| Product: |
Fiat Multipla in general |
| Date: |
01/04/03 (470 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: Resale value? Who cares, I'm going to keep it 'til it dies! Then buy another.
I loved the look of this car when I saw the photo's of it as a concept back in '96.
Last week I finally bought one!
A JTD ELX in Canary blue. It is by far the best car I've ever had, and one of the best I've ever driven (and I've owned and driven a lot of cars).
I admit that the looks are very much an aquired taste - either you love them or loathe them.
One thing you can't do is ignore them! Personally I'd rather drive something that looks different than yet another eurobox like a Golf or an Astra.
We are a family of five, with children aged 3,13,and 15, and they all love the car and make excuses to go out in it. Of course I say no every time (yeah, right I do!).
The Diesel engine is brilliant - powerful, torquey, and quieter than a lot of petrol engines (except at idle of course). We've done 380miles so far and the fuel gauge is showing just below half a tank (65litres), so economy looks good too.
Build quality is very much better than you might expect from Fiat - there's no rattles or squeaks - everything is just really well screwed together and very well designed.
The ride quality is sublime, the handling fun, and road noise on the Firestone Firehawk 700's virtually non-existant. We can converse in normal voices at 80+mph with the stereo on at a decent level. You can't say that about many 'mainstream' cars let alone those fitted with a Diesel engine!
A note about the width:- I get sick of hearing people complain about this, yet no-one seems to complain about the width of a Land Rover Discovery or a Mercedes 'S' class, which are wider still. And a Multipla is an awful lot shorter and very easy to park - honest! Those van like mirrors (my wife calls them ears) are excellent, and the parking sensors are pretty well redundant.
A further point worth making is this:- how do you get sickly children out of the rear seats of a Zafira/Galaxy/Sedona etc before they
throw up? Not easy is it? In a Multi you simply open a door and lift them out - there's no seats to tip forward, nobody has to get out of their seat 1st before you can have access to the rears, you just have brilliant access to all six seats.
There is also a good crumple zone between the rear seats and the rear of the car - not something you can say about most other MPV's, especially in the under £20,000 league!
In summary all I can say is, if you have a family to transport, put your prejudices to one side and buy a Multi, or at least test drive one. As far as I and a lot of other owners are concerned, there is only ONE family car on the market worth the purchase price.
If we could afford to run a second car what would it be?
You guessed it; another Multipla!
Summary:
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Last comments:
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- 02/04/03 You say that I WILL get problems with my Multi; well I MAY get problems with it, but I used to own a Punto some years ago (a mkI) and in 3 years of ownership I had not one single solitary problem. Nothing squeaked, nothing rattled, nothing broke, nothing fell off, it was just a very reliable and trusted friend.
Okay, I may have chosen the wrong examples to compare a Multi with; a Zafira or Scenic would have been better.
We used to own a Scenic and that was a good motor too (we like Renaults in our family - we've had several), but it was ultimately cramped (especially the centre rear seat) and anonymous. I suppose if somebody asked me what the single most appealing feature is about the Multipla, I would have to answer that it is the antithesis of anonymity!
No, I don't work for Fiat - i just love SOME of their products (the Fiat Coupe is another). But I hated the Panda and the Tipo and the Croma, and I must say I'm not keen on the MkII Punto either!
Thanks for all the positive remarks; and the negative too. Without diversity of opinion life would be so much more tiresome.... |
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- 02/04/03 Welcome & all that and I am pleased that you like your new purcahse. Be interested to learn what problems you get (and being a Fiat, you WILL get problems).
You say you have only had it since "Last week", so i would certainly hope that you think "it is by far the best car I've ever had". But don't compare it with "another eurobox like a Golf or an Astra". You have bought an MPV - and one which loses out to several of its rivals since it ONLY has seating for SIX!.
We still love our Espace, bought almost 10 years' ago for our family of 5. Thus the children could be put in 3 of the rear seats, arranged in all sorts of different ways, to give extra luggage room (or separation space!). And oh the ability to remove all 5 of the rear seats. Indeed, I am off to IKEA this evening with all 5 rear seats removed, to cart some bookcases for our elder daughter. The Multipa would be a poor substitute, I'm afraid.....
Plea se reassure me that you don't work for Fiat (lol). |
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- 01/04/03 Welcome to DooYoo.
I was introdused to the Multipa In Greece last year. there were six adults and there was plenty of room. When I first saw it I chrisend it "The Ugly Duckling" the nams stuck as a tearm of endearment. Although we only had it fir three days it grew on us. Unfortunatly there is only the two of us at home nowand we are realy trying to think up reasons to get one when we next renew our car. I supose we could take to camping and use it to sleep in there is room enough for the kitchen sink. Great first reviw. |
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