General Problem after probable after problem, am I alone?

[Sarah85]

Hey there,

I'm looking for a bit of info/advice off fellow 500 owners. My car is now 6 years old, in those six years it's had quite a bit go wrong, it's had a new radiator, brakes, several breather pipes, new tires and now on my MOT advisorys it mentions corrosion to the exhaust, shock absorbers, coil springs and the back body. So now with all these things going wrong I'm looking at getting rid as it just feels like I'm having problem after problem.

Now, I've been to look at a few little cars, the Citroen C1, Peugeot 108 and a Toyota Aygo, but because I'm only tiny, I struggle to see over the dashboard fully, whereas the 500 makes me a bit higher so really I wanted to stick with Fiat, soooo after all that, what I'm really trying to find out is whether other people have had similar issues with their 500's or whether I just happened to have a bit of a dud (even though bought from new). I'm just a bit unsure whether to give up on Fiat or risk buying a new one in the hope that my problematic little bubble was just a bad one.

 

[rallycinq]

I am sorry but if you expect to run a car for 6 years without replacing brakes and tyres, you'd be better off getting the bus. A chat with your MOT inspector is needed to quantify the extent of the corrosion. All the parts mentioned are mild steel and are all hanging about outside in the rain and salt.
Have your dealer look at the corrosion to the body, if its an issue will be covered by the corrosion guarantee.

Cheers

D

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi. My exhaust is still rusty..but is now 12 years old.

Tyres and brakes..just normal wear and tear

Charlie

 

[varesecrazy]

Hey there,

I'm looking for a bit of info/advice off fellow 500 owners. My car is now 6 years old, in those six years it's had quite a bit go wrong, it's had a new radiator, brakes, several breather pipes, new tires and now on my MOT advisorys it mentions corrosion to the exhaust, shock absorbers, coil springs and the back body. So now with all these things going wrong I'm looking at getting rid as it just feels like I'm having problem after problem.

Now, I've been to look at a few little cars, the Citroen C1, Peugeot 108 and a Toyota Aygo, but because I'm only tiny, I struggle to see over the dashboard fully, whereas the 500 makes me a bit higher so really I wanted to stick with Fiat, soooo after all that, what I'm really trying to find out is whether other people have had similar issues with their 500's or whether I just happened to have a bit of a dud (even though bought from new). I'm just a bit unsure whether to give up on Fiat or risk buying a new one in the hope that my problematic little bubble was just a bad one.

Hi, and welcome,

in my opinion that is really just wear and tear - for any 6 year old vehicle,
( you've not said if it's petrol or diesel ..and how many miles it's covered)

the radiator and hoses - not a common failing.. but certainly not highly unusual.

To be fair - after 6 years of ownership - a lot of people will have had a combination of ;
broken door handle, or tailgate wiring or worn out engine battery.

so in some ways it could be time to sell,
however would you buy the same again..??

"my" car is a 2004 panda ( belongs to Heather 4'10") , great driving position , and virtually the SAME CAR as the 500,
no hoses or engine radiator in 12 years / 85K miles,:worship:
the updated panda is probably worth a look..

Charlie - Oxford

 

[jrkitching]

To be fair - after 6 years of ownership - a lot of people will have had a combination of ;
broken door handle, or tailgate wiring or worn out engine battery.

After 6 years of ownership, quite a few people will have replaced or repaired all of these - some more than once.

 

[JNAnderson]

I totally feel your pain!

I got my Fiat 500 in April this year when it was 5 years old, 2011 plate. Between getting it in April and the July, I had the following happen to mine:

Coolant leak (resulting in 3 trips to the garage - 2 where they said there was no fault and it was airlocked, one where it resulted in a new radiator because they decided that was the issue. Got home and 2 days later coolant was STILL leaking even after new radiator!).

Above new radiator

Speedometer packed in, cost over £500 for a new one, it to be fitted, and the coding from Fiat.

Door handles fell off

Inside backlights of the heating gauges packed in

My advisory on the MOT it had when I got the car was 'backbox corroded but not yet leaking' which sounds like your problem too.

All this within 3 months caused me to tears but it's a gorgeouscwee car so stuck with it. But it does seem these must all be common faults when they hit the 5/6 year mark. Did yours pass it's 6 year MOT? Curious as mines is due it's 6 year MOT in a few months.

 

[varesecrazy]

After 6 years of ownership, quite a few people will have replaced or repaired all of these - some more than once.

agreed..,

question in my mind - at 6 years old,
would the 500 be cheaper to actually FIX , than other comparable shopping cars.??

Twingo ,

aygo / citigo / You Pee,

Yaris

MG..??

 

[jrkitching]

question in my mind - at 6 years old,
would the 500 be cheaper to actually FIX , than other comparable shopping cars.??

Don't know the other cars well enough to say.

The answer may be very different depending on your level of DIY capability. Most common 500 wear items can be sourced cheaply enough, but labour is another matter. OTOH there's a lot of knowledge, technical information and 3rd party diagnostic tools available free or cheaply (you've already found the right place to start), making owner maintenance a more practical proposition than many competing cars.

IMO the 500 has too many relatively minor but expensive to fix failure points to recommend it as a good car to own outside of warranty for an owner without car maintenance skills. Failure of the heater actuating mechanism is a good example of one of these.

If experiences of Panda owners are anything to go by (and it's a near certainty that they are), when the time comes, rear beam corrosion will leave quite a few folks with 10+yr old cars with an unenviable choice between a £1000+ repair or scrapping the car. The core shell is galvanised and generally corrosion-free, but quite a few of the bolt on parts rust just as badly as the bodyshell did on Fiats of old. The cooling system is fragile; reports of radiator and thermostat housing failures are posted here with depressing regularity and if the inexperienced or unobservant owner misses the early warning signs, the result will be a wrecked engine.

