As the title says, should I be locked up...

I am thinking of getting a 2006 120 8v croma eleganza. it is not going to cost me anything to swap from my 2004 mondeo ST.

I know all the pro's and cons, ie the croma is basically a dead car that nobody wants , that is why i am getting such a good deal on it.

however i am torn between my head and heart... I love my mondeo but it is showing signs of its age and is now out of warranty.

my mondeo is 150 bhp and although the handling is going to be different the croma can be remapped to this. They both have essentially the same toys ...

just cant decide what to do...help

Is that the 1.9mJET? I'm looking at the Croma as an eventual replacement for the Marea. Only thing putting me off is the 2.4 only comes with an auto box, so a 156 or 159 sportswagon might have to be the replacement instead.

dont be silly, the mondeo is a far better car.

The Croma is far better than the Mondeo.
Only in UK Croma is dead because og UK peoples rage against fiat.
Mondeo will be more rustprone and the engine of the Fiat, the handling of the fiat and the feeing of quality in the fiat is, by far, better than the Mondeo.

Try to make a search inhere for Croma. A few threads will describe the isue of the Croma being taken out of th UK market, although GP, Panda and Croma together is the best selling Fiats on the worldmarket.

Just my 5 cent.

thanks for the input but you see my dilemma, 2 previous posts both with oposing views...can any croma owners offer their opinion, Have any of you had a remap on the 8v engine?

thanks again

The Croma was panned by the UK motoring press, mainly for not being a sports car. If you like the car and get a good deal go for it. Jug is right that the Mondeo is an extremley good car, athough a bit too big and heavy these days for me.

Have you had a test drive of the Croma?

As for the Mondeo.. It was 'alright' but I couldn't get past the internal door handles. I was terrified I was going to break those flimsy little plastic things.

You'd be better buying a 150 bhp in the first place - if you can find one.

Actually the Croma is a very good, quiet, comfortable car. If comfort is important you won't go far wrong.
Check you can cope with the handbrake position though. Either you can; perhaps you don't use handbrakes much, or, if you are like me, who instinctively uses the handbrake at all times, you'd go mad. It is this sort of unnecessary design fault that alienates the British buyer, and the odd steering position. It leads to a (misplaced) lack of overall trust . The basic car is very good.
There is a lovely dark chocolate one for sale here for £10,999. I think it's the 150, and for the price of a GP it has to be excellent value. The oily bits are all well proven so it isn't as if you would be entering unexplored territory.

course at least you get a bit of exclusivity with the croma

the Croma is a solid well built car, the fiat techs on this site rate them very well as they get no problems with them.
they are a bargain for what you get for your money.

ignore jug he hates all fiats except ones like his

If I had an 04 Mondeo and could swap for an 06 Croma I'd be there keys in hand. I think the Croma is a cracking looking car, I sat in one at a dealers and thought it had a feel of quality about it, well designed and nice materials. The Mondeo feels cheap in comparison.

Nobody ever has or ever will buy large Fiats in the UK, result some great deals on the Croma. Daves right, Jug does seem to hate Fiats, strange for someone with 6000 posts to there name and a Fiat in the garage.

I have the 1.9 JTD 16v.
That is what some of you call the 150 model.
I also have experience in Ford Mondeo/Focus/Transit etc.

It is true that the handbrake is stupid layed out.
It is also true that it takes time to get the drivin position right. But with a very adjustable seat and very much headroom, you have to be more than 6'80'' to run out of positions. All other cars gave up on that size before design scetches were ever thought of.

From my point of view, the discussion is not about the quality of the car. It is way better than the Mondeo. The trouble is, over time, to find the authorized workshop to put my trust in for servicing the car.
Any stupid mechanics can mess up an Alfa/Fiat JTD engine or other good engineering in the car.

I would rather have the Alfa Romeo 159 1.9 JTD 16v Sportswagon.
It has better roadholding, better braking, better harmony and it has a heart.
With the Alfa, you have an affair og love.

But since I have to pay 25-35 thousand £'s more for the Alfa here in DK than what I get the Fiat for (£ 25.000), it left me no choise.

By the way, after the Alfa, from all the cars I tested, Fiat had the next best roadholding, next best braking, next best harmony.

Kindly

niklasthedolphin said:

I have the 1.9 JTD 16v.
That is what some of you call the 150 model.
I also have experience in Ford Mondeo/Focus/Transit etc.

It is true that the handbrake is stupid layed out.
It is also true that it takes time to get the drivin position right. But with a very adjustable seat and very much headroom, you have to be more than 6'80'' to run out of positions. All other cars gave up on that size before design scetches were ever thought of.

