1996 Fiat Brava S from UK and Ireland - Comments

Manifold and lambda sensor needed replacing.

Front brakes wore down badly and caused the brake fluid to leak everywhere making it dangerous to drive.

Tensioner broke and caused the cam belt to break.

I have had problems with this car since I bought it in January 2002. The garage I bought it from is called Agri-Mech Services in Detling, Kent. Within the first week of purchasing this car the fuel injection light came on. When I told Agri-Mech Services about it they said that it should be covered under the warranty that they gave me. However the warranty was the most basic and it didn't cover very much at all. They then told me to bring the car in and they would have a look at it. After a week of them avoiding my phone calls or making false promises about when my car was going to be ready and delivered to me, they eventually said that I had to come and pick it up. I had to pick it up from one of the mechanics' house and he was not even there when I went over. His wife came out with the keys of my car and was not able to tell me what was wrong with it and what was done to fix it. She said that the mechanic would phone me if I needed any information and since it was that same mechanic who spent a week of avoiding my calls I knew that he would not call me and of course he didn't.

When I started the car I now found that this fuel injection light was not coming on at all. It should come on when you turn on the ignition and then go off when you start the car. I decided to take it to a Fiat garage and they showed me where this mechanic had removed the light completely from the dashboard, breaking one of the clips to the dashboard in the process as the broken clip was still in the car. So instead of fixing the problem he just took out the light. Fiat wrote me a report with what was done in their opinion and with this I phoned up the manager of Agri-Mech Services. At this point he knew that I had grounds to go to the Office of Fair Trading so he said he would get another mechanic to look at my car. I refused to hand my car back to anyone to do with his garage based on the work that had been done so far so he said to get a quote for the work that needed to be done and then he would send me the money for it. It took 3 months and what felt like a million phone calls, but I eventually got the money for the work that was done, as I could not continue to run the car without it. All in all a very unpleasant experience and a very unprofessional company, avoid them at all costs.

With regards to my Fiat, I have had nothing but problems with it since I have bought it. I have only had it for just over 8 months now and have spent over £600 on repairs. The latest problem I have is that the tensioner gave way and that caused the cam belt to break. So far I am told that the cost is in excess of £1000. The lucky thing is that I paid an extra £85 and upgraded the warranty that Agri-Mech Services gave me so I am covered up to a £1000 worth of repairs. Hopefully the cost will not be much over £1000.

I am thoroughly fed up with this car so I am now going to sell it as soon as the work is done and I am never going to buy an Italian car let alone a Fiat Brava again. I am also certainly not going to go to Agri-Mech Services for anything either and I would recommend avoiding them at all costs. I wouldn't trust them if my life depended on it.

On a positive note, running costs for this car are pretty good, the insurance is relatively cheap and the car does look good, however the negatives outweigh the positives by far.

I should also add that I have so far been servicing my Fiat at a Fiat garage in Frensham and I have had an outstanding service from them. All their staff are friendly and very helpful and they always provide a loan car if they need to keep the car for a period of time.

I agree with you completly, i had my brava for 3 years, I would never advise anyone to buy one, the only thing left to replace in mine was the radiator and gear box, everything else had been done, i have sold mine only yesterday and in total the car cost me £3500 in repairs, I got £500 for it very bad car never again.