"Fiat has a reputation for making unreliable rust buckets"

[tridim]

So says some random "car expert" blogger on MSNBC.

A) That was 30+ years ago.
B) Most 70's automobiles were rust buckets because they weren't rust proofed and the paint sucked.
C) The old Fiats were not nearly as bad as non-Fiat owners claim. I've owned three.
D) Today's Fiat makes some of the most reliable compact cars on the market in Europe.
E) Random blogger is a freaking idiot, and for some reason doesn't want Chrysler to succeed.

Mini-rant off.

[liberal N proud]

1. Fix It Again Tony (FIAT)

Actually they are said to have one of the most reliable cars in Europe right now.

[MADem]

2. Despite the "Fix it again Tony" jokes, they're great cars. And great on gas, too. NT

[safeinOhio]

3. In the 70s hondas were junk too.

[Kalyke]

5. They still are.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Including our kids', we have six cars. All Hondas. All fantastic.

You should own one.

[tridim]

23. My 99 Civic is 100% fantastic.

No idea what this poster is talking about.

[Buzz Clik]

25. We have quite a list of Hondas:

1999 Accord. Over 140,000 miles. Runs fantastic, looks great.
2003 Civic. About 60,000 miles. ditto.
2000 Civic. 108,000. Wonderful machine.
2001 Accord. 95,000 miles. Great body, purrs like a kitten.
2006 CRV. Best snow car I've ever driven. It chewed up 18" of snow without blinking.
2007 Accord Hybrid. V-6. 38 mpg highway.

[safeinOhio]

17. expensive junk.

[Buzz Clik]

22. Chryslers? No kidding.

[gmoney]

34. Hogwash... Honda is so far beyond US cars, it's crazy.

I had a Nissan which was pretty nice, but it got wrecked early last year. The best thing I could find to replace it quickly was a Taurus. Sitting in that was as if it had been strictly "designed" on the drawing board, but nobody ever actually made a prototype and sat in it. Nothing was in easy reach, too much was hidden behind the steering wheel, and it was cramped, especially for someone my size, 6'3". THAT got wrecked, and borrowed a Mercury for a couple months, and it was even worse. Tested out my stepmother's Honda Fit and loved it. Smaller than either the Ford or Mercury, it still had a lot more personal room, everything in visible, easy reach, and it just felt a helluva lot more like a substantial vehicle. Went to the dealer to buy one, but ended up getting a great deal on a used 4-door Accord, similar to one I'd had a few years ago. It was like coming home... everything is just in perfect reach, it rides like a dream, looks good, reliable, good power, good mileage, just everything I could ask for from a car (except I had to replace the factory CD player - ugh). It had over 100,000 miles when I bought it, but I know that's not an issue because it's a Honda. Have you SEEN what an American car looks like after 100,000 miles?

I've had US rental cars over the years as well, and they're usually pathetic flimsy crap.

[AndyA]

4. I had two friends who owned Fiats years ago.

One had a little convertible, and I don't think ever had any trouble with it at all. And he drove the heck out of it for many years.

The other friend had a little two seater coupe, and it was nothing but trouble. He couldn't make it across town without it breaking down. He took it in and told them to go through the whole car and fix EVERYTHING, that he was tired of having trouble with it. He said if there was a chance of failure, replace it.

That helped for about 6 months or so, and it went back to its old ways. I think he either gave it away, or sold it for a couple hundred to just get rid of it. I remember he was very relieved after it wasn't his, he said "now someone else can worry about it all the time."

Hopefully, the Fiat/Chrysler partnership will produce some good, dependable cars. If they don't, they'll never make it.

[tridim]

11. The convertible is called the 124 Spider

and the 2-seater is called the X1/9.

I've owned one Spider (1978) and two X1/9's (1977 and 1979). All of them were fabulous cars, but the Spider was very special. It was a GREAT car.

People seem to forget that older cars aren't the same as modern cars. Most had carburetors and points for one thing and are inherently not as reliable as modern fuel injection and electronic ignition. They require routine maintenance. People who expect a 30 year old car (and 30 year old tech) to just work without liftng a finger are guaranteed to be disappointed.