From my point of view, the discussion is not about the quality of the car. It is way better than the Mondeo. The trouble is, over time, to find the authorized workshop to put my trust in for servicing the car.
Any stupid mechanics can mess up an Alfa/Fiat JTD engine or other good engineering in the car.

I would rather have the Alfa Romeo 159 1.9 JTD 16v Sportswagon.
It has better roadholding, better braking, better harmony and it has a heart.
With the Alfa, you have an affair og love.

But since I have to pay 25-35 thousand £'s more for the Alfa here in DK than what I get the Fiat for (£ 25.000), it left me no choise.

By the way, after the Alfa, from all the cars I tested, Fiat had the next best roadholding, next best braking, next best harmony.

Kindly

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What a beautifully worded post. Almost brought a tear to my eye. Almost made me buy a Croma on autotrader too

Maybe you could look at a VX Signum or Vectra Estate which is basically a Croma with a VX badge, better source of parts and dealer service by all accounts.

Liam

I have owned mondeos for last 8 years(soft spot for them)but i'll take the croma anyday.If I had the cash I would buy one without hesitation!

Engine is now bulletproof (after being modified [oilways]by fiat) & car is well built........only work I have ever done on one is to renew a battery

Only similarity between Signum/Vectra and the Croma is the platform they are built on.
Everything else, from engine to suspension, weight distribution to trim, gearbox to design is different.
The trimming of the suspension, the weight distribution and the engine is for sure better on the Croma.
When it comes to design and trim, I will let people make their personal choise.

Kindly

dave said:

ignore jug he hates all fiats except ones like his

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thepottleflump said:

Daves right, Jug does seem to hate Fiats, strange for someone with 6000 posts to there name and a Fiat in the garage.

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i really dont hate fiats, i just try to be objective when comparing cars, and unlike many on this forum i'm not biased for or against fiat.

i like the croma, its under rated and i think its a shame that it didn't sell better. due to the low volumes sold there will be little knowledge or support in the trade, meaning parts are harder to come by and you'll end up getting stuck with fiat dealers only. generally going to fiat dealers is a very time consuming and money wasting way to keep a car on the roads, they're crap with the cars they work on every day, so imagine what they'll be like on a car that they rarely work on.

the dealers are one of the main reasons fiat owners leave the brand. i'm yet to have a good experience with any fiat dealer, and i've tried several of them. in comparison i find ford dealers to be excellent, parts availability and prices are great, dealer staff know their cars, and this means the cost of running the car is reduced. plus they know mondeos inside out so fault diagnosis and repair is quick, and cheaper. fiat dealers wont know the croma very well, T14086 knows his stuff and all he's done is change a battery. that should be enough of a reason to avoid buying one. a dealer warranty is little consolation when your car is sat in a dealership for weeks on end waiting for parts to arrive from italy and hoping that this time they've actually fixed the fault. read some of the forum's areas for the newer cars (e.g. grade punto) to see how bad the dealers are, and how many faults you should expect on a modern fiat.

you also need to consider what will happen when you sell the croma. it wont be easy to find a buyer, and you'll lose a load of money. a mondeo is easy to sell, and although they lose value in a similarly alarming fashion, at least you can sell it easily enough.

What's T done to deserve a sideswipe like that?

And yes, Fiat dealers can be crap, but they can be good too. It's down to individuals. Sadly, dealers seem to pay badly, haemmorage good staff, and then get in novices who don't know what they are doing. Oh, and crappy new coffee machines! And I really hate kids who know nothing about the product trying to sell me a car - why the hell can't they find people who know and love the cars and pay them decent money.....?????

And, with all its irritations I'd prefer a Croma to a Mondeo. better place to sit in, nice and high and airy and comfy. The nearest thing to the old Citroen DS IMHO. There!

And apologise to T. Without him the Forum would be just an uninformed talking shop.

Ulpian said:

What's T done to deserve a sideswipe like that?

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I don't think Jug meant that as a dig at T.
Think he was making apoint about how much work a tech even of T's calibre has done on a new Croma. If all he has had to do to one is change a battery can you imagine the bother some of the less skilled techs that there are around will have when they have to do a big job on one. Where it's not something they see every day.

Part of the power of the forum though is if people ask before hand - as we can't go back in time and undo what has been done - then we can point out the good places and avoid the bad. Thus everyone gets good service, and the bad garages are forced to retrain or re-staff as appropriate.

What sort of test drives are available for the Croma? I'd hardly part with 10-12k based on a 20 minute drive down Portrack lane and up the A19.