Trouble anyone?

[wreckmaster]

I know that the 500 is a perfect little car, but I still wonder if anyone of you have had any problems with your car yet? If you have had any troubles what kind of trouble?

I have had a couple of minor problems:
- Flashing milage with not working drivers computer and blue&me
( it works fine again if you switch the engine off and on again). To fix the problem I needed a "proxy alignment" at the dealer. It`s fine now:)

- My front window(windshield) suddenly cracked while I was driving. Was somekind of tension in the window and it could not take the diference in inside and outside temp(no stone chip caused this). It was about 1-2 degrees outside and the defroster was on max heat on the inside. I am still waiting for this to be fixed because of the holliday season.

- The heater is just not good enough for the Norwegian winter. When it`s below zero degrees outside( and that is often) it won`t heat up the inside of the car good enough:mad: Today it is -8 degrees celsius.

[.Lefteris.]

Nop not problems on my Abarth yet except from a few things that bother me.
1) The clutch pedal stay down and it needs to put my foot under it to take it back, it happen only one time the first day, after this it works fine!
2) The drivers seat is to high!
3) The St. Wheel is too far!
4) The Steering is too heavy on the sport mod and too soft on the standard mod, they have to work on this!
5) The one that still bothers me and I have to go and check it, is that when I am in reversing gear and I have the steering turn all the way at left, I hear a ''goup'' noise (just one) from somewhere in the steering gear, it happens 3 - 4 times so far
6) The safety belts are not easy to reach
Thats all for now and for the first 10 days and 400km

[cjay]

Fiat has a very bad reputation in this country so I was a bit hesitant when I got my 500. I knew it would be about a year before the Abarth arrived so I thought it the 500 sport would be a good test to see how the quality was before I got the Abarth...

My car is fantastic! In 7 months it has had one very minor problem. The buttons on the steering wheel stopped working, no idea why:confused: I just disconnected the battery and reconnected it and it fixed the problem :clappinghands:

The build quality is great noting has fallen off or rattled and the paint on mine is also excellent. The first boatload of 500's here had allot of dirt in the paint, they must have fixed the problem because mine is fine.

[wreckmaster]

Fiat has got a really bad reputation in Norway also. Is one of the smallest brands on the market... Earlier they had a serious rust problem and electrical problems because of the salting of the roads in the winter time. The reputation is on it`s way up but still has a long way to go. It`s not a good thing when a basic thing like the heater don`t heat up the car good enough. But I love my little 500, it`s great fun to drive, cheap on fuel and looks great:):) I read somewhere that a Fiat boss had said that within a few years(2012 I think) Fiats quality should match the quality of an Toyota:clappinghands: The 500 is supposed to be the first in the line of models with the new quality... I guess thats why the 500 is the only model with a 5 year warranty.

[cjay]

I think Fiats Quality has already passed Toyota. :icon_thumleft:

My work cars are all Toyotas and the quality is much worse than my Fiat! The dashes rattle and look like an elephants scrotum and the engines are horrible.

Plus Toyotas are dull, ugly and soulless cars, at the end of the day I can't wait to get back in my 500 :D

[Cadbury]

Had only minor problems so far. Flashing speedo (fixed).

I have an issue with brakes at the mo. The discs have been deglazed but there is still a noise that sounds like brakes shoes that have worn down to the metal. Dealer says there are a few probs with brakes but Fiat Customer Service have advised to book it in again.

Improvements :

1. Would like the accelerator to be longer, I have only small feet !
2. Door on the dash tray.

Small issues for a car that has a big ego :)

[VilleV]

Besides the flashing mileage thing, which has happened four times now, my car has been working perfectly. No big rattles or anything, except for the brakes that do "squeek" occasionally on cold weather.

This is my first modern Fiat, so I can´t really comment on the quality issues, but Fiats do have a terrible reputation here also. But I think that this has also to do with the fact, that finnish people tend to form an oppinion and then stick to it. Most older people here still think that for example Skoda is rubbish and wouldn´t buy one in a million years!

[minime911]

Hi,I had a Fiat X1/9 about 25 years ago and it was already old and rusty when I got it. I managed to keep it running for 5 years and apart from the rust there were no major problems with it. But these times all cars were just rusting away. Remember the Renault R4 or even the R5. Usually they were rotten after 2 years from new.:)Today more and more electronics problems show up for the simple reason that things are not tested to an end. Component suppliers make hardware and software level changes and updates one after the other and the interaction with the connected devices is not always assured. Nearly all of the devices, dashboard display, ECU, ABS, Car radio, Air conditioning control, central door locking, power steering.... are connected via CAN bus and are communicating one with each other. Can you imagine how fast some trouble might appear considering that most of these components come from different suppliers? This is not a specific Fiat problem. If you know people that drive Mercedes E-Class (first series of recent model) they might tell you their stories about dashboard warning messages that show up and disappear without any good reason or BMW 3 series with steeing lock problems. Usually these problems get soved after some time with a reflash. Anyway, if the speedo problem shows up on 2 cars, then it will show up on many more it is jut amatter of time or circumstances (temperature, humidity whatever).Fiat has quite high standards for their component suppliers and they are at the same level than the competitors. The problem today is that there are so many helpers and gimmicks in the cars that might fail and the chances that they fail are high as all of these parts have to be cheap.A Blue and Me system that should be able to synchronize with all Bluetooth phones and other devices cannot fail if there is none installed.:(Greetings:minime911

[.Lefteris.]

