I've seen a fiat with 190k on the clock, almost no oil and the few that was there was like black mud, engine still running,,, The 1.0 Fire [lol!] engine had the rods almost completely bathing in oil and no crosspoint between phases [this is why belt failure with no subsequent damage is not uncommon on small fiat engines]. Can't say materials are ok, can't say they're cool or fast, but you can't kill a fiat engine that's been built for one, single purpose: endurance and economy.
Besides this, Ferraris and Lambos are our stuff, Ducati is italian too, Lancia and Alfa did some wonderful cars in the past before being bought by fiat,,, it's fiat that sucks. Also many a foreign manufacturer use italian engineers [vw hired Walter De Silva for your
ibiza mk4 and the future golf mk6 just as an example out of many
],,, this goes to say, don't try and slate italian engineering [particularly when you're talking with an italian engineer].
Enough of the off topic, dribbler, if I was you I'd inspect the belt and check if any audible sign of bearing wear is audible [they start with a hiss and then with time it gets much more evident]. I suppose the 150k thing ain't just on the belt itself but the whole kit,,, nevertheless I'd be much more worried about bearing failure than the belt snapping,,,
another clever thing would be to call a seat parts
dealer and ask for the two different versions of cambelt and ask what year on, if ever, the ASV engine was fitted with the 150k belt.
oh-well, having recently done a FIAT (wonderfull engineering
