Baffled

[Steve]

I am a little confused. I have owned a Bravo 80 for 2 1/2 years and have just bought a Bravo 100. I had expected only a little increase in performance and not much of a decrease in fuel economy. I was wrong on both counts. Performance wise it feels sluggish compared to the 80 with nothing seeming to want to happen any quicker. Can anybody help me out who has driven both cars. Fuel economy is also taking a big hit. 80 was averaging 42 100 is averaging 34 for the same journey which involves 4 miles clear A road, 13 miles motorway and 3 miles stop start traffic. Overall I'm beginning to think that I would have been better off buying another 80. The other thing is internal irritating knocking noises coming from back of car, every bump produces a knock. Seat belts are all clear, rear shelf has been padded and still they are there (not just one & not suspension).
Any help or suggestions on this would be most appreciated.
Car was purchased from Fiat dealer who has stamped the service book but I don't think it has been serviced

 

[Deckchair]

knocking

Can't help you much with the economy except to say the 80 is a better engine.

The knocking? I'm surprised you haven't encountered it before as you are a previous Bravo owner as it's such a well known fault. It's the seat back catch where the securing hook goes around the catch bar (usually LH side). The fit is just slack enough to cause the most annoying rattle over bumps. Wrap some tape around the horizontal bar (Hardly any as it's such a small clearance problem) and end of rattle

 

[Steve]

Can you expand on why the 80 is a better engine?

 

[Tom]

The 1.6 is an over square engine (ie the bore is larger than the piston stroke). It enjoys having the nuts thrashed off it. Anything below 3.5-4kRPM and its a dog.

Keep it spinning between 4k and 6k and its almost a quick car. The fuel economy is only exceeded by the old 1.4.

The 1.6 is 'old-tech' compared to the 1.2. Its a much older design and uses the Weber ECU rather than the Bosch.

 

[Tom]

Have you checked that the rear seats have latched back properly?

I found that wrapping a couple of turns of electrical tape around the little bars which lock the rear seat back in the upright possition made my car nice and quiet.