i cant believe they got the FIRE engine through euro 6

origins date back to the 1980s!

RobW said:

i cant believe they got the FIRE engine through euro 6

origins date back to the 1980s!

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Yeah my engine does feel a bit 'old school' I think they didn't manage with the 1.4 though, they have discontinued it anyway. I am with the Euro 5 1.4 emitting 135 g/km without S/S (with ss its 130).

Probably irrelevant, but our 2012 500 TwinAir and my 2013 MiTo JTDm both raise the revs slightly as you start to let the clutch up. It seems it's not a new idea to Fiat, but just to the 1.2 engine, particularly in the 500.

Quite why it's causing problems in the 1.2, and most importantly only some 1.2s, is baffling. And all the guess work having to be done by owners and not Fiat, is appalling.

I just had a phone call from Fiat Head Office. They wanted us to meet with a main representative at our local dealers, to discuss the car and to talk though with us how to drive it. I told them that they had already had the car back twice and they had told us that they couldn't do anything. The last remapping changed the position at which the clutch recognition came in, but since then it has continued to change and now revs up immediately the pedal comes off the floor. Now the engine sometimes tries to rev constantly when in 1st or 2nd gear, it doesn't want to idle, sometimes it surges. They wanted to have the car, but I told them that they are not having it until DVSA have had a chance, and that there were other people with the same problem and I want to get something for everyone affected not just me. I was then told they would close my file in that case.

I have been in touch with other owners who are also contacting DVSA and other motoring organizations and press. I have had some advice on the technical side and from this I have concluded that it is very unlikely that there is an easy fix, its probably back to the drawing board time.

I am also insulted by the 'we'll teach you how to drive it' bit. I have a lifetime's experience of driving a wide range of vehicles and machinery of all ages, sometimes doing recovery in very bad conditions where safely is paramount. I can adjust the way I drive to respond to the car's changing symptoms, the point is it shouldn't be necessary!

Why don't you want to let them look at it? How are they meant to sort it otherwise?

David Bliss said:

I just had a phone call from Fiat Head Office. They wanted us to meet with a main representative at our local dealers, to discuss the car and to talk though with us how to drive it. I told them that they had already had the car back twice and they had told us that they couldn't do anything. The last remapping changed the position at which the clutch recognition came in, but since then it has continued to change and now revs up immediately the pedal comes off the floor. Now the engine sometimes tries to rev constantly when in 1st or 2nd gear, it doesn't want to idle, sometimes it surges. They wanted to have the car, but I told them that they are not having it until DVSA have had a chance, and that there were other people with the same problem and I want to get something for everyone affected not just me. I was then told they would close my file in that case.

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Why do FIAT want to teach you to drive the car and then they want to "have the car". What exactly are they proposing to do?

I wouldn't make too much out of the "you've had the car twice" thing either.

I have had some advice on the technical side and from this I have concluded that it is very unlikely that there is an easy fix, its probably back to the drawing board time.

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I would tend to disagree with this. Have you been in touch with ZeeBo on here?

I have now been contacted by DVSA. Apparently I need to let Fiat look at my car as part of the investigation. Also they need anyone else who has this problem to send in a report , you can do it online at
https://www.gov.uk/report-vehicle-safety-defect

Please do this as soon as possible to keep up the momentum now the ball is rolling.

I have told Fiat UK I want the car exchanged and have contacted Fiat HQ in Turin.They cant expect you to adapt to drive a car that is faulty.

I picked up my 1.2 Panda last week and have been struggling to get a smooth getaway, particularly on an incline. I assume it is to do with the electronic clutch control but I haven't driven many manual gearboxes over the last 10 years so probably a bit rusty too! It either bogs down or revs like crazy so caution needed at roundabouts.

It is great for parking and slow speed manoeuvring but one of the reasons for buying the car was for the kids to learn to drive in it so it is a little irritating that this will make it more difficult for them.

Great car other than that though!

Letting up the clutch before pressing the throttle helps for slow starts but not good on roundabouts as there is a delay in power delivery.As your car is so new I would take it back to the dealer and complain to Fiat.As ours is a second car and we live in a flat rural area I have managed to live with it,but round town driving can be a pain.

