Could you Tipo owners offer some buying advice please?
I had decided on a 1.4 lounge but motoring press seem to slate the engine saying it's under powered and rough.

What are owners experenace of the 1.3 Diesel, is it worth considering or should I seek out a T Jet?

I'm really looking for value for money first and foremost.

Many thanks

Steve

Boltonbloke said:

Could you Tipo owners offer some buying advice please?
I had decided on a 1.4 lounge but motoring press seem to slate the engine saying it's under powered and rough.

What are owners experenace of the 1.3 Diesel, is it worth considering or should I seek out a T Jet?

I'm really looking for value for money first and foremost.

Many thanks

Steve

Click to expand...

Will your intended use work with a diesel.. they need a decent hot run to clear the DPF (SOOT TRAP)

Charlie

Hi, yes I fully understand the need for DPF regen and the car will get regular runs to allow this. The 1.3 seems to be gaining a reputation for timing chain failure and cracking pistols but I'm not sure how justified this is?

Boltonbloke said:

Hi, yes I fully understand the need for DPF regen and the car will get regular runs to allow this. The 1.3 seems to be gaining a reputation for timing chain failure and cracking pistols but I'm not sure how justified this is?

Click to expand...

Cam chains rely on clean oil to damp the chain tensioner.

Clean oil :250k
Dirty oil :80k


Nothing much reported on older ones.. cracked pistons?

Not something Ive read.. in which vehicles?

The 1248 multijet is used by 9 manufacturer.. including Suzuki and Opel


Somebody went from 1.4 to 1.3 recently I believe

It was an engine reconditioner who told me about the cracked pistons but he was not specific about the models they had failed in. I suppose part of the problem is the engine is fitted to cheap cars so subject to abuse and missed servicing.
Can anyone tell me what the 1.3 is like to live with? How does it perform or is the 1.4 petrol a better buy?

They both have 95 horse power overall the 1.3 has more torque being turbocharged but they would both lack power in the post 50mph unless you stay in a low gear and use high rpm
Neither are going set any records speed wise
The 1.6 is likely to feel the fastest with its high torque figure

Obviously the 1.4 has the least to go wrong
Didn't get the best mpg however I avarage around 40-42

I have the 1.4T petrol....lovely engine very lively and smooth. A little bit thirsty if I’m honest..Lots of power so I suppose it’s a trade off. I had a courtesy cat while mine was being serviced a 1.4 95hp non turbo petrol and it was awful...lumpy slow and very underpowered......

varesecrazy said:

Somebody went from 1.4 to 1.3 recently I believe

Click to expand...

My mistake.. sorry Boltonbloke..

tipo123 went from z 1.4 petrol
to a 1.6 derv ( not the 1.3...)

Thanks everyone. Think im going to have to test drive a few to see which suits my needs.
I take on board the comment about the 1.4 being underpowered but I suppose it will be the most reliable out of the 4 engines on offer as there is less to go wrong....

It will depend a lot on what you've been used to driving before. I found the 1.4 95bhp engine decent for it's size when I had one for a couple of days as a courtesy car, but coming from a run of turbo diesels it needed too much effort on the long journeys I do regularly.

I went for the 1.4 T-Jet, which is plenty quick enough in the Tipo and has been around for ages as it started life in the Grande Punto Sporting around 2008, going on to be used in the Alfa MiTo (TB 120) and Fiat Bravo, amongst others. Not to be confused for the MultiAir engines fitted to other Fiat Group vehicles, the T-Jet is thoroughly reliable. I'd echo what @twobigdogs says about thirst though - mine was only doing 30mpg when I first got it brand new & it needed a drop of oil for the first 3000 miles too. Now just shy of 10,000 miles the oil thirst has stopped and the MPG is up to 36, which is about acceptable for the driving I do i think.

Not driven the 1.3 diesel in the Tipo but I had an Alfa MiTo with an 85bhp version of the same engine. 100% reliable and I imagine if you stuck to annual / 12k oil changes you'd have to be incredibly unlucky to have any major bother under 100,000 miles. Not great for turbo lag, but probably more pleasant on a run than the 95bhp petrol and much more economical. I've heard of timing chain problems but not cracked pistons. At one point Fiat advised 2 year / 21k service intervals on them though (they've now reduced them), which I doubt would help. I stuck to annual / 12k oil changes even though mine had 2 year / 21k intervals. Many of the 1.3's are also fitted to Fiat and Vauxhall vans (Fiorino/Corsa & Doblo/Combo) so probably do big miles on little maintenance.

The 1.6 diesel, which I had for a day when mine was having its first service, is a beast. The torque is crazy and I had to really adjust my use of the accelerator after driving the T-Jet, to avoid charging into the back of the vehicle in front. It's quite a noisy beast though, much more so than my 1.3 Alfa.

