Evening the "Croma Section"

never been in this part before!.

After owning a Seicento 2xmk2 Puntos and now a Stilo Multiwagon 1.9jtd.

Im wondering what Fiat car im going to get next when the Stilo becomes a big job to fix, after looking through the MPV'S which am not keen on, i still want an estate and the Croma estate could be an option.

What specs are there? and engine wise?. reading a post it looks like the Fiat have nicked the Vauxhall/Saab Components where the Stilo i think is the other way round.

Any good info on the better spec/engine etc would be a good bit of info.

Cheers Croma Fans

Paul

Hi Paul,
Welcome to the forum.

The croma was sold in the UK for a couple of years but not in any great quantity - all in about a thousand or so. There were 3 trim levels - mine is the mid spec eleganza which has cruise control, dual zone climate control, panoramic sunroof, trip computer, etc., actually quite nice to drive. Mine is the 120bhp .9d 8valve. Other options include a 16v 150bhp diesel and a 2.4 and 2;2 petrol.

They are all pretty spacious and are indeed mainly GM rather than fiat. This means that spares are generally easy available and cheap.

However the main feature of croma ownership is reliability. Or more accurately the lack of it.

Not sure I'd recommend them to anyone looking for hassle free motoring but they are very cheap for what you get.

And this forum is the place to come if you take the plunge and need help to get things working again.

Cheers Brian

i got told the same thing about my Stilo multiwagon, always forking out for her, they dont look bigger than my stilo m/w. you do get a lot for the price of them, as you say theres not many around. Fiat dont seem to do another estate car upwards from the Stilo prt from the Mpv, ill take a look through the threads, the Stilo seems to be better to stick with but if a Croma come up at a special price it could be a plan!

Space, comfort and equipment wise the Croma is a great car.

Many of us who have owned their cars from new have had all the usual failings, a short but by no means complete list being:

springs,
EGR,
alternator,
drive shafts
suspension alignment
fuel filler flap
rear boot lid release switch
DMF / clutch (well I've had these issues but is less common)
panoramic sunroof issues

and some other more minor bugs.

However, once these issues have been sorted I don't see or experience major re-occurrences of these issues, except for the fuel filler flap.

There is a fair to good chance that a second hand Croma which has experienced the above failures and has been fixed will prove to be a great and pretty reliable car.

I would also add that the second hand prices are low so if you get a clean and well looked after car then you will be getting a bargain. Any purchase savings (over another make/model) would, IMHO, best be kept to one side to cover and repairs that may be required.

looks exactly like a Stilo with that list!.

i can see it being my next Fiat, gonna stick with the stilo until something big goes wrong like the DMF, i will have to have the better spec, im only missing the sat nav, leather and panoramic sunroof.

might sound like a stupid question whats the suspension alignment, or do you mean wheel alignment?

we be looking out and getting the general info on faults/fixes/mod's

Many Thanks

The Croma is intended to carry Fiat Company into the executive market currently still dominated by German cars Mercedes, BMW and VW by Motor week ending July 12,1986

siken said:

The Croma is intended to carry Fiat Company into the executive market currently still dominated by German cars Mercedes, BMW and VW by Motor week ending July 12,1986

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That's the first generation Croma!
That too was an often overlooked bargain - I had four

I think the croma ii - our ones - were intended to do much the same as the original but it didn't go all that well for Fiat.

Still their loss was an extent our gain - mine only cost £10k with 56 miles on the clock so whilst the depreciation from list was extreme, mine had lost much of its value before I bought it.

As s130 says, the number of issues seems to be slowing down now and they do seems to suffer from a similar range of faults - for example when my power steering failed I was fairly confident that the wiring loom rather than the pump was the most likely problem since others had suffered the same fate already.

BrianMcL said:

Still their loss was an extent our gain - mine only cost £10k with 56 miles on the clock so whilst the depreciation from list was extreme, mine had lost much of its value before I bought it.
.

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Mine cost me £12K with 16 miles on the clock and was unregistered.

Bearing in mind the list price was £18.5K yes were got good deals.

s130 said:

Mine cost me £12K with 16 miles on the clock and was unregistered.

Bearing in mind the list price was £18.5K yes were got good deals.

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Mine was £6k just over four years ago, and it's probably still worth £2k. £1k per year is actually the slowest-depreciating car I've ever had. Only because it was as cheap as chips in the first place though.

