I bought my 2.0/20 HLX in Aug. 99 at auction for ?7500, 10 months old, 10
000 miles on the clock.
No complaints about it overall, its interestingly designed, like the drop
down tail gate, versatile, spacious for its external size, fast! My one's
the 150bhp version.
However, its let down by the quality of some of its parts.

At 15 000 miles the clutch pedal return spring broke, not a problem though,
works perfectly without so never bothered replacing it.

At 30 000 miles the exhaust simply fell off at speed on the motorway. It
wasn't corroded, just broke at the weld joints, poor workmanship and quality
control at Fiat.

45 000 miles: the seat height mechanism broke, drilled a couple of holes and
screwed the frame to the runners. The tailgate wiper failed due to
corrosion. Water got inside its sleeve bearing. Shortly after the tailgate
release handle also failed due to corrosion. Had a real job releasing the
locks and opening the tailgate in order to fix it.

60 000 miles: the seat frame broke, just cleanly snapped on the side. Did a
temporary fix using a steel tube and a few screws. Clearly poor quality
steel used here. I'm now looking for a replacement seat.

Front tyres last 16 000 miles, rear at least twice that. The 5 cylinder
engine is an absolute gem. Never missed a beat or failed to start on the
first turn of a key.

I've always done my own servicing so do not know much Fiat charge but I was
pleased to find out that Fiat's original parts are very often cheaper than
Halford's replacements.

Its now done 68 000 miles and I'm getting ready for a cambelt change. Too
big a job for me so I've chosen an independent garage as Fiat quoted over
?1000, the independent quoted under ?200 and does have a good reputation
locally.