I have a feeling random blogger is one of those people.

[alfredo]

43. Fiat 124 and Opel in wild car chase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVs5rVf8hB0

[Ikonoklast]

6. I owned one FIAT.

I learn from my mistakes.

[Jack from Charlotte]

15. Hey. Did that Fiat have a hemi? (nfm)

*

[flvegan]

7. Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo have all vastly improved under Fiat parenthood.

It's taken some time, but Fiat has proven to be a proper name to be affiliated with.

Their new 500 is supposed to be a brilliant little car, as well.

[Bill219]

8. I had a an X/19 when I was in high school

I loved that car.

In the four years that I owned it..It was in the shop two times for very minor issues

[tridim]

20. Same here.

My first car was an X1/9 and everyone at school wanted to buy it from me. So many that it eventually got really annoying. NO, IT'S NOT FOR SALE!

I would probably still have it today if I had seen the car coming down the road before it side-swiped me.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Yeah, well, Chrysler has a reputation for bankruptcy.

[ddeclue]

10. Isn't FIAT Italian for FORD: Fix Or Repair Daily, Found on Road Dead, but never First On Race Day

[alfredo]

26. The fiat has made some nice rally cars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgCK0EjzqmM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7aDokoWj3U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzVDmQCVY0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LTtyh0XBdY&feature=related

An outrageous Suzuki thrown in for good measure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VafUiWtjH-Q&feature=related

[tridim]

32. Here's a "rust bucket" X1/9 beating the crap out of every car it faces

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq_b_VZH0oc&feature=related

[alfredo]

36. Damn! I had a girlfriend that had a Fiat 500 Abarth. She loved to go fast.

[alfredo]

48. talk about Rust Buckets, The joke about the Chevy Nova

was that it would start rusting in the showroom.

[EOTE]

12. Datsun (Nissan) made cars which would rust out in a few years.

That was in the 70s as well. Yet today they don't have a reputation of making unreliable cars. It's only because the great bulk of Americans have no experience with Fiats that this reputation remains today.

[alfredo]

13. I had a 1932 Fiat Balilla and I would drive it up and down an 8,600ft

mountain at least once a month. I did it with passengers too. It did leak oil, had some shrapnel holes, and the paint was faded, but it was pretty reliable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVUc6Fiy-p8

[tridim]

14. Love it!

[alfredo]

28. You should ride that road on a bicycle. Fun going down.

[alfredo]

49. My Lancia was pretty neat too.

It was known as the Grossmobile. I had it painted and cleaned up. I sold it to the guy who took the picture.



Check out the Fiat Abarth

[Buzz Clik]

18. Fiat should worry about tainting their reputation by taking on Chrysler.

Gawd, what a mess.

[tridim]

24. From what I've seen, they are nervous.

I really don't know enough about modern Chryslers to make a judgement.

Any Chrysler owners want to chime in?

[liberal N proud]

30. I have a Chrysler with 145,000 miles

repairs to date have only been about $4000 total.

I have a couple of other Chrysler's that are newer with no problems.

I don't know what everyone is complaining about with Chrysler, I have always had good luck with them.

[wuushew]

33. $4,000 seems like a lot to me

That must be something beyond brake and exhaust work.

[liberal N proud]

44. Ever taken a car in for repairs?

If you can get out of the shop for less than $500 you got lucky.

The only repairs I have made:
Power Train Control Module $900
Timing Belt, Water Pump and other belts and hoses $700
New struts all the way around $1600
Shift cable $400

Does not include other items such as oil, brakes and tires. I just drove the car to Florida and back for a second trip this year, third one will be August.

The car has only left me sit once when the shift cable broke. I probably could have gotten it to the repair shop if I would have know how to get it in gear. I learned later how it could be done.

[quiller4]

38. My 2000 Chrysler Voyager has 149,000 miles

and lifetime repairs includign regularly scheduled brake and belt maintenance/replacement has come in under $3500. It is one of the most reliable vehicles my spouse and I have owned and that includes 2 Toyotas and 1 Subaru. Only our 1995 F150 has been cheaper and more reliable.

