RE: Fiat Coupe: You (Didn't) Know You Want To
Discussion
I bought one of these three months ago and it’s definitely a cracking little car. I’ve had plenty of faster machinery, but it’s quick enough to keep me smiling and incredibly comfortable and pretty.
Yes, in the late ’90s it laid claim to ‘fastest FWD production car’.
Yes, the turning circle is a bit of a joke. I’m getting used to doing three point turns.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this little thing. The Coupé definitely is a quick car, but it’s not supercar quick. A good 944 is.
Yes, in the late ’90s it laid claim to ‘fastest FWD production car’.
Yes, the turning circle is a bit of a joke. I’m getting used to doing three point turns.
whythem said:
These will give a porsche 944T a run for its money.
Er, no. No it won’t. I can’t get anywhere near the journey times on Scottish country roads in my Coupé that I used to manage in my 944T. It’s nothing like as fast around corners and doesn’t come close to the incredibly planted feel that a 944 has.Don’t get me wrong, I love this little thing. The Coupé definitely is a quick car, but it’s not supercar quick. A good 944 is.
Edited by poprock on Tuesday 7th April 13:52
viggyp said:
They don't feel that fast as the gears are very long but the speedo showed silly speeds. I remember Autocar getting 6 sec 0-60 which was the quickest FWD car to 60 recorded.
Believe the Rover Tomcat/GTi turbo's were also generally reckoned to be 6 seconds (varying between 5.9-6.3 seconds 0-60 depending what magazine you put your faith in), and on par with the Fiat Coupes...Different shapes, same impressive acceleration for the 90's....
I owned a standard 1997 20v Turbo from 2001 to 2004. In my opinion, these cars look great now and looked amazing 20 years ago! They were very quick in their day and were faster than anything else in the same price range apart from the Impreza turbo. I remember being neck and neck with a couple of mid-nineties WRXs and saw an indicated 156 mph on the speedometer on a few occasions. In fact, the only cars I raced that were able to convincingly beat me were an E36 M3 and a Porsche Boxster S.
In terms of reliability, I experienced 2 cracked exhaust manifolds within 50K miles. The second manifold, was supposed to be an improved design from the 2000 year model but it still cracked due to excessive heat. I'm surprised that nobody else has mentioned this issue, perhaps you didn't drive yours as hard as I did, hehe
I enjoyed the handling a lot, apart from power understeer in the wet.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable car to own when only a few years old but I don't think I'm brave enough to own one now!
In terms of reliability, I experienced 2 cracked exhaust manifolds within 50K miles. The second manifold, was supposed to be an improved design from the 2000 year model but it still cracked due to excessive heat. I'm surprised that nobody else has mentioned this issue, perhaps you didn't drive yours as hard as I did, hehe
I enjoyed the handling a lot, apart from power understeer in the wet.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable car to own when only a few years old but I don't think I'm brave enough to own one now!
domV8 said:
Believe the Rover Tomcat/GTi turbo's were also generally reckoned to be 6 seconds (varying between 5.9-6.3 seconds 0-60 depending what magazine you put your faith in), and on par with the Fiat Coupes...
Different shapes, same impressive acceleration for the 90's....
I owned a Rover 220 GSI turbo before I bought my Fiat and and say that the Fiat was a far faster car above 60 mph. The Fiat would have a far better 0-60 time if it didn't have traction issues in first and second gears.Different shapes, same impressive acceleration for the 90's....
oversteerer said:
In terms of reliability, I experienced 2 cracked exhaust manifolds within 50K miles. The second manifold, was supposed to be an improved design from the 2000 year model but it still cracked due to excessive heat. I'm surprised that nobody else has mentioned this issue, perhaps you didn't drive yours as hard as I did, hehe
I mentioned it 
I welded mine up with my trusty MIG using stainless wire, and amazingly it lasted until I sold it 50k miles later. I also made the cut in the flange to convert it to the later style. My wife was not very happy - I used our oven set the max to pre-heat the manifold, and it stunk the house out.
405dogvan said:
andyps said:
I've had my 20VT for 11 years now and love it. No issues with reliability but it did need the oils coler pipes about 4 years ago. Cambelt has been chnage d regularly but not as often as 36k as that isn't needed on the 20VT. I did retire mine from everyday use about 3 years ago so it now gets treated to use as a hillclimb competitor, I can't quite beat an Impreza which is in the same class but has has mods to give at least 300hp but is only around 1-2 seconds quicker on a 70 second climb so not bad. One last thing, mine is now showing 192k miles. Hoping to hit 200k on a hillclimb run!
Now that's a proper car - proper miles - proper usage - I imagine when something inevitably goes pop and is beyond sensible repair (most likely structural rust?) you'll miss it like a lost family member - or throw money at it ;0The Coupe 20vt is probably THE most underrated car I've ever driven. If they'd had an Alfa badge - indeed ANY badge other than FIAT - they'd be a stone-cold classic.
Would be difficult to part with it now though.
I agree about the badge on it, as commented on her already, a Fiat does tend to be perceived poorly, but I didn't buy it for the badge, I really don't care about that.
poprock said:
Er, no. No it won’t. I can’t get anywhere near the journey times on Scottish country roads in my Coupé that I used to manage in my 944T. It’s nothing like as fast around corners and doesn’t come close to the incredibly planted feel that a 944 has.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this little thing. The Coupé definitely is a quick car, but it’s not supercar quick. A good 944 is.
