re fiat 500 manual gearbox bearings an issue?

I’m in Australia and looking to buy a Fiat 500 1.2 manual.

The two Fiat specialist mechanics I’ve spoken to have told me that the gearbox bearings in the 1.2 can be a problem (which here in Aus costs ~ $4000 to fix), but the 1.4 has no problems because it uses angular contact bearing(s).

While general web searching hasn’t indicated that this something to be overly concerned about, i wanted to specifically ask here.

To what extent *should* I be concerned about the bearings in the 1.2?

If I should be, what percentage of cars have the problem, or how many miles / km’s might it take before the problem appears?

Is it possible that the 1.2 in Australia gets a different gearbox that is problematic?

Thanks.

 

I doubt whether there are any Fiat 500 owners here. It is mostly an Indian forum which used to have a lot of Linea, Punto and Avventura owners. Fiat pulled out from India years ago although they still have Jeep here, hence the low activity on this forum.

 

ahhh oops! Thanks Maxtor