First service / service cost overall

[wreckmaster]

I ordered the first service for my 500 the other day, so it is due for service next thursday. But the thing that surprised me was the price:eek: 5500kr that is 683euros:eek::eek: I asked him if he was kidding when he said the price.... The most expensive service I had on the Astra in 100 000 km`s was kr 3500(435Eur). Then he told me a bit about what they do at the service: Offcourse it was oil change, oilfilter, airfilter, pollen filter, sparkplugs and the usual stuff. But he said thet they also removed the top cover to visually check valves and adjust if needed and that they oiled up / lubricated something with the brakes. What I am thinking is, could it really be necesarry to adjust valves on a one year old car that runs like a dream?

I said that the service was to expensive and then they said that they where told by the import company that they had to have same prices as the import companys own dealers:( I also asked what a big service with belt change would cost? And he said 11500kr!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats 1428Euros!!!!!!

The service I am having now is said to take 3,5hours in the Fiat garage manual! I said it was too expensive so they said they would do it on clock instead, so I will pay pr the hour instead and I said that they dont have to change wipers and spark plugs if not needed. They actually suggested this, to get it cheaper. Dont know how much it will cost tough, but less than standard first service price:icon_thumleft:

[VilleV]

:eek::eek::eek: Now I´m glad I´m not a norwegian!

Last year when I had mine serviced for the first time I paid something around 300 euros, and even that´s very expencive for first service! This price included the cleaning of the rear brakes because of the noise they were making, which I dont think was covered under warranty. I know that the 1.2 litre engine is more expencive to service because you have to adjust the valves manually, but I´m not sure if they need to be adjusted every year. I´m pretty sure tho, that sparkplugs only need to be changed every 60tkms, not yearly!

I´m coming up to my second service in april and I´m already a little bit afraid what it´s going to cost me. But what really worries me is the third yearly service with the cambelt change! I think the cambelt change alone is around 350 euros (cost of the change on Grande Punto).

[john500]

My first service cost £125, They changed oil & filters and gave the car good check over .That was with 6000 on the clock,apparently the second service is the most expensive as they go into the engine to check valve/cam clearances,also they change the hydraulic fluid in the braking system plus any extras. The 2n/d service on my 2004 VW beetle was close to £500 and i lost £5000 on it in a trade in on a new polo after just over 2 years ownership :eek:.......John.

[wreckmaster]

This service I am talking about is the 30 000km service, not just an oilchange! I changed oil last summer before driving to Italy. Is the cambelt each third year Ville? They said at 120 000km at the garage! Anyway, after three years the warranty is gone so I will get it done by a mechanic friend of mine:icon_thumleft:

Maybe I shall ask the Ford garage what the price on the 30 000km service on a 1,2 Ka is?

[VilleV]

60 000km / 3 years might be invention of the finnish import company "because of the cold climate being so hard for the rubber belt". They would rather be sure than have the same happen to 500 what happened to many 147 Alfas, cambelts snapping after 2 years or 40 000kms!! I think it´s 120 000km / 5 years elsewhere.

[wreckmaster]

60 000km / 3 years might be invention of the finnish import company "because of the cold climate being so hard for the rubber belt". They would rather be sure than have the same happen to 500 what happened to many 147 Alfas, cambelts snapping after 2 years or 40 000kms!! I think it´s 120 000km / 5 years elsewhere.

120 000km here they said, but I will have to check to be sure:eek:

Thinkin of it, after three years my car is still under warranty since it is has got 5 years! This means cambelt change at the dealer if it has to be changed at three years! NO WAY that I will pay 11500 for this!

[VilleV]

^
Same here, 3+2 years of warranty, so first cambelt change has to be done by the dealer, or else I will lose the additional two years of warranty. Clever!:mad: I guess I´ll keep servicing my car there as long as my warranty is valid, but after that, no way!

