It makes a very pleasant change to be able to report some excellent service from a Fiat service department.

After seemingly curing the initial squealing GPA brakes with some CopaSlip, it has recently returned thouigh nowehere as bad as before. However this has been accompanied by intermittent noise from the brakes as though the pads were binding. Some times louder than others.

I booked the car in for service today and sod's law, no noise. I took Nick the tech for a short drive but no noise. Nevertheless he checked the disks and pads but could see nothing. I'd been worried that maybe a disk was chipped or cracked.

The B & M was also playing up (some buttons not working on all functions) so he ran the examiner which showed that the system thought that the mute button was permanently pressed. He reset the system and all seems to be well.

So I decided to take the car home but stopped off on the way. Lo and behold the b noise was back again. Autoworld told me to take the car straight back.From the inside the noise seemed to be from the front, from outside it seemed to come from the back.

To cut a long story short Nick and Alan (the other Abarth tech) stripped and rebuilt both front and rear brakes and found dirt on an ABS sensor. They also noticed that a non-standard wheel spacer fitted behind  one of my front wheels was slightly corroded on the face which meant that perhaps the wheel hadn't seated properly. I thought that the service manager might charge for this work but he seemed more concerned that they may not have completely sorted the problem.

Anyway 5 hours work, a lot of head scratching, problem hopefully cured. Thanks guys, good work.

That spacer was there because, despite an extra 2mm offset over standard, the OZ wheels didn't clear the Brembo calipers.

I had my first service done at Autoworld yesterday.

As usual, Nick did a great job, not only doing the service but also stripping and bleeding the brakes.

They also fitted new door locks as the rattling had persisted. I never expected that  but I've now got a (relatively) quiet car.

Nick also pointed (quietly) that the car has been over-revved 23 times for a total of 3750 milliseconds. This was probably done whilst downchanging when driving enthusiastically as I can only remember taking it into the red a handful of times. There's not a lot of power up there so it's not worth it. Nick's concern was that if I had any gearbox problems, Fiat tech might frown on those figures should theyn get worse. Handy to know.

the tea, biscuits and a newspaper definitely help, they finished my car before i was ready!

receptionist didn,t know what an abarth was but the job got done and the surroundings were the best i have encountered at a dealer

they don,t return phone calls though

l dropped the car off at 9 am this morning, at 16.45 l recieved a phone call saying the l had a water leak(to be repaired under warranty), l need two new tyres and the A/C needs cleaning and to top it off, my incorrect stripes are pealing off so they are being replaced....result? don't think so, can't have the car back until wednesday!!!! not bad to say they told the wife 2 hours, try 3 days

They're only doing their job. If your car has a water leak then it's their job to fix that. Having to order a part will mean it will take an extra day to do it. Your stripes are peeling and they're being replaced. I don't see where the bad service is here  

Had the same problems with my AGP stripes. Started peeling off, then found out they weren't the proper Abarth items. They tried fobbing me off at first but kept at em after speaking with a few of the lads at the xmas meet. Wouldn't touch autoworld again with a barge pole!!! 

called into Autoworld last tuesday for them to listen to my creaky front suspension. tech came for a ride around the car park and confirmed it was the front strut mounts and he would change both sides under warranty. i mentioned the rubber seal between the drivers door and rear side window had started to split and he said they would fix that as well.

dropped car off this morning, they gave me a lift to station and picked me up again tonight.

all sorted, no hassle, newspaper and coffee whilst waiting.

the tech guy seemed to know his stuff (he remembered my fiat steering wheel) and reception staff were friendly and efficient.

one bit of entertainment, i got a text message on wednesday confiming an appointment for the previous day and another saying my car was ready when i was already driving back, i think there  trying to be too clever

text fun aside though its been really good, just how a warranty problem should be dealt with

situation now resolved. rang autoworld first thing monday and told them the window fitting was really bad and needed to be done again. no arguments, booked me in without seeing it and there text alert system worked this time.

dropped car off this morning and returned at 5 to pick it up. proper job this time and they had also checked the car over, found a split handbrake gaiter which they said they would fix if i wanted  but also suggested it wasn,t the end of the world if it was just greased.

i pointed out that my wheel centres were going scabby so they have ordered me a new set,

had a chat about warranty work in general and they reminded me to report anything untoward before the cars hits 2 years as the 3rd year warranty is less generous.

all the staff involved were friendly and chatted about abarth in general and abarth get-togethers etc

it has actually been quite enjoyable once you ignore the fact that i shouldn't have needed to be there at all, and that was down to a poor job by a glass company


overall they dealt with the issue very efficiently