Wessex Garages, Bristol
http://www.wessexgarages.com/abarth
Feeder Road, Bristol, BS2 OSB
Phone: 0117 9165656
Fax: 0117 9165657

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Went for my 1st major service today, blue&me update and a few warranty issues squeaky calipers, leather wearing and a squeaky rear seat.

Scott was the guy i delt with in the service department, he was very helpfull and pleasent with all my inquiries, i will certainly go back to him again for anything in future.
I was plesently suprised when i dropped my car off to find that they had organised me an Abarth 500c for the day as mine was booked in most of the day.

Dan on the parts was helpfull in looking into the tyre pressure monitors from SS as they are new dealers and still getting use to the "abarth way" even tho all the text for parts where in italian he managed to source them for me.

On returning to pick up my car, i was made coffee then Scott talked me through what they had done on the service and gave me breakdown of it aswell. They also gave the car health check, brakes where cleaned to try resolve the issue with rear calipers and i was not charged, scott took pictures on the wearon the seat and is looking into the squeaky rear seat issue, and will get back to me in due course.
They had also saved the extra selina oil in the tin which i was given to take with me, some complimentry chocolates and some brake cleaner and lubricant, which was very kind.

I was very pleased with the pleasent service i recieved today, staff very polite and welcoming, none of my questions were to much trouble and i was talked through everything with no haste although they were very busy in the afternoon.


Thanks wessex.

Picked up my Abarth Punto Evo here as it was local to me. (not really local but near most of my family and friends so where I can often be found)

Its a nice showroom with lots of shiney stuff to drool over Alfas/Abarth and Kia, this made things a little difficult for me at least as I have had a couple of Alfas and my head is easily swayed   probably didn't help that my shopping list was large and the Abarth wasn't actually at the top of it.

Had previously only drove the Grand Punto Abarth Esseesse with Vospers in Plymouth which was great but at the time I was looking Fiat had announced the Evo and as I thought the only problem with the GPA was that the interior was looking pretty dated I decided not to go ahead and take a wait and see approach, and of course there was the price issue, Abarths aren't cheap and there is some stiff competition,  spent the next year or so trying out numerous alternatives but there is always something that put me off, so had a hard time making my mind up, in the end though I decided that I actually like the look of the Punto Evo and while its not ultimately as good as a lot of other in my list it fits in well with a set of compromises I was willing to take and at an OK price.

Went down in March to do the deal on a stock vehicle, staff were decent and helpful, my Salesman was Kevin who took me over the car and setup my test drive.

Being in the centre of Bristol there is not a lot decent driving places you can get too quickly within short dsitance of the dealership but the test drive route I was taken on didn't even attempt to try and find a good road etc. short blat down the Dual carriageway and back to the dealer, not very good, not a patch on Vospers.

Kevin was new so I was mostly dealt with Via the brand manager Paul, process was pretty painless, traded in my old dustbin for a paltry amount as is the way with trade-ins and drove off in my new APE, all done very quick and easy.

For the most part it was very smooth, knowledge of the Brand was not very good though, questions on esseesse kit etc, not really answered I gather this is an Abarth fault more so than dealer and also weren't very clued up on servicing intervals etc. which is a bit poor, you should know the product you are selling, its not like there are 1000 varieties.

Its early days, things are bound to improve, I've yet to see how they handle servicing etc, hopefully I won't have to inform them of whats involved in the same way I had to educate them of the service intervals on an APE.

They are new to Abarth so perhaps I should cut them some Slack, they weren't bad by any means but personally thought I should of bought from Vospers who knew the product inside and out and really did a good job of selling the car to me back then, but I'm far too lazy to travel 

Took my car in again today for work, rear seat squeaing and replacement of drivers base and leather was wearing, Scott had managed to get abarth to replace under warranty so was happy, left the car all day, when collected it had been valleted inside and out, very happy with service i have reseved on both occassions

Thanks

We picked up our new Abarth 500 yesterday from Wessex on Feeder Road in Bristol.

Full marks to salesman Richard and all the staff there. We were very pleased with the way we were treated.

Back in to Wessex again this week see if they could track down the source of my cars vibration under load, they took the car for a couple of days, had a good look around and couldn’t find anything untoward so got me to come down and take one of the techs out in the car to demonstrate and would you believe, it’s gone  , two bloody months I’ve been driving about with this, doing all sorts of wheel balancing etc, I take it to a dealer and it self cures, seems to be a bit of a habit with my Punto  I’m going to be known as the boy who cried wolf soon 

Took it in for gearbox issues, couldn’t select first sometimes, notchy ness etc, they had a look, couldn’t see anything up and indeed when I got the car back it was gone, gearbox no trouble since.

Took it in for mysterious burning smell, they had a look around, couldn’t find anything and indeed when I got the car back it was gone, though I have since discovered what that was most likely down to after replacing the engine cover and the smell returned, think it’s the stuff under the cover curing.

I have an amazing self healing Punto 

They had a decent look around my APE from the sounds of things and pointed out areas on the car that might have been the source but clearly as they couldn't find much wrong with the car, its hard for them to say for sure, also pointed out the mess the wheel balancers made of the job, so I'll be getting the wheels off at some point to sort it out.

Punto was also feeling a little flat past few days but last night seemed to rediscover its mojo and was going ballistic, yay, ‘twas a Happy Abarth day yesterday  lost a tank of fuel on the way to the Chinese

All service staff were quite helpful, seemed more approachable than on prior visits, no Kia loner for me this time, was given a Giulietta to drive, it was a poverty spec diesel, seemed to have bloody impressive economy compared to other diesels I have had in the past, 60mpg on my commute at faster speeds that I travel in the Punto typically, blimey even at 90 it was showing 60+ on the inst gauge, long gearing so not the quickest thing but felt alright to drive, smooth ride, seemed a bit low rent inside compared to other Alfas I have experienced, felt a bit like our old Stilo.

Wessex even gave my motor a service wash this time…..unfortunately that involved blasting the remainder of my stripes off of the cars bumper  bit annoying but they were a bit damaged anyway, just not as bad as they are now, hopefully they will assist in the repair of these soon as I was going to provide the car for a mag test soon but with the cosmetic issues it would probably not be ideal.

So perhaps decline a valet next time if you have stripes.

Picked up my Abarth 500C from Wessex Garage, Bristol today.   Faultless service, very helpful getting car shipped, registered, taxed etc.  Whole process went without a glitch.

Everyone we dealt with was really helpful and accomodating.

Couldnt recommend them more

Bought my ex demo Esseesse Punto the other week from Wessex in Feeder Road salesman was Simon Neal proper nice chap!

There was a few very minor issues which are waiting to be done when the plates paperwork is received. Nothing to much trouble for Simon. Really everything was done for me and the car was delivered to my home that was very helpful.

Blue & Me is still an issue but going back to have 5.5 installed .....