Faults:

Drivers door hinge broke. The plastic on the door handles have perished, but this is just cosmetic.

General Comments:

Totally reliable car. Best I have ever owned. Cheap to run and fast also. Sticks to bends at higher speeds without any 'twitching'.

Ride a little hard and drivers seat could have done with a lumbar support. A light in the glove box would have been helpful, but otherwise a brilliant reliable car! Had it six years - now with 88,000 miles on clock. One set of glow plugs and one battery. All the other original parts are still working fine.

Why did Fiat replace it with the Stilo?

Faults:

Persistent leaking sunroof, changed sunroof, will not stop.

Every year, air bag light on over winter months, dealer cannot tell me why, gave up trying to fix it.

Sometimes will not engage 1st gear (clutch fault) Personally I can live with it until the clutch needs replacing.

Front seat swabs soft on sides and now unsupportive.

Misfire (this engine seems to eat spark plugs).

Interior door handles peeling.

General Comments:

Being a mechanic I drive many different cars on a daily basis and get used to individual manufacturers faults.

I can tell you that although the brava (or mine at least) is not put together too badly, there are a few small things that nag you on a daily basis like the fiddly fuel cap, poor visibility past front pillars, being unable to judge distance in rear view mirror very accurately, bodywork dents very easily and paintwork is not very robust.

The faults I have experienced seem to be quite common ones and I imagine would be a nightmare to live with if you were not in the trade.

Dealers are few and far between and parts are quite expensive and I have found some simple parts are only availably from the dealers - ie exhaust, brake pipes.

Overall it is a great little car, better quality than some others of its age, a nice shape, offers a good ride and has good performance from its small 1.2 litre engine. For what you will pay for one, they are a cracking little car.

Faults:

No mechanical problems at all, the only problem has been with the seat covers splitting on the seams. i contacted my dealer and they were all changed, but it happened again so fiat agreed to change them as a good will gesture.

General Comments:

A very reliable car, cheap to run.

Faults:

After 1 week it suddenly cut out at traffic lights. I got it started again after a couple of attempts, but then the engine took on a mind of it's own and started revving past the 2,000 RPM barrier.

At the 12,000 mile mark I suddenly heard a knocking noise coming from the engine. It turned out that an inner component disintegrated and spat itself out through the gearbox casing at a high velocity. The gearbox required replacing. The clutch also was replaced due to gearbox change.

The suspension had it's erratic squeaky moments.

General Comments:

I loved this car to bits until the gearbox died. Unfortunately the treatment I received from the dealership was abysmal. It took H.B. Dennis 15 days to return my car. The gear change is stiff and a far cry from the original. Fiat Ireland paid 66% of the cost of the parts, but nothing towards labour. This left me £700 out of pocket. I tried on numerous occasions to contact Fiat Ireland, but they never returned my calls. After a letter from me threatening to sue I was contacted immediately and my £700 was refunded. Some faith was restored in Fiat, but steer miles clear from H.B. Dennis. Fiat need to audit their dealers more closely and insist on some customer care courses for the likes of H.B.Dennis.