Fix It Again, Tony!

Here in the US, all Fiats are imported, so they are more expensive than Fords or Dodges. The problem with them is that they seem to break down very frequently.

On the Radio show Car talk, it's an ongoing joke about how unreliable they are. "If you want to get close to your mechanic, buy a Fiat." "If you own a Fiat, you had better have a second car to pass the time while the Fiat is in the shop." My uncle owned one in the 80's, and it seemed to break down every other week.

They are very popular in Europe, due to low price and decent gas mileage. They also make very compact cars (at least by American standards), and look similiar to Renault models. Fiat also manufactures mopeds and motorbikes.

If you go to Fiat's international homepage at Fiat.com, there's no listing for the US. There are also very very few in circulation in North America. They seem to have died out after the 70's-80's.