Okay I bought this (my 3rd) Coupe on Saturday, then by Sunday I can't select gears properly. A bit peed off as you can imagine, so rather than book a day off work to go straight to Motormech (which in hindsight would've been a better option) I took it in to the local Fiat dealer, but asked them to say what the problem was and how much it would cost, before going ahead and doing anything. Whilst I was there, I also asked if they could just raise the suspension up slightly, as it's a bit too low on the adjustable coilover thingies which had been installed on there.

Anyway, just got a phonecall from the dealer, who reckons the cables have seized, and it will cost (get this) £360 to replace. What the fccuk?!! Having already posted about my gearbox problem here on the forum, and the majority verdict being something either loose or broken (and in either case a cheap job), I decided to tell them to balls and have now done what I should've done in the first place and phoned Paul at Motormech to get a second opinion, and now it's going down there next Weds.

Thank fccuk for the fact we have some reliable specialists around, because if it was left to main dealers we'd all be skint.

ps do you know what the crowning turd in the waterpipe was? The said they couldn't adjust the suspension either because it's a "non-Fiat part". So, because it doesn't have the word Fiat written on it, they instantly become incapable of giving a bolt a quick turn with a spanner?! Unbelievable...

What is unbelievable is that you took it there at all Surprised they recognised the car as actually being a Fiat Bunch of blithering idiots the lot of them.

Lucy, couldn't you adjust the suspension yourself anyway?

I cant even find my local one. Why was I trying to find it?

I know, I'm kicking myself.

There was some logic tho - I can't select reverse, 5th or 6th (at all), have pot luck on 1st (sometimes get 3rd), and unfortunately Motormech requires a day off work and usually book 1-2 weeks in advance.. so I figured if it was a simple job after all, then I'd be prepared to pay maybe an extra £20 or so to have it sorted now, rather than waiting.

My advice for future reference tho... just wait! And avoid main dealers like the plague

They are such idiots, in Colchester their 'coupe specialist' told me the LE had 250bhp- it had more power than the standard model etc.

It's shocking when dealers don't know their own cars, and it's not just Fiat either (though they do seem worse than most).

Prior to buying the 20vt+ I had considered going down the finance route for a 350z (til it dawned on me it wasn't as nice, wasn't as practical, and wasn't as exciting as the Coop... another story tho )

Anyway, I saw a special edition 350z GT4 in yellow, and phoned to make a few enquiries. Salesman gave me all this spiel about it being one of only 100 ever made, of which only 20 were yellow (for those who don't know, it was 176 of which 76 were yellow...). It also had the nismo aero bodykit, but he'd never heard of nismo. He said it was the 276bhp engine, but they actually tested the 296bhp engine in the GT4. Just a load of complete cobblers, and doesn't exactly instill you with the confidence to part with your cash.