RE: SOTW: Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
Discussion
Nigel... Hope you don't mind me posting a link to your car http://www.torquestats.com/modified/index.php?car_...
krispe said:
Nigel... Hope you don't mind me posting a link to your car http://www.torquestats.com/modified/index.php?car_...
Hmmm - really must update that with the new car....I bought a bad one, loved it but the oil pressure was low, it was burning oil but it did fly whilst it lasted, enough to make a Ferrari 360 have to work quite hard to pass, was running about 270 bhp.
As Nigel says, traction is amazing, or at least it is if you have decent tyres, a swap from Nankangs (one of the warnign signs that I should have heeded when buying) to Conti's was like going to 4wd where the Nankangs span up in third on a wet road.
They have a crap turning circle, the front wheels barely move side to side
I think they are one of those cars that are treated as just old cars, the fact they are in SOTW is testament to that and they will be dropping like flies at the moment as engines go, they get crashed or just to expensive to put through an MOT, ok not everyone likes them but they are pretty iconic so I think nice ones will start to appreciate, there arent many left in the scheme of things.
I had a bad experience but that was down to spendign more than I could afford and not beign able to afford to fix it, stressed me out that car but I will always have a soft spot, remember a mate buying a new one when he was IT contracting pre millenium and coming round in it, Ink Black, brand new and I was there with three small kids and no money, seemed impossibly fast at the time and impossibly unobatainable, now, here we are £995 !
As Nigel says, traction is amazing, or at least it is if you have decent tyres, a swap from Nankangs (one of the warnign signs that I should have heeded when buying) to Conti's was like going to 4wd where the Nankangs span up in third on a wet road.
They have a crap turning circle, the front wheels barely move side to side
I think they are one of those cars that are treated as just old cars, the fact they are in SOTW is testament to that and they will be dropping like flies at the moment as engines go, they get crashed or just to expensive to put through an MOT, ok not everyone likes them but they are pretty iconic so I think nice ones will start to appreciate, there arent many left in the scheme of things.
I had a bad experience but that was down to spendign more than I could afford and not beign able to afford to fix it, stressed me out that car but I will always have a soft spot, remember a mate buying a new one when he was IT contracting pre millenium and coming round in it, Ink Black, brand new and I was there with three small kids and no money, seemed impossibly fast at the time and impossibly unobatainable, now, here we are £995 !
I've owned two, a 20v atmo and a 20v turbo, both about a year old at the time.
With good tyres on it the atmo car was one of the best handling 'comfy, ie you keep your fillings' cars i have ever owned, it was stunning considering its origins. The turbo car was less happy handling wise but i always thought that was just down to timing the power delivery. The key with the turbo's, is not the 0-60 rubbish its when you are already rolling. At the time you could depress any Subaru driver in the dry,
I found them vastly underated.
With good tyres on it the atmo car was one of the best handling 'comfy, ie you keep your fillings' cars i have ever owned, it was stunning considering its origins. The turbo car was less happy handling wise but i always thought that was just down to timing the power delivery. The key with the turbo's, is not the 0-60 rubbish its when you are already rolling. At the time you could depress any Subaru driver in the dry,
I found them vastly underated.
Spingo said:
In the mid-late 90's I was based with the RAF in Germany - so many people were buying these cars from German FIAT dealers tax free & at such a knock down price they were EVERYWHERE on camp - even the lowest paid SAC would be driving one! It must have flooded the UK market when they were brought back over to be sold. Wouldn't surprise me if this one was first UK registered in Maidstone...
