RE: Shed of the Week: Fiat Seicento Sporting

[ToothbrushMan]

forgot to add that price tag - dream on. what planet is the dealer on? £1,795 for that ? he will be doing really well to get £795.
if that was ebay at 795 people would be pitching 250-300 - 400 tops. you can still get a good one for that money anyway but the history on this seicento doesnt bode well for a fast or profitable sale by the dealer.

[Nerdherder]

sjabrown said:

Nope. No no no no no no no.

Aaah, another great mind. Totally agreed.

[pSyCoSiS]

No thanks, not for me.

With me in the car the weight would probably double, and the thing would struggle to move.

Station car? Fun to drive around town? There are so many other cars that fit into that category that would be better all-rounders!

Give me a nice old XJ / S Class / 7 Series for that money and i'll happily waft around in it. And put this thing in the boot.

[J4CKO]

Davey S2 said:

Its up there with Father ted in my top ten, they are all fantastic in it but Greg Davies is perfect in that as the head.

Re watched them all a few weeks back.

As you were, back to crappy old Fiats, may as well just get an Aygo.

[Dwayne Dibley]

I'm usually willing to see the merits/good points of all car's, but I'm really struggling with this one!

As others have already mentioned, this belongs in a narrow-roaded Italian town, where it can be dented, scraped, bashed and shat on by pigeons to it's hearts content!!

Edited by Dwayne Dibley on Friday 19th October 12:41

[CharlieAlphaMike]

I had one as my tow car...I towed it 'behind' my American RV. It was purchase new back in 1980 and served me well. It went all over Europe with me as I traveled around in the RV so covered a few 'towed' miles but also a lot of 'driven' miles too. Totally reliable right up until the point when I returned to the UK when the clutch link decided to break; quite a common problem at the time (apparently) and quite an easy fix.

Obviously it was bought for a very specific reason but it proved to be great fun to drive too which was a bonus.

[Pericoloso]

Don't think you bought a Seicento in 1980...^^^^.

Wasn't introduced until 1997 to replace the Cinq'.

According to Wiki ,this had a Euro Ncap of 1.5 which is better than the Rover 100 and the contemporary Chrysler Voyager ,

a considerably bigger vehicle.....

Edited by Pericoloso on Friday 19th October 12:49

[sr.guiri]

They can be bought cheaper, and even for ones in better nick.

Sounds like a hoot - I'd personally rather be burning around the city in this than anything else. You can scratch it, ding it, park it wherever you want. Leave your nice car at home and use this for the milk/newspaper/school run.

Perfect for large european congested cities, exactly for which they were made. Not so perfect for your UK market town in the middle of nowhere - where SUV owners will want to kill you, cuz that's their domain and you shouldn't be there

And if it falls apart after a couple of years, who cares, it's still cheap motoring. And people will love you for driving this, how could they not

IMO, the world would be a better place if we all drove cars like this, especially in yellow

[The Dictator]

Absolutely not, if that was really the best of the bunch to present, it must have been very slim pickings. Probably more use as an actual shed, than a means of transport.

[MuscleSaloon]

Mark-C said:

So the Ad states "FIAT SEICENTO 1.1 Sporting From 1,095 + Retail Package” ...

That would put me off even bothering to phone.

That and the fact that it is utter ste

[jamies30]

Bought one of these new in 2000 for my wife to learn in, brilliant fun little car. Completely rubbish by any empirical measure, but that’s not the point.

[molineux1980]

My sister had one of these when I had my Rover Mini.

It was bloody awful. Whether it's because I had the Mini at the time, I don't know, but the steering was terrible, it rolled horribly and the engine felt a bit pathetic.

It looked good though, and had an Abarth pack, with badges on the seats and body kit.

My sister loved the car though. Each to their own.

[Andy_5]

jamies30 said:

Bought one of these new in 1990 for my wife to learn in, brilliant fun little car. Completely rubbish by any empirical measure, but that’s not the point.

1990?! That would have been a G/H Reg?! Wasn't even in production then.....

Just noticed you changed it after I had written that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[jamies30]

Andy_5 said:

1990?! That would have been a G/H Reg?! Wasn't even in production then.....

You’re quick off the mark, I realized I am older than I thought I was, and had corrected it before you posted.

[Pumpsmynads]

£100 tops.

[mac96]

I like small cars. I like Italian cars. But not this one
Looks like a crock and surely only worth £50 to £500 depending on length of MOT.

[CharlieAlphaMike]

Pericoloso said:

Don't think you bought a Seicento in 1980...^^^^.

Wasn't introduced until 1997 to replace the Cinq'.

According to Wiki ,this had a Euro Ncap of 1.5 which is better than the Rover 100 and the contemporary Chrysler Voyager ,

a considerably bigger vehicle.....

Edited by Pericoloso on Friday 19th October 12:49

I'm not sure why I typed 1980 but was remembering the registration number which began with a 'V' so was perhaps thinking a 'V' reg must be 1980...time flies! It was 1999 when I bought it. I've got an old photograph somewhere which I'll try and find showing it 'in tow'.

Edited to include pics. The images aren't great because they are scanned photographs but you'll get the idea. Top image was taken in Germany, middle image in Spain and the bottom image somewhere between Genoa and Venice in Italy! Like I said, the little Fiat was the perfect 'tow' car

Edited by CharlieAlphaMike on Friday 19th October 14:32

[Grrbang]

I had one of those and liked it but wouldn't have it back!

Good points
- 5 seater! How??
- Fun to rag. I've had faster, less exciting cars.
- Bought mine for under £2k with 1k miles on it!
- I feared for my life while going slowly, which my current 'sporty' cars don't do.
- I'm 6ft 2" and had headroom
- After the brakes were sorted from being garaged for 10 years, it was cheap on maintenance.
- Steady 55mpg on an A-road commute. Very low insurance. Very low tax.
- It fits a dining table and four chairs, or people.
- It's DIFFERENT

Bad points -
- I feared for my life while going slowly.
- Hitting a pheasant at 60mph completely stoved in the bumper. Nice to know you're in something solid.
- You need an anchor for security. Some people picked mine up and carried it across a car park once.
- People tailgate you because they think you're a normal sized car far away.
- I span it while cornering slowly in town (super short wheelbase)
- The brakes would lock up under light braking with the slightest hint of wet leaves or puddles.
- Foot ache, and needed driving shoes.
- Didn't work out that cheap because it took 18 months to sell, picking up faults while sitting there, and I only got £200 for it.
- I joined the institute of advanced motorists to learn how to stay alive. (also a good thing)

[davegreg]

I had one of these for a few years - absolutely awful car, though it did once get me from Plymouth to Middlesbrough (400 miles) in 5 hours once! I do remember the screen wash pipe kept splitting on it, had it into the dealers god knows how many times about that. I took no end of stick for buying it considering i've always been more into big engined cars - i eventually part exed it for a brand new Skoda Fabia vRS diesel.

[Filibuster]

Pericoloso said:

Don't think you bought a Seicento in 1980...^^^^.

According to Wiki ,this had a Euro Ncap of 1.5 which is better than the Rover 100 and the contemporary Chrysler Voyager ,

a considerably bigger vehicle.....

The Rover 100 was indeed the worst car tested by Euro NCAP. But it was produced from 94-98 and is actually a BL Austin Metro, designed in the 1970's!
The Voyager (95-00) is a 2* Euro NCAP according the the german wikipedia page and thus marginally better than the Seicento...