I am having a bit of a crisis of confidence.

I have been on the hunt for a 500, preferably a twin air for the last few weeks, so far I have been beaten to one (the door handle fell off this when it was collected apparently!)
another one has suffered a burnt clutch and god knows what else has been abused on it
the next one has a bit of a clunk in the rear suspension

I then thought I had found a good one on paper - my local dealer was able to bring it over from another branch, full (on schedule) service history, advisories from last MOT had been done, but then on the drive from the source to the local dealer, it broke down - total instrument binnacle failure - the dealer has sent it back, I dont think they wanted to get involved trying to fix it and were worried about other gremlins that they might also need to fix.

I am currently rolling around in a 10 year old subaru, which just needs a regular supply of unleaded, and a few suspension bushes to provide relentless service. Am I prepared to move from this to Fiat ownership?????

sawman said:

I am having a bit of a crisis of confidence.

I am currently rolling around in a 10 year old subaru, which just needs a regular supply of unleaded, and a few suspension bushes to provide relentless service. Am I prepared to move from this to Fiat ownership?????

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It pains me to say it, but personally I wouldn't buy a secondhand 500 if I didn't have strong DIY skills, and even then, I'd baulk at the prices being asked.

IMO the low initial depreciation is down to fashionability and desirabilty rather than any inherent technical merit. But that same low initial depreciation makes getting a new one on a 3yr pcp and handing it back as the warranty runs out a reasonable prospect.

If you're seriously considering moving to Fiat ownership, then consider a new base Panda bought for cash with a healthy discount; possibly the cheapest 'proper' car you can buy, a well proven engine and good value.

Do what we do. Buy a three month old pre reg. Our1.2 Lounge cost just under £9k . We get remainder of warranty . Sold our old one ,at just under five years old ,for £4.2k to Webuyanycar.com .It was £8.6k at six months old .So cheap motoring if you do it like this.

Which ever engine type you get buying used like we did @ 6 years old, you're going to need lots of diy repair time as generally it's the bits bolted to the car that need sorting expect to spend £1-2k fixing things! just in parts.

robtt said:

Do what we do. Buy a three month old pre reg. Our1.2 Lounge cost just under £9k . We get remainder of warranty . Sold our old one ,at just under five years old ,for £4.2k to Webuyanycar.com .It was £8.6k at six months old .So cheap motoring if you do it like this.

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trouble is my budget wont stretch to a new (or nearly new) one

John202020 said:

Which ever engine type you get buying used like we did @ 6 years old, you're going to need lots of diy repair time as generally it's the bits bolted to the car that need sorting expect to spend £1-2k fixing things! just in parts.

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dont mid getting my hands dirty - but I would prefer not to be getting into a moneypit and don't need it to let me down randomly

maybe I need to revisit the idea, and revert to products from the land of the rising sun

I love driving our 500 twinair (2011) and yes things do go wrong.....often ridiculous unexpected things! I've never owned such an unreliable car and I've owned classic Minis!! That said we will keep our 500 until its dead (or until I lose my patience)I will work on it as much as I need to in order to keep it going (I enjoy tinkering investigating/learning and fixing). I won't ever buy another but weirdly I have enjoyed owning it.
Seems contradicting or mad?

I think I might have to go to the main dealer and see what they can do, It doesnt seem like a 5 year old one is going to cost me any less than a new/pre reg pcp whilst having the benefit of warranty

deal done, 9 month old 1.2S

Mine was pretty faultless for 6 years then I changed it. I think 5 or 6 years is the age that things start going wrong on many cars. My 500's predecessor, a BMW Mini Cooper, developed faults at that age. Tailgate gas struts failed, oil filled engine mount emptied itself all over the drive, intermittent electric window to name the main ones. Luckily I managed d.i.y. fixes on all of these, so it didn't cost much (except my time) but it's to be expected as cars age.
Apparently the industry considers a life span of 8 years reasonable for economic repair.

Mine started going wrong just outside the 3 year warranty but thats sods law.

John202020 said:

Which ever engine type you get buying used like we did @ 6 years old, you're going to need lots of diy repair time as generally it's the bits bolted to the car that need sorting expect to spend £1-2k fixing things! just in parts.

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Just what sort of used cars are you buying that need £1-2k in repairs in a few months ?
I'm not expecting to pay that in the first year including servicing

It was quite fine when we got it just parts needed replacing due to failure or corrosion like (over 12-18 months )
Battery
Sump
Front discs
Entire front suspension
Rear brake drums/complete cylinders etc
Cosmetic items
Heater matrix
Heater hoses and metal pipe work
Clutch slave cylinder
Earthing straps
Exhaust
Breather hoses
Plug leads
Rear wiper arm
Hatch wiring issue fix
6! Tyres
Plus other things I can't remember
All the above are "normal" early failure items on a 500

Never replaced that much in 30 years of driving my Accords! And bar brake discs and a exhaust section that's almost it in 4 years on our older Mazda 6

Guess the previous owner was one of those he did minimum maintenance rather then keeping on top of things

Also 6 tyre's? Did you get part warns or just unlucky with nails screw's ect

4 new tyres when we got it, 2 trips to the tip= two new tyres due to picking up screws in the rears, expensive this recycling lark!

And this is the appalling corrosion on the rear drums what you don't see is the 1/8-1/4" of metal missing all round the exterior of the drum!

Jesus's ? mine were Rusty's but nothing a drill wire brush and black heatproof paint hasn't fixed and tidyed up

John202020 said:

It was quite fine when we got it just parts needed replacing due to failure or corrosion like (over 12-18 months )

Battery

Sump

Front discs

Entire front suspension

Rear brake drums/complete cylinders etc

Cosmetic items

Heater matrix

Heater hoses and metal pipe work

Clutch slave cylinder

Earthing straps

Exhaust

Breather hoses

Plug leads

Rear wiper arm

Hatch wiring issue fix

6! Tyres

Plus other things I can't remember

All the above are "normal" early failure items on a 500



Never replaced that much in 30 years of driving my Accords! And bar brake discs and a exhaust section that's almost it in 4 years on our older Mazda 6

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John just because your car was a dog does not imply every second hand 500 is the same

Sounds like a wrong un. We had ours from new so nothing that drastic.
We had
1. Paint peel on front bumper (like wall paper peeling off).
2. Clutch peddle linkage break
3. Clutch master cylinder leak
4. Coils replaced under a re call
5. Clutch peddle switch failure.
6. And now an unresolved problem I need to get diagnosed.

No where near 2k though

Mercky said:

John just because your car was a dog does not imply every second hand 500 is the same

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:yeahthat:

I’ve said this before but my 2008 1.4 Sport has been utterly fault-free and a 100% reliable daily driver. Literally nothing has gone wrong. Mine still has original door handles, fully functioning tailgate electrics and has never failed an MOT. Cheap to run too - two wheel bearings, one battery, two rear shocks, one set of brake pads, 8 new spark plugs and 4 new tyres in 9 years. Annual services at approx. 200 quid a throw and one timing belt change at 5 years (300 quid). That’s it. Runs sweet, revs freely, likes a thrash, comfortable on long journeys and cruises like a beaut on the motorway. I like it so much that I’ve decided to clear out my garage to give it a better home and run it until it dies on me.

I guess there must be a higher proportion of ‘dog’ cars out there than with many other models but based on my personal experience I would have to recommend the 500 as a decent used car proposition.