andy armitage said:

306maxi I have to say I also find you tedious and I have only just bought Lindas first Fiat, so we aren't defending the marque it's new to us, you like to express your opinion which is fine, my opinion is that you are tiresome and you are the only person i have come across on here that makes me feel that way. It's not the fact that people on here love Fiats it's just that i find them to be a very helpful and friendly bunch, and you certainly buck that trend :bang:

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All I did was raise the very real possibility that the dealer may be BS'ing. I'm sorry for not being as optimistic as some. Fiat's are great but as people well know the dealers are a bit patchy. You need only look around these forums to see some very unhelpful/dodgey dealerships being discussed. I've worked in the service industry and I've seen people say things to customers to make them happy. I myself won't lie to a customer to make them happy but a lot of people will.

T14086 said:

Unfortunally however good forums are they can also have a negative effect with a few (and no i'm not mentioning any names!) who continually post across the forum in all sections about a problem they have (you can never keep everyone happy afterall) casting doubt in the minds of some who are seeking advice or reassurance.

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I think people who do this sort of thing on purpose are unhelpful at best. I also post on a lot of PC forums and the amount of people who go around posting FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) is amazing and I do my best to fight off people like this. If anyone searches my posts I've been nothing but complimentary about the quality of the current range of Fiat's being made. I will say it again just for the benefit of those who didn't get it before. The cars made at Tychy are some of the best built cars out there. Get a Panda or a 500 and it's likely to be a VERY well built car and quality is getting up there with the German marques.

Can we just move on?

hedd gasket dealer replaced

Two weeks from delivery and 2500 miles completed and a rattle had developed. Lifting the bonnet the cold air intake bolt was missing and there was fluid in the top engine mount.

Returned it the dealers and they re-attached the intake and said they were not sure what the fluid was. He then said had I received the head gasket recall. "No" I said. He brought up the details on screen and soaid " Oh no we did it before the PDI".

Now I know why I could not pick the car up for week after it was delivered to them though they did not explain that at the time. I would now suggest the fluid was coolent that had lodged in the mounting and clearly the dealership that had not relocated the intake properly.

Having said this the dealers were really responsive to my intial problem and service were up front about what had been done. Clearly Sales were not so forthcoming

Re: hedd gasket dealer replaced

DaveNC said:

"No" I said. He brought up the details on screen and soaid " Oh no we did it before the PDI".

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I was under the impression that if this had been done at your dealers then it should be stamped in you service book under the recall section.

Is this the case?

Baerius said:

I don't like your tone 306Maxi, you're a drag...I have been looking at your posts and you're subtly stirring things up in a 'nicey nicey' insidious way.

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Ah, it's not just me that has noticed it then?

Mark Elvin said:

Ah, it's not just me that has noticed it then?

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Not quite sure what I've done to you but you're really getting on my nerves.

now now children!

Re: hedd gasket dealer replaced

DaveNC said:

Two weeks from delivery and 2500 miles completed and a rattle had developed. Lifting the bonnet the cold air intake bolt was missing and there was fluid in the top engine mount.

Returned it the dealers and they re-attached the intake and said they were not sure what the fluid was. He then said had I received the head gasket recall. "No" I said. He brought up the details on screen and soaid " Oh no we did it before the PDI".

Now I know why I could not pick the car up for week after it was delivered to them though they did not explain that at the time. I would now suggest the fluid was coolent that had lodged in the mounting and clearly the dealership that had not relocated the intake properly.

Having said this the dealers were really responsive to my intial problem and service were up front about what had been done. Clearly Sales were not so forthcoming

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That's kind of what I mean about the dealers. They tell you only as much as you need to know or what you want to hear. I mean how many people are going to freak out if the dealer says that they'd had to change the head gasket. The moment you say head gasket most people will crap themselves. By the same token if someone comes asking if the head gasket has been changed a dealer might say "oh it's been done at the factory" even if it's going to be done at the dealer before delivery.

I promise to be all airy fairy and gloss over the unfortunate truth in all future cases though :worship:

Its not a case of hiding/gloss over the truth but no company no matter what they produce want/need bad publicity especially when people scaremonger all over the internet. Anybody see watchdog last week about ford focus instrument clusters failing on 5 year old cars......5 years old for gawds sake yet the bad publicity for Ford in terms of sales etc will be immense.
Personally I think Fiat have acted really fast on this matter (pity the vauxhall buyers!) unlike in the past especially when you think of the task involved in undertaking such a recall.
Announcing a recall is a sensible thing to do unlike some manufactures who do 'gloss' it over & constantly deny anything is wrong.........yet we in the motortrade know better

T14086 said:

Its not a case of hiding/gloss over the truth but no company no matter what they produce want/need bad publicity especially when people scaremonger all over the internet. Anybody see watchdog last week about ford focus instrument clusters failing on 5 year old cars......5 years old for gawds sake yet the bad publicity for Ford in terms of sales etc will be immense.
Personally I think Fiat have acted really fast on this matter (pity the vauxhall buyers!) unlike in the past especially when you think of the task involved in undertaking such a recall.
Announcing a recall is a sensible thing to do unlike some manufactures who do 'gloss' it over & constantly deny anything is wrong.........yet we in the motortrade know better

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They're glossing over it in a different sense though. They're solving the problem but not actively coming out and telling the customer in some cases.

My g/f's dad's Focus had that problem. He's trying to claim money back on it. Tbh I think an instrument cluster is something that should in most cases last the life of the car and it seems that the Focus ones aren't

Heard loads of salesmen tell customers about it the recall & customers dont seem to oncerned aslong as they get it on delivery date.

instrument cluster last a lifetime! come on how many other electronic items last a lifetime. Sorry but I think its extremely unrealistic to expect any electrical component to last a lifetime wether its automotive/household etc