Fiat Tipo Reviews from France

Almost everything. The car was in a fairly poor state when I got it (for a low price). But the problems have been continuous, among others:

- Gearbox is hard and cracks loudly when the car is cold.

- Ignition is very difficult in cold weather.

- Several leakages of diesel.

- Electric windows would not close anymore.

- Severl little failures inside the cabin (material used inside the car is of very poor quality and things tend to break easily).

The car was cheap. Although it is not very old, it is more of a kind of early eighties car by this poor overall quality.

Car shows low running costs though, as its consumption is very reasonable (but it is also very very slow!). Moreover, spare parts are easily available and very cheap (at least in France).

No major problems. Bought second-hand with 38000kms on the clock (now 84000km); I changed the shock-absorbers but the handling is as boring as always. The back silencer was changed too. Drinks oil (0.7 lt/1000km - official figure 0.5/1000) but according to some motoring magazines that's normal (for the 1993 model only) and anyway the oil consumption is not becoming worse. Refused to start once due to a faulty connection (humidity) on the starter; I used some WD40 and 5 minutes later I was on the road again. No electrical faults (strange but true).

Torquey (but not powerful) engine - just 75 PS from 1.6 lt (engine with Mono-Motronic injection). Really dependable for an italian car, but needs to be looked after and rewards mechanical sympathy; i.e don't rev a cold engine (and shift gently too!) during the first Kms from cold, change the oil every 10000kms etc. I've driven all around Europe - I've always got back home. Nice car as a means of transport, but you just don't get excited driving it (and it's an Italian car - times change!)