500 How long until your 500 fell apart, mine is not yet 6 !!

Currently reading:
500 How long until your 500 fell apart, mine is not yet 6 !!

It'll be phased in, and it'll be the older, more polluting vehicles which get banned first. Owners of vehicles <10yrs old are probably safe for now (though even they will likely be hit with penalising charges for parking and access).

On what I've been reading recently on this topic, I wouldn't be surprised if there are essentially no new diesel cars on sale in ten years time.

That's the reason that lexus have only ever made 1 diesel engine, and concentrate so much of their efforts on hybrids instead.
 
Let's get back on topic shall we?

2 years old now 37,000kms.
Needs rear shocks replaced. Only one was bad but will be getting new pair.
Other than that, the car is solid. 1.2l engine is a gem to work with.
 
My '58 plate 1.4 Sport has done 35,000 miles. Issues have been minor - rear shocks needed replacing at 25k, boot release switch occasionally fails (and then works again!) and flashing odometer sometimes occurred until battery replacement 18 months ago. Other than that, it's been one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned and is a definite keeper. Guess I’ve been one of the lucky ones…

I now regard diesel nanoparticulates as a serious environmental health issue and this is the only reason I’ll be replacing my supremely reliable ’08 Skoda Fabia estate 1.9 TDi (Euro IV pumpe deuse engine without a DPF) later this year. The new car will be an Eco TSi, most likely the 1.4 ACT engine available in the Seat Ibiza FR (facelifted version coming next month).
 
Oh yes, reminded me there of the flashing mileage issue. Our former TA did that, took it back to our local Fiat dealership who didn't even bat an eyelid over replacing the instrument pod. I didn't even have to ask, well, let's face it, I didn't know it was that much of a problem that the whole pod had to be replaced, but replace they did. Really glad that was done under warranty and didn't fail outside of it.

Point is, again, I've never owned a car where the entire instrument pod has failed whereby it had to be replaced. Pretty shoddy in my opinion and certainly not on when you consider how much these cars are to buy. Yes, I know other cars have their faults/weaknesses, but instrument pod failures on practically new cars, is just poor.
 
Oh yes, reminded me there of the flashing mileage issue. Our former TA did that, took it back to our local Fiat dealership who didn't even bat an eyelid over replacing the instrument pod. I didn't even have to ask, well, let's face it, I didn't know it was that much of a problem that the whole pod had to be replaced, but replace they did. Really glad that was done under warranty and didn't fail outside of it.

Point is, again, I've never owned a car where the entire instrument pod has failed whereby it had to be replaced. Pretty shoddy in my opinion and certainly not on when you consider how much these cars are to buy. Yes, I know other cars have their faults/weaknesses, but instrument pod failures on practically new cars, is just poor.


I thought a proxy alignment sorts that out? Replacing pod was perhaps an unnecessary overkill?
 
I thought a proxy alignment sorts that out? Replacing pod was perhaps an unnecessary overkill?

Apparently not. I mentioned this to the Fiat dealership. They told me they'd had this issue before and a new pod was the way ahead. The new pod was different to the factory one as well. Never had an issue with it again after replacement.
 
Oh yes, reminded me there of the flashing mileage issue. Our former TA did that, took it back to our local Fiat dealership who didn't even bat an eyelid over replacing the instrument pod. I didn't even have to ask, well, let's face it, I didn't know it was that much of a problem that the whole pod had to be replaced, but replace they did. Really glad that was done under warranty and didn't fail outside of it.

Point is, again, I've never owned a car where the entire instrument pod has failed whereby it had to be replaced. Pretty shoddy in my opinion and certainly not on when you consider how much these cars are to buy. Yes, I know other cars have their faults/weaknesses, but instrument pod failures on practically new cars, is just poor.
It's hardly an epidemic and it may be that the dealer got paid more for replacing a physical part.
 
OK I agree it's disappointing for an instrument panel to fail but it's far from unusual and I'd actually say that was a very good response from the dealership.

I have a friend who is an absolute genius when it comes to car electronics and diagnostics who recently tried to fix an Audi instrument panel, the owner had already parted with £1.6k to Audi dealerships in failed attempts at getting the issue fixed. Even he gave up.

On a similar theme to previous comments comparing the 500 to other makes, I work with someone who has just had to spend £7.5k on his Discovery 4 at just over 3 years old. LR wouldn't even discuss any assistance. The diesel engines in these are wonderful to drive but are known to self destruct.
Same in the Mercedes-Benz G Wagen world (I have one built before the bean counters took over) but I have a friend's who have spent in excess of £14k on engine rebuils on 4 year old V8 diesels, again MB know all about this and refuse to support out of warranty. It's always owner abuse.

