2001 Fiat Siena EL from South Africa - Comments

1. (when the car was new) When I take my foot off the accelerator while driving with the car in gear I hear a very noticeable hiss sound coming from the firewall near the gearbox, when the car is in neutral (free-wheeling) the noise vanishes when I informed the agents of this they assured me that it was nothing.

2. (when the car was new) The car had a vibration on the steering wheel, the agents assured me it was nothing serious. At 40000 Kms I had the wheel balancing done for the fourth time since new and I was informed that three of the four wheels on the car and the unused spare wheel was buckled (deformed).

3. The car is now on it's third set of front brake disc's (the agents claimed to have replaced them at 20000 Kms) then I had them (privately) replaced at 50000 kms again.

4. All the plastic components on this car (interior and exterior) are very cheaply made and very brittle.

5. In winter when I start the car in the morning the starter doesn't disengage properly making a very annoying sound.

6. The air-con in Summer is very ineffective.

1. This car has been very reliable.

2. The car offers surprisingly good performance.

3. The car seems very high off the ground and suffers serious "body roll" in corners and windy conditions throw this car all over the road like no other car I have ever driven.

4. this is the most expensive car to maintain that I have ever owned.

5. In South Africa the local agents offer very poor support and do not seem very bothered when you bring concerns to their attention.

6. the overall finish of the car is very bad compared to similarly priced rivals.

I have a new Siena 2004 (1.6 Torque 16v) with barely 204kms on it. I agree with you comments. The gear box is very noisy and make strange noises. It makes a strange (unusual) "click" noise every time I change to 2o and 3o gear, I tough it was only my car. Although the dealer told me it is normal, I will not be satisfied until they fix the noises.

What kind of noises the gearbox of your car did?

I have had a Fiat as my first car, I agree with you, I will never buy a Fiat again. The cars are very comfortable, economical and efficient, but the quality has to be dramatically improved; when it comes to maintenance, it turns to a nightmare, everything fails!

Bottom line: you get what you pay for.

Totally agree with 80% plus of the above comments. The Fiat Siena ELX 1.6 was my second brand new car. And definitely my very last FIAT or Italian car. I've also taken my car in for the gear change click problem... the dealer work-shopped the car/gearbox and later informed me there is no problem. Later the click sound just continue. The hiss sound from the engine was my ever end. The very same clutch problem was experience and I at times just put my foot off the clutch to neutralise the sound, etc. Stability... well the car pose a roll hazard (agree with previous comment). Problematic at cornering and during windy periods. No more going to buy a First In All Trouble.

My mom also bought a new Fiat sienna EL 1.6 in 2002 it had all sorts of niggles from the start, agents also said nothing was wrong, 2005 on 56ooo km the cam-belt broke and damage the engin it was replaced under warranty. 2008, 35000km later it broke again.

This makes it a realy unreliable car,/parts/service.

I already owned 3 Fiats and am still driving one. First was a Uno, second a Siena and currently a Grande Punto.

In the mean time I also had a Toyota Tazz (what a disaster) a Nissan Almera and a Renault Megane.

Let me tell you guys it is all in the mind. If you are not driving a Toyota, Volkswagen or one of the local popular brands, you already buy an Italian or French car with the idea that is must be bad. What this causes is that you listen more closely for strange sounds, evaluate this vehicles in more dept, make comparison, read up about it, join forums and basically looking for faults that isn't there.

Do this with any Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW or whatever and you will soon discover that they have glitches too, engine problems, bad service, noises. Currently according to Car magazine Volkswagens are the worst car to own. Most complaints about quality, and baddest service.

3 Fiats & no problems.