Faults:

Lots of little things. Had far fewer problems when I learned to work on the car myself. Most frustrating problem was the electric fuel pump and the relays to it. Most mechanics of the day were used to seeing mechanical fuel pumps and that electric pump threw them for a loop. At 90 k I took the car in to have the timing belt changed/ The mechanic said it was fine - even though it was scheduled to be changed at 60k. But I was young and poor and thought the automotive gods were doing me a favor. A month later the belt slipped and destroyed the engine. I had it repaired, but it never ran the same.

General Comments:

This car was the most fun car I have ever owned. It has been the standard that all my subsequent cars have not been able to equal. Handling was great and I never got tired of driving that car. Took it all over the US and Canada and had the same great feeling every time I got behind the wheel. The engine was remarkably quiet for a small car. It loved to run in the snow. The car was also remarkably roomy for a small car. There aren't many 128 still around, but I sure would love to get behind the wheel one more time.

Faults:

Not much. Some early rust on the wheelhouses.

General Comments:

My first (and last) new car. Bought it new for US$1800 and sold it 4 years later for US$1800. Despite a bad rep in the US, my FIAT was the most reliable car I ever owned, economical and practical beyond measure. It could go on a single tank of gas for weeks.

I owned it throughout my college/grad years and it took me all over the east coast US and Canada. I often couldn't afford maintenance (spent one winter push starting it down the hill I lived on cause I couldn't afford a tune-up) but it was always delightful. Noisy on highways (wind noise from flat side windows) and less than powerful (top speed was 89mph downhill with a backwind), it was amazingly fun to drive and best on windy roads. Handled better in snow than my Volvo wagon did. Excellent sight lines all around and back seat in my 4-door often carried tall (over 6 ft) people comfortably.

Too bad FIAT left the USA market!

Faults:

Brake pads needed to be replaced.

All the rear lights would go out and then come back on.

Replaced several starters.

Distributor rotor disintegrated one day as I pulled in to park at the grocery store. Went in, bought a screwdriver, and troubleshot it (no spark? hmmmm...) in the lot. Try doing that with a modern car - course you probably wouldn't need to.

General Comments:

I bought this car from a service buddy - turned out he had gotten it stuck on the ocean beach and it was submerged in sea water, but never bothered to tell me "because I flushed it with clean water afterward". Got rid of it before corrosion started to show up.

Seemed to eat starters, but they were really easy to replace - it was right in the front bottom of the engine. I had such a hard time keeping it so it would start, I got rid of it. For a while, I had a habit of parking it on a hill so I could gravity-start it if/when the starter failed. Looking back, I was buying cheap rebuilt/repainted starters, no surprise they failed.

Neat smalll boxy design. Smelled like a Fiat. Spare tire was under the hood with the engine. Very cool compact engine compartment. It was the first car I'd seen with a transverse engine.

It wouldn't start when it was hot; took me a while to realize the car had a manual choke (!), just like a lawn mower, with the little pull knob on the dashboard. I really liked that once I started using it, it was much cheaper and more fun to operate than a computer.

No a/c, of course, but I didn't miss it.

I learned how to shift on that car, poor thing.

I also learned how to work on cars with that thing. With modern cars, I haven't touched a wrench in ten or fifteen years, but I did a lot of work on that thing back in the day.

Really neat car. I miss it, although at the time I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Sold it to a buddy for $150, and told him about all the problems. He managed to keep it running for a few years at least.