and I wish I hadn't mentioned it now *sigh*
Engine mount snapped in my Fiat 500 2011 Lounge
- Thread starter EllieBoxall
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Engine mount snapped in my Fiat 500 2011 Lounge
Steve Silver
New member
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- Jun 23, 2014
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Take your point 306maxi, and I don't want to hijack this thread so will say no more on the matter, but Fiat assure us it's a feature of the new Euro category and all cars will be going this way to prevent over-revving. Perhaps as frupi alluded to, it depends on driving style?
Just one other point though, latest plate does not necessarily mean latest spec.. I bought a brand new car once that turned out to be 2 year old stock, not saying that was the case with the car you drove as 500's seem to have a good turnover but it may me sigh when I read it!
Like I said, if it were all 1.2 500's then the forum would be absolutely littered with people having the issue. When Start&Stop launched, the forum was littered with people complaining about it even though some people found it worked OK and S&S not cutting in isn't a safety issue as this is.
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/339820-new-500s-throttle-responce-5.html
It's been weeks since we've had a new person posting about the issue. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but at the signs point to a small number of cars having an issue which Fiat and their dealers are either too stupid, lazy, ignorant or feckless to fix.
Get onto Fiat about fixing your car, there is no reason why it should behave like this IMHO. If this had happened to my car it would be parked in front of the dealership with nice big signs in the windows saying how good the new Twingo is
I'm more than aware of this. I've bought two 'brand new' cars in the last 4 years, one was two years old almost to the day I bought it and the TA the wife has that we bought last November, was 14 months old from when it was built and that came from a Fiat dealership. Consequently, the discounts I had on both cars were quite spectacular compared to list price.
Of course we accepted that the spec was never going to be the same as a current car that had just come out of the factory, but then we're not the sort of people that must have the absolute newest latest thing out of the factory. I see why people want to spec out their own cars, but they do so at a premium and that is their choice.
A few posts back, I posted a link to a brand new pre-reg 500 in the colour Ellie likes from a Fiat dealership. If you compare it to the list price for a 64 reg, it is a lot cheaper, obviously for a reason. Ok, so Ellie is in Hampshire and the one in the link is in Perth, but I'd personally still choose the car in Scotland if there was nothing like it locally even without going up there to see it if it met the general criteria I wanted. I understand also for many reasons why people would be completely put off by going that route, but it isn't anything to be frightened of.
ahmett
Prominent member
I would do exactly the same frupi. Its just that my Fiat was very customised (electroclash grey, 1.4, red leather, better stereo, sillyspeed dualogic).
so there was no chance there was a car prereg like that in greece = )
Personally I would never accept delivery of any car without giving it a thorough inspection.
I once went to have a browse round a (not Fiat) main dealership. Whilst there, I saw one of the unregistered cars on the forecourt had a rather large dent in the roof. I muttered something to the salesman, who said that one of the guys who was fixing their new sign pushed a rather large ladder onto it. I commented on this piece of bad luck, and he just replied "Don't worry, we'll just send it down the local bodyshop & prereg it".
Don't get me wrong - most prereg cars are absolutely fine - but some new cars do get damaged during delivery or on the forecourt and there's nothing to stop these being quietly repaired, preregistered and sold on wthout disclosure.
In law, a prereg car is a used car and is sold as such. You do not have the same buyer protections you would get if you bought new as first owner.
If you are careful and know what you are doing, a prereg can be a real bargain - I've bought one myself in the past.
If you're unfortunate and get a lemon, it might prove to be false economy.
Caveat emptor.
ahmett
Prominent member
but dont you at least have a warranty to deal with the 'lemon' issues?
also you can always go around the car with a paint thickness laser gun to see how thick the paint is and confirm if there was any 'bodyshop repairs' or not = )
Some folks, and most vehicle inspectors, do exactly as you suggest, even on brand new cars.
You can't do this if you live in Hampshire & buy it from Perth, sight unseen.
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I accept your points jr, though I think you're being a little over cautious and I think you've laboured the point a little too much about cars from dealerships getting damaged and being repaired on the quiet. I suspect that would be an extremely rare occurence, not unheard of, but very rare.
As for whether or not you have the same buyer protection buying a pre-reg car from a franchised dealership, again, I think you'd be somewhat unlucky to come a real cropper. Usual stuff, pay on a credit card etc. Yes, I accept one may not in law get exactly the same protection and I further accept that the resale value etc may not necessarily get the return they might get having bought the latest reg spec, but that is the deal you get when you accept the hefty discount buying pre-reg. The dealer who just serviced our car, accepting that they never sold it to us and knowing we bought it blind and from a dealership 150 odd miles away, commented on what a great purchase we'd made. They also intimated they'd like our business next time on a purchase, but they'll have to come up with something good
At the end of the day, buying a car is the purchasers entire risk. Some people are better at negotiating than others too. I personally wouldn't have any issues about buying the same way again next time as we did last time round. It is a way of purchase that is often not for the faint hearted!
I should like to point out, I was talking about franchised dealerships at the start of this post, not independents!
