Fiat Legend Returns

Photos taken at the UK launch at a Fiat dealer in Paisley. The cars are superb and put Fiat back where they should be

I saw a LHD 500 brit registed on The Strand in London yesterday...sweet! Bargain too, relative to the bloated Mini and VeeDub. Not jealous.. at all!

We had a "dealer familiarisation day" at work last week - about 15 of these blatting around the tracks in the rain, what a sight !! Man they do look good, especially on the move in convoy

You can't keep a good car down

Saw one on the road today - pale pastel blue very like the one in some of Ewen's photos. Looked very good indeed!

Once upon a time there was a car manufacturer called Fiat and they built a pretty little peoples car called the 500. Many years later Fiat launched a new version of this car which captured the imagination of the public and many Fiat enthusiasts.

One such Fiat enthusiast decided to pre order his car in August of 2007 on one condition which was to have the very first 500 on the road. The customer had ordered the car from an English based dealer Picadilly Fiat - Wakefield ( www.fiatpiccadilly.co.uk/ ) and was told his car would be ready on 26th January 2008. This Fiat enthusiast asked a fellow friend (myself, another Fiat enthusiast and teller of the story) to accompany him from Scotland to England to collect this car. The pair travelled by train only to be delayed 2 hours by a broken down freight locomotive at Garston, east of Kendal. The pair arrived at their destination and were picked up by the Fiat dealers representative. During the drive to this dealership amongst the good hearted banter, the salesman asked the question "where are Lamborghini's made?", the question relating to country and not town or location within that country. The 2nd of the travellers in the back seat of the Fiat Seidici couldn't believe what he heard and alarm bells began to sound.

The merry band arrived at the Wakefield dealership at approx 17:00hrs. Documents and formalities out the way the pair climbed into a lounge edition 1.3 multijet which had approx 56 miles on the clock. The two Fiat enthusiasts found this a rather high mileage for a new car but decided not to bother questioning the salesman. The journey started well enough but just 4 miles from the dealership the engine warning light came on, a pop was heard followed by a loss of power. The pair not amused, limped back to the dealership to find the salesmen had returned home for the night. Stranded in the middle of England approx 260 miles from home, with an unregistered Fiat 500 (we were using trade plates) the pair called the AA. Nothing we can do said the AA man

The pair tried rail, hire cars & planes to return home but it was impossible. Stranded they spent the night at the Leeds city centre Novotel and proceeded to catch the first train home on Sunday morning, that'll be 27/01/08 As you can imagine, the 2 travellers were not amused.

So wanting to know more about the situation regarding the 56 odd miles on the car that was collected, the friend of Fiat enthusiast no.1 decided to visit his local dealer (Arnold Clark Paisley) and was told that a new car should have no more than approx 7/8 miles on the clock. Added to the story at this point is the fact that the dealer was very aggressive and questioned the enthusiast about the trip to England to buy a car. Words were said that shocked the Fiat enthusiast but proved understandable, as he had always thought that the new Fiat dealers in this part of Scotland, were a bunch of muppets. This was very evident at the launch night of the 500.

So where does the story end? I'm not sure. If FIAT U.K. messes true enthusiasts like me around, then there is something seriously wrong and when I come across the crap I'm now seeing and hearing, I fear the worst for Fiat in the U.K..

This story which should have been one of joy points to an attitude from the dealers which is unacceptable. This story is being edited as we speak, refined for a possible more public viewing to the worlds automotive press, whom I believe would just love to kick Fiat up the arse and laugh at the pathetic attitude, which now seems to prevail towards its customers. Maybe this is what FIAT U.K. needs, an awakening to the problems that lie at the core of it's business, namely hungry dealers looking for a sale.

FIAT U.K. are you awake? The launch of the 500 may have been cool in London but around the country it was a different story. Did the link break down? Not really important but what is important is that you sort this mess out. You want bad press well lets see what the automotive magazines think of this one. All I want is for Fiat customers to be treated with some kind of respect, the cars to work as they should and for the name of Fiat to rise above all this crap.

Ewen

So what went pop.

No idea New car with 56 miles on the clock approx, smell of burning and AA chappy unable to find the diags port.

The attitude of the FIAT dealer you had the misfortune to deal with does not surprise me.
Most car sales men are trained to sell and sell only, it could be beds, telies or anything .....

I hate to have to say it (my everyday car is a Punto) but if the Italian brands dont sort out (sack) some of thier dealers then they deserve to fail.

Personally a FIAT dealer would be the last place I,de take the Punto !

Totally agree! I once had an Alfa romeo so had to visit an Alfa/Fiat dealer quite often! They were the most unhelpful bunch of people I had ever met.
The worst case was when I had ordered a speedo cable and went to pick it up.
I left work early and drove 45 miles to the nearest dealer. When I arrived the stores person was too lazy to get up off his chair and look in a pile of stuff that had come from main depot that day as it was late and they usually did that in the morning!
I had to root through the packages myself.
In the end used mailorder and a local garage-cheaper and better job!

Fiat garage say a maf sensor on the turbo sent the engine to limp mode. Part arriving today. Thanks Fiat

ahhh... you didn't have any shoelaces then?

Yup, I dealt with the largest motor dealer in Scotland,who also seems to have all the Fiat/Alfa franchises up here,and the parts counter was a joke,and I had many customers whoe were ex large motor dealer customers..no-one had anything good to say,same with Alfa.Many people I know have moved towards Japanese makes,purely for reliability and dealer service....Fiat could build the greatest cars in the world,but aftersales is all-in the first few years anyway...this wouldn't happen in America! lemon laws and all that.

Sad to hear of this story,but it was brought to my attention today also when our regular motor specialist tools catalogue came in.1 page of timing belt change tools for many varied cars,and 2.5 complete pages for Fiat engines only,mostly at about £100 per kit... Make of this what you will... I get more complaints,phonecalls etc about Bravo's Brava's and Marea's than any other car,heads,gearboxes,electrics,injectors,camshafts.......and just yesterday I failed an 02 plate Punto for serious rust....


SO. cars are poor quality,dealers are crap. where now?

Poor quality, poor dealers AND shocking depreciation, as you say Honda, Toyota etc are clapping their hands. I have recently had superb customer service from both those mentioned & have just bought an Audi A3 from a local dealer who made the whole car buying & after sales experience second to none! BTW, the A3 2.0TFSI quattro is nearly as nimble as the exy!!!

Nige

That dealership u mention tiff.. there was a very large anti-that dealership web site where customers used to have a good rant..
The same dealership, opposite asda, kdy, gave me a loan car.. another customers car which was in for a wee problem... the brake pedal goes to the floor... NOT happy, never been back.
as a quick rule of thumb.. if its got plate glass it will try to rip u off. a friend did the mystery shopper bit on ford and bmw dealers a couple of years ago.. they all the same standard, and he was being polite when he said that.

Bonus,Commission and targets.......Greed basically.Thats at the root of it all in my opinion,and remember,I've seen it from both sides....
I'm changing job in 2 weeks,back on the tools again.In a garage where there are no incentives at all,no bonus,no job times.Hopefully good old fashioned customer care. we shall see..

Have you ever noticed how polite and helpful most waiters are in decent restaurants,in the hope that they will get a good tip? If restaurants were like garages,they would throw your soup at you from the other side of the room,then kick you out half way through your steak,throw your coat in a puddle and charge you £300 for the priviledge...