Whenever I see one of these cars (which is not often now), it takes me back to those happy, tax free days in RAFG!!! :-)
One of my friends bought a 20VT in 1998 through a relative working in the RAF in Germany. As I recall it had to stay in Germany with his relative for 6 months before he could buy it. Understandably the trip back to the UK took a rather convoluted and rapid route along some of the unrestricted autobahns. Whenever I see one of these cars (which is not often now), it takes me back to those happy, tax free days in RAFG!!! :-)
I have two memories of that car. He had a 'moment' on A309 Kingston by-pass shortly after bringing it back to the UK. Turning off the A3 just after Tolworth, the A309 has a long fast corner onto a fly-over on the A3 as it heads towards the Scilly Isles junction. If you judge it right you can carry a lot of speed into the corner which he did, but with the 20VT's ability to continue accelerating he very quickly found himself with too much speed in a tightening corner with no where to go. To his credit he kept his foot down to avoid over steering into the armco at 100+ mph (emphasis on the +) but after that corner, and one choice swear word from a rear passenger, it went very quiet in the car and was much, much slower for the rest of the drive home.
That and the bonnet weight a freaking ton! He had a parking prang which required the bonnet to be replaced but he wanted to keep the old one as a souvenir. As I was moving flat at the time and had a rented transit van I was dispatched to the body shop to collect it, but the size and weight of the metal clamshell bonnet made it very difficult for one person to get it into a transit van, it took me about 10 minutes, much swearing and skinned knuckles to get it in, and it was so wide and long that it would only fit diagonally. To this day I wonder how much faster the Coupe would be with a fibreglass replacement
At the same time another friend had a Alfa GTV 2.0 T.Spark so many comparisons between the two were made. The most surprising one was that the GTV, barely a 2+2 with no boot to speak of, was actually longer than the Fiat, a car with four proper seats and a boot that put much smaller cars to shame. The Fiat also used less fuel!
14 years later the Alfa has long since been sold, but my mate still owns that Fiat Coupe 20VT that almost killed us on the A309 in 1998, and I hope he still has that bloody bonnet.
Edited by GoodDoc on Friday 17th February 11:06
Bucketeer said:
Green with tan leather models get me moist, preferable to faded red or vomit yellow. Lovely cars but at higher speed I got the same feeling as speeding down a big hill on a pushbike I'd put together myself. Clenched.
Must have been something wrong with that car then! I've done top speed in my old car many times (265km/h on the speedo) and felt fine doing that. Not as planted as for instance an E92 M3, but certainly not scary in any way.A lex said:
GreatCornholio said:
Gouki said:
Must have been broken then, or not a 20vt. Book 1/4 mile time on a fiat coupe 20vt is 14.5 secs, which is achievable.
That makes the 14.3 my mildly tuned Corrado VR6 ran at Santa Pod a few years ago look rather good (even taking the high grip surface into account)!Family has owned four of these things (20v NA VIS (newer non-turbo engine 1999+), 20v NA (1998), 16VT (1996) and a 20VT LE (1998)). Never had any major problems, always very reasonable to maintain (if you avoid Fiat and instead use specialists like PowerItalia in Basildon) and immense fun.
I'd like to think these will be a future classic - they certainly don't deserve to be so cheap (although the badge doesn't help).
If I had room I'd buy another today.
http://www.fccuk.org/forum/ is a great little community of owners, highly recommended if you're in the market for one of these.
I'd like to think these will be a future classic - they certainly don't deserve to be so cheap (although the badge doesn't help).
If I had room I'd buy another today.
http://www.fccuk.org/forum/ is a great little community of owners, highly recommended if you're in the market for one of these.
A lex said:
GreatCornholio said:
Gouki said:
Must have been broken then, or not a 20vt. Book 1/4 mile time on a fiat coupe 20vt is 14.5 secs, which is achievable.
That makes the 14.3 my mildly tuned Corrado VR6 ran at Santa Pod a few years ago look rather good (even taking the high grip surface into account)!J4CKO said:
A lex said:
GreatCornholio said:
Gouki said:
Must have been broken then, or not a 20vt. Book 1/4 mile time on a fiat coupe 20vt is 14.5 secs, which is achievable.
That makes the 14.3 my mildly tuned Corrado VR6 ran at Santa Pod a few years ago look rather good (even taking the high grip surface into account)!J4CKO said:
They have a crap turning circle, the front wheels barely move side to side
I forgot about the crap turning circle. And reverse parking was more difficult than smaller cars because of the angle of the rear windscreen and quarter panel windows.Was I the only male with portofino blue?
