Summer of ’69

Allow me to go slightly off message here. I know Car Mechanics is all about buying, fixing and running used cars, but its ethos is also about saving money. Which leads me to the current deal Fiat are running on their Tipo. It is alarmingly good value. At the time of writing – and right in the middle of 69-plate fever – you can buy a 1.4 five-door hatchback for £10,795. No haggling. No travelling. All the kit you could expect or reasonably need. With a three-year warranty of sorts – if you want three years of main dealer servicing (and I would) add £199 to those figures.

The deal my local Fiat dealer was offering was £179 down, £179 PCM with an APR of 5.9. That’s not far off a good personal loan rate, but the thing to remember with proper car finance is that you can hand it back if you get a rogue example or you just get sick of it. Add the servicing offer and that means £185 per month. What do you want for nowt?

I know some people have it in for Fiats, but this has never been my experience from the days of the original Tipo right up to the latest Panda.

Twenty-one years ago to the week, I was selling Rover 214Sis for this price and that was only because Rover had given us a strong incentive in order to mop up displaced Metro customers. Is it any wonder there is no margin in new cars anymore?