ec120bdh@sdcc3.UUCP (MATTHEW SCHOLZ) (01/08/86)
O.k. gang here is the single worst car that should (along with it's
designers, manufacturers, producers, engineers, and sales reps. burn
in hell for all eternity) never have been built, the FIAT, either
the boxy looking 128 sl (1974) or the X19.
Consider:
1) Performance: the 128 corners well until the front wheel
bearing give out, and then they can't be replaced, because
the hub was flared in assembly to never allow removal. This
front end also results in the death of the; cv joint,
spyder, boot, bushings, and trans. with a discount repair
cost of $285-$600.
2) Economy: the gas sending unit gives out after about
70,000 miles, and to replace it the "factory trained" mechs.
split the gas tank in half, and put the beast in resulting
in *severe* gas leaks if the tank is ever filled above the
1/2 way mark (4.5 gals).
3) Reliability: the thing has a rubber timing belt that if
not replaced every "30,000 miles" (more like 20K actually)
will break, and when it does, on its last dying suicidal
revs the valves all open, the piston tries to compress, and
the resulting firing bends the valves, warps the aluminum
head, and scores the cylinder (resulting cost: + $1000).
The brake components are made of a highly breakable plastic
which noone stocks, and there is a magnet in some of the
lousy transmissions used to collect filings, but when it
gets old the little itty bitty magnet lodges itself in the 4
th gear somewhere, and one revolution later, POW! new trany.
4) Ease of repair: The welding on the adjustable passenger
side seat broke. No one said they could weld the thing, and
the closest seat in S.D. was on a '75 128. The sliders
under the seat were welded on the opposite sides. The
mounting bolts, and hole locations were ~4" off, the actual
rack that the seat slides on was 4" narrower, and the stupid
sliders were welded on the ends to prevent removal.
5) Power: the 4-speed 1300cc engine is such a dog that
chevette owners get made 'cause it takes so long to
accellerate up to its 55 mph max.
6) Convenience: The parts come with no instructions, or
Italian instructions, and in the Chiltons, and Haynes
manuals many tasks have the quote "this should not be done
by the normal owner due to the number of special FIAT tools
needed to complete this task." *AND* the stupid oil drain
plug. The stupid thing needs to be removed with a hex key,
and the outside of the plug is round and smooth to foil all
attempts (except those made by a half crazed, severly pissed
off engineer with giant vise grips, a breaker bar, and a bad
temper) to remove it.
7) Safety: the crank jack was so weak that after setting the
emergency brake (which fails...the stupid thing never holds,
even after adjusting it all the way with the tensor nut),
putting it in gear, blocking the rear tire, and being on an
almost perfectly level surface, the jack twisted, and broke
dropping that satanic 4-wheeled jackal on me, and the broken
hunk of jack had ripped through the door panel, leaving a
hole, a dent, and all kinds of paint damage.
8) Style: the car just sucks. I mean, it just sucks. It
looks like an ugly box, was painted the *special*
FIAT-SNOTTY-FESTERING WOUND-GREEN, and has a little ugly
FIAT symbol attached to the hood which long ago was pried
off and throw off a high cliff.
9) Service:
$$%&%%^%$!!$%$$%%^*%^%$@@@!!!!$^$%$#$#@@!!!#$#$#$#$###$#$#$
#$#^%%!!FACTORY TRAINED???!!!???!!!%$^$%$%^$%^!!@#%#%#$%#$$
$%@@#@#$@#$@#$@#$@#$$$$^&*^&%^%^&%MECHANICS?!?!$%$*&@#@@#@#
#$#$&^*&^YOU REPAIR?!? FIATS?????@#$@#$@!!!!!!!!!E99+
So I think all you other unhappy lemon lovers out there
should agree that the general concensus is that FIAT
(yes, I *KNOW* all the stupid acronyms!!) is indeed the
worst car ever made...i mean, you can repair a chevette, or
an Edsel, or even a "fluid-drive" De Soto, but these????
NNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!! WAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
'nuff said,
M.Scholz sdcc3!ec120bdhpeterg@tekcbi.UUCP (Peter Galambos) (01/13/86)
** DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW **
I have to second the nomination for the 74 FIAT 128SL as the worst car
of all times. I was the unfortunate original owner of one of these turkeys.
I sold it at 32,000 miles and considered myself lucky to get $1500 for it.
The 74's had a seat belt interlock on the starting system and the control
box was mounted right underneath the nice black dashboard. The box would
get excessively hot on summer days and the car would refuse to start. I finally
had to rewire the starter relay to bypass the system.