Nice work, SoW and GoodDoc for that post too.
I was at a track day at Mallory Park last Sunday and there was a red one of these, which was lovely and quick. My MR2 GT and plenty of other cars were indicating right because of it. I was seriously tempted to buy a Coupe turbo one when I got the Toyota, but a combination of my mechanical ignorance and a few scary stories put me off looking, which, though sensible, is also stupid for that money, I know. To my eye, the design is taking ageing well too.
Once I'm done sliding the MR2 out of corners, one of these could be next.
I was at a track day at Mallory Park last Sunday and there was a red one of these, which was lovely and quick. My MR2 GT and plenty of other cars were indicating right because of it. I was seriously tempted to buy a Coupe turbo one when I got the Toyota, but a combination of my mechanical ignorance and a few scary stories put me off looking, which, though sensible, is also stupid for that money, I know. To my eye, the design is taking ageing well too.
Once I'm done sliding the MR2 out of corners, one of these could be next.
GoodDoc said:
Spingo said:
In the mid-late 90's I was based with the RAF in Germany - so many people were buying these cars from German FIAT dealers tax free & at such a knock down price they were EVERYWHERE on camp - even the lowest paid SAC would be driving one! It must have flooded the UK market when they were brought back over to be sold. Wouldn't surprise me if this one was first UK registered in Maidstone...
Whenever I see one of these cars (which is not often now), it takes me back to those happy, tax free days in RAFG!!! :-)
One of my friends bought a 20VT in 1998 through a relative working in the RAF in Germany. As I recall it had to stay in Germany with his relative for 6 months before he could buy it. Understandably the trip back to the UK took a rather convoluted and rapid route along some of the unrestricted autobahns. Whenever I see one of these cars (which is not often now), it takes me back to those happy, tax free days in RAFG!!! :-)
I have two memories of that car. He had a 'moment' on A309 Kingston by-pass shortly after bringing it back to the UK. Turning off the A3 just after Tolworth, the A309 has a long fast corner onto a fly-over on the A3 as it heads towards the Scilly Isles junction. If you judge it right you can carry a lot of speed into the corner which he did, but with the 20VT's ability to continue accelerating he very quickly found himself with too much speed in a tightening corner with no where to go. To his credit he kept his foot down to avoid over steering into the armco at 100+ mph (emphasis on the +) but after that corner, and one choice swear word from a rear passenger, it went very quiet in the car and was much, much slower for the rest of the drive home.
That and the bonnet weight a freaking ton! He had a parking prang which required the bonnet to be replaced but he wanted to keep the old one as a souvenir. As I was moving flat at the time and had a rented transit van I was dispatched to the body shop to collect it, but the size and weight of the metal clamshell bonnet made it very difficult for one person to get it into a transit van, it took me about 10 minutes, much swearing and skinned knuckles to get it in, and it was so wide and long that it would only fit diagonally. To this day I wonder how much faster the Coupe would be with a fibreglass replacement
At the same time another friend had a Alfa GTV 2.0 T.Spark so many comparisons between the two were made. The most surprising one was that the GTV, barely a 2+2 with no boot to speak of, was actually longer than the Fiat, a car with four proper seats and a boot that put much smaller cars to shame. The Fiat also used less fuel!
14 years later the Alfa has long since been sold, but my mate still owns that Fiat Coupe 20VT that almost killed us on the A309 in 1998, and I hope he still has that bloody bonnet.
Edited by GoodDoc on Friday 17th February 11:06
M400 NBL said:
J4CKO said:
They have a crap turning circle, the front wheels barely move side to side
I forgot about the crap turning circle. And reverse parking was more difficult than smaller cars because of the angle of the rear windscreen and quarter panel windows.Was I the only male with portofino blue?
Really wanted a Sprint blue one but the dealer had a Broom Yellow one, a Red one and the blue one, reckon if I had bought either of the others it would have been ok, mine had been owned by a lady who I suspect hadnt kept up with checking the oil, these cars liek a drink of finest synthetic, mines was getting through a litre per 100 miles at the end.
