Hi guys,

New member here, looking into buying a Fiat 500 to replace my wife's aging Punto!

Couldn't find any recent buying advice threads, but please let me know if you know of some.

So, looking at around a £5k budget, I like the look of the twinair, the car would need to be automatic. Seems I could get a 2011 with 50k+ miles for around that.

Any buying advice or comments on the 500 reliability? Some google searches started to put me off, seems to be some doubts over reliability, but the 500 is everywhere I look these days, so i'm not sure how widespread reliability problems are?

Thanks for reading and any comments much appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

Welcome. I would in your position look at something like this. While you may respond with it's out of budget, could you spend a lot on a £5000 secondhand one getting it mechanically perfect, yes you could. https://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing...twinair-lounge-3dr-dualogic/3016795/39950107/

In my view the 500 TA is a great car, had one since new from 2011 to last month.

some issues were;
washer jets
expansion bottle leak
water pump
rear hatch cables snapped with opening / closing

I think the 0.9 TA engine is a masterpiece, the eco setting pulls the car from almost 0 revs and the normal setting is damn good

you will pay ZERO road tax on the older TAs.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Start by reading this thread.

After 50,000 miles, any dualogic Fiat is a liability waiting to happen.

It pains me to say it, but buying a reasonably well used secondhand 500 TA dualogic is one of the best ways to maximise your chances of encountering all the issues you've read about Fiats.

Fashionability means secondhand 500's are way overpriced. This would be a great car to have if bought new on a 3yr PCP, but buying a secondhand one for £5000 could so easily turn out to be an expensive mistake. If it must be an automatic and you can't or don't want to sign up for a new car, then I'd strongly advise you to look at a different marque with a conventional autobox.

But that same fashionability makes the monthly payments on a new one good value. Enjoy a fun car (and the 500TA is probably the most fun car in its class) whilst you still have the protection of the warranty, benefit from the strong residual value at the end of the agreement, then walk away from any potentially costly out-of-warranty problems.

Just make sure you're not the one walking into the potentially costly out-of-warranty problems.

Al D said:

While you may respond with it's out of budget, could you spend a lot on a £5000 secondhand one getting it mechanically perfect, yes you could.

Click to expand...

If you can't afford the monthly payments on a new one, you almost certainly won't be able to afford the cost of running a used one. Unless you have strong DIY skills, older 500's are probably best avoided.

Oooh thanks for the info everyone. That Dualogic thread is a depressing read.

So I'm assuming all the 500s have the dualogic gearbox if i'm looking for an automatic one?

Thanks all.
Ben

benrpatterson said:

So I'm assuming all the 500s have the dualogic gearbox if i'm looking for an automatic one?

Click to expand...

Except in the North American market, yes.

In the good ol' US of A, where autos are the norm rather than the exception, Fiat fit a conventional autobox with a torque converter. Some have speculated that this may be due to concerns over dualogic reliability. I'd say that cheaper fuel and less stringent CO2 targets may also have influenced this.

benrpatterson said:

That Dualogic thread is a depressing read.

Click to expand...

A lot less depressing than it would be if you were reading it on the hard shoulder watching your failed dualogic flashing its warning lights at you whilst waiting for the recovery truck.

I hate writing this, but for a small, "proper auto", you need to start looking at Hyundai i10's and perhaps Kia Picanto's and Suzuki Alto's.

Though you might need to up you £5000 a little to get one with a decent warranty.

Automated manuals like Dualogic's, ETG's, DSG's are prone to trouble after a while, where as a proper auto with lowish mileage should be a better bet.

Like manuals, Dualogics (and the rest) have clutches, which no doubt wear faster than one in a proper manual.

Thanks all. Yeah feel gutted for those stuck with these issues.

Glad I stopped by. Maybe its time to ditch the auto! The 500 is a great looking car, not much can compete with it on that front.

Ben

"Honest John" would recommend something like the following.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...-type=trade&make=TOYOTA&sort=sponsored&page=1

Hasn't the Multimode gearbox (avoid). Eligible for Toyota 3+ servicing. Maybe gearbox oil change due. And these. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-Y...r:2000&hash=item19fff01e27:g:VeIAAOSwuMFUlBJy

But cheap motoring. Sure it could bite me. But I'd sleep better.

I’d still rather fix a Dualogic than a conventional auto.

And our Dualogic 500 is now ten years old and 130,000km without any problems. Just how much reliability is it fair to expect from a relatively cheap little car? Sooner or later I expect the clutch to wear out, the same as it would for a standard manual transmission, and replacing it will be a similar cost.

I suppose I do agree with the well-reasoned thoughts of jrkitching (our moderator) in one way; 500s do make better economic sense as a new car with the protection of a warranty etc. simply because they aren’t all that expensive to start with. We bought ours at five years old; that means we missed out on the first five trouble-free years, which in the big scheme of things were probably worth having.

I figure that at the first sign of trouble with the hydraulics, a wholesale replacement of the actuator (which includes pump, valves, and accumulator) will be worth it, for the trouble-free use to continue. I’m not sure that failure thread really says much, given that in many of the cases, workshops have been confused about how to repair the system (making reference to ‘neutral solenoids’ and other parts that don’t exist).

Maybe we should have a count-up of how many failures there have actually been; someone estimated it at 60, out of thousands sold in the UK. I believe the problem is in how those failures have been dealt with; not very well, with confusion and uncertain fixes.

Also keep in mind that Dualogic isn’t really an “automatic”, you’ll need to actually drive one to see for yourself, and it will work a lot better if you tell it when to change gear.

-Alex

Great post Alex.

I think the Dualogic issue is one of those things you need to be aware of as a second hand buyer.

Should it stop you buying one? Not if the price is right and you are happy with the car IMO. The 500 will always be a great looking car, and as long as people are aware of what the costs could potentially be, then why not go the second hand route?

I'm still yet to be convinced the 500 will burn a hole in your wallet in the long term sufficiently more than any other comparable car. Most of the common faults are relatively cheap to sort out (provided you have the skills yourself or have a decent garage that knows what it is doing). Yes, things like the door handles breaking are pretty pathetic, but they can be fixed easily enough

Yes, I've driven several automatics over the years and once I had a Punto courtesy car fitted with Dualogic- it was horrible. So, my advice would be to try it first before you commit - as it might not be what you'd expect