Junior Supercar quick?Don’t get me wrong, I love this little thing. The Coupé definitely is a quick car, but it’s not supercar quick. A good 944 is.
andyps said:
Main concern is the engine going pop
The 5-pot lump is inherently reliable - the vast majority of failures are caused by one or more of three factors:-1) Aux belt failure, which then tangles with the cambelt
2) Lack of oil
3) Poor modifications (eg too much boost with insufficient fuelling or intercooling)
There are plenty of FCCUK members with cars well over 100k. Quite a few over 200k and some even higher than that. IIRC, the current highest mileage on the forum is close to 300k
My last Coupe got to 246k with two rebuilds - both caused by me - first one I ran it out of coolant and cooked the rings and the second I melted a forged piston running 2.1 bar on race fuel - oops.... The shell eventually got too rusty to save, so the engine was transplanted into my current Coupe, which has done another 50k since then - so the lump is now close to 300k miles, even though the shell is only at 75k
As for lack of oil, an indication of the robustness of the engine was when we had a 20VT in that "sounded a bit rattly" - when it arrived, it was clear that the hydraulic tappets were noisy. We drained less than a litre of very thick, very black oil out of the sump, changed the filter and put the correct amount of decent oil back in. Started it up and within a few seconds it ran smoothly and quietly and is still going strong today
We also bought a bit of a time-warp 20VT last year - a 2003-registered 20VT with about 45000 miles on it. When we went to pick it up, we asked the owner when the cambelt was last done - he replied, "never, as it hasn't done 72k yet...." (recommended interval is 72k or 5 years, whichever comes first, although common practice is now 36k or 3 years)
Always makes me wonder why the lump never saw wider service in the Fiat Alfa group (or even made it into GM cars)
I've had the belts done regularly and changed the oil every 6k miles so hopefully ok there. Until last September it was running as standard but now has a gtec chip in so I need to get the fuelling checked out properly. It may get a proper remap at some stage thus year if I can find the time to get to Flea!
poprock said:
I know the 4-pot was an evolution of the Delta Integrale engine, but was the 5-pot a fresh new design? Or was that developed on from the 4-pot?
A new design, it didn't share anything with the older Lampredi engine. It was a modular engine design, with a common block for the 2.0 and 2.4 petrol engines and the 2.4 diesel.I had a red 20VT LE (number 48), the day after I got it an old boy in a petrol station asked me if it was a Ferrari, now he might have been Mr Magoo, but it sure made me feel good. It was a much better experience than the day after I got my red capri and Mr Magoo drove into the back of it.
I did love that car and it's one of the few I regret getting rid of.
I did love that car and it's one of the few I regret getting rid of.
Nigel_O said:
The 5-pot lump is inherently reliable - the vast majority of failures are caused by one or more of three factors:-
1) Aux belt failure, which then tangles with the cambelt
2) Lack of oil
3) Poor modifications (eg too much boost with insufficient fuelling or intercooling)
There are plenty of FCCUK members with cars well over 100k. Quite a few over 200k and some even higher than that. IIRC, the current highest mileage on the forum is close to 300k
My last Coupe got to 246k with two rebuilds - both caused by me - first one I ran it out of coolant and cooked the rings and the second I melted a forged piston running 2.1 bar on race fuel - oops.... The shell eventually got too rusty to save, so the engine was transplanted into my current Coupe, which has done another 50k since then - so the lump is now close to 300k miles, even though the shell is only at 75k
As for lack of oil, an indication of the robustness of the engine was when we had a 20VT in that "sounded a bit rattly" - when it arrived, it was clear that the hydraulic tappets were noisy. We drained less than a litre of very thick, very black oil out of the sump, changed the filter and put the correct amount of decent oil back in. Started it up and within a few seconds it ran smoothly and quietly and is still going strong today
We also bought a bit of a time-warp 20VT last year - a 2003-registered 20VT with about 45000 miles on it. When we went to pick it up, we asked the owner when the cambelt was last done - he replied, "never, as it hasn't done 72k yet...." (recommended interval is 72k or 5 years, whichever comes first, although common practice is now 36k or 3 years)
Always makes me wonder why the lump never saw wider service in the Fiat Alfa group (or even made it into GM cars)
Do you still have your 355 Nigel ?1) Aux belt failure, which then tangles with the cambelt
2) Lack of oil
3) Poor modifications (eg too much boost with insufficient fuelling or intercooling)
There are plenty of FCCUK members with cars well over 100k. Quite a few over 200k and some even higher than that. IIRC, the current highest mileage on the forum is close to 300k
My last Coupe got to 246k with two rebuilds - both caused by me - first one I ran it out of coolant and cooked the rings and the second I melted a forged piston running 2.1 bar on race fuel - oops.... The shell eventually got too rusty to save, so the engine was transplanted into my current Coupe, which has done another 50k since then - so the lump is now close to 300k miles, even though the shell is only at 75k
As for lack of oil, an indication of the robustness of the engine was when we had a 20VT in that "sounded a bit rattly" - when it arrived, it was clear that the hydraulic tappets were noisy. We drained less than a litre of very thick, very black oil out of the sump, changed the filter and put the correct amount of decent oil back in. Started it up and within a few seconds it ran smoothly and quietly and is still going strong today
We also bought a bit of a time-warp 20VT last year - a 2003-registered 20VT with about 45000 miles on it. When we went to pick it up, we asked the owner when the cambelt was last done - he replied, "never, as it hasn't done 72k yet...." (recommended interval is 72k or 5 years, whichever comes first, although common practice is now 36k or 3 years)
Always makes me wonder why the lump never saw wider service in the Fiat Alfa group (or even made it into GM cars)
J4CKO said:
Do you still have your 355 Nigel ?
I wish.... sold it to buy my business partner out of his share of our company. Have you seen the prices now? Even early ones like mine are fetching WAY more than I sold it for a decade agoStill, my Coupe is a fair bit faster (in a straight line at least) and the fuel consumption is about half, and its much more practical and it fits in my garage and it doesn't get envy-hate and I'd have the 355 back in a heartbeat
Edited by Nigel_O on Wednesday 8th April 16:47
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