Faults:

I few years ago I tried to live the Italian dream with a Fiat and said, "Never, never ever in my life will I own one again". But after owning a Rover 800 did I think well "they're not that bad and at least they're cheaper". So when the chance to own a Tempra Diesel SX SW 1993 came along, well I could not and would not resist the challenge to take on and beat this myth that all Italian family cars are crap.

All went well for about 200 miles then a strange little light flashed on the "Electronic Check". That's it I thought, "The end is Nigh". "It's straight to the scrap yard with you." But no. It was telling me a bulb had gone in the number plate. "Was that it?" I said. This car is telling me something that I needed to know. "Wow Cool". 55p later and an exchange of bulbs, no more warning light.

"WOW " again, many miles later and it breezed through an MOT, it didn't even need a re-test. Straight through. No problem. I'm still got post dramatic stress disorder from that one. I wrote straight away to my local Fiat dealer for confirmation that had this ever happened before. Handbrake failure. Emissions, etc etc. but apparently this had occurred before. Does Fiat make a half decent car or am I the lucky one?

20,000 miles later, an exhaust and replacement tyres later, I'm still smitten and think it's still better than my Rover 800 by about 18,900 miles.

General Comments:

Terrific, forgive all its faults. If you're a "DIY repair" type of guy then it's a cheap car. If you're a "dealer repair" type of guy, get yourself a Toyota, it'll cost you a fortune.

Faults:

Rear brake cylinders, both went after first year and a half (wear). Horn and wind screen wiper electrical fault, intermediate fault where they would not stop (lasted for two days, then stopped. Mystery). Carburetor seal perished, radiator leak, alternator light constantly on in the damp and needed to replace wiper assembly.

General Comments:

I love this cars personality, which in the past four years has given small problems (nothing too bad). Has been very reliable and with 124000 miles on the clock, keeps on going. Will not out run the police with the 1.4 engine, but is cheap to run and I love it better than my previous Audi 80 sport (fast, great handling, but boring). If they still built this car, I would buy another.