2001 Fiat Seicento Sporting Arbarth review from UK and Ireland

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.

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!!!