Fiat Coupe 20v turbo purchase

[crankedup]

Thought about buying one some years back, now that itch has returned. Love the style
plenty of performance for me, four seater and not so many on the road now. What’s not to like?
Read some reviews and each seems to contradict the other in some ways, any owner or past owner who can offer real world experience and advise please.
Budget around 7/8K or so. It will be a weekend toy and I have a good local specialist that will service and repair.

[GTRene]

I still find them attractive cars, they stand out with good looks, especially for the money.
love also the interior and dash with that same as outside colour strip :-)

sadly they are FWD or else I had bought one years ago, they are still underrated.

no idea how they drive and what model (engine) would be best.

[crankedup]

I will be going for a 5 pot 20v turbo engined car. Green paintwork with cream leather being first choice. Agree that rear wheel drive would have been so much better although it’s said that the front end is good unless the driver plants it out of tight corners and the like.

[magooagain]

With the age of the fiat coupe now maintenance history is everything. High miles are not a deal breaker as they are very strong engines when well maintained.

You have a healthy budget so should get a nice one.

Rust is the main worry now and I prime area to be checked is under the boot carpets left and right. Also rear arches. Where the pinafarini badges are on the sides behind the doors also.

For your budget I would want to be able to get under it for a good check over.

Great cars.

[crankedup]

^^^^^
Thank you, some good pertinent advise taken onboard.
Seems a limited choice on market with nothing jumping out at me, so waiting for the car that really catches my eye.

[magooagain]

It may be good idea to register on fccuk.org and keep an eye on the coupes for sale section.

And if you do by one the that is the go to place that will hep you keep a coupe in fine fettle.

Good luck with the search

[crankedup]

^^^^^

[Welshbeef]

It’s a great car - had one for 7 years.

The engine
That 3rd gear
The interior style
The fact it’s a coupe
It’s marmite looks - I love it and that race fill fuel cap plus light pulses shaped from a woman’s bottom.
The strike down the side
Brembo brakes
0-100mph 14.2 seconds (beating 209Sx/Corrado VR6/Honda Prelude VTI(?))
150mph
220bhp
C170bhp/tonne
Steering 2.3 lock to lock extremely direct
Big boot
Will fit 4 adults
4x new tyres are cheap ileven Michelin’s due to its size.


Downsides
Multistory carparks a nightmare as it’s turning circle is dire.
Wing mirrors - tiny and you’ll struggle to see much from them
The wiper jets don’t do a great job at spraying the screen
The wiper arm can foul the lip of the bonnet
Bonnet strut is weak / I ended up propping it up with a cut to size but of wood as it’s replacement was just as useless.
Mine used 500ml every 1,000 miles some use loads more mins was average. I checked weekly
First time you change the oil and oil filter - good luck, we simply couldn’t find the oil filter for ages had to eventually take the whole undertray off which as you can imagine get seized solid (so new boots and clasps sorted that out)
Handbrake cable they have a tendency to let water in and then in winter freeze on. Again the car was 12 years old when it went so preventative.
Exhaust on mine was perfect even at 14 years old but the tip went and only option was an entire new cat back system.
We never properly fixed the air con - didn’t really try I suppose so my fault.
Side lights are woefully weak and a pain to change need bonnet up in air and backward balance to get in. I’m tall so harder plus I had a bonnet prop up.

One of the best cars I’ve had I let it go in part x for £500 should have kept it 2 owner car in lovely Portafino blue (no I’m not Ghay)

[footsoldier]

I had one when they were new, around 96 if I remember.
Great car, handles well and weren’t many around even then.
Before that I had a Peugeot 205 GTi, and a CRX Vtech, and after a Honda Integra TypeR DC2, so good comparisons.
Different from all, and the TypeR was best FWD ever, but I vividly remember first drive in it, thinking I was going in the hedge, and then it went round the corner :-) classic FWD of the time with lift off oversteer, then power to drag it through the corner.
Certainly was a great car for its time. Would need to drive again to decide how it’s lasted.

Edited by footsoldier on Tuesday 25th June 21:23

Edited by footsoldier on Tuesday 25th June 21:23

[crankedup]

Thank you once again, I appreciate the advise and comments.
Finding a good one may take some time or maybe some luck next week, who knows.
The car style still looks reasonably fresh to my eyes, for a car that been around for decades that’s very special and testament to the original designers vision. Looking forward to finding a good’un.

Welshbeef, you mention ‘that third gear’?

[Welshbeef]

crankedup said:

Thank you once again, I appreciate the advise and comments.
Finding a good one may take some time or maybe some luck next week, who knows.
The car style still looks reasonably fresh to my eyes, for a car that been around for decades that’s very special and testament to the original designers vision. Looking forward to finding a good’un.

Welshbeef, you mention ‘that third gear’?

You’ll know when you drive the 5 speed.

Basically 1&2nd are held back on torque to prevent wheelspin (kind of like an electronic LSD) but 3rd gear you get full torque and 3rd gear is good for 108mph so 40mph into 3rd pin the throttle to the boards it’s long youve a light car and it flies.


One other thing it has variable valve timing however it has been set up in the opposite way to a Vtec and by that I mean it’s been engineered so that the Variable valve timing attempts to eliminate turbo lag is opening up at the bottom end of the Rev range. So whilst you do get lag it’s vastly reduced.


The car performs massively different if you use normal petrol vs 99 Ron (use 99 Ron only. I only ever used Shell Optimax back then).
The engine also really benefits from temp ie you will massively notice a cold day conversely when it’s hot you’ll wonder why have you lost 50bhp


It has an intercooler and an oil cooler

[magooagain]

There is a moon grey + for sale on the forum at the moment and its in your price range.

