1991 Fiat 126 Bis review from UK and Ireland

These cars have a reputation for being unreliable, however, if you look after them not that much goes wrong, other than normal wear and tear.

When I purchased the car the cylinder head gasket had gone! This was down the fact that the correct servicing schedule had not been maintained; the head bolts need to be tightened down at every service as they tend to loosen due to poor design, thus ruining the gasket. In Europe a 700cc Cinquecento is available (using the same engine) with an updated head, during one of my regular trips to Spain, I obtained one of these cylinder heads with the new specification gasket and I have not had any problems since!

The car uses quite a few rear tyres, I tend to get 15,000 miles out of them.

The driver's door handle broke on one occasion and I spent about a month getting in and out through the passenger door. The handle is the same as is fitted to the Cinquecento, so eventually I found one in a scrap yard and fixed it.

I have been through three clutches! And countless hoses for the cooling system, particularly the one that runs to the front of the car.

This car, despite its diminutive size, is really rather good. It is very cheap to run and is ideal for London traffic.