Fiat Tipo, just how bad are they?
Discussion
I have run sheds for the last 15 years or so, but every time I drive a hire car I am reminded of how nice a brand new car is to drive. I did some research a while ago into what I could buy brand new for under £10k and realised the following.
1)Dacia Sandero : The Ambience is £7,795 and is the absolute cheapest car you can buy with aircon but I just don't like the look of it. Plus it comes with a 3 cylinder engine. To get the TCe (still 3 cylinder) the price goes up to £8,595, which I would have to go for but I just don't like the look of the car. Oh and I drove a Captur with the TCe engine and hated it.
2)Hyundai i10/Kia Picanto - Around £9k but too small and very few options doesn't come with aircon or remote central locking (both must haves for me). Plus again has a 3 cylinder engine.
I see Fiat are selling the Tipo Easy 1.4 for £9,995, this has a six speed gearbox, aircon, remote central locking, DAB, cruise, 6 airbags, electric mirrors, remote central locking.
Basically it seems like a lot of car for the money and I don't even mind the looks. I understand dynamically it may not be that great to drive but I am used to sheds so I am sure it will feel fine to me.
Just wondered if anybody had actually bought one with their own money, and if so what did they think?
I am thinking it might actually be cheaper in the long run than buying a £1500 shed every two years.
1)Dacia Sandero : The Ambience is £7,795 and is the absolute cheapest car you can buy with aircon but I just don't like the look of it. Plus it comes with a 3 cylinder engine. To get the TCe (still 3 cylinder) the price goes up to £8,595, which I would have to go for but I just don't like the look of the car. Oh and I drove a Captur with the TCe engine and hated it.
2)Hyundai i10/Kia Picanto - Around £9k but too small and very few options doesn't come with aircon or remote central locking (both must haves for me). Plus again has a 3 cylinder engine.
I see Fiat are selling the Tipo Easy 1.4 for £9,995, this has a six speed gearbox, aircon, remote central locking, DAB, cruise, 6 airbags, electric mirrors, remote central locking.
Basically it seems like a lot of car for the money and I don't even mind the looks. I understand dynamically it may not be that great to drive but I am used to sheds so I am sure it will feel fine to me.
Just wondered if anybody had actually bought one with their own money, and if so what did they think?
I am thinking it might actually be cheaper in the long run than buying a £1500 shed every two years.
I've had one for a few days as a hire car. It was beyond bad. Slow enough to be dangerous and not a single nice feature on the whole car. It reeked of being designed by committee. Nothing could be found anywhere on it to provide even the slightest hint of character.
It's x feet of boring, dull car.
It's x feet of boring, dull car.
I ran a Dacia Sandero TCe 'shopping car' for six months, in between dithering between identical hatchbacks. Engine was OK, but found the rest of it annoying, like the lack of heated mirrors, manouverable only on sticks. So on the motorway you couldn't move the one on the passenger side without causing a mighty swerve. As to swerving, it didn't like it one bit. Huge understeer was not any fun, and there was too much road noise to ignore.
Had a Tipo 1.4 loaner last year, and thought it was pretty sweet, in that kind of cut price Fiat way. Easy gets steel wheels, A/C, electric mirrors and cruise. Also has the new-flangled floating roof design with blacked out B pillars.
Ended up with a similar Suzuki Baleno which is quite brisk with 110HP but that's another story.
So test drive a Tipo and see if you can take it up a motorway. Looks good in white for £10K. Loadsa room in them.
As to new versus sheds, it's your money. But it's nice not to sit in an invisible cess-pit of other people's body fluids and dandruff, or worry about impending engine death. :-)
Top gear review: https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/fiat/tipo/driv...
Had a Tipo 1.4 loaner last year, and thought it was pretty sweet, in that kind of cut price Fiat way. Easy gets steel wheels, A/C, electric mirrors and cruise. Also has the new-flangled floating roof design with blacked out B pillars.
Ended up with a similar Suzuki Baleno which is quite brisk with 110HP but that's another story.
So test drive a Tipo and see if you can take it up a motorway. Looks good in white for £10K. Loadsa room in them.
As to new versus sheds, it's your money. But it's nice not to sit in an invisible cess-pit of other people's body fluids and dandruff, or worry about impending engine death. :-)
Top gear review: https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/fiat/tipo/driv...
Edited by Slushbox on Friday 5th October 16:29
dxg said:
I've had one for a few days as a hire car. It was beyond bad. Slow enough to be dangerous and not a single nice feature on the whole car. It reeked of being designed by committee. Nothing could be found anywhere on it to provide even the slightest hint of character.
