coming from yaris to fiat bravo/punto

[8bit]

Hi all.
I have a query from anyone that used to have another brand they were faithful to moving over to fiat?
For me I've been using toyota for the last 7 and never owned a fiat. Now i love the look/sound of the bravos and puntos but i'm a street parker and I don't have space to work on cars. Is it just a pipe dream of moving over to fiats then because of the time you need to put into them or is that just a fallacy? Any stories of moving over welcome... thanks.

 

[bugsymike]

Hi all.
I have a query from anyone that used to have another brand they were faithful to moving over to fiat?
For me I've been using toyota for the last 7 and never owned a fiat. Now i love the look/sound of the bravos and puntos but i'm a street parker and I don't have space to work on cars. Is it just a pipe dream of moving over to fiats then because of the time you need to put into them or is that just a fallacy? Any stories of moving over welcome... thanks.

Since 1969 I have owned well over 200 different cars,vans and motorbikes and I certainly wouldn't say they needed any more time than any other make, in a lot of cases much less.
All I would say is that with all newer cars there is a lot more to go wrong, this is true with any make.

 

[8bit]

Thanks @bugsymike. I guess once you go to toyota though it's kind of like a place where passion goes to die and reliability becomes the only thing you pay attention to . Damn my yaris is boring.. but it just keeps soldiering on even at 6k rpm everywhere . Will keep pondering the situation!! (The brava just has such a cool look)

 

[bugsymike]

Thanks @bugsymike. I guess once you go to toyota though it's kind of like a place where passion goes to die and reliability becomes the only thing you pay attention to . Damn my yaris is boring.. but it just keeps soldiering on even at 6k rpm everywhere . Will keep pondering the situation!! (The brava just has such a cool look)

I had a Toyota SpaceCruiser petrol and a Corolla diesel in the past, though in fairness I buy my vehicles on price and condition, so nothing too new. One of my customers had an Avensis Verso Diesel and got me to look at his nieces low mileage Yaris he was thinking of buying from her. I only found two things wrong on her car, anti roll bar links and oil consumption.On looking at common faults on that model they were exactly what other owners had mentioned as their weak points.
Another customer/friend of mine when he heard I was retiring, bought new Toyota's for his family so he could have hopefully trouble free motoring now that I was no longer going to look after his vehicles, but appreciated reliability.
He got a servicing contract in the deal, but agreed it was expensive compared with the around 45 years of coming to me!

 

[rmjbn1]

Hi and welcome
10 years of Mazda before we got our Panda.
First FIAT, we needed a cheap car for my better half to learn to drive.
6 years later, love the little thing, wouldn't dream of getting rid of it.
Fun to drive, well built, FIRE engine is a tough little gem.
BUT... We've had more consumables replaced than on the Mazdas.
Suspension arms, thermostat, input shaft bearing and clutch contaminated by resulting oil leak, crank sensor, wheel cylinders, handbrake cables. Plus regular attention to stop rear subframe rusting. Clutch slave (plastic) is squeaking, so that's next, along with CV boots and noisy drop links.
Nothing excessive for a 20 year old car, but feels like to keep costs low they fit a lot of cheap components that fail with age. At least parts are cheap
At the time, as alternatives I was considering Yaris, Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift. I suspect they might have had fewer little issues, but the FIAT puts a smile on my face.
So yes, personally I would expect a little more maintenance than on a Japanese or Korean.
On the plus side, there's this great forum that can help fix almost any issue - not many makes are so lucky

 

[bugsymike]

Hi and welcome
10 years of Mazda before we got our Panda.
First FIAT, we needed a cheap car for my better half to learn to drive.
6 years later, love the little thing, wouldn't dream of getting rid of it.
Fun to drive, well built, FIRE engine is a tough little gem.
BUT... We've had more consumables replaced than on the Mazdas.
Suspension arms, thermostat, input shaft bearing and clutch contaminated by resulting oil leak, crank sensor, wheel cylinders, handbrake cables. Plus regular attention to stop rear subframe rusting. Clutch slave (plastic) is squeaking, so that's next, along with CV boots and noisy drop links.
Nothing excessive for a 20 year old car, but feels like to keep costs low they fit a lot of cheap components that fail with age. At least parts are cheap
At the time, as alternatives I was considering Yaris, Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift. I suspect they might have had fewer little issues, but the FIAT puts a smile on my face.
So yes, personally I would expect a little more maintenance than on a Japanese or Korean.
On the plus side, there's this great forum that can help fix almost any issue - not many makes are so lucky

In the 1970s I worked at a Mazda Dealership, we also were dealers in Moskvich, Lada and Wartburg.
In those days Mazda was incredible reliable apart from timing chains on the OHC engines and of course the RX3's and 4's Rotary versions which were another story altogether although I did rebuild a couple of those.
Later Mazdas didn't really do it for me.
So for Japanese reliability it was Nissan or Toyota.
However fun is spelt with an F as in Fiat

 

[8bit]

Hi and welcome
10 years of Mazda before we got our Panda.
First FIAT, we needed a cheap car for my better half to learn to drive.
6 years later, love the little thing, wouldn't dream of getting rid of it.
Fun to drive, well built, FIRE engine is a tough little gem.
BUT... We've had more consumables replaced than on the Mazdas.
Suspension arms, thermostat, input shaft bearing and clutch contaminated by resulting oil leak, crank sensor, wheel cylinders, handbrake cables. Plus regular attention to stop rear subframe rusting. Clutch slave (plastic) is squeaking, so that's next, along with CV boots and noisy drop links.
Nothing excessive for a 20 year old car, but feels like to keep costs low they fit a lot of cheap components that fail with age. At least parts are cheap
At the time, as alternatives I was considering Yaris, Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift. I suspect they might have had fewer little issues, but the FIAT puts a smile on my face.
So yes, personally I would expect a little more maintenance than on a Japanese or Korean.
On the plus side, there's this great forum that can help fix almost any issue - not many makes are so lucky

Thanks for the input guys and yeah i guess i have been burned in the past hence the question. I owned a '96 opel corsa. The person before me had multiple breakdowns in it and had pretty much replaced half the car by the time he sold it to me so i thought "great, bargain!". Wrong!! In one year of owning it, it left me stranded 3 times and I ended up putting a sh*t load of money into it hence my lack of trust. Now my yaris has had wear and tear but in 5 years only left me stranded once when the gearbox seized just after i purchased it (i suspect someone did the old banana skins in the gearbox trick to make it seem okay then traded it in and i got caught). So yeah on average the difference between the 2 was like night and day. However when it came to fun that little bulletproof 1.4 motor in such a light frame on the corsa was lightning quick. But in the end it was like dating a supermodel with a cocaine problem