Obviously it's not going to continue dropping at £1k/year. There have been a fair few repair bills in this time though, plus some severe time-consuming/stressful DIY repairs too.

paullawton2007 said:

Cheers Brian

i got told the same thing about my Stilo multiwagon, always forking out for her, they dont look bigger than my stilo m/w. you do get a lot for the price of them, as you say theres not many around. Fiat dont seem to do another estate car upwards from the Stilo prt from the Mpv, ill take a look through the threads, the Stilo seems to be better to stick with but if a Croma come up at a special price it could be a plan!

Click to expand...

Considering I have owned both from my previous owns, coming from a Croma to a Stilo MW, now to a Multipla.

The facelift Multipla trumps both of them in terms of space, being reliable, easy and cost effective to service, has not broken down etc etc.

Looking back I purchased a Croma Mjet to replace an ageing Alfa 156 sportwagon, it did the the task well and is a good car, but some very early posts i placed on this forum, there were not many replies as they were kinda of new, but owners here, and there is a few have exp all the issues and like people have commented, should all be resolved.

Personally if i was buying a Croma Mjet now, I would be giving a serious inspection and take into account the current owner, service history and take into account that the design flaws and issues have been resolved, if you find a gem, you will have a great time, if you find a dud, it will cost you dearly.

Stilo MW, is very underated, engines bullet proof, but the 5 speed gearbox does not suit and the JTD is nowhere as refined as a Croma Mjet, but boot is bigger in reality. My MW ate front tyres, a problem that Fiat never really resolved.

Ive also been lucky enough to own both,a Stilo jtd and Croma jtd which i still have and my next door nieghbour has the Stilo.
Despite what everyone said the Stilo was bomb proof besides a really bad remap that was soon taken off.It had it hard towing a caravan alot of the time.
The Croma if anything i would say has been better again if that is possible,in probably 4 years of owner ship its been a darling with really only parking sensers failing individually.

Hi I have a 55 plate croma dynamic 1.9 turbo multi jet not had it long its a good car all in all but having a bit of bother with it. About 3week after I got it it started bucking and lost power so got some help from RAC who said its the EGR valve. I bought 1 fitted it my self cleaned all the pipes it work great for 3 days now back to square 1. Can anyone help me?

Hello-- From my experience have a go at cleaning the pressure sensor that is next to the EGR. Be careful not to be too rough, it made one hell of a difference to the running of my 16v multijet. Another possibility is the MAF sensor immediately after the air filter, it is a good money maker for Fiat as it is now a "return part". I have stopped the problem in its tracks by fitting a K&N filter and clean it annually before winter sets in and have had no MAF probs since.

Great advice thank you I will have ago and post the results

Try unplugging the MAF altogether and see if that helps.
Have you got access to a VAG KKR cable and multiecuscan or other engine diagnostic software? If not you can download multiecuscan for free and buy a KKR cable off Ebay for not much.

The information from it might give us more to go on.

I'd mainly reiterate what's been said about cleaning the sensors. Also have a look in your new EGR valve - it may have been holding back a lump of soot that's now found its way in.

Also thumbs up for the K&N filter too. I've had one in my Croma for over 3 years, in previous cars for years before.

You can also take out the stupid diverter flap out of the air filter box while you're in there, and give it a good clean out - or even take it out and wash/dry it.

Obviously check the oil level, and a double-dose of Redex or similar won't do any harm now and then.

After all that - find a good long hill with no speed limits, get the engine hot then floor it and don't let go until you hit the rev limiter. Go for a long journey 1 or 2 gears lower than normal and give it some aggro, blow its brains out!

Hey cheers for everyone's feed back just about to get started cleaning the sensors don't have the VAG VKK software so will def look into getting one do I just search Vag VKK and cable? Sorry I'm a novice at all this I did well to do the EGR valve ha ha.

My mistake VAG KKR and cable

If you search on ebay for VAG KKR cable you should find one OK. It's got a USB connector for the PC on one end and what looks like a TV SCART connector on the other.

Once you've got one let us know and we'll tell you what do do with it because from personal experience it's not that obvious, until someone points it out anyway.

I'd go for all of the cleaning suggestions anyway, and maybe block the EGR completely for a run as well. If you decide to block the egr post back first and I'll talk you through what's involved. There are various posts on here already though - search for swirl mod gasket and egr blanking plate for more info.