RamblinE is starting to think about a new car.
- Thread starter RamblinE
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RamblinE
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Thanks! I'm glad to hear he likes his as well. How does his hold up? Is it here in the US or in the EU? Reliability info isn't that hard to come by from actual owners but folks in the EU seem to put a lot less miles on their vehicles.
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RamblinE
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Nice looking car, I like the color, stands out from the crowd. :thmbsp:
Do the rear seats fold flat for more hauling room?
Thank you! The seats don't fold perfectly flat however when they're down there's quite the little cavern back there. I filled up on rock salt at the neighborhood hardware store this morning no problem
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Shadowdog
Super Member
Nice car!
Reminds me of when I bought my 89 Festiva (Mazda 121) in Dec 89 looking for a good low cost car. I saw one like yours today (probably the only one here as no dealer). Looks to be about the same length (about 140 in) and taller than the Festiva. Wheels look to be about the same overall diameter even though the Festiva had 12" donuts! It only had the 4sp std. and I believe the 5 sp was available on the up level model or when the 90's came out which had FI with the std (AT models had FI). 60 HP from 1.3L gave me 30-39 US city or winter/HWY @ 75 MPH The 4 sp STD had a bit of OD gearing in 4th and I think the engine would have lugged in 5th gear with the low HP.
Should be great on gas and should last if you drive it easy till the engine is up to operating temp and use synthetic oil which may allow longer time between changes. I gained a few MPG with Mobil 1 synthetic also.
I put 120K mi on the Festiva before I sold it in 99 and a leak down test showed the engine to still be like brand new. I only changed an oxygen sensor and fuel pump (mechanical for $92 on engine as it had a carb.) and 3 drive shafts, though it needed new tie rods and the timing belt changed when I sold it.
Anyway I bet that Fiat will be as reliable as anything else out there and hopefully will be well rust protected. The Alfa/Fiat based Chrysler vehicles seem to stand up well so far.
Do they use road salt there as I think something like Krown may be a good thing?
Reminds me of when I bought my 89 Festiva (Mazda 121) in Dec 89 looking for a good low cost car. I saw one like yours today (probably the only one here as no dealer). Looks to be about the same length (about 140 in) and taller than the Festiva. Wheels look to be about the same overall diameter even though the Festiva had 12" donuts! It only had the 4sp std. and I believe the 5 sp was available on the up level model or when the 90's came out which had FI with the std (AT models had FI). 60 HP from 1.3L gave me 30-39 US city or winter/HWY @ 75 MPH The 4 sp STD had a bit of OD gearing in 4th and I think the engine would have lugged in 5th gear with the low HP.
Should be great on gas and should last if you drive it easy till the engine is up to operating temp and use synthetic oil which may allow longer time between changes. I gained a few MPG with Mobil 1 synthetic also.
I put 120K mi on the Festiva before I sold it in 99 and a leak down test showed the engine to still be like brand new. I only changed an oxygen sensor and fuel pump (mechanical for $92 on engine as it had a carb.) and 3 drive shafts, though it needed new tie rods and the timing belt changed when I sold it.
Anyway I bet that Fiat will be as reliable as anything else out there and hopefully will be well rust protected. The Alfa/Fiat based Chrysler vehicles seem to stand up well so far.
Do they use road salt there as I think something like Krown may be a good thing?
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RamblinE
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An update:
I took the car in for its first service this morning and asked them to look into something. When free wheeling in reverse with the clutch depressed the car makes a ticking sound like a baseball card in bicycle spokes. The dealer came back and said that they recommend a clutch replacement. The clutch is now out of warranty so I took it up with Fiat. I explained that I had just bought the car CPO from a Fiat dealer two months ago and having to swallow a clutch replacement this soon seemed a bit much. They agreed. The dealer and Fiat worked it out to bend the rules and cover a rental and the new clutch.
In my line of work we get yelled at by customers quite frequently. I take the tack in my personal affairs to be level headed and reasonable when dealing with less than ideal situations. It paid off here.
It's a rough way to start my cars maintenance history but it's a box to check off if anything happens in the future. Clutch replaced at 20.3k. Look elsewhere.
