Hi Guys,

My 100hp hit 100k miles last night, was both happy and sad as it reached the milestone but 100k is also a lot of miles covered.

Is there anything I chould be looking out for now that it has covered this amount of miles or will it be business as usual with the regular maintenance that you'd expect?

Yapsta56 said:

...will it be business as usual with the regular maintenance that you'd expect?

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That, hopefully.

I once ran a Renault 5 for 219k miles and it was no more troublesome during the second hundred thousand than the first.

One driveshaft, one set of front swivels, a few sets of pads, batteries, belts, tyres and exhausts, one set of front discs, new brushes in both starter & alternator, several electrical repairs that didn't actually need any parts (a standard Renault feature ), but that was about the sum of it. Still on the original shocks & clutch, and all working perfectly when I sold it with a fresh MOT. Never had to undo a bolt on the powerplant, apart from the rocker cover to adjust the valves and the drain plugs to change the engine & gearbox oil.

Gentle driving helps, as do regular fluid changes. Include the gearbox oil & clutch fluid in this - folks often don't bother with these.

The current Panda is now on 79k and apart from consumables, tyres & brakes, has thus far needed nothing.

100k miles on these cars is where things go downhill. my girlfriends 100hp is now on the slippery slope. things start to break and wear out at this point onwards as they are built so poorly.
just regular maintenance and budget to fix the bits that start breaking/falling off.

My 100HP reached its 50,000 milestone today.

Back axle rust and careful checks for any signs of corrosion on non body chassis parts. The body panels are well protected at the factory but brackets etc are not.

The front swing arm rubbers can get a bit soft with age and miles so you might want to look at replacing them. But only if you don't have to renew the whole arm.

It's worth saying that although 100hp's tend to get driven enthusiastically they are quite light and not really stressed mechanically.

The mileage really doesn't make that big a difference.. How could my miles affect the rotting of the back axle?

The engine is not stressed, the gearbox is not overly strained, nor is the clutch. Yes some consumables get tired with mileage but really it is down to maintenance, look after the car and the miles does not really matter.

eaurouge said:

The mileage really doesn't make that big a difference.. How could my miles affect the rotting of the back axle?

The engine is not stressed, the gearbox is not overly strained, nor is the clutch. Yes some consumables get tired with mileage but really it is down to maintenance, look after the car and the miles does not really matter.

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the mileage may not necassarily impact the rot, but as the car does more miles, things wear more and will wear out/break.

on the flip side, if a car just sits for years, then things like rubbers etc can perish and you are back to having a car with low miles that needs lots spent to get back working again.

fiats are not built to last, especially in the UK climate. what you need is a 90's toyota :slayer:

dac69er said:

fiats are not built to last, especially in the UK climate.

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:yeahthat:

Unless additional corrosion protection measures are taken, a Fiat kept outside in the UK climate will have a useful economic life of 10-12 years, regardless of mileage. After that, the cost of replacing corroded parts will likely exceed the cost of running a newer car.

The economic life may be longer for DIY owners, particularly those who source aftermarket and secondhand parts where appropriate.

If you have all the work carried out by franchised dealers, the economic life may be substantially less. A main dealer replacing a rear beam using new OEM parts would likely charge you about the value of a 6yr old Panda.

A mint, original 100HP may be the exception; if kept in a dehumidified garage and properly maintained, IMO it has potential value as a future collectible which could make it worth substantially more than current book values. However, 99% of the 100HP's I've seen advertised recently don't fall into this category.