General Thinking of purchasing a used bravo, your thoughts required :)

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General Thinking of purchasing a used bravo, your thoughts required :)

ianoel

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hi all,

im considerin buying a 57 plate bravo multijet 1.9 150 diesel sport, only 19000 miles on the clock and comes with all the trimmings, cruise control, xclimate control, blue & me etc.

id like some advice from you guys and gals who migtht have one.
what are they like to drive, ive test drove one but only briefly and was impressed.
im mainly concerned over fiats poor reliability record, im worried its going to fall to pieces and brakdown every two minutes.

does anyone have any opinions or stories to share, good or bad?

any help really appreciated!
 
FIAT'S POOR RELIABILITY RECORD?!?!

I'm on my 4th Fiat. If the above were true, that, most certainly, would not be the case.
My last 2 Fiats I owned for 10 years and 9 years.

My last (1998 Bravo, owned from new) was still on the original engine, gearbox, clutch, exhaust. I think I had the AA out 3 times in those 10 years,
My previous (1989 Teapot 1.4 DGT) I owned for 9 years. I had the AA out to her 4 times, from memory.
Before that I had a Regatta for about 6 years.

None of them cost me over the odds in replacement parts or repairs.

Poor reliability? Bo**ocks!
 
well i stand corrected, im only going on what some of the reviews state and from what a couple of my friends have said.
any other comments about the quality of the car, drive, gadgets etc?
 
well i stand corrected, im only going on what some of the reviews state and from what a couple of my friends have said.
any other comments about the quality of the car, drive, gadgets etc?

if any friends say fiats are hugely unreliable, chances are they probably haven't been near one for years...let alone owned one ;)
 
Mileages that I covered in my last 3 fiats: 140k, 92k, 85k. Im now on my 11th Fiat., which is a Bravo petrol. My only advice would be not to buy an early example of any model. Your '57 might be from the first run. Its easy to find roughly when it was built - check the dates on components like seat belts and underbonnet electrics - there will surely be some stickers on them. If you have already driven a Bravo then you are likely sold on it!
 
hi all,

im considerin buying a 57 plate bravo multijet 1.9 150 diesel sport, only 19000 miles on the clock and comes with all the trimmings, cruise control, xclimate control, blue & me etc.

id like some advice from you guys and gals who migtht have one.
what are they like to drive, ive test drove one but only briefly and was impressed.
im mainly concerned over fiats poor reliability record, im worried its going to fall to pieces and brakdown every two minutes.

does anyone have any opinions or stories to share, good or bad?

any help really appreciated!

The Bravo is a pretty good all rounder, you wont get anything as good as the bravo with the same money.
It has a good and stylish body, with the 1.9 mjet 16v engine, it can surprise ppl in much bigger/ powerful petrol enigne. (ie. civic type R & bmw E46 330i?) but it can be very economy if you decide to take it easy. The engine is very reliable as it has been around for long time and you can find the same engine in vauxhalls, saabs & alfas. (and you pay less as it wear a fiat badge.)
the interrior is morden and hi-tech, you get load of room in the front but can be a bit tight for the rear passangers, as a driver, the only complaint I have for my bravo is no arm rest (not in the sport) and no room to put my left foot on the M'way. I had mine from new and it has covered just over 52k mlies, never let me down once, I has some funny noise coming from my steering wheels, it all sorted by the dealer, make sure you find a car cover by 5years warrenty as some only come with 3, hope it will make your decision a bit easier. As others already mentioned, if ppl tell you stay away from Fiat, it is very likely they haven't driven one from year 2000 onward, good luck and enjoy!!!
 
I have owned fiats since early 2004 and have nothing but praise for them.....i have yet to break down once.....( just put a jinx on myself there aint i lol )

As for bravo itself and its gadgets, its a cracking car! and the only one gadget that you may not like is the cornering lights, well its my least fav on the car.

And as for reliability well. i work in a garage which has five franchises on one site and i can honestly say fiat is NOT the one that always breaksdown. equally they are not without there quirks! just like any other......

The one real question you have to ask yourself is whether a diesel is right for you ???

If you are not doing the mileage etc then one of those little quirks may kick in.

But thats just my two pence worth.
 
People that think FIAT's are more unreliable than anything else are idiots. A few of my friends have said said stuff to me like "Why did you buy that car? It's a Fiat. You know... "fix it again tomorrow"??" And i'm always like... "Yeah, except when have YOU ever experienced something going wrong with a Fiat? Are you just basing that little quote and reputation off everything everyone else has told you?"

It's really annoying. Fiat's are great cars! Soooo underestimated and people who wouldn't dare touch them are so delusional and missing out on the Ferrari power!!!! :p
 
Hi Ianoel

I have a 2008 Bravo 1.9 150 sport in black, i bought it over a year ago now and have done approx 20k so far.

I would say the car is overall good value for money, quick ( 9 secs to 62mph) and can hit 130mph ( ive got the speedo reading 140 ), its capable of 60mpg if driven constantly at 70mph in 6th.
If you decide to race about in it be prepared for 25-30mpg.

19k is low mileage, make sure its had its first service as there due every 18,000 or 1 year which ever comes first.
Make sure the oil is on the max mark, who owned it before??

The drive is excellent on the motorway and ok in town, the suspension is stiffer on the sport model and the tyres are lower so expect a bumpyish ride around town.
Blue and me is great, all voice activated and it can read out your text messages.. it has all the buttons on the steering wheel. You can say " call john" and it dials it for you.
Its has windows media inbuilt so you can play all your music.. it has a usb port to plug it in next to the cigarette lighter.
It has a city button to make the steering super light if you want.
The cruise control is standard on sport.

I have the leather interior so it comes with armrests and 4x electric windows, the rest of the interior is well put together however the dashboard material scratches easily. Its holding up well though, it has side airbags, knee airbags and also it has a hill holder function, so when your on a incline, the car will hold itself for 2 secs to give you time to swap your foot from the brake pedal to the acceleartor pedal, it does this whether your uphill or downhill.. very useful.

With the sport you have the bodykit so you get side skirts, rear spolier, alloy pedals, chrome kit, traction control, sporty susepnsion, twin chrome exhaust and much more.

The drinks holder only really holds 1 can instead of 2, the rear legroom could be better, when its been raining and you open your window and turn left all the water from your roof will drench you and you might want to upgrade your headlamp bulbs with some brighter ones as they arent the best.

Overall you will love it, reliability is not a issue the 1.9 16v has been around for 5 years in alfa GT'S, 147, 156,159, vauxhall vectras, saab 93.
Clutch and gearboxes are smooth and the 17" wheels are a treat and look great when you've cleaned them, you also get red brake calipers on the sport.

Im pretty sure your one wont have DPF so thats a plus point.
Road tax is £125 a year. Insurance is group 10, ive just turned 26 yesterday and im paying £600 fully comp.

I drove mine to south italy and back without a fault in comfort, also the boot is massive for its class .. 400 litres.

What colour is it?

BTW i worked for fiat
 
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If you don't modify the engine, nowadays FIATs are pretty good, this is my 4th Fiat, out of the lot, I have broken down once in a 16vt Fiat Coupe (which I still keep) and they are all reasonably reliable, not as good as Toyota level in terms of electric or electronic items, but generally good enough. Some times I need to get my hands dirty here and there, but nothing too troublesome.
 
As for being first runs and such.. The Bravo was available about 8 months before in Europe, and I've a 07 plate so there were plenty out before yours. I've had a few niggles but they're all sorted now. I'd expect the niggles I had to be solved soon after as I've not seen any more bravo's with the little problems I had.
 
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