This week I'll be driving a Fiat 500L. That's what the dealer had in manual trans as far as courtesy cars go. The rental manager was jazzed that somebody was taking it out. It's a bit big but it's nice. It's a shame this particular model has such an abysmal track record with recalls and auto trans dying.
Kudos to Fiat and my dealers service department for taking my side and being easy to work with. I know the first few years of 500s had teething problems and I bought into that when I signed the paper work but this is how you customer service.
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I took the car in for its first service this morning and asked them to look into something. When free wheeling in reverse with the clutch depressed the car makes a ticking sound like a baseball card in bicycle spokes. The dealer came back and said that they recommend a clutch replacement. The clutch is now out of warranty so I took it up with Fiat. I explained that I had just bought the car CPO from a Fiat dealer two months ago and having to swallow a clutch replacement this soon seemed a bit much. They agreed. The dealer and Fiat worked it out to bend the rules and cover a rental and the new clutch.
In my line of work we get yelled at by customers quite frequently. I take the tack in my personal affairs to be level headed and reasonable when dealing with less than ideal situations. It paid off here.
It's a rough way to start my cars maintenance history but it's a box to check off if anything happens in the future. Clutch replaced at 20.3k. Look elsewhere.
This week I'll be driving a Fiat 500L. That's what the dealer had in manual trans as far as courtesy cars go. The rental manager was jazzed that somebody was taking it out. It's a bit big but it's nice. It's a shame this particular model has such an abysmal track record with recalls and auto trans dying.
Kudos to Fiat and my dealers service department for taking my side and being easy to work with. I know the first few years of 500s had teething problems and I bought into that when I signed the paper work but this is how you customer service.
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My x-wife's 06 Spectra costs very little to own. Aside from maintenance, a couple of minor repairs and that's all. It does good on gas too.
You should have waited for the HellCat version . 
My Buddy bought a 2004 Hyundai Sante Fe with 104,000 miles on it . First month he had it , a front coil spring broke and ruined a tire in the driveway . He took it to his local mechanic and the mechanic said notify Hyundai just in case .
New coil spring , new tire and all tow charges taken care of by Hyundai .
I wish Dodge was half as good about my turd pick-up .
My Buddy bought a 2004 Hyundai Sante Fe with 104,000 miles on it . First month he had it , a front coil spring broke and ruined a tire in the driveway . He took it to his local mechanic and the mechanic said notify Hyundai just in case .
New coil spring , new tire and all tow charges taken care of by Hyundai .
I wish Dodge was half as good about my turd pick-up .
It's good to hear of customer support like that. I'm kind of wondering though how that symptom relates to a bad clutch. Call me cynical... I'm sure the noise will be gone but check to see if indeed they put in a new clutch. I have a friend who owns a successful independent repair shop here in Southern California where I frequently diagnosis and repair electrical/electronic problems with vehicles. I'm not a mechanic but am around mechanical diagnostics and repairs on a regular basis and I've never heard of and can't imagine how a clutch could make that noise under those circumstances. Did they give an explanation along with the diagnosis?
RamblinE
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The diagnosis was incomplete and I knew this. Basically they weren't willing to drop the tranny and poke around deeper until they knew how everything was getting paid for. With Fiat pulling through in that regard they should have a better idea today or tomorrow when the clutch kit arrives from Milwaukee. I knew the '12s had weak factory clutches and I guess a few of those carried over to the '13s as well. The previous owner is also a wild card but as for how I am driving it? Not unlike my last two manuals. The Miata needed a clutch at about 100k. Put 45k more miles on it before letting it go with nary a problem. I'm reasonably confident I am not the problem here.
Two days into the rental car I am missing the much simpler base 500. They gave me a 500L because I asked if there was anything in the service fleet with a manual and that's what they had. It has a turbo and does turbo things but in the stop and go traffic between here and school for instance there's just not enough time for the turbo to spool up so I just end up edging around with a grumpy powertrain. The touchscreen uConnect (is that what it's called fellow Mopar owners?) isn't as atrocious as I first thought but I still don't like it. And the gas mileage? 22MPG average? Good lord am I glad I took some PTO to burn this week. I don't HAVE to drive anywhere.
