Ffoxy said:

Go to another dealer to get this dangerous problem fixed then complain to whoever will listen within the FIAT organisation, that really is pants...

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that has happened before on a new 500 seems theres a bad batch of cylinders as they are normally fine used in many a panda also and punto and the cylinder in that case was replaced under warranty and all was fine

it looks like who ever road tested the vehicle didn't notice it as it's intermitent and simply disregarded it assuming you can't drive i have seen it before

that is the most unacceptable thing i have heard on here to date get a complaint in at fiat and your tail gate if i were you especially the clutch that's very dangerous as i say it will be the master cylinder

have you tried sitting in first with the clutch in for a length of time with lots of room infront like on your driveway for example see if it does it

andyBBB said:

dealer is 'Blackburn Motor Park' in Lancashire

not spoken to Fiat yet, think i'll drop them a line to discuss the tailgate issue before I speak to the dealer

the issue was the clutch cylinder was misbehaving, so you'd be sat at a junction waiting to go and *bang* clutch would drop on it's own and fire you out into the traffic.

or you'd go to change down through gears coming to a junction and it wouldn't go in gear

The dealer said this wasn't a problem, and we should just pump the clutch and 'be careful'

Sure that'd have gone down well on the insurance form . . .

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keep me informed on the tailgate issue as i'm falling on def ears and ""SUPRISE"" the salesman who sold us the car has leaft..

I honestly would not ask for a new tailgate, first up someone will have to match the paint which believe me can be a right headache... and also match the factory finish. All your trim and bits will need removing and refixing and again this could cause issues. Just remove the plate, paint the holes with a touch up pen and stick a new plate on with body tape... it wont rust.

they did replace the cylinder in the end, when we point blank refused to take the car back

Apparently the tech couldn't fault the car, he'd been driving it around the yard and not noticed a fault.

Erm, well you wouldn't really, would you, constantly pumping the pedal to go up and down gears

Most annoying thing was on the Sunday before it went in on the Monday, I took the car into the dealer and got one of the salesmen, who was working on the Monday, to drive it. He stalled it straight away and couldn't get it in gear.

Think I was more pissed at the patronising service person. If I hadn't jumped in, my girlfriend would have picked the car up, because they told her they'd fixed it! Me being me wanted to know what they'd done to it etc etc so rang em up and asked.

Told at first it was fixed, then that they hadn't fixed it as they couldn't find a fault, then we should use it but be careful etc etc, then when I turned up to demonstrate the fault, they said they wanted it another day as it needed a clutch cylinder. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

oh, and nuova, mine's rusted a bit already. And so have the swarf they didn't take off. Lovely. But see what you're saying about the colour match etc.

andyBBB said:

i've already offered to take a week off, stand outside the dealership and 'discuss' how great they are as a company to EVERY customer entering the premises

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o i dont know ask garage to swap it with tail gate from there demos if they have one the same then the paint will be spot on problem is they prolly drilled dirty holes in thoes also