Hello Fiat 500 forum,

I am new here as have never owned a Fiat before. I am looking to buy a Fiat 500C (approx. year 2009-2012) with a petrol engine (I am taking the car to Denmark and diesel taxes in Denmark are just ridiculous high)...

I live in South West of France so corrosion is not really an issue (they never salt the roads down here).

But uncertain of which model to get (engine size etc). I will be using it as a city car and probably do about 5k miles a year.

What issues are know for these cars and what should I look out for (timing best changed when?, milage?, other bit issues with car? etc.).

I am looking to keep the car for many years (just love the car, the shape and all).

Any advise and hints highly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for replies

Kenneth

"Most" suspension components will need replacing if not done, later cars have redesigned rear suspension which gives better ride, climate control cars can suffer a failure in the temp control flap which can be a deal breaker for keeping the car(This potentially is the greatest risk to long term ownership) parts are cheap(here) and straightforward to replace replacing the spark plugs for Iridium gives a 5 year service interval on them. Timing belt every 5 years with water pump, thermostat can fail due to plastic body, a metal water pipe can rust through behind the exhaust manifold

Thank you. Very useful info

I might take the car to Tangier (just opposite Gibraltar in Morocco) to the Fiat dealer (parts the same price as UK, but they charge about £10 an hour for labour - a bargain) to have a big big service done and change everything that might go wrong in the near future. What would you add to the list of things to besides whatever is worn down like chock absorbers, brakes etc?

What is the issue with the temp control flap? Is that something can be proactive looked at?

Presently looking at a 2009 model with 80k km / 50k miles on the clock...

Kenneth500C said:

Thank you. Very useful info

I might take the car to Tangier (just opposite Gibraltar in Morocco) to the Fiat dealer (parts the same price as UK, but they charge about £10 an hour for labour - a bargain) to have a big big service done and change everything that might go wrong in the near future. What would you add to the list of things to besides whatever is worn down like chock absorbers, brakes etc?

What is the issue with the temp control flap? Is that something can be proactive looked at?

Presently looking at a 2009 model with 80k km / 50k miles on the clock...

Click to expand...

The flap I'd only on climate control models
Ones with regular manual system arnt effected

To add to the above the dual logic auto boxes can have some expensive issue's as we'll

The a.c. issue is, that the flap actuator moves more than the flap can stressing the plastic pivot pin connected to it, eventually the back and forth(extreme cold to hot setting ) snaps off the pin, it can require the whole dash out to fix this includes removing both doors! Note manual a.c. control doesn't have the issue as it's operated by cable.

Clutch hydraulics can cause issues, easily sorted by replacing both slave and master cylinder(master "expensive at £80") always use a quality battery like Varta B36 I think yep avoid the auto. Door handles can fall off