I've just purchased a 65 plate 1.2 panda pop with a view to using it as a learner vehicle for my driving school. The drop in power as you pull away is not only annoying - its dangerous. I've been back to my local dealer where the mechanic acknowledged the fault. He said mine is not as bad as some of the 500's he'd experienced but at this time Fiat do not have a (software) solution to the problem!!!!

At the risk of coming across as rather annoying , didn't you notice this issue when you took the car for a test drive? Or as I guess is the case with most brand new cars that are not pre-reg, you didn't have that option with the car? Anyway, if the car isn't performing correctly or as it should, can you not reject.....

If it is as bad as the 500 we had it wont be suitable for driving tests.

I have the same take off delay issues on my pop 1200,it's only done 2000kms and it's going in tomorrow for its 1st service/check, spoke with the service guy and he acknowledged the issue and said there's no fix, so it's real, they know about it here downunder and we just need to get used to it.
I see it as a good reason to give it a boot full at takeoff and enjoy the drive lol.
Be nice though to get it fixed eventually

I've put a pipercross panel air filter on now seems to be better also more miles I do the better the engine gets .

Hi.
I know this is an old thread and I'm wondering if people are still having these issues or if their cars are fixed?
I bought a used Panda at the end of January, it was registered in March 2014. I had this awful clutch issue with the revs rising as you lift the pedal. Either the revs were too low or high, not good for clutch life engine mounts or gearbox. So removed the switch complete with its bracket, made sure it was held in the up position and tucked it behind the plastic cowling to the left of the clutch pedal. Result was perfect, now a normal feel fully controlled by the throttle pedal.

I recently fitted Denso Iridium plugs, was great till a long run on Saturday, now have jerkiness below 2000 rpm, HT leads are o.k. and am about to refit the old plugs just in case it's them to blame. Wouldn't go near the Fiat dealer, utterly useless....... even their coffee is carp.

Recently bought a 2012 500 1.2 Lounge and I have to say I haven't really noticed any of the problems with clutch or acceleration. Let's face it, all cars feel different from the one you're used to! And as for the flat spot so many talk about, the only time this happens is if you floor the pedal after changing gear - usually from 1st to 2nd. If you treat it with a light foot it doesn't do it! And so if adjusting your driving style means a more frugal driving style that can't be bad - can it?

Incaman said:

Recently bought a 2012 500 1.2 Lounge and I have to say I haven't really noticed any of the problems with clutch or acceleration. Let's face it, all cars feel different from the one you're used to! And as for the flat spot so many talk about, the only time this happens is if you floor the pedal after changing gear - usually from 1st to 2nd. If you treat it with a light foot it doesn't do it! And so if adjusting your driving style means a more frugal driving style that can't be bad - can it?

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The problem with this issue is that it wasn't consistent across the fleet; some folks reported their cars as being practically undriveable, others said they were just fine. Some had software updates and said their cars were infinitely better, others had software updates which made no difference.

We never really got to the bottom of this. The only advice we could give at the time was to properly test drive the specific car you were going to buy, and only complete the deal if you were happy with the way it performed. That advice is still good today.

Th great news is that you're happy with yours; it just remains to wish you many more miles of trouble free motoring.

jrkitching said:

The problem with this issue is that it wasn't consistent across the fleet; some folks reported their cars as being practically undriveable, others said they were just fine. Some had software updates and said their cars were infinitely better, others had software updates which made no difference.

We never really got to the bottom of this. The only advice we could give at the time was to properly test drive the specific car you were going to buy, and only complete the deal if you were happy with the way it performed. That advice is still good today.

Th great news is that you're happy with yours; it just remains to wish you many more miles of trouble free motoring.

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Thanks for the good wishes! Is the software update readily available at Fiat Dealers and do they make a charge for doing it? I've also heard that having the ECU remapped can be beneficial too - although it is expensive!

Incaman said:

Thanks for the good wishes! Is the software update readily available at Fiat Dealers and do they make a charge for doing it? I've also heard that having the ECU remapped can be beneficial too - although it is expensive!

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If it's running OK and you're happy with its performance, then I'd leave well alone. You're already better off than many folks who posted on this forum.

With any modern car, (and many other current pieces of technology), you may only be one software update from a problem.

That's why I'm typing this on a computer I've set to "check for updates but let me choose whether to install them".