Re: 3 Questions.....
If you are chopping it in whats all the concern about?
If you are chopping it in whats all the concern about?
part-timer
I feel exactly the same about my GP 1.3 multijet Dynamic. I love the exterior, the black and sand interior, the super-economical yet powerful 1.3 multijet engine, the stereo and I know that the suspension can be quiet and the ride good. However, there are faults with the suspension and possibly subframe mounts which have spoilt the ride, increased the transmission of road noise and introduced knocking noises when driving over rough surfaces and bumps. Two dealers have been unable to rectify this. I am pretty sure that the NSF wheel bearing has now play in it - the wheel grinds when cornering fast and the disc rubs something when cornering very fast!
I have written several times to the owner of my local garage (who supplied the car) and to Fiat, telling them of my dissatisfaction with the car and their Service Dept. and ultimately asking them to buy the car off me at the forecourt price rather than trade-in price. Eventually my dealer made me an exceptional offer which was, however, conditional upon me buying another Fiat. I had been looking into buying a Renault Clio DCi 106 (yawn) or Citroen C2VTS HDi (wot no heated mirrors?) but this offer was too good to refuse and I shall be taking delivery of a new white GP multijet Sporting next month. Trouble is, I will be sorry to lose the Dynamic because I chose it in preference to the Sporting, for various reasons, in the first place.
Keep your fingers crossed that this one gives me less trouble than the last.
Can you tell us the 'exceptional' financial offer that the dealer gave you?
It would be interesting to see how much money you added to get a new 'Sporting'.
Really don't wish to pry into your own deal but could you advise which motoring organisation you are talking about. Never new about such a deal being available. I plan to trade-in for another GPS sometime soon so would be good to know.The dealer gave me the price he would ask for the car on the forecourt - which was over £1000 more than the trade-in value. In addition, I obtained a large discount on the new car because I am a member of a motoring organisation. You could obtain the Multijet Sporting (diesel) for a similar price if you bought it over the internet. But then you might not obtain the undivided attention of your local dealer when it needs attention (Ha, ha!).
Happy New Year, by the way.
Really don't wish to pry into your own deal but could you advise which motoring organisation you are talking about. Never new about such a deal being available. I plan to trade-in for another GPS sometime soon so would be good to know.
Mike do you mean 20% of the price of a new mk2 punto in your previous post? I find this hard to understand because there isn't even half that profit available to garage
I remember my dad was entitled to a huge discount (35%) on Rovers through his work because work paid for percentage of it....never took it up though cause they crap
Its all the little perks of being a civil servant .
I was in the Civil Service too and am still a CSMA member. Any existing or ex-public servant, nurses, teachers, forces etc, or their relatives can join, not just Civil Servants. Ex-public sector bodies like BT also qualify you for membership. You also get discount on insurance with Frizzells and breakdown/recovery with Britannia Rescue, but it's not free so isn't a perk as such. You do have to join and pay the small membership fee every year. The reason it's a good deal is simple. CSMA and Britannia Rescue are run as a mutual service by and for members, not for profit, something a lot of people can never get their heads around. I believe anyone can join Britannia Rescue, but don't get the CSMA discount. However, even then it's still the cheapest and best recovery service by far (and I can vouch for that because over the years I've tried most of the others, but it's confirmed every year in independent surveys). I've never used them to buy a car, but they do offer great discounts on most makes, especially Fiats, negotiated on your behalf with the manufacturer and sourced through a nearby dealer. On the other hand, you can often negotiate a big discount yourself if you walk away if one isn't forthcoming for your cash, which is what I've always done. End of plug for a great organisation. Oh yes, and you get about 6 magazines a year thrown in.
As for Jassyo's post, yes he's got some issues but surely he can get them resolved under guarantee. Most new cars get probs early on and settle down within the guarantee period for a trouble-free later life. That's what modern extended guarantees are for, sorting out the early niggles; and Fiats these days are better than most within their price ranges, including much more expensive modern Beamers which I'm always seeing broken down on the roadside (unlike the older ones).