3 ms·

AFAIK it got bad rep in Europe because they made cars for their domestic marked, got exported to northern Europe and had problems with some coatings and electro

AFAIK it got bad rep in Europe because they made cars for their domestic marked, got exported to northern Europe and had problems with some coatings and electronics. But honestly my experience is good. I mean, it's reasonably cheap, aesthetics tend to be ok at least, engines are decent, and overall it feels like they do a decent job for the price. Not to mention that they have some famous commercial vehicles that Fiat Ducato.

AmericanChopper 7y ago
I drove a rental 500c around Europe once, and it was rather good. But it was brand new (had like 30 miles on the clock when I picked it up), and I’ve never owned one. So no idea if it’s reliability reputation is to be believed.
miskin 7y ago
Fiat Ducato pretty much owns european recreational vehicle market. Huge majority of RVs is based on this platform.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
A couple of my neighbors had 500Es and a few of my friends had gasoline powered 500s. The electric owners seemed to like the car well enough but declined to buy it after the lease (FIAT wanted an obscene amount of money compared to the lease price). Price was the only reason the 500E was appealing – my one neighbor paid about $120/mo after insurance. The gasoline owners were less enthusiastic. One of the big problems in San Francisco is that it was the Maserati/Generic Italian dealer that got the FIAT franchise (granted the other Bay Area FIAT dealers are just as bad). They're expensive, incompetent, and not particularly customer oriented. One friend had transmission/clutch issues and the dealer wanted $3000 to R&R the clutch on a car that was barely two years old. The other Bay Area dealers wanted about the same amount of money. I asked someone overseas to look up the book time and parts cost (about 3 hrs and $300 respectively). That works out to well north of $700/hr in labor charges. The scummy service advisor showed us what he claimed was the clutch they pulled and it looked almost brand new. Turns out FIAT put a hydraulic clutch control system in the American market ones and their Mexican factory put the wrong throw out bearings in early builds. The dealer never did give us the throw out bearing (I wonder why...). If I wanted an econobox with a warranty that was fun to drive I'd buy a Honda. They've had that market locked down for ages. If I wanted something more exotic I'd look at a VW. If I wanted something difficult to find parts for I'd get a Peugeot or Citroen. If I wanted something that rides like crap and isn't utilitarian I'd get a Miata. The story only gets worse with Alfa. FIAT couldn't even keep the press cars running and they kept blaming software issues for mechanical failure[0]. FIAT gets a bad rap in the United States because they don't have the cachet to get away with their mediocre quality and non-existent support network. 0: https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alfa-romeo-giulia-quadrifoglio-reliability-update/ https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alfa-romeo-gi...

AmericanChopper 7y ago

I drove a rental 500c around Europe once, and it was rather good. But it was brand new (had like 30 miles on the clock when I picked it up), and I’ve never owned one. So no idea if it’s reliability reputation is to be believed.

miskin 7y ago

Fiat Ducato pretty much owns european recreational vehicle market. Huge majority of RVs is based on this platform.

inferiorhuman 7y ago

A couple of my neighbors had 500Es and a few of my friends had gasoline powered 500s. The electric owners seemed to like the car well enough but declined to buy it after the lease (FIAT wanted an obscene amount of money compared to the lease price). Price was the only reason the 500E was appealing – my one neighbor paid about $120/mo after insurance. The gasoline owners were less enthusiastic. One of the big problems in San Francisco is that it was the Maserati/Generic Italian dealer that got the FIAT franchise (granted the other Bay Area FIAT dealers are just as bad). They're expensive, incompetent, and not particularly customer oriented. One friend had transmission/clutch issues and the dealer wanted $3000 to R&R the clutch on a car that was barely two years old. The other Bay Area dealers wanted about the same amount of money. I asked someone overseas to look up the book time and parts cost (about 3 hrs and $300 respectively). That works out to well north of $700/hr in labor charges. The scummy service advisor showed us what he claimed was the clutch they pulled and it looked almost brand new. Turns out FIAT put a hydraulic clutch control system in the American market ones and their Mexican factory put the wrong throw out bearings in early builds. The dealer never did give us the throw out bearing (I wonder why...). If I wanted an econobox with a warranty that was fun to drive I'd buy a Honda. They've had that market locked down for ages. If I wanted something more exotic I'd look at a VW. If I wanted something difficult to find parts for I'd get a Peugeot or Citroen. If I wanted something that rides like crap and isn't utilitarian I'd get a Miata. The story only gets worse with Alfa. FIAT couldn't even keep the press cars running and they kept blaming software issues for mechanical failure[0]. FIAT gets a bad rap in the United States because they don't have the cachet to get away with their mediocre quality and non-existent support network. 0: https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alfa-romeo-giulia-quadrifoglio-reliability-update/ https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alfa-romeo-gi...