[wreckmaster]

I finally found a garage not too far into Sweden, so I emailed them to ask for a price on this service! If they are a lot cheaper than here, I will go there. Even tough it is in Uddevalla, thats almost in Gothenburg:eek: Takes about two hours to drive there:p

[wreckmaster]

I have not got an answer from the Swedish garage yet, but I have investigated a bit on prices and my rights here in Norway! I went by the Ford dealer today to ask what they should have for the same service on a Ford KA! The answer was 3500kr(Euro 435), that is 2000kr(Euro 249) less than Fiat should have!!!!!! I got a bit annoyed over this, so I called the official agency which covers customers rights( not sure what it is called in english) and asked if it would have any thing to say for my guarentee if I used Ford instead of Fiat? They said: absolutely nothing to say on my guarantee!!!!
Then I got even more annoyed and called RSA, the import comanys head office:mad: and asked why they where almost twice as expensive as Ford on the same job??? They could not give me an real answer, and appoligied for beeing expensive! And even said thanks for making them aware of the differences:icon_thumleft: But they had to check it out by them self and investigate. So by this point I had decided on having the service at the Ford garage, but I tought I should call around a little bit more! I called the import companys own garage in a neighboring town and they would should have 6000kr(euro 746)!!!! Then when I was just about to call Ford to order the service I came to think about a small independent Fiat garage close to where I work! I called them and asked the price: 2700kr(euro 336)!!!!!!!! That is more than 50% cheaper than the import companys garage and also 800kr(euro 99) cheaper than Ford!!! And they are even a Fiat dealership, alltough very small!!! But independent!

So the choice was not hard to make, I booked my car in at the independent dealer!!! So I saved 3300kr(410eur) on a few phone calls:icon_thumright::cool::icon_thumleft:

[Pethead]

I'm so sorry to read what has happened you, Wrecky!
I have been searching in the spanish 500 forum, and I have found that here in Spain, depending of the city of the country, the prices vary. For the service you need now for your 500, here it will cost you between 120 € and 180 €. Obviously in Madrid, Barcelona or Sevilla would cost much more than in Valencia, for example, because the way of life.

Regarding to your question of belt changing, I have asked to my father, who is a mechanics, and he told me yesterday that it is always changed at 120.000 kms.
When the time of changinf filters to my 500 I will ask to my father to do it, as usually. I don't mind if I would loose the warranty. I do not rely in the official dealers here in Valencia. They have bad fame.

[VilleV]

Expencive services is the cost of long warranties. Remember, that manufacturers warranty is only 2 years, so everything after that is issued by the local import company or dealer, so there´s is a good chance that they can find a way to deny your warranty claim if you service your car anywhere else than their own garage, atleast that´s the case here.

I´ve decided that I´ll propably have my second service done by the original dealer to be sure to keep my warranty valid for another year. But if the third service with the cambelt change is going to be very expencive, I´ll take my car to some independent garage and voluntarily lose the additional two years of warranty. They only cover engine and transmission anyway in my case.

[wreckmaster]

Expencive services is the cost of long warranties. Remember, that manufacturers warranty is only 2 years, so everything after that is issued by the local import company or dealer, so there´s is a good chance that they can find a way to deny your warranty claim if you service your car anywhere else than their own garage, atleast that´s the case here.

I´ve decided that I´ll propably have my second service done by the original dealer to be sure to keep my warranty valid for another year. But if the third service with the cambelt change is going to be very expencive, I´ll take my car to some independent garage and voluntarily lose the additional two years of warranty. They only cover engine and transmission anyway in my case.

Thats the upside of it! As I wrote I have talked to consumer rights office, which is a official(national) office! They said that I can not loose any guarantee if I use Ford!!! And I am not using Ford, I found a independent dealer, that means a very small Fiat dealer which is not owned by RSA (import company) but still sells Fiats which RSA imports! They are even on the dealer / garage list on RSA web pages as an official dealership / garage! And in my service book in the list of conditions over guarantee rights they dont say that I even have to use a Fiat approved garage. I also asked the person I spoke to at RSA headoffice if using Ford would compromise my guarantee? And he said no it would not as long as they did the same job as a Fiat garage would do and as long as the use approved parts! And parts for Fords 1,2 engine has got to be approved since it is a Fiat engine!

The RSA person could not even tell me why they where so expensive!

[Peter O]

My first service was quite expensive. I had to pay 280 Euros, they changed Filters, spark plugs and motoroil. Last of these made me a little mad: The Selena-Oil they filled in costs nearly 30 Euro/Litre! If they used Mobil or Castrol, it could have been 50 Euros less!

