Could anybody with knowledge of this model please help

Friend is looking at a 2005 diesel automatic 1.2 litre mark2 at
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190469960693&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Are there any specific problems to look out for please? Is the head gasket the same problem as it is on the petrol engine? Is the autobox reliable? Is the price of £3495 reasonable for this with just 5500 miles on clock?

Any advice before viewing/purchase would be very much appreciated.

Its a 5 year old car so its done 1100 miles a year, thats not good news.

The diesel engine is not so prone to HG problems, but the HG problems in petrol ones are usually a result of another ignored fault, like coolant leak or fan inoperative.

If you can get it with a big warranty that includes all aspects of gearbox operation, that would be the best bet.

I think the price is a bit high because someone thinks the low mileage is a good idea, which it definately is not.

I'd say £3K including the warranty tops.

Cheers

D

Thanks Rallycinq and apologies
Mileage is 55,000 not 5,500. ***head!

That's a better mileage - cars should be used.

Diesels will go on for ever though if they are driven very slowly they can get a bit clogged up in the exhaust gas recirc system. Its no big deal but may need to be cleaned out.

What sort of auto box does it have? The mini selespeed like they fit on the Panda its actually really good. The gearbox is a pretty much normal manual type with electronic shifters and clutch control. The speedgear can be costly on parts when things go wrong so get a good warranty.

For prices do some closed auction searches on ebay to give you an idea of actual selling prices.

Did Fiat fit the Duallogic 'box to the 1.3 multijet on the mk2b?

I can only recall it being on the 1.2 8v petrol.

My mum got a new Panda auto 3 years ago (and what a great car it is). The brochures said that a diesel auto was an option, but seriously not cheap so she got the petrol.

WhiteSei said:

My mum got a new Panda auto 3 years ago (and what a great car it is). The brochures said that a diesel auto was an option, but seriously not cheap so she got the petrol.

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They have the same engines so its relevant info. !!!!

WhiteSei said:

They have the same ***ing engines so its relevant info. !!!!

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But not necessarily the same specification.

The engine/gearbox combinations aren't universal across the entire range due to marketing/packaging reasons.

There will be differences but unlike the Japanese who seem to change everything on every model, Fiat use the modular system where they share as many parts as practical. My point was if the diesel *selespeed* auto was made for the Punto it would be much the same as the one in the Panda. Different differential and drive shafts maybe, but overall much the same. I'm not suggesting they could be easily swapped over but with Fiat you never know.

But if they do exist there wont be many about so the OP might have found a rare hen's tooth - hence the price.

As an aside - Mum's petrol Panda 60 came in at £6500 incl £1000 discount and the auto as standard. Most dealers were not doing autos on discount. The diesel was a few hundred more and the auto was a £1000 option taking it to about £8K. That was just silly for a Panda and the fuel cost saving would never be recovered.

there are a few of them about, they keep popping up in my saved searches for punto automatic on ebay

WhiteSei said:

There will be differences but unlike the Japanese who seem to change everything on every model, Fiat use the modular system where they share as many parts as practical. My point was if the diesel *selespeed* auto was made for the Punto it would be much the same as the one in the Panda.

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I'm not saying the 1.3 engine/box in the Panda is different to the Punto, just that the engine/gearbox combinations aren't always the same across different models.

For example, the last of the mk2b's had the Grande Punto FIRE Evo version of the 1.2, whereas the Panda only started using it relatively recently. For packaging reasons, I believe the early Abarth 500's had the weaker C5.1.4r 'box instead of the C5.3.0. used in the normal GP Tjet. In the GP, the 1.3 diesel manual is the HGT-style box, not the C5.1.4r in the mk2.

"Selespeed" is an Alfa term which Fiat don't like to use, hence "Duallogic". Similar to how Alfa didn't want to pay to use Bosch's "ESP" term, so called it VDC instead, whereas Fiat were happy to.

dave said:

there are a few of them about, they keep popping up in my saved searches for punto automatic on ebay

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Yeah, done a bit of delving tonight and it seems there were- hence why my original post was a question and not a statement.

Puzzling though as I never remember seeing any reference to them anywhere, even the technical manuals.