General Just bought a nearly new Sedici

[VII CKS]

Wow, lucky you.

Looks stunning, esp the colour.

 

[alfabarry]

It is also an old school sounding diesel

But surely it's the same 1.9 mjet found elsewhere in the Fiat range. That diesel engine is in fact the only thing about the Sedici that's truly Fiat. Its the reason there's a Sedici in the first place: Fiat needed a 4x4 bigger than Panda and Suzuki needed a diesel engine. The petrol car is pure SX4 apart from the badges and trim levels.

Ours seems perfectly civilised given its a diesel: certainly no worse than the VW PD diesel in our A4. With you on the gearchange though.... it would drive me bonkers if I had to use it every day from cold, but my wife (whose car it is) seems perfectly relaxed about it.

The seats are pretty shapeless, but there are worse out there for comfort (cue Audi again...), and that at least means there are no bolsters to get in the way of using removable back supports.

 

[Geordie Amanda]

I have owned several VW sourced diesels including a couple of PD ones and the FIAT MJ in the Sedici is a very noisy thing. I can’t think of a noisier instillation in any diesel I have driven apart from the early Sierra Diesels (truly awful) and serious Off Roaders (who cares). My current daily car has the 123D twin turbo engine and is a paragon of refinement and pulling power, but it is a very expensive engine.

I think the reason I don’t mind the faults of my Fiat are as mentioned above. I wanted a 4x4 first and foremost and also one cheap to run. The Sedici fits the bill better than any other car I could think of at the price and age of vehicle that I wanted. I stand by my earlier comments though and if you are looking for a nice lifestyle Soft-Roader it is probably not the right car for you, at least in not in Diesel form.

Oh and I think it looks nice as Vix kindly said

 

[alfabarry]

That's interesting. I sometimes wonder at the differences between individual examples of the same engine. I drove two Panda multijets (one on an extended test drive) before buying one and was disappointed to find the one I bought to be far noisier from day one. As for our Sedici, it is obviously noisier from inside than the A4, but that's just down to the extra structural isolation and soundproofing that comes in a £23K car. Listen to them from outside bonnet up and the Audi is the noisier of the two. On the move at 50mph, there's remarkably little in it.... We also lived with a (new) Bravo for a few weeks. This had the 1.9 Fiat mjet and was swapped directly for the Sedici. The engine noise levels from outside were very similar, but the Bravo was somewhat more refined from the inside (probably again a feature of better soundproofing & vehicle design).

If you want to do an aural urban pose, it really it has to be petrol. As Clarkson said of the diesel Brera, diesels exist for people who "want a moustache on their mona lisa". And for people with high torque needs as in butch 4x4s. And for tightwads. Which has to be most of us these days.. sigh!

 

[Geordie Amanda]

Some of us bought our diesels for performance too….


148mph
0-60 6.7secs

 

[Sweetsedici]

My wife found a driving position, but found that the base of the seats lacked any form of support and found her bum sliding around going round a roundabout.

Despite initial rattling caused by the loose side protector panel on the driver door, it seems I have been luckier than most with my Sedici. The seats seem really comfortable to me and I have driven from Twickenham to Newcastle so they have been well tested! So far the interior is rattle free and my gear change is good too. Apart from crap service from the Fiat dealer where I bought it, I am happy with my Sedici.

 

[alfabarry]

it seems I have been luckier than most with my Sedici. The seats seem really comfortable to me and I have driven from Twickenham to Newcastle so they have been well tested! So far the interior is rattle free and my gear change is good too. Apart from crap service from the Fiat dealer where I bought it, I am happy with my Sedici.

We share your happiness. After a year and 10K ours feels taut and goes really well. And as I said, it seems reasonably civilised engine noise-wise. We do however have the "difficult second gear from cold" issue. You get used to this though, although I understand that Fiat & Suzuki, while still describing this as a "characteristic" rather than a fault, have now produced a kit to improve second gear synchro in cases where customers cannot come to terms with it. This might be worth considering on any Sedici with a cold obstructive first-second shift: I can see the scene when trying to sell one secondhand and trying to explain that the baulking cold gear is a normal "characteristic"