A front wheel bearing went bad at 28,000 miles and cost >$100 to fix.
The cheap plastic check valve in the vacuum line to the power brakes failed
at 20,000 miles causing a vacuum leak the size of a quarter. (Of course,
the car wouldn't run that way, and it took me about 2 hours to find the
problem.)
The car would die at 45-55 miles an hour for no apparent reason and would not
start again for about 2 minutes (I never did track that down).
It was almost impossible to tune. 2 degrees off one direction and it wouldn't
start, 2 degrees the other direction and it backfired going down the road.
It required tuning every 5000 miles.
The rear vent windows were GLUED to the closing mechanisms and were under
tension when closed. They both popped loose at 15000 miles and nobody
could fix them to where they would stay glued for more than a couple
of weeks at a time.
The timing belt cover was 1/2" wider than the space between the end of the
engine and the engine compartment wall. It took me 45 minutes to get
the @%&! thing off.
On hot days the plastic interior gave off fumes which thoroughly fogged up
the windows. You had to use window cleaner about twice a month if you wanted
to see where you were going.
Despite the tiny engine which could barely pull the thing up a hill at 45 MPH
it got no better than 30 MPG on the highway and 24 MPG in town.
These are just some of my fond memories of this beast. Definitely the worst
car I've ever come in contact with!
Peter Galambos
Tektronix, Inc.
...{decvax|ucbvax}!tektronix!tekcbi!peterg
Disclaimer: I'm sure my employer does not care what I say about Fiats.swc@cbsck.UUCP (Scott W. Collins) (01/16/86)
~ Regarding the articles on the FIAT 128... My brother has owned his 77 Fiasco, er, Fiat from brand new till the other week. He has had a variety of problems along the way and the rubber belt that broke and incurred further damage was the last straw. At any rate, I've show him the postings of others that have been through the mill as he has with the car. He surely appreciated the tirades and indeed felt better about it. Also, he asked me to tell y'all that he has a Fiat 128 for sale -- cheap! ;-) Thanks, guys. | Scott W. Collins --+-- |
burden@cheers.DEC (Toads of the Short Forest) (01/17/86)
I don't know if I would vote for Fiat 128 as the worst car, but I did own a '76 two door and I did have some 'interesting' experiences with it. I bought it used while I was in high school and put 13,000 miles on it in 9 months without really going anywhere, the longest trip was to Lime Rock, CT (~275 miles). It was a real pain to get to #4 sparkplug, but the others were no problem. It didn't like starting in the morning during the winter and would always backfire through the carb, I finally discovered that if I removed the air filter cover and stuck the handle of my ice scraper down one of the carb barrels, it would backfire sooner and then start up. If it snowed out and I turned on the defroster, all the snow that had fallen into the air inlet in the engine compartment would come flying out inside the car! It also took me a while to fully realize that while I was sitting there, driving the car, I basically had the spare tire in my lap, since it was stored in the engine compartment. The alternator belt would destroy itself every 10,000 miles (happened twice to me) and I found it much cheaper and easier to carry a spare one than to have the problem looked at and fixed. I always contended that the pulleys were out of alignment, but I never had it checked. I could also put a new belt on it about 3 minutes, without any tools. Just turn the wheel to the right, go in through the passenger side wheel well (I had removed the plastic shield), put the new belt over the alternator and water pump and halfway around the front of the crank pulley, go back inside and crank the engine once and the belt should slip right on. Simple. I had nothing to compare the power of the engine to since this was my first car, but it returned about 30 mpg if I drove conservatively (hardly ever) and about 20 mpg if I beat on it (the rest of the time). I remember one time, I was following a school bus down a two lane (each way) road at about 20 mph, waiting for an opening on the left so I could pull out and pass it. First gear would go to about 25, second to 42. I thought I was in second. I found an opening, hit the gas and got to about 35 or 36 and noticed the car wasn't going any faster and it sounded a bit strained. I was still in first gear! I suppose I should figure out what rpm I was hitting sometime... It didn't seem to do any damage, it ran just fine afterwards. The seats could be removed very simply for cleaning the carpet, or sitting comfortably on the hill overlooking the main straight at Lime Rock. The outside mirrors were interchangeable and the windshield washer squirters could be turned to squirt pedestrians at crosswalks. Dave Burden decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-cheers!burden 603-881-2559 Nashua, NH | 42 42' 48.8'' N V 71 27' 23.7'' W dec-gndzro!dave "Look, strange women lying on their backs in ponds handing over swords ... that's no basis for a system of government." -- Dennis (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)