You are 100% correct minime911 :icon_thumleft:

[Cadbury]

Cadbury still has a brake issue. Sounds like pads are worn down to the metal. Been back to the dealer again (on Fiat UK's advice) who are now contacting Fiat to ascertain if there is a different type of pads to fit. I am told this is not the first brake problem they have come across.

Anyone else suffering from this ?

PS I am told that you should never 'hold' a car on FULL lock as it stress the pump

[ewandougie]

A quick scoot around the net, apparanlty the flashing milage/km problem is due to the ECU and instrument being out of sink :confused: Apparantly if you start the car by moving the key to Mar and allow the lights to go out, then turn it to AGG and start the engine. Another fix is to always start with the clutch fully down.

[VilleV]

I don´t know if this really helps. I´ve been trying to do this, but still my mileage has been flashing a couple of times.

[ewandougie]

Hmm I tried it and after I tried it, the problem went away

[Cadbury]

Sink or sync ;)

Brake pads definitely going to be replaced under warranty, hope it cures the problem.

Flashing mileage again today, I will get it sorted when pads are done. It is annoying that I am clocking up 45 miles each time Cadbury has to go back to the dealer, 45 miles and petrol too.

On my last Land Rover (well all of them) you are suppose to follow those points Ewan, gives diesel time to warm up. Also, by depressing the clutch, it helps the engine turn over easier. Still do this on my 500, habit I suppose. Another 'quirky' habit I have is ... I leave it in gear

[.Lefteris.]

............... by depressing the clutch, it helps the engine turn over easier. Still do this on my 500, habit I suppose. Another 'quirky' habit I have is ... I leave it in gear

Same here on both! :)

[wreckmaster]

As I wrote earlier my window cracked whilw driving. Last week I got confirmation that Fiat covers the window change of my 500. So yesterday I went to my dealer again to set time for the change. Since the car will be at the garage most of the day because of drying of the glue I asked if they had a car I can borrow. The guy I were talking to asked his boss, who said no. I said to him that when I buy a brand new car and it has to go in for a repair after three months I expect a courtysy car. They called Fiat and Fiat said no.... At the Fiat import company they said that I would never get a courtysy car before my car needed to stay in the garage for a week or more:mad: No wonder they dont sell more Fiats in Norway. On the good side the sales representative I bought my car from heard the discussion and come over to me and said that I could borrow a car from him:) All my respect to him!!!!!! If it wasen`t for him I would never have bought a car from that dealership.

The very few times I have had trouble with my Opel I don`t even have to ask for a car to borrow, they ask me!!!!!! That is what makes customers come back again and again!!!!!

[Cadbury]

Here in the UK, my Fiat dealer not only offer a courtesy car (albeit you have to cover the insurance, sometimes) but they also do a collection and delivery service.

[wreckmaster]

Here in the UK, my Fiat dealer not only offer a courtesy car (albeit you have to cover the insurance, sometimes) but they also do a collection and delivery service.

That is the way it should be!!!! If they want theire customers to come back and buy his/hers next car there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cjay]

It's crazy here, the Fiat dealer in my town wants $65 a day for a loan car! I spoke to the dealer an hour south of here yesterday he was shocked, they will give you a loan car free.

The same company owns both dealerships! :confused:

[minime911]

Hi,
A free replacement car for all warranty repairs is common practice.
If this is too expensive for the car manufacturers they just have to build better cars that don't need any extraordinary repairs.:)
I suppose that in this case the dealership or the main importer in your country is not up to date of what is usually done to keep customers happy.

Greetings:

minime911

[markbowie]

had my car a week now have had a problem with the drivers seat belt on retracting called the sales man next day who said he would get the service dept. to call but they never did, as i work on porsches for a job i fixed it my self i hope this is just a one off as the next fiat dealer is nearly 40 miles away

[Cadbury]

had my car a week now have had a problem with the drivers seat belt on retracting called the sales man next day who said he would get the service dept. to call but they never did, as i work on porsches for a job i fixed it my self i hope this is just a one off as the next fiat dealer is nearly 40 miles away

Unlike Land Rover, once I bought Cadbury, the saleman didn't want to know any issues but passed me to servicing. Suppose this is two different trades. Least when something goes wrong with your 500 (fingers crossed it doesn't) you know what you are talking about.