[Pethead]

In the spanish club, there are a lot of members that prefer to use the official Fiat oil, Selenia. They rely on this brand because they say its got a very good quality.
In my opinion, this is like the brands of other products, like trousers, for example. Theres people who prefers to pay more for a Levis than for a Zara one.
I always rely on my father's advices and he says that the most important in a good oil, is the international SAE and API number. I don't mind brands.
Here is an explanation of what SAE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

[Peter O]

I'm sure Selenia oil is good. But I hardly can imagine that it's better than Mobil, Shell or Castrol.

Das ist für dich, Pethead: Ich bin mir sicher, dass Selenia-Öl gut ist. Ich kann mir aber kaum vorstellen, dass es besser ist als Mobil, Shell oder Castrol. :) :D

[wreckmaster]

I'm sure Selenia oil is good. But I hardly can imagine that it's better than Mobil, Shell or Castrol.

Das ist für dich, Pethead: Ich bin mir sicher, dass Selenia-Öl gut ist. Ich kann mir aber kaum vorstellen, dass es besser ist als Mobil, Shell oder Castrol. :) :D

When I had oilchange before my Italy trip last summer they used castrol long life oil! Selenia is not availeble in Norway:)

[Kertallica]

That's crazy how much services are Wrecky! I thought the charges here were expensive :( I've agreed to a three year deal with my dealership where I pay monthly for that time for my first three services, which equites to just over £850. Only down side is that I have to drive 65 miles to get to it lol

[wreckmaster]

Norway is expensive:(:( Sounds like a good thing to what you do, then you dont have to be worried about the costs of the services:icon_thumleft:

[minime911]

Hi,

I had an oil change on my Abarth at 20000 as they impose one every 10000 km once the SS kit is mounted.
216 Euro:eek: for an oil & filter change.
Over here we say that they take it from the living ones.
112 Euro for the Selenia Abarth oil. 15 for the filter, one hour of work as apperently the filter is not well accessible, VAT and it ends up to the above mentioned sum.
Bad enough that for warranty reason I will most probably have to do this once more in the coming year but believe that I will do the service by myself once the warranty time is over.:mad:

Greetings:

minime911

[.Lefteris.]

The small (1 year) service on my Ferrari cost me 2.480 euros lol

[wreckmaster]

Wow! Thats paying for the name I take it lol

[Gadget]

I read somewhere that the first service is due at 18,000 miles - wonderful I thought! I won't need a service for two years as I do less than 9,000 p.a.

However, they sent me a letter when the car was just a year old and told me that I had to have it done at either one year or 18,000 miles, whichever was the soonest. It cost me £215.57. which equates to 240.00 Euros.

I always clean my own car before it goes into the garage because last time the valet managed to spread wax all over my side windows and got wax on the rubber trim. The technicians also got oil on both the front seats, which are white and black check !!!

When I cleaned the car I also filled up the screen wash bottle. They still managed to charge me for a whole bottle of screenwash - they may have managed to get about 20 ml into the bottle!

[wreckmaster]

I read somewhere that the first service is due at 18,000 miles - wonderful I thought! I won't need a service for two years as I do less than 9,000 p.a.

However, they sent me a letter when the car was just a year old and told me that I had to have it done at either one year or 18,000 miles, whichever was the soonest. It cost me £215.57. which equates to 240.00 Euros.

I always clean my own car before it goes into the garage because last time the valet managed to spread wax all over my side windows and got wax on the rubber trim. The technicians also got oil on both the front seats, which are white and black check !!!

When I cleaned the car I also filled up the screen wash bottle. They still managed to charge me for a whole bottle of screenwash - they may have managed to get about 20 ml into the bottle!


Fiat dealer are crooks, thats the way it is sadly....

[Bain]

I've agreed to a three year deal with my dealership where I pay monthly for that time for my first three services, which equites to just over £850.
I need to speak to my dealer about signing up for either the 3 or 5 year deal on the services. Luckily it's only 30 miles away in Milton Keynes, so not too inconvenient.

[Cadbury]

I took out a 3 year plan. Cost £560 for low mileage package

[Theofilos]

recently i had my 30k km service for my abarth...

it cost me 300 euros..
+ rear brake pads
+ front ss brake pads (i have to change them after a scheduled trackday:P:cool:)
+ gearbox valvoline
+ brake fluid
+ high pressure brake tubes...
+ bmc filter cleaned

all together... 540 euros....:eek:biggrin2

[Kertallica]

I need to speak to my dealer about signing up for either the 3 or 5 year deal on the services. Luckily it's only 30 miles away in Milton Keynes, so not too inconvenient.