IMO strong residuals, combined with relatively high repair costs for the non-DIY owner, make secondhand 500's a potentially more expensive option over time than most of the direct competition. Most 3yr old cars, even the best franchised dealer examples with FSH, are likely to need new front brakes, a battery, a door handle repair & a hatch rewire in the near future and potential owners should budget at least £500 for that lot if they use a decent independent garage. Front wishbones are another quite likely expense with a used 500 and although the parts aren't ridiculously expensive, the job is more awkward than many similar cars and labour costs will reflect this.

The 500 is a car perhaps best bought new and traded away before the end of the 3yr warranty.

If you have good DIY skills then a used 500 is a reasonable proposition, but you'd get much better value from a similarly aged secondhand Panda.

 

[varesecrazy]

Don't know the other cars well enough to say.

The answer may be very different depending on your level of DIY capability. Most common 500 wear items can be sourced cheaply enough, but labour is another matter.

Front wishbones are another quite likely expense with a used 500 and although the parts aren't ridiculously expensive, the job is more awkward than many similar cars and labour costs will reflect this.

having done a lot of this on the panda - I know how cheap and simple the jobs are ,
but the packaging of the 500 is a poor compromise - I'd suspect the Ka is pretty similar to a panda for access,
Genuine parts are probably FAR cheaper with the Ford too.

 

[jrkitching]

Genuine parts are probably FAR cheaper with the Ford too.

For OEM parts that's probably true, but you can buy most of the stuff you're likely to need for the 500/Panda in the aftermarket for much less than franchised dealer prices, with the added bonus that aftermarket parts from reputable manufactuers are far superior in quality to the OEM ones.

Commonality with the Mk2 Ka has undoubtedly helped considerably to keep aftermarket parts prices down.

 

[John202020]

First keep the car it will be cheaper than the first years depreciation on a new one, all your issues bar the radiator we've "had" got our 59 plate last year, I've done the brakes front and rear, ALL of the front suspension (does yours make "any' sound ) going over speed humps/springs, shocks, tyres,battery rear shocks, rusted rear box though it's double skinned so may last several more years, so all yor problems are normal for this car though not for most others, rears suspension beam rusts but if treated now should give no further problems, if you have someone to fit the parts then they're not too expensive all together I spent £1000 fixing all those things that will now last the life of the car .
Battery £60
Exhaust £120
Shocks and springs front and rear £300 ish
Front control arms £80-180
So it's do you spend £500-600 or £8k to replace it to me it's a no brainer but I'm able to do most things myself so there's no labour cost.

 

[gazz_bee]

Subjective evidence, I know but the following gives an idea of car faults for 6 year old vehicles. It also gives an idea of the number of people who put their car in for MOT with inexcusable bulb and tyre faults.


http://motoriety.co.uk/advice/mot/FIAT/500/2010.htm#sthash.j1FrcDaV.dpbs

http://motoriety.co.uk/advice/mot/TOYOTA/AYGO/2010.htm#sthash.daeTBEeI.dpbs

http://motoriety.co.uk/advice/mot/CITROEN/c1/2010.htm#sthash.Br7bF45T.dpbs

http://motoriety.co.uk/advice/mot/FIAT/panda/2010.htm#sthash.pRQmi93l.dpbs

 

[armoore]

What you describe is probably expected over a longer period of time as most are consumables. If you still want to consider between Citroen C1, Peugeot 108 and a Toyota Aygo be aware they are all the same car basically, built on the same production line in the Czech Republic.

 

[TrevC]

Just to show the other side of the coin, after 5 years 9 months and 43000 miles, the only fault was a tiny coolant leak, fixed by adding a second hose clip. No bulb replacements even, no broken door handles, wiring looms, or suspension parts. No advisories at MoTs. Of course after this mileage I've had to replace worn tyres and brake pads.
Now I've said that I've probably set myself up for a series of catastrophic failures in the next few weeks!

 

[varesecrazy]

Just to show the other side of the coin, after 5 years 9 months and 43000 miles, the only fault was a tiny coolant leak, fixed by adding a second hose clip. No bulb replacements even

our pandas still on the Polish assembly bulbs and fuses,
12 years , 85K:worship:

 

[JNAnderson]

Just to show the other side of the coin, after 5 years 9 months and 43000 miles, the only fault was a tiny coolant leak, fixed by adding a second hose clip. No bulb replacements even, no broken door handles, wiring looms, or suspension parts. No advisories at MoTs. Of course after this mileage I've had to replace worn tyres and brake pads.
Now I've said that I've probably set myself up for a series of catastrophic failures in the next few weeks!

I had a coolant leak too and after faiked trips to the garage and a new radiator and still having a coolant leak, I undone and then tightebed (a fair bit) my hose clip. Leak fixed. Can you over tighten and do damage?

 

[intel131]

. Can you over tighten and do damage?

I suppose you could damage the clip by stripping the thread on the clip
and again it is possible but I would have said it's very unlikely to cause damage
to the hose / pipe by over tightening the clip.

 

[John202020]

If the pipe that the hose goes onto is plastic its possible to break it over tightening the clip.

 

[jrkitching]

Can you over tighten and do damage?

Yes.

Amateur mechanics generally do more damage by overtightening than by undertightening.

 

[TrevC]

My leak was where the return hose from the turbo goes into the header tank (twinair engine). Fortunately very visible and accessable. I tried various fixes, including replacing the hose, but there was still seepage. I was wary of tightening the jubilee clip too much as the spigot is plastic (albeit with an internal metal reinforcing tube) so I applied a smear of plumbing silicone and used 2 jubilee clips with their screws on opposite sides. Problem solved.
I think this was a strange one-off as I haven't seen anyone else reporting the same issue on the forum.