1.4 pop star

Not very nice at all

Do not buy this car with the standard 1.4 petrol engine it only has 90bhp and something like 120nm torque which is simply not enough for a car this size, you wont get anything like the stated mpg because you have to mash your foot down to make any serious progress. As a car for carrying the family its ok, plenty of space and clever back seats that slide and fold but to drive its really bad.

Not even just a power issue everything about the drive is poor, the gearbox is terrible its as though its in neutral in every gear theres so much stick movement, so bad in fact i took it back to dealer and they showed me that they are all the same, huge bowl of soup in your left hand.

The brakes are good but not alot of progression just sharp immediately, better than not good enough though.

The handling is pretty poor but the upside is its very comfortable over bumps, rolls around like a small boat.

The stereo is dreadful, absolutely no bass even maxed out, im no basshead but listen to plenty of music that hass bass and these speakers sound so thin its bad, i dont believe they built this car down to a price, it should be a relatively average car above the likes of say a dacia but its just not, this is not on the same standards as a standard fiat 500.

Really the biggest issue is that engine and gearbox.

Have since traded the car in for a ford kuga titanium diesel with 163bhp and 340nm torque from a 2.0ltr, the difference is absolutely massive, i feel i can drive more civilised and i can carry a full load on holiday without the car struggling up hills, makes it such a more relaxed drive. Silly little things like the quality of the seats and cabin are so far ahead and the 500L i had was supposedly mid range it had AC and everything ( that would be automatically on every time you get in car if set to windows on blower!! ).

I dont hate the fiat, it serves a purpose and i think with a better engine ( turbo possibly ) and tighter gearbox it would make a really decent family car fit for the holiday runs etc but mine was simply a dog, i hated it.

Just as an extra i will say we had very few issues, what we did have was as follows, the "entertainment" screen seemed to just go black and not come back until the next day when the weather was very hot, the airbox brackets in the engine snapped on thier own so airbox was wobbly and loose, i myself an convinced it was down on power but i think it was just not enough power and torque. Also the engine was a bit noisy and old fashioned, no smoothness at all but regularly serviced by dealer. Apart from that no major issues at all.

Overall, c*** car in general let down by even worse engine and gearbox.

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