I heard a rumor that the Fiat Group of Italy, was considering returning to the US market. They left in the early 1980’s. Having just been to South America (Brazil), I was interested to see that FIAT is a major brand there, and from all local accounts, they make pretty good cars. I would like to hear from those people who owned FIATs in the US-would thay buy another one? and-what were their experiences with the cars.
I had a friend in high school who drove a Fiat convertable. It was a nice car to ride around in but she was always having problems with it. It wouldn’t start some mornings and it would stall out at stop lights, just shit like that. It left us stranded on the side of the road several times!
It was a really cool looking car though.
My parents owned one in the late 70’s early 80’s avacado green… blech. One day the engine fried itself (I’m not sure how old it was at that point, but I’m guesing somewhat to very old).
But you know what FIAT stands for, right?
Answer: Fit It Again, Tony
My brother owned one in the 70’s. A real piece of crap from what I remember.
Fixin’ It Alla Time.
Fiat has produced a few decent, though somewhat unreliable, vehicles in their 100 year history. My brother had a 124 Spider that experienced more than a few electrical woes, but I still wish I would have bought from him. Very fun car to drive.
I don’t see much of a market for Fiat, based upon past performance as well as demand. If they make an SUV, though, you never can tell these days.
My parents have one. At this point, it’s actually a big yellow paperweight. I’ve seen some others around, though. Ours is a '78, bought from some 90-something year old neighbor.
JMcC, San Francisco, JJM’s page from the Bay
If I were beaned with a fastball, fling my limp, lifeless body to first, cause, dammit, I earned it!
I own a ‘78 124 Spyder and just love it. I’ve never really had any problems with it, but I don’t press it into commuting service very often. It stays in the garage a lot, that’s kept the body from rusting out too badly. Nuthin’ like it on a winding road with a clear, beautiful day!
Fiat used to have serious quality problems in the 70’s - like some other Italian brands (Alfa Romeo comes to mind - nice-looking cars, but they fell apart quickly).
Fiat have made quite the come-back here in Europe, though. They have a sort of “small car with personality”-image - economical, fun to drive and not so stereotypical as their japanese counterparts. Apparently their QA problems have been solved somewhere along the way, judging by the used car prices.
And Fiat produces a VERY nice Pininfarina (sp?) - designed sports car.
I don’t know if they’ll find a niche in the American market, though. As far as I gather, the current trend is towards “SUVs” - sort of an off-road vehicle that’s way too nice to actually take off-road, right ?