Hopefully it should be cheaper in the long run, as they said to me it's held at one price so you don't get affected by price increases. I'm just hoping nothing needs doing outside of the money I've already paid at my service in a couple of weeks, as I have no money and my car tax is this month :eek:

[VilleV]

It´s time for my second service allready after having the car for two years now and I´ve been quoted by my dealer that it will set me back aproximately 530 euros!!!:eek: Damn, I knew Fiat dealers were thieves in discuise...:(

[Peter O]

I thought it was expensive when I had my service. It costed 380 Euros, but I have to admit that there were some filters to change. Really expensive was the Selenia motoroil they used. It costed 35 Euros/Liter.

Maybe you're right and Fiat dealers are thieves in disguise. lol

[VilleV]

I think they are going to change pretty much all fluids in the car plus filters at this point. And manually check and adjust valve clearings if needed. Next year it´s time for the cambelt change, so I pet this year is still cheap compared to that!

[Abarthlyness]

I think they are going to change pretty much all fluids in the car plus filters at this point. And manually check and adjust valve clearings if needed. Next year it´s time for the cambelt change, so I pet this year is still cheap compared to that!

Hope no one minds if I pop my head in here, but, I thought modern engines had valve train systems that were continuosly hydrolically adjusted...

My relatively "low tech" DOHC motor in my SRT-4 shouldn't ever need a valve adjustment. It's got almost 70,000 miles on it, no valve adjustments, and it still runs like a champ. It takes my beatings daily toolol

[VilleV]

I think actually it´s the hydraulic tappets that need adjusting, what ever they are..? My english isn´t good enough to tell!
This 1.2 fire engine is pretty low tech too, it´s basicly very old engine whit new management.

[Peter O]

Abarthlyness, you're right. A lot of modern cars have hydrolically adjusted valves. So has the 500 with the 1.4 liter engine. Your future Abarth will have hydro-valves as well.
My 16-year-old Ford had them too. When the cold engine got startet you could hear the valves work for half a second untill the oil was there were it was needed. But then the motor worked real smooth.

[wreckmaster]

The 1,2 does not have automatically valve adjusting I am afraid:(

About the mainservice at 90 000km`s where they change cambelts, here in Norway it costs 11500kr!!!!!! Thats 1434Euros or $1953!!!!!

[Abarthlyness]

Abarthlyness, you're right. A lot of modern cars have hydrolically adjusted valves. So has the 500 with the 1.4 liter engine. Your future Abarth will have hydro-valves as well.
My 16-year-old Ford had them too. When the cold engine got startet you could hear the valves work for half a second untill the oil was there were it was needed. But then the motor worked real smooth.

Hhhmmm... this is very interesting to be sure. Wonder why Fiat din't update the 1.2 to an automatically adjusting valvetrain?

I guess the money saving of less fuel consumption for the 1.2 versus the 1.4 might offset the 1.4's cheaper services?

The 1,2 does not have automatically valve adjusting I am afraid:(

About the mainservice at 90 000km`s where they change cambelts, here in Norway it costs 11500kr!!!!!! Thats 1434Euros or $1953!!!!!

That seem astronomical to me!?!? On my 2002 Noen R/T I did my own timing belt and water pump change in my garage! It only cost me around $200 in parts.

It cost me my whole weekend thoughlol

[VilleV]

About the mainservice at 90 000km`s where they change cambelts, here in Norway it costs 11500kr!!!!!! Thats 1434Euros or $1953!!!!!

That´s supercar money! Wasnt the service on Lefteris´ Ferrari this expencive?

[wreckmaster]

That´s supercar money! Wasnt the service on Lefteris´ Ferrari this expencive?

One thing is for sure: I will do some phoning around to various dealers before making an appointment, just like I did last time on the ordinary service:icon_thumleft:

[VilleV]

Final price of the second service was 460 euros. Positively less than expected but still expencive! Price of labour alone was around 380 euros!!!:eek: That´s four hours of work...

