A tale of fiat related woe...

[toadoverload]

Today we are leaving London for a new life in Somerset. A massive change and incredibly stressful. I drive a '67 Volvo 121 and our modern is an '07 Fiat Multipla unfortunately with the facelift, I prefer the bug eyed ones.

The removal guys were in yesterday filling boxes so the missus took the fiat to pop to the shops.

All was great, texts came in asking what beer I wanted (surely true love!).

Then about an hour later she rang to say she'd broken down and the gearstick had snapped. Oops. She was in the middle of a busy road.

I threw the 4 year old at the mother in law and dashed off in the volvo. Luckily she had AA membership and they arrived shortly after me.

The car was in gear and on pulling off the cover on the stick, its a remote linkage thing, I could see that the part of it that links to the stick had snapped.

Unfortunately this had happened before over 2 years ago.... In worse circumstances as was on the M5. On that occasion a pair of mole grips got us back to London.
On that occasion I decided a more permanent fix was needed. I looked up the price of the linkage assembly and decided to instead pay a local garage £30 to weld it.

Luckily last night the better garage I normally use was still open so the AA took it there and he reckons he can get it sorted this morning. Fingers crossed and a salutary lesson in cheapskatedness and Fiat welding quality on critical bits....

[TerryG]

I moved out of London 5 years ago and haven't regretted it for a second.
It isn't only Fiat that have gear lever quality control issues, the plastic mountings for the gear lever sheared off when pulling away from lights in my MK1 focus. Fortunately a £15 ebay part fixed it and it has been fine since but definitely concerning when you are driving along and the gear lever comes away in your hand!

[JPB]

Oh dear! Maybe the Fiat doesn't want to move out of the capital? Solution: Buy a sixties Bedford CA crewbus as an alternative.

[harvey]

Oh dear! Maybe the Fiat doesn't want to move out of the capital? Solution: Buy a sixties Bedford CA crewbus as an alternative.

The ideal choice because they never had problems with the gearlevers snapping off did they?...... Blimey, they came from the factory with a pair of molegrips in the toolkit....

[GHT]

Today we are leaving London for a new life in Somerset. A massive change and incredibly stressful. I drive a '67 Volvo 121 and our modern is an '07 Fiat Multipla unfortunately with the facelift, I prefer the bug eyed ones.

You were doing alright until you mentioned that you like the bug eyed Multiplas. Damn thing looks like one car humping another car. But on a serious note, you will find Somerset quiet by comparison. My wife and I left East London about six years ago and moved to the Hampshire Dorset borders, on the edge of The New Forest. Now we have a wonderful social circle, and London, with it's high housing cost, street crime and traffic anarchy, is nothing more than a distant memory. I do hope it will be much the same for you.

Oh dear! Maybe the Fiat doesn't want to move out of the capital? Solution: Buy a sixties Bedford CA crewbus as an alternative.

The ideal choice because they never had problems with the gearlevers snapping off did they?...... Blimey, they came from the factory with a pair of molegrips in the toolkit....

There's a reason gear levers snap off, drivers who like to drive around holding the lever the whole time. It puts strain and pressure on the linkage. I have to agree that the CF took planned obsolescence to a whole new level, but in the main, keeping your hand off the gear stick other than for changing gears will preserve the all the linkage bits.

[JPB]

Oh dear! Maybe the Fiat doesn't want to move out of the capital? Solution: Buy a sixties Bedford CA crewbus as an alternative.

The ideal choice because they never had problems with the gearlevers snapping off did they?...... Blimey, they came from the factory with a pair of molegrips in the toolkit....

Ah! It was water pumps that my CA was most fond of eating.

That (hard ice cream) van only failed in that way twice during the entire four months of heavy use it suffered! But a crudely pressed gear lever that would look more at home as a handle for a milk pan wasn't the sole cause of the failures, that would be the way in which the several thousand joints between the gearbox and the steering column tended to seize every time the van so much as looked at the salt water puddles on the beach.
I blame Subaru. Had they paid me more, I wouldn't have had to abuse an old van - on my days off - to pay the mortgage.

[GHT]

I blame Subaru. Had they paid me more, I wouldn't have had to abuse an old van - on my days off - to pay the mortgage.

Don't go blaming Subaru, you didn't have to sell ice cream, with a body like your's you could have kept a cattery of elderly pussies very happy, and been quids in too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDkLSjsiqlM

[toadoverload]

We made it safely even with 2 hours on the M25. I cheered when I got on the M3
Fiat was fixed just in time. Volvo was faultless, might have pushed some oil out of the engine on the A303 but was having fun

I don't miss London even taking into account the trauma of moving!

We were living in Enfield and it was horrible. London looks like it'll end up left to the extreme rich and dirt poor, not a nice combination. Looking forward to the new life here.

There is something reminiscent of frogs mating in the look of the Multipla. I'd rather replace it with one of these:

[GHT]

There is something reminiscent of frogs mating in the look of the Multipla. I'd rather replace it with one of these:

You see, you are not out of London two minutes and already you have a sense of refinement, grace, style, cream tea on the lawn. Welcome to genteel civilisation

[toadoverload]

For the first time in 30 years I've left my shiv and knuckleduster at home.

Best of all the house has a garage with power.