Join the Fiat Motor Club GB. Will cost you £25. You will then be legible to purchase Fiat vehicles under the Affinity Scheme.

Best discounts etc. can be on commercial / Ducato / ... when 40% plus is up for grabs.

https://fiatmotorclubgb1.netfirms.com/

https://fiatmotorclubgb1.netfirms.com/discounts/

https://www.fiatgroupsales.com/module/fgs_reg/attachments/Privilege Purchase Scheme Price List.pdf

https://www.polfed.org/westmids/media/3875/fca-affinity-price-list-1-april-30-june-2021.pdf

The saga continues..

Fiat is doing an additional deposit contribution for PCP skint cheapskates like me.. so I've given in to the inevitable triumph of hope over experience and tried again.

First indications are that it will be a factory order, +19 weeks... but since 19 weeks is around December, when dealers may be thinking about their registration volumes, I'm hoping a few more than last time will be interested.

Anyhow... let's see. Otherwise it's a second-hand Jag, since they're the only thing reputedly more unreliable than an old Fiat... and so even that will be less trauma than trying to buy a new car from Fiat by the sounds of it..


Ralf S.

The Younger Mrs S' continual sniping aka "encouragement" given the state of Gerrard at the moment... (the beast is rather literally in bits, since I've been replacing the clutch flywheel, ergo battery box, wheel arch liners, driveshafts etc. have been temporarily stored in the bath for the last 2 months).. has led me to persist.

I've got what looks like a decent offer for the spec' I want (ironincally from the dealer up the road) so I'm examining the small-print on the basis that it looks too good to be true after the months of faffing about. But I think it checks out... and if I can get a lift over there one day soon (Gerrard still waiting for the battery tray, etc.) then I'll get my order in. Ahhhh Ahhhh

It'll be a "3-month" delivery (factory order, because of the leather seats) but at least I know the beast will be built just before I receive it, rather than been sitting around for a few months... I can get on with a Virgo or Libra.. a Scorpio would be a pain in the 'arris..

Anyhow.. looks like we're getting there.



Ralf S.

Interesting comparison with secondhand Jag, other than our Fiat 500x and Punto Cabrio I have a 2001 Jaguar XK8!

Just make sure its really leather and not the substance liberally described as leather by Fiat and it's dealers when talking about the plasticised canvas in the Panda 4x4! Leather is a nice addition. Panda plastic definitely isn't Its the big plus to buying a waze which just has the standard canvas seats.

Fiat ought to know better, was not Italy once renowned for its leather goods.

For Fiat's benefit, leather involves some former attachment to an animal not a barrel of plastic dip.

Aye... the standard seats in the Sport are called "Technoleather" which already sounds like its synthetic.

I managed to rent a 1.3 Sport last year out of curiosity and as an extended test-drive, and the material is "okay".. it feels like PVC and it doesn't have any heavy graining moulded into it, like a lot of fake leather does.. so I don't think they're trying to fool anyone.... but even so, one dealer did keep saying the car had leather seats as standard, so it's potentially confusing.

However the central part of the standard seats is cloth with a light grey vertical band effect.. which I'm not completely keen on.. and it looks like a chocolate/fruit/biscuit crumb/glitter magnet (the Queen of the Sith is now 3 1/2 years old) so I need a wipe-clean surface..

I haven't been able to find any photo of the leather seats in real life - I only have the configurator to go on, which is a bit "CGI" in appearance ... but hearsay is that they look okay. They're supposed to have a bit of grey piping around them and some red stitching.. so who knows? I'm taking a bit of a punt on that one.

The rest of the car is just regular options.. .19" wheels and a full sized spare, not the skinny or the blow-up doll thing. The full-sized spare will be interesting too, since nobody is relly sure what it does to the boot floor. Common opinion is that the floor will be higher (lifted compared to normal) which I could live with, even if the boot is more shallow as a result.

And it'll be red.. 1.0ltr manual (3cyl) which sounds fun.



Ralf S.

Deposit paid.. and there is a spot on the production line that will be used to build it. Estimated to arrive in December, though it's at build stage 10 or something, so not much to add for the time-being..


Ralf S.

I ordered a 500x Sport 1.3 DCT today , black with a spacesaver and I have no idea when it will arrive because of the semi-Conductor shortage

The Panda Nut said:

Just make sure its really leather and not the substance liberally described as leather by Fiat and it's dealers when talking about the plasticised canvas in the Panda 4x4! Leather is a nice addition. Panda plastic definitely isn't Its the big plus to buying a waze which just has the standard canvas seats.

Fiat ought to know better, was not Italy once renowned for its leather goods.

For Fiat's benefit, leather involves some former attachment to an animal not a barrel of plastic dip.

Click to expand...

No cars anywhere near the fiat price bracket have real leather

That's reserved for high end cars these days

The MG ZS has leather seats and is in the same price bracket... but I saw one in the middle of the outlet vilage near Bridgend aboot 18 months ago, and while it's fairly "nice" the leather looks quite thin. I'm hoping/expecting the Sport leather option is a bit chunky like the leather part of the part-leather Cross seats, which seems to have come from an elephant.

It's a hefty price option (£850) and it makes the car a special order.. which causes a production/delivery wait compared to most of the other options, so it'd better be decent..


Ralf S.