[Abarthlyness]

Final price of the second service was 460 euros. Positively less than expected but still expencive! Price of labour alone was around 380 euros!!!:eek: That´s four hours of work...

I know things work differently in Europe, but how do warranties work over there?

A lot of manufacturers over here include scheduled maintainance for "X" years or "X" mileage.

What all are the techs doing to your cars for all of this money? What takes four hours!?!

I guess another difference would be that I can do my own oil and breaks. That would certainly make a difference I suppose.

[.Lefteris.]

I know things work differently in Europe, but how do warranties work over there?

A lot of manufacturers over here include scheduled maintainance for "X" years or "X" mileage.

What all are the techs doing to your cars for all of this money? What takes four hours!?!

I guess another difference would be that I can do my own oil and breaks. That would certainly make a difference I suppose.
We are all (or most of us) in the European Union, but they use the EU thing only when they try to get our money in one way or an other, when is the time the governments to give to the people it is each country for its own....
the same with warranties, each country dealership have its own rules!

[VilleV]

In Fiats case (here in Europe) manufacturers warranty is two years and the additional three years come from the dealer. This is why they can pretty much determine where one services ones car, at least if you want to keep your warranty valid. So far I havent really needed the warranty, only my ecu has been updated because of the cold start issues, but with that the dealer was helpful and fast to responce when I contacted them about the matter.

Recarding the amount of work hours needed in this service I believe it was because they had to check the "valve clearings" I mentioned earlier somewhere and this takes time I suppose. Other than that they changed all fluids and filters, but that really shouldn´t take that much time.

[markbowie]

just got back from having my first service done the car has only done 7500 miles when i asked how much it was going to be £189 for a low mileage service or £230 for the full 1st year service i went for the full service , when i paid the bill they only charged me £203 as it did not need a pollen filter . while i was there i had a test drive in a abarth 500 very tempted and the salesman said he could do me a very good deal on my 500 1.2 sport against there red abarth demo car which is 3 weeks old , but i have only had mine just over a year so i think its a bit soon to change :thinking:

[VilleV]

while i was there i had a test drive in a abarth 500 very tempted and the salesman said he could do me a very good deal on my 500 1.2 sport against there red abarth demo car which is 3 weeks old , but i have only had mine just over a year so i think its a bit soon to change :thinking:

Just go for it and never look back I say!:cool: I know I would...

[markbowie]

working out the money figures last night a because i have only had my sport for a year i will lose to much money at the moment so may be next year, but i sill love the alfa mito which is a similar price and with the new multi air that has come out so i am going to wait for a year and see what deals i can get on a abarth or a mito :icon_thumright:

[Abarthlyness]

We are all (or most of us) in the European Union, but they use the EU thing only when they try to get our money in one way or an other, when is the time the governments to give to the people it is each country for its own....
the same with warranties, each country dealership have its own rules!

I see... I guess having so many countries so close together makes things a little more tricky... bordering countries is way different than bordering states all under the same government laws.


In Fiats case (here in Europe) manufacturers warranty is two years and the additional three years come from the dealer. This is why they can pretty much determine where one services ones car, at least if you want to keep your warranty valid. So far I havent really needed the warranty, only my ecu has been updated because of the cold start issues, but with that the dealer was helpful and fast to responce when I contacted them about the matter.

Recarding the amount of work hours needed in this service I believe it was because they had to check the "valve clearings" I mentioned earlier somewhere and this takes time I suppose. Other than that they changed all fluids and filters, but that really shouldn´t take that much time.

Like I mentioned, for me, I do all my own fluids (oil, coolant, gear oil, washer fluid, etc) and I do my own breaks, suspension and clutch work too. I even have friends that do performance alignments (including camber, toe, and caster) and are VERY good at performance, or "Speed Shop" style upgrades to turbos, exhaust, heads, etc. I consider myself to be very lucky to have this knowledge (and good friends).

So, the only time I ever need to call upon a manufactirers warranty, or even take my vehicles into a dealership, is when something is actually wrong, since I do all the maintainance myself...:icon_thumright:

[VilleV]

I do all my own fluids (oil, coolant, gear oil, washer fluid, etc) and I do my own breaks, suspension and clutch work too.


