too, which is somewhat cheaper than Main Dealer prices.

So I'll get that done soon.

 

[sonnetpete]

Spring had arrived yesterday

Thought that was last week?????.....daffodils....lambs......farmers spreading muck.....

 

[Lazarus]

Well another year ............................ and yet another bl**dy coil spring failure.

Same car as last year, opposite side.

Oddly, I checked them during my pre-MoT checks this Monday just gone and could have sworn it was intact.

Anyhow, going back to the garage very soon and just hope they have been sent the right spring this time.

The disconcerting thing is that the Refusal Certificate express the opinion the car is in a dangerous condition but the garage seem perfectly happy to let one drive away to return another day.

Anyway, that's both fronts on mine and one on SWMBO's in eight years. I guess that means we can expect one more failure soon!

 

[sonnetpete]

The disconcerting thing is that the Refusal Certificate express the opinion the car is in a dangerous condition but the garage seem perfectly happy to let one drive away to return another day.

Here, I'm not sure how unroadworthy your car would have to be for them to tell you it's dangerous. I suspect it would have to be on three wheels (out of four) before they told you. On a fail, we get two months to correct defects and then the test is valid for two years. There was a rumour (no doubt overheard in a bar) that it was going to be a yearly requirement but as yet there's no sign of it coming to pass...

 

[Lazarus]

Interesting about the putative change from 2 years to just 1: There have been rumblings here of going the other way - Starting later than 3 years old and also extending the gap between tests.

 

[sonnetpete]

The rumoured change surfaced two or three years ago. It may well have been something Sarkozy proposed as part of an election strategy. Incidentally the 'carry a breathalyser' law has (AFIK) never got on the statute books....thus having created a shortage of kits the shops are now full of them.....surprisingly.....

 

[PaulR]

Well another year ............................ and yet another bl**dy coil spring failure.

It's at this point I would like to point out the superiority of my C5's hydraulic suspension...