General Drivers side door handle HANGING OFF!!!!!! :(

[Heidi]

The passenger one is still hanging on months after it first went a bit stiff. Have to push it back in once opened door now but it works for now and will get fixed at mot time later in year.

 

[Heidi]

And it's not just the door handles, is-it ?



Ours is coming up for four years old in April and with an unrelenting number of issues as-well as the the failed door handles.

All I've had wrong is one replaced door handle, wiring repaired in tailgate and the breather hose which is now not an issue on the newer models. Doesn't sound too bad to me. Am sure there isn't anything I have forgotten.

 

[madrat]

Lucky You !

Never had a car with so many faults, and I used to own a Yugo

 

[Heidi]

What had gone wrong on yours?

 

[306maxi]

what had gone wrong on yours?

madrat's car is a driving school car and the usage bears no resemblence to that which any normal 500 will get

 

[306maxi]

And it's not just the door handles, is-it ?

Ours is coming up for four years old in April and with an unrelenting number of issues as-well as the the failed door handles.

Looking through your posts you seem to have had a door handle failure and some stiff gearshift cables, hardly the worst car ever. If you think your car is a ****heap then sell it.

 

[madrat]

Probably easier to list what hasn't gone wrong,

There is a long list on this site somewhere but not sure where. List still getting longer.

 

[madrat]

The gear linkage is one of the things we've not had problems with.

 

[Heidi]

madrat's car is a driving school car and the usage bears no resemblence to that which any normal 500 will get

Ah ok. I see. I wouldn't want a car a heap of learners had been practicing in!

 

[306maxi]

Ah ok. I see. I wouldn't want a car a heap of learners had been practicing in!

Exactly! you also wouldn't expect a car that a load of learners have learnt in would be as reliable as a car driven by someone who owns it.


I remember learning to drive in a Honda HRV and completely by accident getting my launch absolutely spot on for as quick a getaway as the car would allow. Slipped the clutch just right, gave it a bootfull of throttle and the tyres gave a nice amount of squeal. Completely by accident as well, no such thing has ever happened in my 500 by accident or by choice


Now I had been driving karts for about 3 years before I got into a car so I knew how to not drive into kerbs and so on and was relatively mechanically sympathetic compared to most, I imagine that car copped an absolute hammering from others.......

 

[madrat]

The Suzuki we had before was no where near as much trouble. The number of faults that had was very low. Compared to other instructors cars the Fiat has not performed well, BSM would not renew the contract with Fiat because of the number of problems they were having with the 500 they went back to Vauxhall.

 

[306maxi]

The Suzuki we had before was no where near as much trouble. The number of faults that had was very low. Compared to other instructors cars the Fiat has not performed well, BSM would not renew the contract with Fiat because of the number of problems they were having with the 500 they went back to Vauxhall.

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/279391-500-not-ideal-instructors-car.html


Ummm no. I actually spoke to someone who worked for BSM at the time (see the above thread) and he said they had little issue with reliability, but the issues outlined in the thread meant that the 500 was not an idea learners car.

 

[306maxi]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/motoring...nds-Fiat-500s-officials-complained-small.html


Funnily enough the (usually xenophobic) newspaper reports it just as my BSM employee acquaintance said it was at the time.....


You seem to have simply been unlucky and/or have a car which probably gets abused on a regular basis by pupils.

 

[madrat]

The BSM instructors we know all had reliability problems, the issue with check tests was not true, if it was every time we have a check test the examiners would be refusing to do them and not one of them have done so. Blind spots are terrible in the 500 but then they are in 99% of cars now. Most of the BSM instructors did hate the 500 and with good cause, the reasons given and the reasons reported were not always the same.

Our 500 is now 6 years old and has coverd 107,000 miles and as I said has a long long list of faults, we had the Suzuki for 6 years and it coverd just over 165,000 miles, the faults with that would cover about half a side of A4

 

[306maxi]

The BSM instructors we know all had reliability problems, the issue with check tests was not true, if it was every time we have a check test the examiners would be refusing to do them and not one of them have done so. Blind spots are terrible in the 500 but then they are in 99% of cars now. Most of the BSM instructors did hate the 500 and with good cause, the reasons given and the reasons reported were not always the same.

Our 500 is now 6 years old and has coverd 107,000 miles and as I said has a long long list of faults, we had the Suzuki for 6 years and it coverd just over 165,000 miles, the faults with that would cover about half a side of A4

I'm sorry, but your statements do not match up with the reports.

But the Government's Driving Standards Agency officials who check that L-test instructors and their cars are up to the job, struggled to fit into the rear of the Fiat for the mandatory check-test.

Matters came to a head in February the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) issued guidance about the use of “compact or city cars” when driving instructors go for their mandatory check-tests. The only car that they identified as potentially problematic was the Fiat 500.

The note from Charles Morton, registrar of Approved Driving Instructors said: 'When presented for check rest, compact cars can occasionally pose difficulties for some of our examiners.
'In these cases their physical stature may prevent them from sitting safely and securely in the rear seat of the car, facing fully forward, with full use of a seat belt.
'Currently, the only compact city car that has been identified as presenting difficulties for some adult rear seat passengers is the Fiat 500.'

The check test is the test that all driving instructors have to take every 2-4 years to prove they can still teach. A DSA examiner will sit in the back of the car and observe them delivering a lesson for an hour. This determines their grade and is needed to allow them to renew the 'Green badge' they need to work.
Mr Morton's note had told instructors that they had to ring ahead of their check-test appointment 'to establish if there are likely to be any issues with the space in the rear which may make that vehicle unsuitable or unsafe for the examiner that has been allocated to conduct the check-test.'
Yesterday the DSA added: 'Some of our people did complain about leg-room and that they had to sit sideways to get their legs in.' It's ok at the front, but tight in the back.

Now I'm no big fan of the Daily Hate/Fail/Moan, but I'll take their reporting of what the Driving Standards Agency have said over your statements which don't match up with what my acquaintance said at the time.


I'd suggest that with all due respect you're talking rubbish

 

[madrat]

Well you obviously now best, and the next time we get a check test I will point out your comment to the examiner

:shakehead:

 

[306maxi]

Well you obviously now best, and the next time we get a check test I will point out your comment to the examiner

:shakehead:

For an independent such as yourself perhaps it's not an issue, but for a large company like BSM it might be a big problem, the gentleman I spoke to (Carl) was quite a large fellow and it was more or less impossible to get someone in the back with him in the front and a decent sized pupil driving.


I've done over 61k miles in my 500 and not suffered all the issues that you have, but my car hasn't been driven by learners and wasn't a diesel which is an especially poor choice as a driving school car.


If you want to talk common issues with the 500 then I'm willing to talk, but the list is far smaller than you're attempting to make out.....

 

[Heidi]

Some of these examiners must be on the large side. My husband has sat in the back for over an hour, facing forward and with seat belt on and he is 6 foot 2. Do they sit behind the driver perhaps? Otherwise I can't see a problem with the car.

EDIT - ah do they observe them giving someone a lesson therefore 3 people in the car? I assumed they observed them for their own driving skills. Blonde moment!!!! Sorry.

I have not had any more of a problem with a blind spot any more than other cars I have owned and driven. The Nissan note I am currently driving as a loan car has terrible all round visibility when reversing however.

 

[306maxi]

I'm 5'10" and I don't like being in the back

 

[frupi]

I'm 6'2" and the two times I've sat in the back of a 500 (both times in our old one) I sat in the rear passenger side with my legs across the back seat. Not something I particularly enjoyed but it was a little more comfortable than having my knees around my chin!