How on earth can a Fiat dealer charge £304 to fit a centre pipe & back box (no catalyst) on a Fiat Panda? Is it made of gold FFS?
Even their aftermarket clone is £177. Kwik Fit are £197 less 15% special net offer valid for 3 weeks.
What is so special about a mild steel pipe and a double skinned mild steel box with a bit of muffling in it?
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Perhaps we forgot to mention FIAT's are cheap to buy but the parts are expensive, as is the servicing (which has been mentioned previously).
IME the exhausts don't last very long - compared to Ford, for instance.
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Hmm - our Skoda Fabia 1.9tdi never had an exhaust in the nearly 10 years we had it!
At least the tyres are cheap on the Panda - 2 Uniroyal Rain Experts for under £90 fitted.
There's a stiffish complaint going off to the dealer from whom we bought the Fiat, 18 days ago, - the exhaust is as rotten as a pear and the brake pads were worn out, too. Grrr!
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>> There's a stiffish complaint going off to the dealer from whom we bought the Fiat,
>> 18 days ago, - the exhaust is as rotten as a pear and the brake
>> pads were worn out, too.
>>
I always have an AA inspection on secondhand cars before I agree to buy. Well worth the money.
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If the brake pads are as bad as you make out, I'd be taking the car back to the supplying dealer and pressing him/her to fix them up FOC...
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>> How on earth can a Fiat dealer charge £304 to fit a centre pipe &
>> back box ...........
Sounds OK to me. Nine years I paid £166 for a new rear silencer (genuine replacement fitted at a Ford dealer) on my Focus. Why don't you ask what the cost of the parts alone (i.e. no fitting charge) would have been?
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Exhausts seem to last much longer on diesel cars than petrol ones in my experience. I think I read somewhere there's a reason for that. Moisture content difference of the exhaust gases or something.
My infamously unbreakable Mondeo diesel still had it's original exhaust on it at nearly 200k. Didn't appear to be rusty either from the outside anyway.
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Back box is about £20, mid pipe about £20 on e bay. Just get a local garage to fit. I fitted the back box myself in about an hour, just on car ramps, straightforward job.
£304!!!! Having a laugh!
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Hopefully you haven't coughed up to the Fiat highwayman Roger, for less than that you could have a full bespoke Stainless system with lifetime guarantee if you shop about.
Good idea from Baz, maybe get a price on ebay carp, then check with GSF or Eurocarparts and see if they offer one made by Eberspacher (i think or similar name), blow paying that price for a small mild steel already rusting system.
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I certainly won't be spending over 300 notes for a "genuine FIAT exhaust"
I can get a made to order, fully fitted, cat back stainless system for £220!
www.mijperformance.com/exhaust-fiat.html
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>> £304!!!! Having a laugh!
I once paid less than that for an entire Fiat Panda :)
Ran it for a year AND broke even when I sold it.
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Many people on the Panda have high mileage (80k plus) 54 plate Pandas still on the original box. I think the issue is on older low mileage Pandas which may do 30 miles a week in city driving. The condensation collects in the back box and rusts it inside out.
£300 is a joke, I paid £100 from National for a mid and back box for my Corsa and my mechanic told me he could have done it for £60 if I it wasn't an emergency! Reckon the trade price must have been very low!
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Our local motor factor stocks exhausts. A back box for SWMBOs Fiesta was £30. All their exhausts are made by Bosal. My mechanic fitted it in about 20 mins as part of a service. It fitted perfectly and there was no perceptible noise or performance difference compared to the original. £300 is a disgrace.
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.......so, IMO, is Kwik Fit's price!
Still researching - Amazon have back boxes @ around £45, eBay are even cheaper: centre pipes range from £27 on eBay to £45 on Amazon!
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Buy it on amazon and I am sure a good indie will only charge around £30 to fit :) What make is the Amazon one though? Are you planning to lots of long journeys or lots of short journeys?
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>> Many people on the Panda have high mileage (80k plus) 54 plate Pandas still on
>> the original box. I think the issue is on older low mileage Pandas which may
>> do 30 miles a week in city driving. The condensation collects in the back box
>> and rusts it inside out.
I think that's been the problem with this car - low miles and 8 years!
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no-one buys a panda for racking up tens of thousands of motorway miles.
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>> no-one buys a panda for racking up tens of thousands of motorway miles.
Well, funnily enough, an Italian pal of mine does just that. He has a 200 mile round trip (mainly autostrada) commute 5 days a week and does it in a 1.3d Panda. He is a bit mad though.
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Several people do, although it is not always planned! E.g people might change jobs but decide it is not worth buying a new car.
My car has done 350 miles in one day and nobody had any discomfort. The 54bhp engine wasn't always too happy going up steep hills and having four people in the car though!
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>>The 54bhp engine wasn't always too happy going up steep hills and having four people in
>> the car though!
>>
Wrong gear Ratts? :-)
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Stumbled across a 3 year old Panda with 290,000km on the clock at a dealer. That's nearly 100,000km or 60,000 miles a year! In a Panda! It was on its second engine though.
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2006. We moved from Camden Town to Blackpool.
55 Plate 1.2 Eleganza.
Try. Camden-Leeds-Blackpool-Camden in one day.
Great MPG, held it,s own on the motorway, passenger and my self commented how comfortable it was.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 14 Mar 12 at 01:47
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Just under 250 smiles in 4 hours, give or take a bacon butty or 3.
I've done that twice in one day (Cornwall/London) t'was in a BMW mind :)
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My letter to the supplying dealer has borne fruit!
A new mid pipe & back box at their expense.
Only downside was an 80 mile round trip to their premises for the rotten bits to be inspected and the new bits fitted.
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Good result Roger, can't beat putting things in writing.
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Great result, I hope enjoy the Panda as much as I have enjoyed mine over past 22 months.
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FIAT Panda - Exhaust prices. - AnotherJohnH
