1998 Fiat Brava SX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Intermittent engine cut out at low revs, dealer unable to trace the fault. Despite more than 12 attempts at a remedy, inc. 4 TDC sensors, revs still drop off the bottom at idle.

Noisy, whiny, rattly engine - sounds like a diesel when cold.

Windscreen washer pump broken and replaced 3 times, needing a tailgate cover replaced first time as Fiat bonded it to the rear window.

Car pulls to left under braking.

Rattles and squeaks from interior trim.

FFSR drips.

Battery drained and went flat for no reason. Not repaired, problem went away.

Passenger side electric window slows and sticks.

Needed new exhaust at 10 months/8000 miles.

Another at 24 months/15,000 miles.

Radio suppression poor and deteriorating.

Gearbox clunky and difficult to engage 1st and reverse. It's often dropped out of 1st when pulling off.

Don't go near these cars. I've previously owned 3 Fiats - never again. It's underpowered, unreliable, expensive to run for what it is and has no redeeming features.

Hell, even visibility is appalling, rear mirror is useless with rear head restraints fitted, and the front pillars are so thick they're almost dangerous.

Totally agree with comments on the front (and rear!) pillars. I've nearly taken out several other road users in a Brava, without ever seeing them coming. Scary!

Yup, I pulled out in front of a guy who was hidden in the Fiat's blind-spot/pillars. I now hate this car. Gearbox - BOOM - 40k miles??? That's bad.

So agree with the above, but remember that the pillars are a result of the nice design.

The reliability of this car is horrible, adding to all that been said, my Bravo door handles had to be replaced every 2.5 years on average because they just fell apart and the dealer had the nerve to ask for me to pay for this!

I'm now trying to work on the car myself and find its parts are of bad quality, everything is breaking easily and access is poor.

But you got to remember that you get a highly accessorized car for very cheap and this is the price to pay.

Sorry, but I must disagree about reliability. I have had a fiat for 3 years now, it has 137k on the clock and it is still going strong.

Only thing I had to replace was the electric window motor, which only cost me £36. guess you just got a bad one, all car manufactures have the odd bad car rolling off the production line.

This is my observations of comments I have seen on this web site, it seems that Fiat have not got to grip with quality control like, say, the Japanese, lots of good and bad comments about the Brava and Bravo.

One thing that caught my Eye was the comments about the drivers experiences with their Fiat dealers, my own have not been good, lots of small annoying problems,my Wife and myself have a 01'Brava 1.2 and 96'Brava 1.4 respectively and while some of the problems with the 96'have been sorted other problems seem to have appeared.

I noted the comment from the owner about the replacement exhaust after a very short period and the cost of it!!.

I constantly get a smell of petrol from the car when the tank is approx half full and coincidentally the fuel gauge becomes erratic at this time.Some of the problems I have able to solve myself as my local dealer is either unable or unwilling to repair. Happy and Safe motoring.

Same problems of losing revs at idle, engine cut out problems. Apart from being unreliable, in some situations this has almost led to accidents.

Dealer has now replaced the throttle valve 3 times plus idle pressure valve twice, but still the problem persists - had to abandon a trip today due to engine cut outs.

Would not recommend fiat to any potential buyer - the dealership admitted that they have encountered this problem on a lot of models, and have received no support from the fiat company.

I know dealers always tell you they have replaced a certain item 3 times - personally I don't believe them. If you were a mechanic and you had replaced an item twice already and it had not resolved the problem why would you bother replacing it again? This is normally just told to the customer so they can feel that the dealer has done all they can - i.e. wow... they have gone to great expense to resolve this so I better not be so hard on them. All they do is park your car - don't touch it - then wait for you to collect it and eventually get fed up leaving it with them.

Had my fiat Brava 2 years, idle manager went on it in my first year, cost me 187 pounds, I rang fiat up to find out if this was a manufactors fault as fiat told me I was the 4th person in that week to have the same problem, they wouldn, t comit them selves, this problem made me nearly crash my car as when I engaged in turning a corner the enginge cut out, I had 2 children in the car, my car had only done 16000 miles, and of late my hazard light is on constant, time to get rid I think.

It's amazing how many Fiat owners have this engine cut out problem and yet Fiat don't seem to have heard of it. Twice now I have asked fiat to locate and fix this problem and each time they do a diagnosis and then tell me there's nothing wrong! Interesting to see what they say tomorrow as my car is now cutting out at least once a day.I have been on the Internet and found out that it is probably a faulty/dirty Idle control valve. Not bad for a hairdresser!!!

It would seem that this "lack of idle" on the fiat brava is a very common problem. I have it too. Mine seems to be worse when the fuel tank is below half full, although idle is always erratic. I have also nearly taken people out with this problem. Has anyone found the answer yet?

I think I have found out why so many Fiat Brava has this idle problem, I have been trying to find out why my Brava would not idle for about six weeks now. but a couple of days ago I found out what was wrong.

It is the main relay for

the electronic box, fuel-pump, injectors, the contacts in there will be oxidized, this will cause big problems with

cutting out at low revs no idle etc. Try to replace, (or open the relay and clean the contacts, I did). Then I think your Brava will work properly again.

//Ola

Sweden.

I agree with the comments about lack of vision. I have twice now been "surprised" by vehicles coming from the side. I thought it was me or the other vehicles had been put there by space aliens!

I also had the engine idling problem mentioned. Trouble was that the power steering goes as soon as the engine stops. Not good when you're an aging lady! My local garage found that the air sensor (near the manifold) had worn and was not working properly, Part cost £126 but solved the problem instantly.

Now it would appear that the engine is overheating if you look at the dials. Garage again. They could find nothing wrong this time. It happened again and in my temper I thumped the dashboard. Problem solved! I'll know what to do if it happens again.

I love the shape of this car especially when it first came out. I have a R-Reg Fiat Brava 1.6sx Auto. Sadly I have to agree with the unreliability assessment. Fuel injector went after 7 months. replaced under one year warranty. 18 months and 16,000 miles the engine blew and had to replaced by the main dealer. Cost me 25% of the £1400 bill. Fiat brake pads were going at 3month intervals. As soon as I changed to patented copies I had no problem. My automatic transmission has gone and I am in the process of replacing it. This was partly due to me as I continued to ignore the overheating gearbox light for about two months. The car has done 50,000 miles. I would not go near it now, but for the 1st year the car was bliss. Can't understand why they didn't do a convertible model. It would have looked a lot nicer that the Renault Megane. It's replacement, the Stilo is sadly, absolute rubbish in the design stakes especially the 5 door.

My biggest problem has been a leak that results in a pool of water drivers side I have taken to several garages to no avail if I park it engine up on a bank it does not happen just wondered if anyone else has had this problem with th 1997 brava sx.

I bought a '99 fiat bravo today and am very happy with it, I also have the idle cutting out problem, hope its covered by the warranty.