Indeed, once had a Tipo that I kept for nearly 11 years from new. That hadn't even needed a light bulb and still looked like new with 14,000 mileage, so nicely run in. Value, £500.
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A better experience than I had with my Tipo.
It was 1.9 turbo diesel that pulled like a train but leaky windscreen which allowed water into the electrics, silencer that fell apart etc., etc.
My wife, daughter and I have had several Fiat's over the years, 131 Mirafiori, Strada, Uno's, Punto's, Tipo, Tempra's and the original Croma.
My conclusion was small Fiat good large Fiat with the exception of the Croma bad. Then we get to Alfa Romeo, I had a 155 which was a great car to drive but it spent more time in the garage than on the road, after that I decided never to buy another Italian car...ever...until I bought a Fiat Doblo, absolutely brilliant vehicle, cheap to run on LPG, Alan was like a member of the family.
Probably my best buy was a used Daihatsu Hijet van, body by Piaggio, engine by Toyota . Original owners were Fulham and Hammersmith Council and it was used as their library emergency response vehicle, (how many emergencies does a library have?) factory fitted LPG, 14K on the clock, cheap as chips to run and very reliable.
I paid £1250 for Rupert, more than doubled the mileage over a 2 year period and sold it for £1750