[alarimer]

41. Yes, I would never buy a Chrysler product.

At least based on the Dodge trucks we have had at work. Consistently in the shop more than any other brand we have used. Every single dashboard for example has cracked in the Dodges but never in the Fords or Chevys. It's just cheap shit I guess.

[Initech]

19. I rode in a Fiat taxi in Belgium, it wasn't as bad as everyone says they are.

[Xithras]

21. I got to drive a Fiat 500 in Mexico last year

Awesome little car, with plenty of power and excellent mileage. My 6'1" tall self fit in it just fine too. I was ranting at the time about how crappy it was that the 500 wouldn't be available north of the border any time soon.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. My mom had a little Fiat Spider from @1968 - 1973 and LOVED it.

It looked like a sports car, but was really underpowered (4cyl, IIRC) and was great for tooling around in. The only problem was in finding a place in mid-Missouri that could do repairs on it - even the littlest thing became a big problem.

[Taverner]

29. Lapo Elkann fixed that years ago - too bad his carreer ended in shame

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapo_Elkann

[kentuck]

31. I had a '76 Fiat Penin Farina convertible

It had dual points in the distributor and I could never find a mechanic that could set the points correctly. I finally figured out how to do it myself.

It was a lot of fun to drive in the mountains. It sounded like a small biplane going around the curves.

However, it was like a toy. It had to be worked on all the time.

Finally I gave it to a carpenter for doing work on my house and bathrooms.

[Rob H.]

35. My dad was stationed in Italy in the mid-70s

and even the people he knew who bought brand-new Fiats had nothing but trouble with them.

When we first got to Italy, my parents rented a Fiat 500 and it couldn't go up a moderately steep grade holding two normal-sized adults and two young children (ages 5 and 7) without blowing one of the spark plugs out of its seat. Drive a little way up the hill, BANG!, coast to a stop, get out, re-seat the spark plug, get back in, drive a little further, BANG!, coast to a stop....

They may be better now, but they really had nowhere to go but up. (FWIW, I like the look of their new 500s, especially the Abarth.)

[alcibiades_mystery]

37. The context of FIAT's 1970's quality struggles

It's rarely mentioned when people bring up FIAT's troubles during the 1970's, but Italy happened to be in what could charitably be described as open class warfare from about 1969-1979, much of it centered on the big FIAT plants in the north. There is absolutely no question, from a historical standpoint, that workers (especially at the massive Mirafiore FIAT plant near Turin) were engaged in active acts of sabotage against the FIAT brand for the entire period. How many of the despicable "Fix It Again Tony" jokers even know that the Mirafiore FIAT plant was taken over by workers in 1973, that 1973-74 was a period of near civil war between workers and owners, that the Italian government - with the collaboration of the useless PCI - instituted a civil disturbance code (the Legge Reale) as brutal as anything seen in Latin American dictatorships during the 1970's to deal with the uprising and open warfare on the shopfloors of the FIAT plants, that the main union (the CGIL, or Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro) was considered collaborationist by many workers, who abandoned negotiation for more radical tactics of resistance? I'd wager a guess: none of them, because they're mostly ignorant motherfuckers.

[tridim]

45. Thanks for the history lesson.

I didn't know about that even though I'm a Fiat enthusiast and used to regularly visit a site called mirafiore.com.

[quiller4]

39. Mid-late 1970s Fiats weren't relaible. Current Fiats are some

of Europe's best--reliable, cheap to operate and fun to drive.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. The crappy Fiat I had wasn't as crappy as the Plymouth or Dodge I had.

[conscious evolution]

42. The 1995 Fiat I drove

when I lived in Italy was a piece of shit.

When I told the Italian mechanic the fix it again tony joke he fell over laughing.

[Touchdown]

46. So Chrysler's cars will improve in quality with FIAT in charge.

;)

[snooper2]

47. or, you can have the engine I have here, the diesel

which is rubish :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


James May's Fiat 500 vs BMX bandits - Top Gear - BBC autos


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZmGv-ecm3I