My dad was looking at the 500L to replace his aging Protege that he uses to drive between Tallahassee, Ford Lauderdale and Miami. However, known reliability and recall issues aside I called him up and told him to avoid this thing. It seems nice but it's cumbersome and inefficient.
He's in Britain... He doesn't put too many miles on it, but so far no issues whatsoever.
That sucks, way too early to be having things as big as that replaced. Glad they hooked you up with a replacement. Do you have a warranty on the new clutch?
RamblinE
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I doubt it. After this I don't expect to need one though. It'll be paid off long before I put 100k more miles on it and by then swinging $900 for repairs when not paying car payment plus some extra every month won't be so tough.
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The diagnosis was incomplete and I knew this. Basically they weren't willing to drop the tranny and poke around deeper until they knew how everything was getting paid for. With Fiat pulling through in that regard they should have a better idea today or tomorrow when the clutch kit arrives from Milwaukee. I knew the '12s had weak factory clutches and I guess a few of those carried over to the '13s as well. The previous owner is also a wild card but as for how I am driving it? Not unlike my last two manuals. The Miata needed a clutch at about 100k. Put 45k more miles on it before letting it go with nary a problem. I'm reasonably confident I am not the problem here.
Two days into the rental car I am missing the much simpler base 500. They gave me a 500L because I asked if there was anything in the service fleet with a manual and that's what they had. It has a turbo and does turbo things but in the stop and go traffic between here and school for instance there's just not enough time for the turbo to spool up so I just end up edging around with a grumpy powertrain. The touchscreen uConnect (is that what it's called fellow Mopar owners?) isn't as atrocious as I first thought but I still don't like it. And the gas mileage? 22MPG average? Good lord am I glad I took some PTO to burn this week. I don't HAVE to drive anywhere.
My dad was looking at the 500L to replace his aging Protege that he uses to drive between Tallahassee, Ford Lauderdale and Miami. However, known reliability and recall issues aside I called him up and told him to avoid this thing. It seems nice but it's cumbersome and inefficient.
Oh no, it never occurred to me the problem is how you drive it. From the use you've been getting from clutches you've been doing a good job of syncing the engine to the next gear between shifts. I just don't understand the diagnosis and wondering how they explain the symptom to the clutch. I'm curious as to how it turns out... one way or the other it will be nice to have a new clutch. Clutch life varies greatly with driving habits and you never know about the previous owner.
heh, complaining about 22 mpg. The last vehicle I owned that would do better than 20 on a regular basis was my '73 SuperBeetle and that car became a parts car for someone else in 2002 or so. I've occasionally hit 20 with my truck. The Townie is making me happy if it manages 18 on a tank, and the Mark VII will do 21 on the highway if the planets align properly. Both of those have double your cylinder count though, and are engines that the primary engineering was done in the early 1960s. The truck's motor is a little smaller but its based on an engine dating from the late 50s.
but yeah, 20k miles on a clutch is silly. Those should last 100k, though I've known a lot of people that though the third pedal was a foot rest. Who knows if the PO was one of them.
The ticking sound almost makes me think CV joints, but that tends to show up with the wheel turned more than anything else.
but yeah, 20k miles on a clutch is silly. Those should last 100k, though I've known a lot of people that though the third pedal was a foot rest. Who knows if the PO was one of them.
The ticking sound almost makes me think CV joints, but that tends to show up with the wheel turned more than anything else.
Not at all... I was kind of thinking out loud too. Much appreciated. Please let us know how it comes out. I'm curious about their explanation. One never knows what really goes on behind the scene... in any business stories abound, not thinking of the customer so much as the deals behind the scene with warranty charges between retailers and manufacturers and service departments.
The ticking noise... yes, CV joints.. with the wheels turned, especially when backing up.
RamblinE
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Nah. Have got a long drive way but it's not curved. The wheels are usually tracking straight unless I have the caffeine jitters and am just swerving. For a few weeks after hearing the clicking while backing up I would recreate the situation except going forwards. Pull out into the main road, bridge is out so there is no traffic. Make the first-second shift, but then sit with the clutch down and coasting. No noise when going forwards.
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