Here you would lose the warranty if you did these things by yourself.:(

I too would like to have friends like yours who could tune up my car!:cool: I was just browsing through youtube and found an exhaust that would really go well with my car! Lovely sound, not too much but adds little something! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba1GeF757fM

Compared to the stock exhaust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYPCKqt0SaA&feature=related

[Abarthlyness]

Here you would lose the warranty if you did these things by yourself.:(

I too would like to have friends like yours who could tune up my car!:cool: I was just browsing through youtube and found an exhaust that would really go well with my car! Lovely sound, not too much but adds little something! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba1GeF757fM

Compared to the stock exhaust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYPCKqt0SaA&feature=related

REALLY! Just doing normal maintainance items like oil and brakes will void your warranty?!?

Boy... Kragen, Napa and AutoZone (Auto Parts stores in the States) would go out of business in a heartbeat if that were the case here...

[VilleV]

Car, the 500 in this case, has to be serviced once a year or every 15000km by a certified garage just to keep the manufacturers warranty. And to keep the dealers additional three years of warranty (in Finland) the car has to be serviced by them from the beginning. Any additional repairs can offcourse be done by any garage or even by one self for that matter without it affecting the warranty.

[Abarthlyness]

Car, the 500 in this case, has to be serviced once a year or every 15000km by a certified garage just to keep the manufacturers warranty. And to keep the dealers additional three years of warranty (in Finland) the car has to be serviced by them from the beginning. Any additional repairs can offcourse be done by any garage or even by one self for that matter without it affecting the warranty.


Hhhmmm.... I guess that makes sense. The dealer wants to be sure that if they need to perform warranty work, that the car was properly maintained in the first place:icon_thumright:

[Jor]

Well done, Wreckmaster! I'm glad you found a cheaper garage!

It shows you should always make a few phone calls before committing to anything! I am really bad for just accepting what the first person tells me, but I shall keep this in mind!

Fortunately, I am leasing my 500 and servicing is included for the first 3 years, but for the last year of my lease I shall follow your example and be very careful!

Thanks! :icon_thumleft:

[Jeff C.]

Wow,I have to tell you that reading all these posts about the insanely high cost of maintenance on the Fiat 500 is frankly worring me.I'm not sure that I want to put myself in the situation where I am forced to submit to allowing these kinds of prices to keep the car running.I typically do routine maintenance such as oil changes at a MUCH more stringent interval.For the first 20,000 miles I change oil every 3,000 miles and then after 20,000 miles switch to a 5,000 interval.I am not familiar with the recommended Italian brand of oil,but I cant see as how it is going to be THAT MUCH superior to Mobil 1.Asside from the oil change expense,all the other ancellary work that seems to be reguarded as necessary is something that most American cars dont require.I have been really excited about getting an Abarth version ,but maybe it is time for me to re-think the whole situation.What kind of feedback can you give me about my(and really ALL OF OUR) delema?

[VilleV]

I think we´ll just have to wait and see what the cost of maintaining the 500 is going to be like in the US. In the little Fiat defence I have to say, that maintaining pretty much every car is expencive up here and Fiat is not an exception. And Fiat is not even close to being the most expencive make, I think for example Subarus or even bmw Minis are a lot more expencive to service here!

In general I dont think Fiat can afford to make that kind of mistake that such a little car would be more expencive to service than the competition is in the States. And even tho it´s expencive to service the car it has been so trouble free that having a car has never been so inexpencive for me for as long as I´ve had a car! The little niggles I´ve had have been dealt under the warranty and no questions asked.

[Il Consigliere]

I just bought a 2010 1.4 Sport. I was checking the service schedule for it and it seems that along with the new importer in Finland, the service schedule have changed. Earlier it has been 15000km/1 year and now it's 30000km/2 years for all the models (1.2, 1.4 and 1.3 d). However, it is still recommended that if annual mileages are low or driving is mainly in cities, the car should be serviced once a year.

Now, in our case there is a decision needed. The car has been taken into use in February 2010. It now has only 4000 km and by February 2011 it will have an other 4000 km, in total 8000 km. The car was not driven last winter, the first serious driving was done in April. I think it's unnecessary to have first service in Feb but the question is when to have it for the first time?

What are the current service schedules in other countries?

[VilleV]

I believe service schedule is 2 years /30000km from model year 2010 onwards everywhere but correct me if I´m wrong. What I´d propably do is change the oil atleast once a year and then have the car fully serviced every two years.

