General What would you do?

306maxi · Nov 18, 2009

Spoons said:
Firstly have you heard of a term called 'mechanical sympathy' ?

I drive a 300+ BHP VXR and have to be very carefull how and where I apply the power (even at Santa Pod and the Nurburgring). If I abuse the car it wouldnt last until the end of the day I can promise you. 400 Lb/ft torque is very unforgiving to the drivetrain.

I learned how to drive powerful cars carefully, still very fast, but carefully as you will soon realise most road going sports cars are built cheaply and have no resistance to heavy useage. Why do you think high end sports cars and track cars cost so much !

Fiat are not your pit crew and your warranty isnt an open chequebook.

However, saying all that, if you are treating your car with care then your claims are solid. Stick with your dealer and be consistently assertive

Couldn't agree more. I very much suspect that with the fact that he's had to replace the tyres so soon that the car isn't treated with the greatest level of mechanical sympathy. Engines are made to be revved and so on but harsh acceleration whilst turn will hurt CV joints, dropping the clutch will hurt the clutch and gearbox etc etc.

There's a huuuuge difference between driving fast and driving fast while being sympathetic to the oily bits. I've done donuts in the wifes car but that was on snow/ice where there was very little grip to put load on the drivetrain and clutch. But if I wanted to be an idiot I could easily do donuts on tarmac if I wanted to trash the car. But I don't.....

You only need to look at the difference in driving styles between Colin McRae and Juha Kankkunen or Richard Burns and the amount of mechanical retirements Colin had to see that smooth and gentle is best.

My 500 gets treated very gently and whilst sometimes I'll rev it in gear to overtake I don't do 6k clutch drops etc etc.

306maxi · Nov 18, 2009

J333EVO said:
This is ridiculous as the cars are built in same factory as standard 500's and the mechanicals are not that different from the sum of parts from the 500 and other Fiats ie T-Jet engined cars, therefore the knowledge base within Fiat dealers should be enough to work on the cars without question. Fair enough they want the whole buying experience to be made very pleasent in the Abarth kitted out showrooms (read that as the dealers who are willing to spend the money), but for warrenty work it's a bit much to expect.

I quite agree. there's no reason any Fiat dealer shouldn't be able to work on it.

nottsfiat07 · Nov 18, 2009

I would get the car seen to under warranty for as long as they'll do it, without agonising about it, and then when its out of warranty and its likely to cost you for all the bits that are wearing out, sell or trade it then if that how you feel at that point. It is a pain that you are so far from the dealers but these are the conditions that prevail.

I'm not criticising anyone's driving practice here, but if you do have all the worn bits replaced, spend six months driving it gently and with respect for the machine, and see if any bits have worn out then like they have now. If they haven't, it must be the previous driving technique that has put the strain on the various components.

DraigFlag87 · Nov 18, 2009

Ok pretty much the same comments i got on the Abarth forum. For those anti-draigflag members, please read this which i posted as a reply on there:

OK guys, thanks for the feedback, however I'm not happy with the general image I'm, portraying. Of course I've posted about driving the car fast on an occasional basis, occasional being the key word here, not regular. To brag how you hit 30 MPH in the middle of town is hardly worth posting about is it? I drive it no harder than anybody else on the forum, ask the guys I've been to meets with. I always change up way before the "SHIFT UP" light appears, and i was never a fan of harsh braking, or using the gears to slow down. I do both, just not to the extreme. From the 10k miles I've done, i would estimate that only a couple of thousand, if that, have been spirited driving, and even then, i still respect the car. I probably earn the least amount of money on this forum, so to save four years, buy my dream car and abuse it would be ridiculous. As for the tyre wear, I've been through this before, it's down to the shape of the roads here, and the poor quality tarmac, combined with an occasional blast = poor tyre life. Even on my very slow Panda diesel they would be bald at 6000 to 8000 miles. The opportunity to drive on a nice flat smooth dual carriageway never mind a motorway has never arisen, so all the miles i do are tight, twisty, abrasive miles (apart from it goes back to the dealer)

I remember reading an article about how they tested a Volvo Amazon back in the 60's, they tested it over 2,000,000 (yes 2 million) miles with only one gearbox rebuild. Surely, 40 odd years on, a gearbox should last more than 5000 miles even with extreme abuse? (not that i did abuse it, as i said) It just baffles me. Anyway, I'm a tad annoyed that some of you used this topic as an excuse to criticize my driving, most of you I've never met, most of you don't know how i drive, to make an opinion up of me based on a few comments of me driving fast is never a good idea. I don't want to be the "controversial" member of the forum. I feel I've contributed a fair amount of stuff on here, hopefully some of it helpful. I just want a nice car, which it is, to work properly without major faults every 6 months! Maybe too much to ask from Fiat/Abarth. I'm still no closer to a decision though.

