1998 Fiat Cinquecento Sporting from UK and Ireland - Comments

This is a follow on review from an earlier one that I did, just to highlight a particular generic problem with this car, namely that the pivots on the levers operated by the handbrake cable tend to stiffen up, resulting in the handbrake either getting harder to pull on (because they have seized in the off position) or impossible to release leading to the rear wheels running hot (because the levers have seized in the 'on' position). In either case it is hardly any more difficult to fix this problem yourself than it is to change the rear brake shoes, but they will seize up again relatively soon.

You can get a new pair of levers from Fiat for under ten pounds, which may or may not extend the life of the repair. I'm about to try that myself.

Since my original review (headed 'Great Fun To Drive') I have also had the water pump spring a leak on me, and it had to be replaced.

I've also got a persistent problem with the rocker cover gasket leaking within a year even though it is replaced - the car is on the third one it's had and I'm basically getting them replaced F.O.C. every 11 months, one month before Fiat's parts warranty runs out. I've explained this to my dealer and have asked them whether there is not possibly some underlying problem like a warped rocker cover, but they seem content just to replace the gasket for me every 11 months.

My particular specimen possibly has non standard low, hard springs fitted (not by me) so that if I drive over a matchstick it feels like I've driven over a telegraph pole - this means that the wheel balance and alignment are absolutely critical for a smooth ride at speed and I have to have it set up pretty much every three months or so, and I normally have to take it back to get them to do a better job because they only seem to balance them up to within a few grammes or so the first time, even though I always state that they need to do a better than average job. I'd be interested to know whether other owners have or have not had problems with wheel balance (leading to steering wheel judder at higher speeds)

Still great fun to drive and with the big windows within arm's reach in every direction, it feels like you're sitting in an F-16's bubble cockpit giving great driver visibility.

I've just bought a 1994 Cinquecento Sporting which had a slight wobble through the steering, but on the test drive, but I put this down to the extremely worn tyres and bought it anyway, after one of the tyres disintegrated whilst I was driving it home (at 85 mph...) I've now had it fitted it with 4 new tyres (Pirelli) and guess what? severe oscillation of the steering wheel above 70 mph, un-driveable over 80 mph, I took the car back to the tyre shop and they said that they only balance the wheels on one side as a rule so they balanced them on both sides then gave me back the car and said it should be fine, but its still the same. I was just about to take the car into a Fiat dealer to have the steering looked at as I figured I'd damaged something when the tyre blew out, but from what you've written now I'm not so sure. Have you had any feedback from any other owners on this subject?

Your wheels are probably buckled on the inside rims ihad the same problem. get some 5 j steel rims their lighter which improves handlin and the cost naf all.

"Balance on one side"??? surely you mean balance front and not the rear... which is pretty standard... Unless you specifically ask for the rear wheels to be balanced in my experience they only ever do the front, but I've never heard of them balancing one side of the car!!