Abarth – Fiat 500 – How unreliable?

I’m not thinking about buying one, but I’ve never noticed any on the road before (plenty of Fiat 500’s but no Abarths).

I remember reading stories about things like door handles falling off…

Are the cars really that bad?

I saw an Abarth at the petrol pump last week, and thought it looked really smart. A few days later I heard one going into a multi-storey, and it sounded wonderful.

Can’t vouch specifically for the Abarth, but we’ve had several Fiats and they’ve all be fine. The wife currently drives a new shape Panda and 2 years in nothing has fallen off or broken.

Quite a few round by me, the one in grey looks great, white not so much. There’s a guy well guessing it is who has 2 on his drive a new one and one of the first batch, they look like great little cars.

Wonder if you could fit a tow bar….

From what I’ve read some of the early ones were ‘Friday afternoon’ cars and were sold pre-broken with problems with gearboxes and clutches – I’d guess that if they’re okay on the test drive they’ll probably be okay.

How much are they? Worth spending a bit more to get one from a Fiat dealer with a bit of warranty?

Wife had a 500 Sport, needed it’s third set of rear shocks at less than 50k miles. Occasionally it would flash a fault with hill assist, boot handle felt like it was ready to fall off, paint was falling off the wheels…

Not the greatest build quality, and certainly wasn’t up to Cumbrian back road’s. Shame as it was a fun car to drive.

Seems to be a few Abarths knocking about round here.

can’t see them being any worse than normal Fiats and would hope, due to the premium they charge for them, they are better. I suspect there might be some quirks/features though 😉

They are lovely little cars and the Abarth ones especially so. I think they have come a long way since the days of the woeful Punto and Bravo.

Hopefully it is better than the stock Fiat 500 which is woeful. At least it won’t have the incredibly soft, marshmallow suspension.

They won’t break down if you have faith…

Papa Frankie’s a big fan

We had one for 3 years – brilliant fun. Huge grin every time you fired it up 🙂

Reliability – no horror stories, really:

– they eat tyres. Not just fronts either.
Mrs rkk01 managed to get 10k miles out of a set of Pzeros, once 😉
7000-8000 was more typical 🙄

– They eat discs too…

– and the intercoolers are buried in the deep chin spoiler. Mrs rkk01 clipped a kerb and needed a new RHS intercooler, having lost 50% boost though shearing off the turbo hose connection spigot.

Would defo have another one

Ohh, and they spit flame from the twin tailpipes on an enthusiastic downshift – esp 4th to 3rd 😆

We have a 500…

Door handle fell off – check
Rear shocks last no time at all – check
Random electrical fault – check
Random oil leak – check

It’s a Fiat, of course it will go wrong! But for all that it’s a fun car. I’ve driven an Abarth too and wish I’d sprung the extra dosh for it, feels completely different and much more refined than the standard car.

We have a 500…

Door handle fell off – check
Rear shocks last no time at all – check
Random electrical fault – check
Random oil leak – check

It’s a Fiat, of course it will go wrong!

I’ve had an abarth 500 essesse for the past 3 years.
Door handles fail. I’m on my 3rd
Front suspension top mounts fail. Just had new ones fitted at £400
The cabling into the rear hatch can crack if the boot is used in cold weather. This effected some cars but mine has been fine.
Wheel bearing on the rear are known to be weak. Mine have been fine.

It’s a decent small car with some oomph.

Selling mine if interested or if you want to take one for a spin without any hastle.

The cabling into the rear hatch can crack if the boot is used in cold weather.

😆

got to love fiats.

Alex Dowsett has a 500 arbarth if you want (semi) celebrity cache

female colleague had one from new. had endless problems with it eating brake callipers. Fiat were adamant there wasn’t a problem and wanted to charge her each time for wear and tear. Had various other niggles too, so despite loving the car, she got rid. They do sound brilliant though!

Notorious for top rear shock bushes wearing. Have had to replace the missus’s one with polybush top mounts as the rubber bushes split long before the shock dies

M wife drives a fiat 500 and i choose to drive it over my car when i get the chance. However, at the end of the day its a glorified shopping tolley. A nice looking one, but not very heavily engineered.

Plenty strong enough for put putting about town on the school run or little shopping trips but i wouldnt recommend it for more arduous work.

Trouble is peeps seem to be speccing them as jack of all trades. Loads of options, bigger engines, faster engines, expensive costs and then thinking they will be up to more. They are not. Even an ABARTH is still just a basic 500 underneath. The metal used is sooo thin its unbelievable. Look at the door hinges and tell me they are going to last long term. The door handles, the handles to tip the seats etc etc, all very flimsy.