The outstanding faults are:
1. Drivers door handle fails to open door on first pull after rain
2. Steering wheel is still wonky after gearbox replacement
3. New gearbox whines like a whore in 5th at 40 to 50 MPH
4. Rear bumper sits lower on one side, needs realigning
5. Right exhaust exit sits an inch or so lower than the left
6. Drivers side washer is bust (not blocked)
7. Clutch bite still feels too high to me
8. Over spray on bonnet and wing from previous bodywork
9. Something loose in the tailgate, rattles around when you corner/open the boot etc.

That's all i can think of at the moment, but combine that with cosmetic things that are not the car's fault like kerbed wheels, paint wear on sills/bumpers etc and it kind of tarnishes the general experience a little! I'm hoping some of you understand where I'm coming from?

keeforelli · Nov 18, 2009

DraigFlag87 said:
Ok pretty much the same comments i got on the Abarth forum. For those anti-draigflag members, please read this which i posted as a reply on there:

OK guys, thanks for the feedback, however I'm not happy with the general image I'm, portraying. Of course I've posted about driving the car fast on an occasional basis, occasional being the key word here, not regular. To brag how you hit 30 MPH in the middle of town is hardly worth posting about is it? I drive it no harder than anybody else on the forum, ask the guys I've been to meets with. I always change up way before the "SHIFT UP" light appears, and i was never a fan of harsh braking, or using the gears to slow down. I do both, just not to the extreme. From the 10k miles I've done, i would estimate that only a couple of thousand, if that, have been spirited driving, and even then, i still respect the car. I probably earn the least amount of money on this forum, so to save four years, buy my dream car and abuse it would be ridiculous. As for the tyre wear, I've been through this before, it's down to the shape of the roads here, and the poor quality tarmac, combined with an occasional blast = poor tyre life. Even on my very slow Panda diesel they would be bald at 6000 to 8000 miles. The opportunity to drive on a nice flat smooth dual carriageway never mind a motorway has never arisen, so all the miles i do are tight, twisty, abrasive miles (apart from it goes back to the dealer)

I remember reading an article about how they tested a Volvo Amazon back in the 60's, they tested it over 2,000,000 (yes 2 million) miles with only one gearbox rebuild. Surely, 40 odd years on, a gearbox should last more than 5000 miles even with extreme abuse? (not that i did abuse it, as i said) It just baffles me. Anyway, I'm a tad annoyed that some of you used this topic as an excuse to criticize my driving, most of you I've never met, most of you don't know how i drive, to make an opinion up of me based on a few comments of me driving fast is never a good idea. I don't want to be the "controversial" member of the forum. I feel I've contributed a fair amount of stuff on here, hopefully some of it helpful. I just want a nice car, which it is, to work properly without major faults every 6 months! Maybe too much to ask from Fiat/Abarth. I'm still no closer to a decision though.

The outstanding faults are:
1. Drivers door handle fails to open door on first pull after rain
2. Steering wheel is still wonky after gearbox replacement
3. New gearbox whines like a whore in 5th at 40 to 50 MPH
4. Rear bumper sits lower on one side, needs realigning
5. Right exhaust exit sits an inch or so lower than the left
6. Drivers side washer is bust (not blocked)
7. Clutch bite still feels too high to me
8. Over spray on bonnet and wing from previous bodywork
9. Something loose in the tailgate, rattles around when you corner/open the boot etc.

That's all i can think of at the moment, but combine that with cosmetic things that are not the car's fault like kerbed wheels, paint wear on sills/bumpers etc and it kind of tarnishes the general experience a little! I'm hoping some of you understand where I'm coming from?

i went on to youtube to view your vids- your driving was tame but fun!..i posted them to my FB page, knowing that i want an abarth next- and wanting everyone else to see how cool they are

you may just have a car with more faults than average- and its is very easy to become over sensitive to niggles- i know- i am!

stick with the abarth- fiat have a duty to get it working appropriately, and you do have the warranty to that effect...once its right, you will love it more than ever!

you want

Ricey155 · Nov 18, 2009

3 year warranty - get the dealer to fix it up and lend you a car in the mean time

unless you've chipped the ecu they really dont have a leg to stand on, most dealers have the tech to spot chipped cars that havent been done at fiat

but other than that let them fix it

Spoons · Nov 19, 2009

DraigFlag87 said:
The opportunity to drive on a nice flat smooth dual carriageway never mind a motorway has never arisen, so all the miles i do are tight, twisty, abrasive miles (apart from it goes back to the dealer)

Spoons said:
However, saying all that, if you are treating your car with care then your claims are solid. Stick with your dealer and be consistently assertive

If you like the car, stick with it

General What would you do?

Currently reading:
General What would you do?

306maxi

STOP! Hammer time!

306maxi

STOP! Hammer time!

nottsfiat07

Patron member

DraigFlag87

Banned

keeforelli

Member

Ricey155

New member

Spoons

Member

Similar threads

General What would you do?

Currently reading: General What would you do?

STOP! Hammer time!

STOP! Hammer time!

Banned

Member

New member

Member

Similar threads

Currently reading:
General What would you do?