|
FIAT has never been known for its high quality, but it is the econocar - simple and affordable. Being simple and lightweight, it doesn't need hi-tech gizmos to get good FE. The commonrail technology was first used in the Alfa Romeo branch of FIAT, probably easier to hide the costs of the new technology in an expensive sports/luxury car than in a bare bones cheapo set up. Today's Fiats are light years ahead of what they were 15-20 years ago, but they are still on the cheapish side (both price- and quality-wise) compared to the average of each market segment.
I believe that the Fiats that were sold in the US were either worse than their European counterparts, or not well adapted to the different environment, or both. Hence, the jokes about how awful they were, along with Yugos (which are nothing more than a slightly updated Fiat 127).
__________________
e·co·mod·ding: the art of turning vehicles into what they should be
What matters is where you're going, not how fast.
"... we humans tend to screw up everything that's good enough as it is...or everything that we're attracted to, we love to go and defile it." - Chris Cornell
[Old] Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread
|