Are Fiats reliable

[Wallaby Ted]

G'day all.
Down here, our choice of base truck is either Japanese Isuzu/Fiat/Iveco/Merc Sprinter which Ive had in the past.
Fiat/Iveco don't have a good name here for reliability and parts which seem to be used frequently are expensive
How do you find Fiat over in the UK/EU
Im partial to Sprinter, but don't see any in UK or EU. What's with that?
I owned 2 V6 diesels and loved them

 

[Riverbankannie]

Sprinters are very much used here but make the finished conversion expensive compared to a Fiat as they are cheaper. Most potential customers check out the habitation side only and will go for the cheaper one.
You are right to say Fiat’s reputation not the best and parts expensive as many of us are finding out. However Hobson’s choice remains here.
Those converting for themselves will likely choose a Sprinter.

 

[Dorwyn]

G'day all.
Down here, our choice of base truck is either Japanese Isuzu/Fiat/Iveco/Merc Sprinter which Ive had in the past.
Fiat/Iveco don't have a good name here for reliability and parts which seem to be used frequently are expensive
How do you find Fiat over in the UK/EU
Im partial to Sprinter, but don't see any in UK or EU. What's with that?
I owned 2 V6 diesels and loved them

Fiats are cheaper than Mercs and so there are many more of them to go wrong ... and of course Peugeots and Citroens all from the same factory

 

[Wallaby Ted]

Yes, we once had a Peugeot 708 and swore never again, but moving to Portugal you are surrounded by them, so maybe safety in numbers ha ha

 

[Reevsie]

The ambulance service in the UK uses a lot of Fiats. See loads of then for re-sale approx 4-5 years old with 250-300k on the clock and still going. So they must find them pretty reliable.

Had a few Fiats myself and ther only problem I had was this the gearbox, robortised one in a 2015 model.
Personally I dont think the parts are any more expensive than the Sprinters. But in the UK second hand parts are a lot more readly available with Fiats over Mercs.

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[Guigsy]

For post conversion, the issue with older Sprinters is they're narrow at the waist and even narrower further up. Which forces you to longer (and heavier) base vans to squeeze everything in. And that they weren't (well?) galvanized, so even some newer and relatively low mileage vans are rusty.

 

[TerryL]

Our 2007 Ducato X250 has just passed 141,000 miles with no unexpected problems, just normal wear and tear. As long as they are serviced regularly, including cambelt if applicable, and driven properly your chances of trouble with a Fiat are no different to other makes. They're based on a commercial vehicle that's expected to do 300,000 miles per year!

 

[Speve]

I speak as I find and owned three Fiat Ducatos and two Fiat 4x4 Pandas and they have all been great engines without any major problems

 

[GBM]

I had a Fiat Ducato based Hymer for 9 years from new and never had a single issue with it. Recently got a Fiat Ducato based Burstner and it's older in relative terms so I think there's a few age related things to take care of, but nothing remarkable. My understanding is Mercs have a better ride quality, possibly a bigger difference the older the comparison (the Hymer was quite stiffly sprung). I can't comment on parts availability as of now, there are supply chain issues still in many places, but both are big brands so I'd imagine not much separates them on that score. Within the EU you've got the benefit of frictionless borders too