It's x feet of boring, dull car.
isn't that what you would expect of a car that cost 10 grand new?It's x feet of boring, dull car.
We looked at a Tipo and it's competent but dull. A Suzuki Ignis or Baleno are much better cars and can be had for under 10k at the moment. A basic Fabia or Corsa may squeeze in also. You could get a Ford Ka+ or MG3 for similar also, but for me the Suzukis or the Skoda are much better.
underphil said:
dxg said:
I've had one for a few days as a hire car. It was beyond bad. Slow enough to be dangerous and not a single nice feature on the whole car. It reeked of being designed by committee. Nothing could be found anywhere on it to provide even the slightest hint of character.
It's x feet of boring, dull car.
isn't that what you would expect of a car that cost 10 grand new?It's x feet of boring, dull car.
Julian Thompson said:
Looks brilliant value to me and it’s Italian so for me that’s always a bonus. Don’t know why just love their stuff. I’m going to try one of these - my missus would be made up with one to replace the aging Clio shopping car.
Made in Turkey. So about as Italian as the kebab...s55shh said:
Julian Thompson said:
Looks brilliant value to me and it’s Italian so for me that’s always a bonus. Don’t know why just love their stuff. I’m going to try one of these - my missus would be made up with one to replace the aging Clio shopping car.
Made in Turkey. So about as Italian as the kebab...
Why not consider buying something slightly used perhaps from an approved used scheme. If you choose a company with a longer than normal warranty like kia hyundai or Toyota will be practically no different to a new car in terms of ownership experience. You could comfortably get an 18m old mid spec kia ceed (lot more kit than a Base tipo) for around 10k for example.
Well, the fact that you should apparently expect 30% off the new price says it all, really...
https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-buying/deal-watch/?u...
https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-buying/deal-watch/?u...
If you want a new car, go and test drive one - they are excellent value for money and, no, they are not bad...and they are not dangerously slow either! I'd much rather be driving around in a Tipo than a similarly priced Citroen or Peugeot. As others have commented, there are huge discounts to be had, so bargain hard if you like it.
All cars depreciate, but if you look at the prices commanded of 1yr and 2yr old Tipos, they seem to be holding up ok. Try buying a new equivalent 1.4litre VW, Ford or Vauxhall for up to twice the price and see how much it depreciates. You can buy a 4 year old Golf for £7000 to £8000 now - that means that it's depreciated a whole new Tipo in 4 years!
All cars depreciate, but if you look at the prices commanded of 1yr and 2yr old Tipos, they seem to be holding up ok. Try buying a new equivalent 1.4litre VW, Ford or Vauxhall for up to twice the price and see how much it depreciates. You can buy a 4 year old Golf for £7000 to £8000 now - that means that it's depreciated a whole new Tipo in 4 years!
Hands up,i own a Tipo 😮,first thing to say is never buy at list price,always as a special offer or pre-reg then it makes sense when compared at those prices.A few of the positives are it's roomy inside,i'm over 6 foot and when i'm comfy there's still room for me to get in the back,to keep costs down it's got tried and tested Fiat group parts so cheap to service and repair,the 1.4T is fine for motorway runs,no ball of fire but holds it's own and on the lounge at least it has a decent spec,electric lumber,cruise,climate,auto dimming mirror,auto light & wipers plus other stuff which you'd expect on a car costing in the high teens,but i paid 11 grand for a year old estate.Best advice is have a look at one in the flesh and ignore the usual Fiat bashing motoring press !
I had a 1.4T Tipo as a hire car the other month for work, driving just under 500 miles (mainly motorway with a bit of urban roads mixed in).
Initial impressions weren't too bad but there were a couple of faults which annoyed me as it was a brand new car; squeaky/grinding steering and a constant warning light on the dash. On the plus side, there was plenty of space inside, it wasn't too bad on the motorway and I've had worse interiors.
Wound I buy one? Probably not but I can see why people would consider one for the money.
Initial impressions weren't too bad but there were a couple of faults which annoyed me as it was a brand new car; squeaky/grinding steering and a constant warning light on the dash. On the plus side, there was plenty of space inside, it wasn't too bad on the motorway and I've had worse interiors.
Wound I buy one? Probably not but I can see why people would consider one for the money.
I did 22,000 miles in one in 4 months. Gash. Cheap, yes, but gash.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
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