I think I'll take my chances with the simple 500:)
 
Exactly, mine is going to cost me money this year.

I replaced the dampers and springs because one damper had blown, it's had front discs and pads, a thermostat and the timing belt and water pump are well overdue now. It also needs a rear box and 4 new tyres. But once that's done it'll be good for another 5 years with little maintenance needed :)
 
Exactly, mine is going to cost me money this year.

I replaced the dampers and springs because one damper had blown, it's had front discs and pads, a thermostat and the timing belt and water pump are well overdue now. It also needs a rear box and 4 new tyres. But once that's done it'll be good for another 5 years with little maintenance needed :)

Essentially as long as you dont replace the dodgy part that dont last long with Fiat OEM, you are doing well = )
 
It also needs a rear box and 4 new tyres. But once that's done it'll be good for another 5 years with little maintenance needed :)

My (factory original) rear box has looked quite bad for a few years now but sounds fine and passes the MOT each time. The mechanic tells me that it's double-skinned and will be fine until the inner corrodes. When it eventually goes I might look at stainless options but I'm happy getting 7 years (and counting) for the rear end.

Tyre-wise, I had to replace the front Conti PremiumContact 2s at 22 k miles and the (original) rears have just been replaced at 35 k. Michelin EnergySavers all round now and I really like them - rides better and quieter than the Contis and hopefully will wear better too.
 
Oh and I still have some tyres on that are original and have done about 50k miles and are 6 years old. They will be replaced purely due to age in the spring.
 
Deleting a dpf is an environmental crime.

IMO anyone removing a dpf for commercial gain should face mandatory imprisonment.
Diesel exhaust is a grade 1 carcinogen. It's the microscopic pariculates which pose the greatest health risk - and these aren't detected by current MOT methods. DPF's remove the majority of these particulates.

IMO exposing innocent folks to the risk of a slow and painful death in order to save a few pennies is unacceptable in a civilised society.
I totally agree! The dpf isn't there to annoy car owners; it's there for everybody's health. Therefore a deliberate dpf removal doesn't differ much from premeditated attempted manslaughter.
 
Oh and I still have some tyres on that are original and have done about 50k miles and are 6 years old. They will be replaced purely due to age in the spring.

That's good going. My rear Continentals still had about 4 mm at 35k miles but the gradual appearance of fine cracks across their sidewalls convinced me it was time to replace.
 
Mine still look good tbh, but they're down to about 3-4mm and in the autumn rain this morning they were less than ideal.
 
I totally agree! The dpf isn't there to annoy car owners; it's there for everybody's health. Therefore a deliberate dpf removal doesn't differ much from premeditated attempted manslaughter.

Difficult to argue against this given some recent scientific evidence I've seen. It really bothers me that my other car, a 1.9 TDi PD (brilliant, torquey but old-school VAG diesel) lacks a DPF. There must be thousands of cars still running along happily with this engine, belching out those nasty nanos (n)
 
Difficult to argue against this given some recent scientific evidence I've seen. It really bothers me that my other car, a 1.9 TDi PD (brilliant, torquey but old-school VAG diesel) lacks a DPF. There must be thousands of cars still running along happily with this engine, belching out those nasty nanos (n)

You have it backwards, cars with DPFs are the ones belching out nano particles, the large visible particles are filtered by the DPF, leaving invisible nano particles that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream, because they pass directly through cell walls.

At least in cars without DPFs, you can see the smoke and try to avoid it, and the nano particles tend to cling to the carbon in diesel exhaust and can actually be filtered out to some extent by the body. If you're walking behind a DPF equipped car, even if you hold your breath the particles will enter the bloodstream via your skin.

If something's going to be toxic, I'd rather see it. It also means that in the mind of the buying public 'new' diesels are 'green' because there's little visible smoke, meaning more people bought diesels than if DPFs were never developed. As a side note, in Australia, DPF's still aren't mandatory.
 
Last edited:
You have it backwards, cars with DPFs are the ones belching out nano particles, the large visible particles are filtered by the DPF, leaving invisible nano particles that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream, because they pass directly through cell walls.

At least in cars without DPFs, you can see the smoke and try to avoid it, and the nano particles tend to cling to the carbon in diesel exhaust and can actually be filtered out to some extent by the body. If you're walking behind a DPF equipped car, even if you hold your breath the particles will enter the bloodstream via your skin.

If something's going to be toxic, I'd rather see it. It also means that in the mind of the buying public 'new' diesels are 'green' because there's little visible smoke, meaning more people bought diesels than if DPFs were never developed. As a side note, in Australia, DPF's still aren't mandatory.
i always have my ac on recirc! following those non dpf taxis that have 500,000 kms on the clock is murder!
 
Back
Top