Faults:

Was dodgy when idling when cold in winter - seemed to be solved by driving it with a bit more gusto.

Fuel injector warning light comes on sometimes, especially when in a high gear at not too high a speed. Sorted by restarting the car.

General Comments:

Car looks interesting, if not good. Saying that, the quality of the bodywork leaves something to be desired - very thin in places, and as I found, very easily dented.

Excellent value - bought for £550 and has electric windows, sunroof and 6 speaker stereo as standard kit.

Drives nicely enough too - granted the 1.4 engine runs out of puff above 75 on the flat, but accelerates reasonably around town. Light but fun handling, hardish suspension at least seems to mean it's pretty composed around corners.

Fuel consumption isn't so good - I drive fairly conservatively, but only get 35 tops, more like 30 on my 30 mile round trip commute. Saying that, on the motorway to Swansea, I manage 50+mpg with the car full and doing 70-80mph the whole way, so not too bad, depending on the type of driving you do.

Keep an eye out for rubbishy done repair work to body damage and rust - unfortunately we didn't notice it early enough, so it's now beyond repair rust-wise, and will probably have to be scrapped in the near future :(

Finally the stereo unit itself is rubbish. The cassette bit doesn't work and the radio is rubbish at picking up signal, around me at least. Speakers are good though, plenty loud and bassy enough!

All in all, a fantastic value car, would be fine still if there wasn't the rust thanks to rubbish repair work problem!

Faults:

Thermostat went after a few weeks, due to Fiats amazing mentality, they build it into a huge metal lump...£60 to replace.

Clutch burnt out leaving me stranded on a roundabout, gearbox went due to this, with other problems added to this...£900 bill!!!

AA called 5 times in 6 months, towed home twice!

General Comments:

Poorly built, poorly designed, expensive, all round awful car.

I feel sorry for the poor person who ended up with it after I P/E it for a 306!

Awful interior design, stereo built into dasboard so well looks stupid to change for a non standard, even with a cover plate!

I will never own another Fiat!!

Faults:

Had the rear shock absorbers replaced under warranty, but this was probably due to my constant mounting of curbs when living in Nottingham.

Rear washer fluid stopped functioning in 2001.

Battery died in 2001 after a period of Heavy rain.

All in all the car has been void of any serious problems.

General Comments:

Excellent little car. I bought it for the stylish looks and to be a bit different. It also has a very low insurance group than its equivalent golf and ford counterparts (Group 5).

I recently spent £500 improving the cars looks, and its made the car even better! Added a spoiler, alloy wheels (from the fiat coupe) and painted the wing mirrors. I also added a 6 CD changer and a pipercross air filter. The car is excellent and especially when you push it past 4000rpm...

I can't recommend enough.

Faults:

Bought as a 1-year-old ex-rental car but still my most reliable car with no serious faults (the SX is possibly best of the bunch).

The original exhaust is fitted in one piece, therefore replacing one section is expensive.

General Comments:

Needs winding up a bit, but the road-holding is good at speed.

Top gear ratio is not quite right for heavy motorway work - feel like you need a 6th gear! Perhaps the 1.8 is better.