Faults:

Have the usual 1st gear issue where I have to wait till I stop near enough or it crunches/grinds in.

General Comments:

Hey, I have a Fiat Seicento S 1.1 and honestly it's not that bad for what it is. I've had 100mph, but it tends to struggle to go further, or it takes too long LOL.

I can't find any sites for mods anywhere, and I'm wondered about a turbo kit or a Punto Sporting conversion? Any help is welcome. Thanks.

Faults:

Gear shaft assembly snapped while in garage, and have been told this is wear and tear. Has anyone else experienced this?

General Comments:

Great little car.

Cheap to run.

Faults:

When I got the car in October 2003, there were some very small niggly faults which came with it which were all covered by the warranty thankfully. This is probably why I am the fourth owner already.

The problems were...

- Power steering intermittent- Pulled to left for no obvious reason

- Leaky sunroof.

Other than that, no problems at all.

General Comments:

For a car with this size engine, it is unbelievably quick. It is possibly on par with most 1400cc cars. It is a lot quicker at the low end and the top end than the 1.3 Duratec Ford Ka I regularly drive.

The ride is slightly bumpier than you would expect, but it makes it feel more like a "drivers" car.

The car used to suffer from under-steer a lot, but since I got the Abarth body kit (Manufacturer supplied) with the wider and larger wheels on, this has been no problem.

The interior is very funky. Not a straight line in sight and the rev counter centrally mounted on the dash is a nice quirk.

Faults:

At the moment nothing has actually gone wrong with my car. In hot weather the gear stick can sometimes make a crunching noise.

I was a little disappointed when I researched into purchasing a roof rack, being quoted over £120 to have one fitted.

General Comments:

The Seicento is a 'perfect' small car.

It is cheap to run and so far I have found it very reliable.

The interior is tidy and very efficient.

I am a keen angler and with the 60/40 rear split on the back seats my tackle fits in nicely.

I recommend driving on the motorway consistently at about 65mph, for maximum fuel efficiency.

Faults:

Front tires wear out at approximately 10,000 miles with CAREFUL driving!!

Handbrake decided to stop working at 5,000 miles. Has been fixed 3 times. Still having to use the gears for parking.

Engine cooling fan doesn't work. As a consequence, the car overheats when static. Fed up having it fixed.

On it's second exhaust, which only comes as a one piece unit. Clever thinking there eh??

Rear screen washer jet stopped working after first year. Had to strip out offside splash-guard to get to pipes. A nightmare.

Engine has developed a resonance (Howl) at 2,500 rpm. Annoying.

Car pulls to the left despite numerous checks of the tracking/balancing.

The rev counter has developed an ominous 'ticking' sound when driving at slow speeds.

General Comments:

What was I thinking? What WAS I THINKING, buying this car???

Initially I fell in love with the little puddle-jumper after deciding to downsize from a Calibra and save some money. I placed an order for a Sporting model in yellow with the full fabric roof from Arnold Clark and waited in anticipation.

And waited...

A few MONTHS later the car arrived, and I must admit that the first couple of months ownership was something of a honeymoon period. Great fun, go cart!!

Then, the little niggles started. The steering began to feel progressively vauge, and soon noticed the tyres beginning to wear on the inside. The brakes inspire no confidence, the handbrake in particular tends to bind overnight, releases with a 'bang', and doesn't hold the car on a hill, despite being overhauled three times. When I finally decided to err on the side of caution and change the tires, I discover that they are the most obscure size on earth, and cost a fortune!! As with the exhaust, which comes as a whole unit.

In fact, after close scrutiy at the design, a cynical person might think that the whole car is designed to rip-off the owner...

I feel sorry for the designers, who have pushed the boat out and come up with a cute car full of character. Unfortunately, The build quality is nothing short of CRAP, If I didn't know better I would have thought British Layland built it. It's so bad, I've given it to the wife to drive!!!