I've owned three coupes. The first was an early 16v in red that got stolen (parked outside a friends house, went out on the pop, returned to burgaled house, tv and hi-fi missing, as well as my car keys and car. Gutted!). This was replaced with a Portofino blue 20vt, the only mods i ever did were a stainless exhaust and induction kit. Neither ever missed a beat.
I replaced the 20vt with a 4.2 TVR Cerbera. Loved it to bits but it definately cost me more to run than the Fiat, especially as i was using it as an everyday car.
After three or so years i decided to sell up and save some money towards a house. I wanted something cheap but still pretty quick. Looked at other things but in the end it boiled down to how much bang you get for your buck, so another coupe it was to be then.
I've had my third 20vt just over three years now, and it has cost me quite a lot more to keep going than either of the previous ones, although I did expect this as it is a 14 year old car.
Touch wood nothing big has gone pop, the biggest being the turbo needing a rebuild. Apart from that it's had the cam belt (doesn't require engine out) and clutch done and various minor things, radiator etc.
It's now had some light mods (wheels, induction kit, lowered a touch and chipped a little, approx 260bhp) and i had it resprayed last year due to fading paint.
It all adds up to much more than it cost, or is worth, but it's great fun and will still show a clean pair of heels to most things.
Regards the handling, i found that on the standard wheels it was very much influenced by tyre choice. When i bought my 1st 20vt it was on Goodyears. When they wore out i fitted the correct spec Pirelli P-Zero's and it transformed it, becoming much sharper. This being due to them having much stiffer sidewalls, at that time at least. I've got a set of aftermarket 17" wheels on mine now and it makes it a far 'pointier' car.
All in all, i'd prefer it if it was RWD but it is what it is, and i love it!
By the way mine's Red with tan leather, sunroof and air-con, bit of a rarity i think.
For a few hundred quid you can't go wrong!
I replaced the 20vt with a 4.2 TVR Cerbera. Loved it to bits but it definately cost me more to run than the Fiat, especially as i was using it as an everyday car.
After three or so years i decided to sell up and save some money towards a house. I wanted something cheap but still pretty quick. Looked at other things but in the end it boiled down to how much bang you get for your buck, so another coupe it was to be then.
I've had my third 20vt just over three years now, and it has cost me quite a lot more to keep going than either of the previous ones, although I did expect this as it is a 14 year old car.
Touch wood nothing big has gone pop, the biggest being the turbo needing a rebuild. Apart from that it's had the cam belt (doesn't require engine out) and clutch done and various minor things, radiator etc.
It's now had some light mods (wheels, induction kit, lowered a touch and chipped a little, approx 260bhp) and i had it resprayed last year due to fading paint.
It all adds up to much more than it cost, or is worth, but it's great fun and will still show a clean pair of heels to most things.
Regards the handling, i found that on the standard wheels it was very much influenced by tyre choice. When i bought my 1st 20vt it was on Goodyears. When they wore out i fitted the correct spec Pirelli P-Zero's and it transformed it, becoming much sharper. This being due to them having much stiffer sidewalls, at that time at least. I've got a set of aftermarket 17" wheels on mine now and it makes it a far 'pointier' car.
All in all, i'd prefer it if it was RWD but it is what it is, and i love it!
By the way mine's Red with tan leather, sunroof and air-con, bit of a rarity i think.
For a few hundred quid you can't go wrong!
FYI, although the 20vt (and variants, such as LE or Plus) are the most popular Coupe, there are only around 2000 of the 20vt variants left in the UK now
The earier versions are getting rare now, with under 200 16v and under 170 16vts - they still fetch pennies though, but it can't be MUCH longer before they're generally accepted as classic rather than just by the Coupe-owning community
The earier versions are getting rare now, with under 200 16v and under 170 16vts - they still fetch pennies though, but it can't be MUCH longer before they're generally accepted as classic rather than just by the Coupe-owning community
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