We have driven a 1994 fiat UNO 1.7D for the last 11 years, it has done 400,000miles still working perfectly, but its time for us to choose another Fiat.
We have been pondering over a bug-eyed multipla but concerned over the reliability exept for the face-lift models with chain distribution.
Now we have been looking at the I.D.E.A. seems a better choice for just 2 persons, but wife says it looks old fashioned, and there is a lot of crashed ones about.
What do you think?
Barry

barryfiatman said:

We have driven a 1994 fiat UNO 1.7D for the last 11 years, it has done 400,000miles still working perfectly, but its time for us to choose another Fiat.
We have been pondering over a bug-eyed multipla but concerned over the reliability exept for the face-lift models with chain distribution.
Now we have been looking at the I.D.E.A. seems a better choice for just 2 persons, but wife says it looks old fashioned, and there is a lot of crashed ones about.
What do you think?
Barry

Click to expand...

Hi,
did you want petrol or diesel..??

the IDEA in the UK is a rare sight,
whereas the multi is "almost" mainstream..,

I'd be wary of the Idea long term due to rarity of certain parts..
the MULTI is a long-running platform,
and not REALLY that troublesome..,

ALL modern cars are "fragile" compared to a diesel UNO..

Charlie

Thanks for that.
We want a diesel car, have had petrol engines since 1958,
bought my first diesel 15 years ago which was a Tipo 1.9 turbo and loved them ever since. We do not want to go back to screamers again.
The best petrol engined car we had was a Lada Combi with a 2ltr Fiat twincam from a Lancia.
The Multipla`s seem to be too big for the Brava chassis resulting in suspension collapse at the front, gearbox failures due to cable linkage wearing out, and timing belt failure due to neglect.
The IDEA has chain timing, normal gearchange, and Punto chassis, reliability seems good. The 1.3 jtd gives performance and good mpg.
Its just that the style is a bit dated.
Thanks Barry

Just be aware that the timing chain is VERY lightweight,
and will almost certainly need (expensive) replacement @150k kms intervals.

I LOVED the TD tipo's...,

Charlie