[sjmst]

The US Fiats will come with free maintenance for 3 years :icon_thumleft:

[wreckmaster]

The US Fiats will come with free maintenance for 3 years :icon_thumleft:

Nothing is freelol They just add the servicing costs to the initial price taglol And what will the prices be like when those 3 years / ? Miles are over? But Fiats aint much more expensive to maintain than other brands, so I am quite sure it is nothing to worry about:icon_thumleft:

[abarth500racer]

From what I have read about the U.S. version of the 500 the warranty is like this:

4-year - 50,000 miles bumper to bumper.
4-year - 50,000 miles on the powertrain.
4-year - 36,000 miles free maintenance
4-year - unlimited roadside assistance.

[sjmst]

Nothing is freelol They just add the servicing costs to the initial price taglol And what will the prices be like when those 3 years / ? Miles are over? But Fiats aint much more expensive to maintain than other brands, so I am quite sure it is nothing to worry about:icon_thumleft:

True, though at 19,500 for my Prima, it still feels free to me :icon_thumright:

[wreckmaster]

True, though at 19,500 for my Prima, it still feels free to me :icon_thumright:

And that is the most important thing, since you dont have to worry about costs for the next three years after purchase:icon_thumleft:

[VilleV]

Altough this thread was originally about the first service most of us are now about to have our cars serviced for the second or even third time like me. So I decided to alter the name of the thread a little bit...

I was just quoted 570 euros for the third annual service which here includes the cambelt change with new tensioners and waterpumb. It´s expensive yes, but to be honest I was prepared for worse! I was expecting it to cost at least 550 but more likely somewhere between 600 and 700 euros, so 570 is not that bad.

Now that Fiat is sold thru a new import company the cambelt is changed every 4 years / 120000km, just like the rest of the world. The previos import company, besides being greedy, was being overly cautious due to the fact that they had several cases with Alfa 147s and 156s where the cambelt would snap after just 2 years or 40000km! This is why they decided to lower the mileage between cambelt changes for Alfas and Fiats... And as for the cars sold by the previous import company the belt is changed efter 3 years / 60000km when the car is still under the warranty, after that it´s 4 years /120000km like newer cars! Go figure..

[abarth500racer]

Altough this thread was originally about the first service most of us are now about to have our cars serviced for the second or even third time like me. So I decided to alter the name of the thread a little bit...

I was just quoted 570 euros for the third annual service which here includes the cambelt change with new tensioners and waterpumb. It´s expensive yes, but to be honest I was prepared for worse! I was expecting it to cost at least 550 but more likely somewhere between 600 and 700 euros, so 570 is not that bad.

Now that Fiat is sold thru a new import company the cambelt is changed every 4 years / 120000km, just like the rest of the world. The previos import company, besides being greedy, was being overly cautious due to the fact that they had several cases with Alfa 147s and 156s where the cambelt would snap after just 2 years or 40000km! This is why they decided to lower the mileage between cambelt changes for Alfas and Fiats... And as for the cars sold by the previous import company the belt is changed efter 3 years / 60000km when the car is still under the warranty, after that it´s 4 years /120000km like newer cars! Go figure..

I believe the cambelt change for the U.S. spec 500 is 150,000 miles (240,000 km). That's a lot of miles before the first change. And the multiair engine for the U.S. is an interference engine. If the cambelt breaks, you get bent valves! Don't know if the Euro-spec 500 is an interference engine design.

A 120000km (75,000 miles) change seems more reasonable.

My 1994 Mazda Miata broke it's cambelt at 54,000 miles! Luckily, that engine is a non-interference one.

[VilleV]

I believe the cambelt change for the U.S. spec 500 is 150,000 miles (240,000 km). That's a lot of miles before the first change. And the multiair engine for the U.S. is an interference engine. If the cambelt breaks, you get bent valves! Don't know if the Euro-spec 500 is an interference engine design.

A 120000km (75,000 miles) change seems more reasonable.

My 1994 Mazda Miata broke it's cambelt at 54,000 miles! Luckily, that engine is a non-interference one.


My info of this is limited to the 1.2 engine, which is to my knowledge a non-interference one. Maybe someone can confirm this and fill in the info about the 1.3 and 1.4 engines?