2004 Lancia Musa Platino Plus 1.9 Multijet from Italy

Summary:

Beautiful, luxurious, Italian motoring

Faults:

This car has been very reliable, I have had no major problems. The only issue that has arisen was a fault within the navigation system at about 11000km. The mapping stopped work and an error message displayed on screen. This was fixed by the dealer and found to be a wiring fault, which seemed simple, but annoyingly took the dealer a week to repair.

The car also seems to have abnormally high servicing costs. My previous car was much cheaper to run, but was I suppose a much older design.

General Comments:

This is such a beautiful small family car. It has really served us very well. It is wonderfully luxurious with many useful features. The engine is very strong and it will easily cruise along the autostrada and up to 200km/h, however the high narrow body means you have to slow down for corners, because there is quite noticeable body roll when cornering hard.

The interior is sculpted like artwork, very beautiful. It is very comfortable, especially the drivers seat, although I think some better quality materials could have been used, particularly for the plastic on the dashboard. I have taken this car all over Italy with two adults and two children, as well as luggage without a problem. Very spacious. Despite all the necessary features, I love the sky dome roof, really wonderful in summer.

This car is disappointingly rare, even in Italy, some people are not too fond of the shape, but I happen to think for a luxury MPV it's very attractive.

I feel very safe in this car, although perhaps it is not up to the same safety standards as the French MPV's? I have not been able to find any test results. But it does have a lot of safety equipment.

I hope this car continues to be reliable and lasts the distance, because it would truly be a shame for such a car to earn a bad reputation, only time will tell, but I have high hopes for this car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th October, 2006

2nd Jul 2014, 12:37

I hired one of these in Italy, and it has to be the worst car I have ever driven in 30 years of motoring. Uncomfortable, noisy, uneconomical, cheap and nasty, offset pedals, sloppy gearbox; I don't think the steering wheel was connected to the wheels!! The body roll is scary and I felt unsafe on motorways, due to it bouncing all over the place. It was the most dreadful thing I have driven.

23rd Mar 2016, 23:49

Yes this is basically word for word how I felt about my rental experience with one of these dreadful cars. I'm pleased for the original reviewer that they enjoy theirs, but just think what they'd think of a modern VW, Ford or even Vauxhall/Opel!

25th May 2018, 16:47

Ha ha... to the comments. Take a 12 year difference into consideration my friend. In 2004 you were probably driving Mr. Bean's Mini.