See how you get on with test drives I guess - the 1.4 95bhp petrol and 1.3 diesel are both in decent supply, with many coming off the rental fleets. Very little in the way of problems reported for the Tipo, probably helped by it being on a tried and tested platform, using engines that've been around for years. I had a squeaky passenger window for a couple of months and a bit of oil use for the first 3k miles, plus once got a warning of 'Sound System Unavailable' and 'Parking Assist Unavailable', but all these things have fixed themselves. Only an occasionally vibration-prone drivers door card blot an otherwise perfect scorecard, so I'm certainly happy with the little Tipo

A quick update and thank you for all the replys.

I found the 1.4 petrol a little under powered for my tastes but no where near as bad as the motoring press would suggest.

The 1.3 diesel was rough and gruff and was too much like hard work to make good progress, worries about reliability was another big issue for me.

I could not get hold of a 1.6 diesel as these seem to sell straight away, especially the estate versions.

The one I fell for was the 1.4 T jet. No where near as punchy as my old Bravo 150 sport but had a really nice feel about it so thats the one I've bought.

Its a 66 reg which is a little older than I wanted but at 17,000 miles I had to have it. Its an Easy plus hatchback so a half decent spec but without those laser cut alloys which seem to deteriorate very quickly.

Ill keep you all posted on how I get on with it.

Cheers

Steve

Well done Steve..

That sounds great

I am about to change my car and the Tipo is on my shortlist along with the Honda Civic and Seat Leon. I was pleased to hear the positive comments about the Tipo's reliability as this was an area of concern. One thing that does puzzle me is how rare they seem to be in the UK. Around here in Surrey I come across one around every 2 months and certainly no recent ones!! Is this to do with badge snobbery or perhaps PCP payments given that depreciation is fairly dire? Meaning that buyers can buy a Honda or Seat for the same monthly outlay. On the other hand I noticed whilst in Lisbon in the summer that Tipos were everywhere (mostly SW's) and they are also used by the police over there.

When looking at the Tipo's competitors it seems to be a question of either large boot/ restricted rear legroom or ample rear legroom/small boot. The Tipo seems to check all the boxes in this respect so why don't we see more of them?

Thoullis said:

I am about to change my car and the Tipo is on my shortlist along with the Honda Civic and Seat Leon. I was pleased to hear the positive comments about the Tipo's reliability as this was an area of concern. One thing that does puzzle me is how rare they seem to be in the UK. Around here in Surrey I come across one around every 2 months and certainly no recent ones!! Is this to do with badge snobbery or perhaps PCP payments given that depreciation is fairly dire? Meaning that buyers can buy a Honda or Seat for the same monthly outlay. On the other hand I noticed whilst in Lisbon in the summer that Tipos were everywhere (mostly SW's) and they are also used by the police over there.

When looking at the Tipo's competitors it seems to be a question of either large boot/ restricted rear legroom or ample rear legroom/small boot. The Tipo seems to check all the boxes in this respect so why don't we see more of them?

Click to expand...

The badge I think a lot of it is in the UK

People don't want to say they have a fiat
When they can say I've got a BMW Audi VW ect

Also when did you see an advert on TV for one ?

The Tipo seems to be Fiats well kept secret although it cant be compered to the Seat or Honda as that was never its target audience. It was a cheap car from the start aimed more at Dacia buyers.

I agree image is a problem for Fiat and people seem unable to let go the horror stories from the 1970's of corrosion and unreliability but as I class myself an an inverted snob I like owing a Fiat, almost feels like I'm beating the system.

We've owned Fiats for years, there has been one in the Family somewhere for as long as I can remember and we've never been left stranded by one unlike our Korean car with a 7 year warranty thats never been out of the dealership.....

I have promised myself the next person who tells the hilarious joke that I've clealry never heard before that goes along the lines of " You know what Fiat stands for?" will receive a punch on the nose

Fiats over 1500cc have never been popular

Regata.Tempra.Marea need I say more..

Yes its also an 'emerging market' car too

Not quite like the old FSO.. but image is not its thing.

As a low miles used buy its probably excellent.

Charlie

I live 5 miles from a Fiat dealer and I rarely see a Tipo.


I looked at the Seat Leon, Peugeot 308 and VW Golf estates before settling on the Tipo. The Skoda Octavias around here are 90% of the taxis, which probably means they are really good, but I do not want to be mistaken for a taxi.


I have never seen a Tipo advert and it is purely from driving past the Fiat dealers that I found out about it.

I have actually in the last 3 months started to see an awful lot of tipos around, but it's a shame it took the best part of 4 years and fiat to announce they are ending the line before people realised they are actually very nice cars for the price.

I love my Tipo. It is such a good car for the money and for years I have driven cars from VAG. I quite like the fact i don't see many as I don't like following the crowd. However, my parents live in west Wales and there are loads of them around there.