20VT- 1 owner from new - 50k miles - FFSH

Currently the car top of my list is this one:

BMC Link

The car has had its entire service life done at Fiat Croydon. 1 owner from new. Fiat Croydon have supplied the car to BMC to sell. (Anyone know if Fiat Croydon are any good with the coupes?)

The cambelt has not been done, BUT the seller has said either he will get it done for me, or will take the cost of the cambelt [which he said could be done for £400] off the price right away.

To me the car sounds excellent, especially with the low millage - what do people think?

Only draw back i can see is that no leathers and green is not my first choice colour - although i dont mind it at all.

Is the low millage sign of a car only used for short journey's?

The last service was at 44k and its had new pads all round and new discs at the front.

Any other key things i should look for in the service history?

Hope to be seeing / buying this on Saturday morning if all goes to plan.

Thanks guys!

This looks and sound much better than the LE arif. Can't go wrong with a clean, stock car to start with. Don't forget with the last service done at 44k, its about time for another oil change now.

That looks like its been wrapped in cotton wool you should be able to obtain a print out from fiat showing exactly what has been done aswell as the book being stamped. Don't expect a bundle of receipts if it was owned by a fiat dealer. Its certainly worth a look i'd try and get a wee bit more off for not having cow failing that you will get cow for £250-£300.

Check the condition of the aux belts as best you can. I'm a wee bitty worried about this, 50k 98 model with *full service history* but the cam belt hasn't been done? That means it hasn't been serviced in line with the Fiat recommendations.

Now it could be that the owner has been told by the garage that it needs doing but is too tight to splurge out on the £1300 Fiat would charge (yes, you read that right: £1300! ) or it could be that the dealer didn't realise that age plays a part in the downfall of the cam belt.

Having said that, Rog at Powerfiat reckons he's never seen a 20v cma belt fail, only the aux belts which then take out the cam belt, so have a good look.

If you do buy it on Saturday, get £450 knocked off the price (the real price of a cam belt change) and get it down to Powerfiat or Paul at Motormech pronto and do not give it welly until the car has been checked over by them!

Good luck.........

I can't believe that if this has been serviced its whole life by a Fiat dealership its not had the belts changed

Apart from that and the colour, it looks like a nice coupe

Tells you loads about the standard of Fiat servicing I fear

But, to be impartial (and avoid lawsuits! ) they may have told the owner (if it was an employee of the garage for example) and they didn't want to have their wallet mugged severely for something *so trivial*

Be interesting to find out why the belts haven't been done, maybe they did routine inspections and felt it wasn't needed?

The guy i spoke to at BMC encouraged me to talk to Fiat Croydon about the car - so i should be able to get an exact answer to that question - which is an important one!

I'm guessing they should have changed the belts after the 6 year interval regardless of the millage?

Yes, the mileage is irrelevant, at 6 yrs the belt should most definitely be changed.

Personally, and other people may disagree, the belt itself is strong but the tensioners, like all tensioners are only bearings, so mileage for the tensioners is important whereas age is the bigger factor with the belt. At 50k over 11 years this car must have done a fair amount of sitting around or very short stop/start journeys too: have a good look at the exhaust system, although it's not a major expense to replace the cat back section.

I bought my coupe a month ago and the seller said it had a new engine and clutch fitted 20K ago (oil pump went). Before I went to view (miles away) I rang the Fiat dealer to check and they had complete details of the work on the system and were happy to discuss. Even gave info on other work they had carried out without me asking.
When I viewed the car the receipts were just as Fiat described.

Give 'em a call - it can't hurt.

J

early low mileage cars are quite prone to have smokey turbo seals too, so leave it idling for 10 mins after a GOOD drive, and see if it smokes when revved after idling.

other than that, fiat history usually means that:

The undertray has never been removed and seized on.
Has rusty oil cooler pipes
Possible cracked manifold
Brake pads hammered into the front calipers
lower arms worn at inner bushes
and oil sitting on the undertray from previous changes with the tray still fitted.

Ofcourse, 'fiat croydon' may have a decent mechanic that takes pride in his work and does things properly.