[crankedup]

Welshbeef said:

crankedup said:

Thank you once again, I appreciate the advise and comments.
Finding a good one may take some time or maybe some luck next week, who knows.
The car style still looks reasonably fresh to my eyes, for a car that been around for decades that’s very special and testament to the original designers vision. Looking forward to finding a good’un.

Welshbeef, you mention ‘that third gear’?

You’ll know when you drive the 5 speed.

Basically 1&2nd are held back on torque to prevent wheelspin (kind of like an electronic LSD) but 3rd gear you get full torque and 3rd gear is good for 108mph so 40mph into 3rd pin the throttle to the boards it’s long youve a light car and it flies.


One other thing it has variable valve timing however it has been set up in the opposite way to a Vtec and by that I mean it’s been engineered so that the Variable valve timing attempts to eliminate turbo lag is opening up at the bottom end of the Rev range. So whilst you do get lag it’s vastly reduced.


The car performs massively different if you use normal petrol vs 99 Ron (use 99 Ron only. I only ever used Shell Optimax back then).
The engine also really benefits from temp ie you will massively notice a cold day conversely when it’s hot you’ll wonder why have you lost 50bhp


It has an intercooler and an oil cooler

Very interesting and informative post, thanks welshbeef.
I have in the past enjoyed various turbo cars during the 1980’s and familiar with lag. Back then it was par for the course, as you no doubt know. The variable timing with a turbo will be a whole new experience for me, one I am looking forward to. The technical mechanism from the engine sounds perfect for me and my driving style. Had the pleasure of a E46 M3 but found the ride to harsh and frankly and honestly to quick for me! I would barely be able to enjoy the car unless driving at silly speeds, which I do not.
The Coupe seems to offer me style, fast enough, reasonably exclusive, affordable and relatively practice. Told you I was an oldie
Thanks again.

[crankedup]

magooagain said:

There is a moon grey + for sale on the forum at the moment and its in your price range.

Thanks for heads up, I had seen that ad’ for some reason it’s not jumping out at me. Being garaged up for seven years points me to a recommissioning costs and the engine bay looks scruffy. In terms of asking price perhaps I am being unreasonable but it’s early days and I need to find relative values on the cars at this stage.

[magooagain]

crankedup said:

Thanks for heads up, I had seen that ad’ for some reason it’s not jumping out at me. Being garaged up for seven years points me to a recommissioning costs and the engine bay looks scruffy. In terms of asking price perhaps I am being unreasonable but it’s early days and I need to find relative values on the cars at this stage.

I meant on the fccuk.org forum. It's a known car and a moderater owns it. Tidy and looks well.

You're right about the coupe being practical,we used ours for plenty of camping holidays also track days with a full set of track wheels in the back.
The boot is big enough for a full shopping load etc.

Mine is running 300+ hp and it gets along well with no lag. But that's due to being on track with the revs being on point.

Edit to add that I have told the owner about this thread and advised him to make himself known here.
HTH.

Edited by magooagain on Wednesday 26th June 15:25

[crankedup]

magooagain said:

crankedup said:

Thanks for heads up, I had seen that ad’ for some reason it’s not jumping out at me. Being garaged up for seven years points me to a recommissioning costs and the engine bay looks scruffy. In terms of asking price perhaps I am being unreasonable but it’s early days and I need to find relative values on the cars at this stage.

I meant on the fccuk.org forum. It's a known car and a moderater owns it. Tidy and looks well.

You're right about the coupe being practical,we used ours for plenty of camping holidays also track days with a full set of track wheels in the back.
The boot is big enough for a full shopping load etc.

Mine is running 300+ hp and it gets along well with no lag. But that's due to being on track with the revs being on point.

Edit to add that I have told the owner about this thread and advised him to make himself known here.
HTH.

Edited by magooagain on Wednesday 26th June 15:25

Thanks for that, yes I have seen the coupé you refer to on Fccuk and would be interested in having a look. Tried to register last night but waiting now for my registration to be OK’ed. Even then I won’t be. able to PM Joe as a newbi. Hopefully pop in here.
His car could well fit the bill for me.

[magooagain]

crankedup said:

Thanks for that, yes I have seen the coupé you refer to on Fccuk and would be interested in having a look. Tried to register last night but waiting now for my registration to be OK’ed. Even then I won’t be. able to PM Joe as a newbi. Hopefully pop in here.
His car could well fit the bill for me.

Ah good. You will be able to comment on his add I think.

[Joe-0fv2i]

I have a lovely coupe for sale here https://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php...

[wal 45]

I owned a Fiat Coupe for about 8 years before I stupidly sold it, they are a really good car and I can highly recommend one. A lot of the points have been covered above but the best advice is to get onto the FCCUK forum and see what's about.

The spec you're after (green) is/was the least sought after so it puts you in an excellent position if you find a good one in that colour, they are usually a bit cheaper. You've got to watch for lacquer peel on the green though as it suffers badly.

They are very reliable if looked after and pretty practical too with a few very good specialists about for the jobs you can't do yourself. Rust isn't too bad with the earlier 20v's (up to about T reg) but later cars can throw up some major work. If you're looking for Scotts Green though this will be an earlier car.

I still drive a friends W plate 20Vt Plus quite often (not for sale) and as soon as I finish my Alfa Spider I'll definitely look for another Coupe to restore.

[crankedup]

Joe-0fv2i said:

I have a lovely coupe for sale here https://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php...

Joe, I can’t PM you until you have a number of posts completed in here, same as fccc. I’m waiting for my registration on the forum to be activated. Your Coupè looks a strong contender even though it’s not my 1st. choice colour it looks a lovely car. I’m in Bury st Edmunds but don’t want to divulge private contact stuff on a public forum. We need to contact each other privately to make viewing arrangements.