David Bliss
Member
I am afraid that it is bad news
. I had another phone call from Fiat customer services, short and sweet, telling me to book the car into the dealer. I took it in yesterday morning and they did a diagnostic check with no errors found in any system. They did do a software update. They also did a road test but said it was normal, when the first time I took it back the chief technician acknowledged the problem and admitted that he had seen it before! On the way home I couldn't see that the update had done anything noticeable. I have also found that, unless you are a very competent driver, doing a hill start would be very difficult, in that you have to apply some revs and get the clutch to start to bite, as the engine dies you have to depress the clutch slightly again, put the throttle fully down, wait a couple of seconds and, as soon as the engine power comes up, let the clutch up. If you are lucky the car will then pull away. It is like having an engine running on three cylinders only. I want the engine out of my old Panda back! It was much easier to drive.
I am cheesed off and very disappointed. How long have these crappy engines been been used on the Panda?
I am cheesed off and very disappointed. How long have these crappy engines been been used on the Panda?