The opposite view

Sir,
I thought your readers might be interested in my personal experience of the reliability so oft quoted of cars manufactured by our Continental rivals.

Last year, subsequent to reading Mr. John Bolster’s enthusiastic test report and having tried all the close competition, I bought the “car of the year”, a Fiat 128. There is not sufficient space here to relate all the problems I have had with the car, but the final straw, as far as I was concerned, was when Fiat (England) Ltd. agreed to pay for replacement faulty needle bearings in the gearbox but considered that I should pay for the labour involved in spite of the fact that they admitted that these, along with many other parts fitted to the car were faulty.

As far as I am concerned, British cars may not have the same reputation for reliability but at least their service facilities do not shirk their responsibilities.

Peter G. Schuberth.
Ware.