Faults:

Cracked Windscreen.

Rear upper Suspension mounting Worn, out MOT failure.

Badly corroded rear brake pipe.

Hand brake cable stretched.

Engine mounting went.

Alternator Belt slipping at start up.

Bottom of passenger door starting to rust.

General Comments:

Used to be my brothers car, he did not maintain it very well hence the problems with it.

For a car with a lot of Miles on the clock it and the niggerly problems this is excellent little car.

It puts a lot of same sized cars into shame with its pace and accelaration, you can feel comfortable overtaking in it which is something I would'nt dream about doing in my old Renault unless I had plenty of room.

Horrible loose gear leaver that sometimes make you select the wrong gear.

It has earned the nickname of the "Taxi" due to the loud, very diesel like engine note!

Handling is very good though the ride is quite hard and jumpy.

Because of that engine it copes very well with a big load and it towed a little Rover Metro well.

Inside it is comfortable, but quite spartan, but space is brilliant.

Poor radio and speakers, soon sorted with a Sony Mini Disk player, 6x9's, 6 inch front speakers and 10 inch sub.

The nice touch I like the most is a left foot rest for when you don't need the clutch.

Faults:

Over heating problems, and loss of coolant. All Garages said it was Head gasket, tuned out to be blocked bottom hose, replaced sorted.

General Comments:

The 999cc f.i.r.e. together with the bosh mono injection make a great package performance wise, Anybody know where I can get technical information on the injection unit (don't mention the Haynes manual) I can`t get more than 35mpg.

Brakes are crap including the hand brake, but it always sales through the M.O.T.

Just one wing showing signs of rust, and that`s more to do with a bad paint job after a bump.

Rear Suspension, must have a look underneath to see if there is any!

Faults:

Alternator - but I hear it's a regular problem with Diesel Unos. This only cost £50 to fix and fitting and replacing was very easy.

Timing belt - last owner didn't seem to have changed it (even with 87,000 on the clock!). So started it on a cold morning and something went bang and the engine became very loud. Luckily it had only slipped one cog tooth out of alignment. After fixing this and the broken exhaust valve the engine was very quiet.

Brake lines corroded for MOT - £60 to renew the system gave me so much more confidence when driving.

General Comments:

A very reliable car that I was sad to see go.

Brilliant on fuel, giving about 40-50mpg.

Although the engine wasn't the most powerful, it was perfectly adequate and could still slightly push you back in your seat if you understood to drive with low revs and high-torque. It was quite capable of motorway speeds; traveling now and again for 3 hours non stop at about 80 mph.

Good little workhorse, carried me and loads of stuff effortlessly through the countryside to the Lake District. Thank God for the torquey little engine or we'd never have made it. Petrol wouldn't have made it I know that for certain!

Faults:

Handbrake linkage is naff but is easily sorted.

Otherwise nothing - yet.

General Comments:

Bought as a second car but what a little gem. It drives well and uses next to no fuel. It is fairly basic (doesn't even have a tripmeter in the speedo).

Feels very reliable and after a good sort out when I bought it (I do my own servicing) I haven't spent a penny on it. Really impressed for my first Fiat.