Fiat coupe - things to check?
Discussion
Cambelt is 5 years or 72,000 miles, whichever comes first. All coupes are over 5 years old so do not buy one which is on it's original belt unless you can haggle the £450 off the price and get it done ASAP.
Front wishbones tend to need replacing at 60,000 miles as the bushes get worn. Specialists such as Powerfiat charge £150 to replace the wishbones and the ARB droplinks.
Check for regular oil changes and ask the owner what oil they use to top it up. The 20v turbos use about 1 litre of oil for every 1000km (600 miles)so if the owner's never topped it up, beware!!!
The brake servo is rather small, so the brake pedal will need some proper pressure on it for heavy braking. This is normal.
I think some cars have issues with oil coolers needing to be replaced, but mine was absolutely fine with that. I would just be wary of cars which have been poorly modified.
Front wishbones tend to need replacing at 60,000 miles as the bushes get worn. Specialists such as Powerfiat charge £150 to replace the wishbones and the ARB droplinks.
Check for regular oil changes and ask the owner what oil they use to top it up. The 20v turbos use about 1 litre of oil for every 1000km (600 miles)so if the owner's never topped it up, beware!!!
The brake servo is rather small, so the brake pedal will need some proper pressure on it for heavy braking. This is normal.
I think some cars have issues with oil coolers needing to be replaced, but mine was absolutely fine with that. I would just be wary of cars which have been poorly modified.
Do not take the car to Fiat, they don't understand it, and are horrendously expensive. Powerfiat in Basildon are very well thought of , and Rog wont rip you off.
Every coupe will have door dings, people seem to positively enjoy bouncing their doors off mine, there are no protection strips and the metal is quite flexible.
A fair few of the 20VTs had problems with the exhauist manifold cracking, so check if it has been replaced on any you look at.
As said the oil coolers are a bit fragile. This is becuase while the oil coolers themselves are alloy the pipes leading to them are unprotected steel, sitting right at the front of the car and low down so they rust fiarly quickly. There is no easy way to replace pipes without changing the whole O/c.
Some of them have aircon, some don't. Mine has climate control, (just a fancy heater dial really) but no a/c. The aircon is not meant to be that great, and gets in the way if the aforementioned exhausrt manifold, or rad need chagning.
Some cars have sunroofs some don't, they do cut into headroom quite a bit, not a problem for a midget like me but tall drivers suffer I'm told.
Electrics are fine afaik, altohugh saying that the door locking motor on mine seems to have gone wrong recently, also there was more than one type of alarm used over the life of the car, the sigma type (rectangualr keyfob with 2 buttons) seems to be more reliable than the other one.
If buying make sure you get 3 keys.
The fancy alloy one.
The not so fancy blue back up one
The very important red one. (Without it, if you have a problem, or need a new key. It may mean a new set of locks and an ECU at circa £1100. Some say you can get round this, but I dont know)
Some of the later cars have Recaro seat in them (2VT LE and 20VT+) They locate you much better than standard items. (If you have carbon buckets in the RS, they wont be as good as those mind)
THe later cars have bodykits which are a matter of taste, I prefer them car without, but it is a "marmite" car for looks anyway.
The Brembo Brake calipers up front are begining to have prolems with alloy/steel corrosionm (electrolytic?) They can be rebuilt, or a new set is £500+ I think. Not bad stoppers though. The calipers are also very close to the wheels so there is a limited selction you can run without spacers, if you wish to change the wheels fromt he standard 16"ers.
Tuning the car seems to be a bit hit and miss. I know of one thats running a reliable 325bhp, and others that have blown enigines running 270ish. The original exhaust is mild steel and rusts like buggery, most cars now have stainless from the cat back.
As already said oil level is pretty critical. Althogh choice of oil seems to matter less. Selenia 20k, selenia reacing and mobil 1 (both normal and motorsport are used) A huge cloud of smoke from the exhaust may mean the seals on the Turbo are on the way out. Standard replacements are available, as are fancy roller bearing jobbies that I wont pretend to understand.
If you want a nose round a battered one, Ric, let me know.
eta have a noset round this site, http://www.fccuk.org/forum/ubbthreads.php a friendly bunch, at least they were when I last visited, and know pretty much everything about the car.
Best not to ask about reliability in your first post, like TVR owners, they get a bit tetchy if you do that.
Every coupe will have door dings, people seem to positively enjoy bouncing their doors off mine, there are no protection strips and the metal is quite flexible.
A fair few of the 20VTs had problems with the exhauist manifold cracking, so check if it has been replaced on any you look at.
As said the oil coolers are a bit fragile. This is becuase while the oil coolers themselves are alloy the pipes leading to them are unprotected steel, sitting right at the front of the car and low down so they rust fiarly quickly. There is no easy way to replace pipes without changing the whole O/c.
Some of them have aircon, some don't. Mine has climate control, (just a fancy heater dial really) but no a/c. The aircon is not meant to be that great, and gets in the way if the aforementioned exhausrt manifold, or rad need chagning.
Some cars have sunroofs some don't, they do cut into headroom quite a bit, not a problem for a midget like me but tall drivers suffer I'm told.
Electrics are fine afaik, altohugh saying that the door locking motor on mine seems to have gone wrong recently, also there was more than one type of alarm used over the life of the car, the sigma type (rectangualr keyfob with 2 buttons) seems to be more reliable than the other one.
If buying make sure you get 3 keys.
The fancy alloy one.
The not so fancy blue back up one
The very important red one. (Without it, if you have a problem, or need a new key. It may mean a new set of locks and an ECU at circa £1100. Some say you can get round this, but I dont know)
Some of the later cars have Recaro seat in them (2VT LE and 20VT+) They locate you much better than standard items. (If you have carbon buckets in the RS, they wont be as good as those mind)
THe later cars have bodykits which are a matter of taste, I prefer them car without, but it is a "marmite" car for looks anyway.
The Brembo Brake calipers up front are begining to have prolems with alloy/steel corrosionm (electrolytic?) They can be rebuilt, or a new set is £500+ I think. Not bad stoppers though. The calipers are also very close to the wheels so there is a limited selction you can run without spacers, if you wish to change the wheels fromt he standard 16"ers.
Tuning the car seems to be a bit hit and miss. I know of one thats running a reliable 325bhp, and others that have blown enigines running 270ish. The original exhaust is mild steel and rusts like buggery, most cars now have stainless from the cat back.
As already said oil level is pretty critical. Althogh choice of oil seems to matter less. Selenia 20k, selenia reacing and mobil 1 (both normal and motorsport are used) A huge cloud of smoke from the exhaust may mean the seals on the Turbo are on the way out. Standard replacements are available, as are fancy roller bearing jobbies that I wont pretend to understand.
If you want a nose round a battered one, Ric, let me know.
eta have a noset round this site, http://www.fccuk.org/forum/ubbthreads.php a friendly bunch, at least they were when I last visited, and know pretty much everything about the car.
Best not to ask about reliability in your first post, like TVR owners, they get a bit tetchy if you do that.
Edited by scotal on Friday 27th July 12:35
The importance of the red key is usualy greatly overstated. You need this key if you ever have to program a new key transponder to the ECU, or delete existing ones. If needs be, the breakers will sell a set of keys, locks and ECU for ~£220 so it's not the end of the world.
Try to find an unmodified one. The engines are quite reliable when they haven't been buggered around with, but upping the boost to get more power without other mods (better intercooler etc) can result in this:
Try to find an unmodified one. The engines are quite reliable when they haven't been buggered around with, but upping the boost to get more power without other mods (better intercooler etc) can result in this:
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