As for whether or not you have the same buyer protection buying a pre-reg car from a franchised dealership, again, I think you'd be somewhat unlucky to come a real cropper. Usual stuff, pay on a credit card etc. Yes, I accept one may not in law get exactly the same protection and I further accept that the resale value etc may not necessarily get the return they might get having bought the latest reg spec, but that is the deal you get when you accept the hefty discount buying pre-reg. The dealer who just serviced our car, accepting that they never sold it to us and knowing we bought it blind and from a dealership 150 odd miles away, commented on what a great purchase we'd made. They also intimated they'd like our business next time on a purchase, but they'll have to come up with something good
At the end of the day, buying a car is the purchasers entire risk. Some people are better at negotiating than others too. I personally wouldn't have any issues about buying the same way again next time as we did last time round. It is a way of purchase that is often not for the faint hearted!
I should like to point out, I was talking about franchised dealerships at the start of this post, not independents!
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ahmett
Prominent member
I would probably rent a car and drive there and have a look at the car if i was saving good money and i was really interested in the car.
Trains are so expensive in UK i never take them. I find renting a car much much better. You can rent a BMW 1 series for under 30 GBP a day and the diesel is so efficient that you really dont spend much on fuel.
Or you could do what a friend of mine did last year, buy a cheap return flight from Southampton to Glasgow, look at a car in a dealership up there, did the purchase at a huge discount and returned the following week in a hire car one way to pick it up. There's always a way to do things if you really want to.
Perhaps, but remember whose thread this is, and their recent experience
Agreed, and point taken, but she didn't buy it from a Fiat dealership iirc..
I bought my own car, again a blind purchase from a dealership 350 miles from where I live 4 years ago. I hired a car one way, cost me £100 fuel included. I saved over 10k on the list price of the car. The 100 quid was therefore peanuts!
Arnold Crap will deliver the car to a garage nearer to your location. However, based on years of experience of dealing with this bunch of cowboys I would not take the risk. It will more than likely arrive damaged in some way. I have rejected goodness knows how many cars from Arnold Clark at point of delivery due to damage. I never ever leave a deposit, this allows me to walk away with no hassle. Most recently rejected a Vauxhall Adam, covered in scratches after being driven from Perth to Glasgow, despite being advised it was brand new and sitting in their compound near Glasgow. Lies, lies , lies as usual. I could write a book. Sorry for the doom and gloom, but it has to be said, based on my many experiences that Arnold Crap should be avoided, or at least give any car a very thorough check before handing over any cash.
Based on your many experiences with this dealership, why therefore would you keep going back to them?
Look, I'm not being deliberatly argumentative with you wellfan, but there will be lots of dealerships whereby people will have had less than a satisfactory experience. You are clearly very upset by your own experiences of this group that is clear. When I was looking to see where I would have our TA serviced, the franchise that did the job, well I'd read some mixed reviews about that one too, but they have been absolutely spot on.
I do accept for most people, they really should look at the goods before parting with the cash, that clearly is the most sensible option.
As for earlier remarks in the thread about checking paint with a laser, for goodness sakes, how many people going to buy a car go armed with laser to determine the thickness of paint on the vehicle they are buying? I never have and nor would I.
The jokes on ahmett, there is no such thing as a laser paint thickness gauge.....
I live in hope that they could possibly get it right now and again. Believe me Arnold Clark group has a terrible reputation for customer service, up here in Scotland anyway. Unfortunately up my neck of the woods choice is quite limited. Out of the three largest groups Arnold Clark is generally the cheapest when buying, so worth taking the risk. Stack em high, sell em cheap seems to be their motto. He is known as Arnold Scoop, he bulk buys in large mounts of the most popular models, and sells them at really good prices. What I was trying to say is you should avoid him if you cannot be bothered to invest a bit of time checking the vehicle thoroughly before handing over your cash.
Frupi, so your experiences of car buying seem to have been better than mine, but hey I am just sharing my experiences in the hope of helping others. Your attitude seems to be that I should keep it to myself. Or am I misunderstanding you?
wellfan, you are perfectly entitled to express your views, though I think you should be a little more mindful about what you say publicly.
You say yourself, choice where you are is somewhat limited, so why not travel further South for a better choice? Newcastle, Durham or somewhere in Cumbria or North Yorkshire, all probably within a couple of hours travelling time for you. Ok, I don't know what your situation is as far as is being able to travel, but travel sometimes is what you must do.
You say you keep going back to AC in the hope they could possibly get it right now and again? Trust me, if I had had as many bad experiences as you with one particular motor group, then I wouldn't have wasted my time and effort going back time and time again, I'd have stopped going after the first time, but that is me and I'm not you.
I have no wish to fall out with you, I just think you need to widen your net when considering purchases and stop tormenting yourself with poor experiences.
Oh, I thought you were taking the urine out of me :devil:
Ok, so it isn't a laser, well I don't think it is.......
http://www.defelsko.com/applications/paintmeter/automotive-paint-meter.htm
