Exactly. I think a few of the 500s troubles are that it's heavily based on the 2004 Panda, which was built down to a price as it sold cheap (especially when first launched, £8000 for a top spec Eleganza), and I suppose in Fiats defence they weren't to know the 500 would be able to take multiple price hikes and still sell like hot cakes so I guess they thought they'd better go steady on expensive parts so as to still make a profit. Now we're left feeling slightly short-changed in certain areas (wipers, suspension, tailgate release to name a few) because we've got £7000 car parts on a £10-£13k car.
Doesn't let them off the hook with the door handles or boot wiring mind you, since neither of those affected the Panda
Even the wipers weren't too bad on the Panda but they used (at least initially) the rigid ones rather than the floppy blades used today.
What is most poor is that they're now well aware of how much more a 500 sells for over a Panda, but instead of spending a bit more so as to make a good car perfect, they've carried on churning them out with the same niggles - the leather seats is one of the only things where I've seen a quality improvement since launch, though I may be wrong of course. Even though the important bits (engines, gearboxes etc) actually seem very good, these niggles really don't inspire confidence on the longevity of the car & would make a less clued up punter think if they've screwed up the wipers, what else is about to pack-up.
