Fiat Coupe

Settleddown · 16 Mar 2010 at 17:28

Just a general thread for views on a Fiat Coupe the 20v Turbo

some I have seen are running a map which produce around 270BHP standard they are 220.

They seem to me anyway nice cars for the money, any owners on here would like to name the pros and cons and potential running costs?

Something like this, http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1538938.htm

Cheers guys

Howard · 16 Mar 2010 at 17:29

Pros: Absolutely achingly beautiful to look at, meant to have fine handling, turbo is rather quick, don't see many about

Cons: Reliability, servicing costs (IIRC some 'relatively simple' things are engine drop/out jobs?)

Mega cool cars though IMHO

Settleddown · 16 Mar 2010 at 17:34

I have noticed they have rather big brakes by Brembo I presume these aren’t cheap? There is the 16V turbo but its slower I guess they are the same car bar the engine? Can see some very nice ones for around £3k may snap one up

Adz · 16 Mar 2010 at 17:36

It's an awful lot of fun for very little money. Handling is fairly neutral, nice turn in, minimal understeer. The 20vT has tons of power. The looks are love/hate but it certainly grew on me.

I bought mine on a whim (in fact my friends/colleagues talked me into it) but I loved every minute until I crashed it. However it did have a few faults. The boot leaked like a sieve, the handbrake stuck on in the ice, various electronics simply didn't work. Expect and be willing to deal with or put up with these issues and you'll be fine

.

Settleddown · 16 Mar 2010 at 17:55

I am going to buy one 100%

They look fantastic and are a serious £££ = Fun ratio, it has to be the 20v Turbo.

Are the maps good? I have seen some around the 270 mark they must be quick!!

Dogbreath · 16 Mar 2010 at 18:14

As soon as you start trying to get serious power increases with generic maps and boost increases, reliability plummets. The number of people who have blown up engines on the forum ( FCCUK ) through either mods or neglect is shocking.

They are very cheap for the performance but they are definitely not cheap to run unless you can do everything yourself. As with any cheap performance car, people buy them and run them into the ground because they can't afford to look after them, so there are plenty of very rough ones around that need a lot of work to make them nice. £3k should get a nice one.

I would say handling is pretty average as standard, it's a very nose heavy car but it can be hustled along twisty roads fast enough. Slightly lowered with decent (e.g. Bilstein) dampers and uprated anti-roll bars they are supposed to handle quite well, though I can't lower mine as it wouldn't go into my driveway if I did.

My boot leaks as well, it's a stupid design made worse because I park facing downhill in my drive and the corners of the boot opening fill up with water when it rains and it's gets high enough to leak over the top of the seal if it's not 100% perfect.

The handbrake cable is a very common issue caused by the rubber boots that seal the cable splitting and letting water in. New cables will fix it.

Sin_Chase · 16 Mar 2010 at 18:40

I must be in a minority because I hate the look of them

Biohazard · 16 Mar 2010 at 18:42

black is probably best colour to get it in, afaik the coloured models match the body colour with strips in the interior/dash etc.

Yellow etc, and it looks like a bucket of sick.

Dogbreath · 16 Mar 2010 at 18:50

Biohazard said:
black is probably best colour to get it in, afaik the coloured models match the body colour with strips in the interior/dash etc.

Yellow etc, and it looks like a bucket of sick.

They didn't do a proper black unfortunately, it's called "Ink black" and it's just about the nastiest colour in the range (though I don't like the yellow either). They made a few different metalic greys which suit the car quite well, and a lovely pearlescent white which is very rare.

GravyMonster · 16 Mar 2010 at 20:19

Fantastic cars. Very nearly bought one of these about 2 years ago, but stories of unreliability and high servicing/running costs put me off. Insurance at the time was quite reasonable at 26, 1NCB, 0 points or claims ok-ish postcode was about £800 for a 20vt. A plus was around an extra £100.

Regards the colour, it has to be red, black or light blue, in that order

MikeHiow · 16 Mar 2010 at 20:25

Everyone seems to tell you that its an engine out job to even do the cambelt and tensioners, although there is a specialist tool that will allow this to be done without taking the engine out.

I looked at them a while back, and although they are lovely cars with one of the sexiest interiors on a car of this kind, the reliability issues drove me away in the end.

cm1179 · 16 Mar 2010 at 21:38

nice cars. i remember someone telling me a driveshaft is like £800+ (exch) for an example of high maintenance

Biohazard · 16 Mar 2010 at 21:42

MikeHiow said:
Everyone seems to tell you that its an engine out job to even do the cambelt and tensioners, although there is a specialist tool that will allow this to be done without taking the engine out.

its like rtab's on e36's. there is a specialist tool, but because its an older car now a lot of places don't have it even if they did in the first place (availability).

for example you're lucky with renault F7P/R engines if any dealers have the xrd to reset throttle body pentometer - so mess it up and your stuffed. not even renault can sort you out. :/

shrugs

panthro · 16 Mar 2010 at 23:23

Its not a specialist tool, you just have to drop the engine mounts IIRC.
I had a red 20VT LE running ~270bhp. Looks to die for and great fun to drive, but as Dogbreath said, once you start modifying, the reliability drops massively.
Maintenance doesnt cost as much providing you know where to buy parts from and where to get it serviced and maintained.
Most are long in the tooth now and if I was going for one I would be looking at 20VT Plus models.
The 16VT engine is the same as the one found in the Lancia Delta Integrale.

The_Abyss · 17 Mar 2010 at 00:16

Sin_Chase said:
I must be in a minority because I hate the look of them

+1. Can't stand them tbh. Must be Marmite.

BigglesPiP · 17 Mar 2010 at 00:54

MikeHiow said:
Everyone seems to tell you that its an engine out job to even do the cambelt and tensioners, although there is a specialist tool that will allow this to be done without taking the engine out.

The special tool is called common sense.

You release the left hand engine mounts, slacken off the right hand mounts, then tilt the engine enough to gain access to the belt. It brings a 9 hour job (book time) down to about 4 hours 30 minutes.

The floor pan is the same as my car and the suspension is very similar, but the LSD seems to wipe out one of my complaints; strange torque reactions under power on uneven roads. Being firmer sprung you're also much less likely to find the tuck under which makes some corners iffy in the 146.

MikeHiow · 17 Mar 2010 at 01:12

BigglesPiP said:
The special tool is called common sense.

You release the left hand engine mounts, slacken off the right hand mounts, then tilt the engine enough to gain access to the belt. It brings a 9 hour job (book time) down to about 4 hours 30 minutes.

The issue is with doing the tensioner rather than the ability to access the belt its self.

BigglesPiP · 17 Mar 2010 at 02:01

Same deal, you get the picture though.

Dogbreath · 17 Mar 2010 at 02:05

MikeHiow said:
The issue is with doing the tensioner rather than the ability to access the belt its self.

It can be done without buying any special tools*, though small hands would help greatly.

*I did have to chop down a torx bit to about 10mm long and use it in the end of a spanner to get the cam cover bolts undone.

BigglesPiP · 17 Mar 2010 at 02:13

Dogbreath said:
*I did have to chop down a torx bit to about 10mm long and use it in the end of a spanner to get the cam cover bolts undone.

I've heard that the job can be sped up more by using a method which damages the cover, can't picture how though. But that's quite a naughty method if true.