Peeps have mentioned the main issues

Rear tailgate wiring goes brittle and breaks at the rubber hose.
Brake caliper siezing
Shocks are pretty terrible but on normal ones its a chance to upgrade when they wear out
Tops of suspension struts rust on older ones
Door handles dropping off
Wing mirrors are fragile
Electrics can be very tempremental

I wouldnt even consider paying the kind of money a ABARTH would cost. I got a 500 pop over 3yrs ago for about £10k, all paid for and i will give it to the kids when they need to learn to drive. Then put it in the garage when they are finished with it for me to play with.

We have got a 1.4 Lounge which was bought three years ago for Katie to learn in, been passed on to Abigale to learn in and then to be a general family run-around until it pops it clogs. Door handle came off and the part broken was replaced off eBay for not a lot of money. Apart from that its been fine. Previous owner must have spent a lot on it as it came with every extra that was available.

It sounds like it might not be the best choice for a high mileage first car – it must be good fun to drive though. I wonder if they’re a bit harsh and bouncy on typical UK roads. It looks like the sporty 595 model retails for around 20k. (Mazda MX-5/Fiesta ST money).

I took an abarth 695 bipusto for a test drive the other week. A lot of fun!! 😀

all cars have their issues or common faults, It’s just the 500 has a few more than normal and they’re very common.

Having said all of this, it’s fun, has loads of character and is cheap to tax, insure and feed with fuel.

I drive a Defender, so I’m used to quirky. I’d definitely look at an Abarth if I was in the market for that sort of car. It’s got a lot of character.

The 500 is above average in its class.
Edit: Click on the arrows to expand figures

There was a study done a year or two ago which looked into the background of vehicle stats (it came up on another thread here a while ago) which looked at why the public perception of vehicles is often contrary to the industry measure (warranty incidence rate). It concluded several things the most unexpected of which were two opposing view points:

Those that owned cars with a poor historic reputation would often react to problems with comments such as “X broke on mine, surprise surprise” and were not embarrassed or worried about admitting it and would even just live with the issue or simply replace or repair it themselves. Conversely, many who bought what they thought of as reputable/reliable would keep quiet publicly but go through the warranty process on even the most minor niggle/rattle/issue.

The SMMT/UK Gov’t don’t publish their figures but the Germans do which is why the Dekra site linked above can make quite interesting reading.

Mrs Nobby’s 500 has been fault free for the 2 years she’s had it and a mate’s Abarth is now 4+ without anything going wrong, albeit he does go through tyres & brake pads quite quickly 🙂

Above average at what? Being unreliable ?

Reliable.

*adds absolutely nothing of value to this read apart from saying* there’s shitloads of em round ere in High Wycombe

Issues like the door handle failing really annoy me. The 500 door mechanism is shared with the the Alfa GT (a much older car) and has been a known fault for many years. It should never have been used on the 500 without re-designing, but Italian designers simply don’t g.a.s about parts not lasting. I say this as a lover of Italian cars / Alfa GT owner

Some seriously pricey special editions as well, my fave would be the Maserati one.

Nice!

That 695 Biposto must be a riot – are you thinking about buying one, Spicer?

That 695 Biposto must be a riot – are you thinking about buying one, Spicer?

Unfortunately not!

I was working in Canary Wharf whilst the motor expo was on, and the girl on the Fiat stand invited me to take it out for a drive (after taking the 140bhp one out). I also took a Merc A200 out.

Huge amounts of fun, and some decent enough A-roads outside canary wharf to have a play, and a bit scary at how easily it got up to speed (even going up over a bridge, it’s pretty torquey) and how easily the wheels span when the turbo kicked in. It felt more similar to a GoKart than to the Merc!

I’d love to have one, but don’t need a car at the mo as I commute to London via train daily. But It’s got me decided that when I do get round to buying something, it’ll have to have some character- the A200 was just boring in comparison. I can’t shake the idea of an Impreza or Focus RS 😀

Thanks, Spicer. It sounds great!

I think if I were to buy a car I’d either go for something which is tiny and economical above all else, or something which has a bit of character, and which is involving to drive, even at lower speeds. For some reason the Caterham 160 appeals…

The 500 door mechanism is shared with the the Alfa GT (a much older car) and has been a known fault for many years

That’s odd – I had an Alfa GT a few years back and the doors were about the only thing that didn’t break at some point! Even so, I do miss it…

Fiat

Fix it again tomorrow

coolhandluke – Member
Fiat

Fix it again tomorrow

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