I am so sad. My new 500L, which I have been loving, is at the dealer, because the fuel gauge has never worked. They said they have to wait for a replacement instrument cluster, I think they called it, to come from the east coast. Have I made a big mistake getting this car?

If you expected a Fiat to be flawless, you might have made a mistake. With a Fiat, you get a non-conformistic Italian spirit and style car with personality, which might have some small issues from time to time. You do not get boring Japanese perfection.

Idonwanna said:

I am so sad. My new 500L, which I have been loving, is at the dealer, because the fuel gauge has never worked. They said they have to wait for a replacement instrument cluster, I think they called it, to come from the east coast. Have I made a big mistake getting this car?

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TBH a none working fuel gauge is a pretty minor issue and the dealer should sort it fairly easily even though it requires a replacement cluster.

Our 500L came with a couple of electrical glitches (the cruise control didn't work being one) but it didn't put us off the car at all,

Minor electrical glitches seem to be not totally uncommon on the L but in the main dealers seem able to sort them so I would say no you haven't made a mistake.

I myself have had a few issues with mine but thankfully the dealer has / is sorting these out, car was in the garage for over a month with an issue which after a lot of backwards and forwards finally got resolved, have since been back wit a parking sensor problem which they replaced and now it is having to go back in for a similar reason but this time there is an issue with the cluster in behind the dash, something to do with the speaker, to be honest at the moment I am a bit peeved at the things going wrong in such a short time, although it probably best to go wrong now than later on in the cars life.

I will be patient. Miss my sweet car so much!

Thank you all for your comments. I am enjoying my car vicariously through the loaner 500L while I await the repair of mine.

Got my car back. I'm so happy!

Fingers crossed this is the only issue you have, mine seems to be suffering quite a bit with different things, going in this Thursday so hopefully that will be one thing sorted, just another noise issue I am getting now when it is in 3rd or 4th gear which will be a nightmare to sort out with them.

Which kind of noise, if I may ask ? Mine has a rattling noise coming from the instrument cluster which only occurs at specific conditions, apparently if the engine vibrates with a specific frequency, at constant speed in high gears.

Brandy

I get a noise almost like an uuurrrrrrrrrrrr (deep voice when doing it lol) it happens each time the ignition is on and I hit either 3rd or 4th gear, it makes this noise once and if I take my foot off the accelerator pedal I can hear that click or if I let the noise continue it will stop, it will then again do this about 6 seconds later and then it will not happen again unless I turn the ignition off and back on and drive again. This will be a nightmare when I take it back to the garage who will again I will imagine try and fob me off.


hopefully they will sort it ok and then fingers crossed no more problems

Well took car in today to have my cluster replaced and this noise that I am also getting, now I know a noise can be an awkward thing to try and figure out but the guy sat in the car that heard it said that it was a load bearing noise because we were going up a hill Anyway to prove him wrong I turned the ignition on and back off, drove along the flat and low and behold as expected the noise was back.


They are apparently going to test another vehicle to see if it is similar. I doubt very much it will be the same and they will try and make some reason for this noise.

Well I have the car back and as I thought they could not re-create the noise in another car which was going to be pretty obvious. Was told to give them a call if the noise happened again, which in turn I said I will give you a call in 5 minutes time then. These guys obviously do not listen to what they are being told. Only option I left with was to speak to his manager as in his words " you have been in a quite a bit with the car "


Not really sure what to do now, go in and speak to the manager and see what he sais / thinks or just leave it and hope that it turns out to be nothing major in the long run

Whatever came of your car trouble? Mine is fine now so far!

Idonwanna said:

Whatever came of your car trouble? Mine is fine now so far!

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Car is booked in for this Monday, after having the back from having the cluster replaced we noticed they have taken chunks out of the dash where they have taken the panel off to get in behind so firstly they will be fixing this and secondly they will have it in to try and hear the noise, I know what the outcome will be as they will not hear it or be able to re-create it, I guess I am stuck with it but if they can at least acknowledge there is something there then if anything later happens and it is to do with wherever this noise is coming from and they know about it then it won't be as bad.

Well car is now in for next Monday as they did not have a courtesy car for me when I turned up yesterday morning which was all arranged.

chips1 said:

Well car is now in for next Monday as they did not have a courtesy car for me when I turned up yesterday morning which was all arranged.

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Hey my 1.3 trekking dose the same thing I havent takenin it for the noise but I only get it in 3rd or 4th, I have always thort it was just a noise that it was underload too much but I thort if I go in to dealer ad just get there nothing wrong too so never botherd

Well it seems I am off for another drive with a mechanic as they cannot hear an issue but a test car does exactly the same thing apparently? how in the hell would they know the test car does the same thing if they tell me they cannot hear any noise coming from mine.


I will go down tomorrow and take this guy out for a test drive and if I have no success with that then my last resort is to get on to Fiat and hope they can get something sorted. I just hope this guy does not play dumb and says he cannot hear it.


Keep you posted

So picked my car up earlier and just as I thought would happen they are still unable to hear a noise. Not sure what to do now, I have told them I am not happy as there is something there so now I am waiting on their Fiat tech to give me a call on Monday, now I am going to guess that this guy is solely responsible for checking over the Fiat cars himself rather than a full on paid employee by Fiat themselves.


Will see what happens on Monday and then I guess I will have to try and take this further a field with Fiat themselves.

Well no phone call on Monday as promised so Tuesday emailed Fiat complaining to them about my issues and Vospers and they have just phoned me asking if they can open up a case, hopefully things will move a bit more now