Hi guys
New to the forum... had to sign up quickly and put up a post...
Just took out a lease for a 1.2 Sport but seem a little worried now as this throttle problem seems to be quite widespread...
Can anyone confirm whether this is an issue for all 1.2's, whether new or old??
Where does this problem originate from?? Has Fiat accepted responsibility for the problem??
I seem to have shot myself in the foot
If your 500 1.2 is
13 plate or older then it
won't have the problem. It's very difficult to pinpoint the exact models affected because Fiat have been utterly useless giving out information, admitting liability (they appear to have done now, but it took months) & helping customers. Ultimately the
models that seem to suffer are some 63 plate cars, and especially 14 plate cars. By the end of 2014 Fiat appeared to have done something so
most 64 plate cars are ok, but if there are a few lurking in the system which were built a while ago, they can of course be affected. Generally though, 14 plate are the main batch, though even then not everyone seems to be affected. In addition, Fiat have been saying the ESP equipped cars suffer differently to those without ESP and/or require a different update/fix.
I had my Alfa Romeo serviced a couple of weeks ago & had a
14 plate 500 1.2 Pop as a courtesy car
. It drove like a dog. You'd need to rev it to 2000rpm to pull away, and then as you reached the biting point, the revs would surge to 4000rpm without applying any extra throttle. It'd then nearly lose all power as you started to move forward. It needed quite a thrashing to get up hills too. Dreadful car.
I then took my Parents 500 to have a couple of minor bits done before the warranty ran out. That dealer gave me a
64 plate 500 1.2 Lounge. I wasn't looking forward to it, but the difference was night and day.
It pulled well, requiring no more down-changes for hills than my old P reg 1.2 Punto, and the revs didn't jump all over the place. I also noted it had an ESP button on the dashboard under the heater controls, which the Pop didn't have.
Whether the difference in driveability was linked to the ESP or just the build date I don't know, but if you've driven a Fiat 1.2 8v engine car without the problem, you'll certainly know when you get into a car with the problem - it feels like a different engine