Are these cars as bad as they used to be?
Thats right Tina, l remember that one. Your right Conehead. Fiats were always crap.

l do not know but it reminded me of my father who would not let us buy fords when we were young as you had to
Fix
Or
Repair
Daily!

Thanks for the memory!

Only the pre 2050 model years.

As an automotive engineer specializing in race car fabrication & an owner of Fiat cars since the 70 is l think that l might have a valid opinion on this issue.

First off , the materials used in the construction of Fiat cars , even back in the 70 is was good. , far superior to Japanese , ,US & UK products of the same time period.
Even looking down to the hardware level , nuts & bolts, Fiat used mostly grade 8 (high tensile) , where as other manufacturers uses perhaps grade 5 (spaghetti bolts)

Fiat used extensively high strength alloys when others were still using cast iron in their engine parts.

Technology used in Fiat engines & gearboxes was very good & they were one of the first to produce a 1600cc 4 door car that could exceed 100mph.
This car had a 5 speed gearbox , 4 wheel discs & a twin overhead camshaft engine producing 100hp.
This car could sit on 90mph all day , owing to use of strong lightweight ally pistons , cast STEEL con rods , crankshaft & flywheel. (other companies were using weak cast iron) & not break.

All in 1970., a time when in the US u needed at least 3 liters engine capacity to equal that.

Some complained about excessive rust in these early cars.
Primarily this was due being unprotected during their voyages at sea on car cargo boats & not from actual production.

Later Fiat models , (80s & newer) have a 10 year warranty against rust.
This was accomplished by a layer of alluminization under the paint on the body panels.
There is not too many manufacturers that have a longer NO-Rust gaurantee than this.


In Europe Fiat has a great reputation & is not considered any more unreliable than other makes.
So where has all of the 'Fix It Again Tony' jokes come from.

This is only heard in western countries , eg , US , AU , & the UK.

Partly it is a defamation campaign to discourage people purchasing foreign cars.
The same is found in varying degrees with other makes as well.
Renaults r for Frogs , Jap cars r hard to work on because they r made for little Chinese hands & so on & on.
These saying r most often not true , but if u repeat them long enough , ignorant fools in society start to believe that it is true , & in turn , they repeat it..

Another reason that affected the reliability with Fiat & pretty well all other high tech non conventional cars back in the 70 & 80s in particular was a poorly established dealer & support network.

Basically , to become a dealer back then for these cars all u needed to do was have a car yard & be willing to sell them.
You did not need to undertake any factory training or prove ur competency on servicing or repairing of these cars.

This combined with the more advanced technology on these vehicles was a disaster waiting to happen.
Mechanics were faced with things that they have ever seen before & did not understand.

For example , if u were a GM mechanic in the 70 is & u found ur way it a Fiat workshop where they were working on twin cam engines with crossflow hemispherical heads u really would not have any idea what u were doing.

Fiat also lead the change to front wheel drive.
While the UK Mini ran with FWD before Fiat they used suspension , gearbox & engine systems that were basically a disasterous concept both in design , build & construction.
It was the Fiat 128 system that has almost been universally adopted by ALL manufacturers for their FWD platforms.
Again , this was in the early 70 is when Ford , GM & 99% of the rest never even gave a thought about front wheel drive.

So how could one of their mechanics be expected to work on such things correctly without any training ..?

l have seen the results of this mismatch between technology & service centers skill MANY times , , & it is always UGLY. !


So in a nutshell , MOST of the REAL problems with Fiat reliability can be put down to mechanics & service people that do not know what they r doing.

l have had phenominal reliability & value for money from Fiat cars.