RE: SOTW: Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo

[thirsty]

Is Chris Bangle currently employed? What car design is he ruining these days? My wife looked at one of these in the late 90s as a fun car to replace her Volvo. Loved the inside, hated the outside. Sounds about right.

[SWoll]

thirsty said:

Is Chris Bangle currently employed? What car design is he ruining these days? My wife looked at one of these in the late 90s as a fun car to replace her Volvo. Loved the inside, hated the outside. Sounds about right.

Pish, it's a lovely looking motor and in my opinion has aged really well (especially in the right colour like the graphite one earlier in the thread). Bangle always gets a lot of stick but personally I find the vasy majority of his work refreshing and interesting.

Strange she didnt like the styling coming from a Volvo . OOI what did she swap it for in the end?

jimslops 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.

Or never got a perfect change? What is book time on 330 1/4 mile?

14.3, which if i'm not mistaken is faster right?

Had fun with with on of these back when I had my 330i in 2002 ish. I can confirm that they are very evenly matched in a straight line.

Edited by SWoll on Friday 17th February 09:02

[LayZ]

Have lusted after one of these for a while, this colour combo is perfect imo.

[iantek]

I have long loved these cars, i think the styling is timeless, really eye catching and exotic. One of the houses i delivered papers to in the mid ninties had a blue one which I coveted (Mr Tickle no less!) and i think he still has it nearly twenty years on!

I'd consider one but it'd be an 'eyes wide open' job at this stage of its life.

Wizard shed!

[snotrag]

Top shed.

For all the people saying they dont like the looks - are you mental?

They are beautiful, striking, wonderful cars.

If you've never been in one, do it if offered the chance. They just have this kind of relentless power, they they just feel like they want to GO all the time.

And the noise with a decent exhaust etc is ridiculous - the really do sound like a Sport Quattro (More so than the Volvo/Ford 5cyl cars).

I've often thought about one of these or an Alfa GTV. Generally I have the Alfa down as favoruite, prettier, classic engine, better handling by all accounts.

But occasionally I do have a little look in the classifieds to see if theres a nice one nearby, it just has the little party tricks that the Alfa doesnt.

Theres a number of threads on PH comparing the Fiat and Alfa too with lots of interesting info, photos and owners opinions, worth finding if your interested in one.

[Iamnotkloot]

Yeah like these.

Are they really so cheap? That hurts as I always think of them as classic, Italian 'romance' cars with decent ooomph.

However, as per my garage, I went with the Alfa option instead - a bit classier somehow and with a lovely, NA Busso V6. Sonorous is the word.

Given time, both the Fiat and Alfa should pass through Shed stage and onto be real classics, with (fingers crossed) a slowly appreciating status.

[Highway Star]

Had two of these, one non-turbo, one tuned turbo up to around 300bhp, still look at them in the classifieds occasionally, though the number of decent cars out there now is small and I fear I would regret going back and spoiling some great memories of the previous two, especially the whack in the back from the turbo. Always thought that the GTV V6 might be the velvet glove, but this is the iron fist. Better interior space and boot space as well.

A couple of simple tweaks can tighten up the handling somewhat, but on boost in a straight line they are seriously quick. Good forum (fccuk.org) and owners club too, but they are definitely a car where the expenses of maintenance can outweigh the purchase price quite quickly.

Saw a rather smoky, rough looking sprint blue example trying to keep with a Conti GT on the M40 a couple of weeks back which raised a smile.

[keith2.2]

I drove one of these a few years ago and it just didn't do anything for me. I think the bit that infuriated me was that it seemed impossible to keep on boost without running it into the red every time - it just always dropped about 500rpm below the turbo spooling if shifting on the red line.

The noise was quite nice, and I do sometimes wonder, but I guess I'd never pick one of these over an ITR, for example (horses for courses, I know - the ITR will never win in the style stakes!)

[Highway Star]

iantek said:

I have long loved these cars, i think the styling is timeless, really eye catching and exotic. One of the houses i delivered papers to in the mid ninties had a blue one which I coveted (Mr Tickle no less!) and i think he still has it nearly twenty years on!

A long term poster on the fccuk board has that username and is from your part of the world, so must be the same guy.

[arguti]

rtz62 said:

And the cambelt is an engine-out job,

Not true, can be done in situ with a bit of jiggling, dropping bits here and there, most of the Alfa independents - Jamie Porter, Neil Smith, etc can do it this way and charge accordingly.

[RudolphsOwner]

I thought I would just have a look at when this car was first sold... 1993!!! Chris Bangle is a brilliant designer, the problem is that he is about 10 years or more ahead of the game. Just think about what other cars were available in 1993... MK3 Golf, Ford Escort MK5... this car hasn't aged!?

[Jurgen]

keith2.2 said:

I drove one of these a few years ago and it just didn't do anything for me. I think the bit that infuriated me was that it seemed impossible to keep on boost without running it into the red every time - it just always dropped about 500rpm below the turbo spooling if shifting on the red line.

The noise was quite nice, and I do sometimes wonder, but I guess I'd never pick one of these over an ITR, for example (horses for courses, I know - the ITR will never win in the style stakes!)

That definately wasn't a good example then! Full boost should be there before 3k revs and continues to pull hard until the redline (although boost drops off a bit over 6k revs).

I've had one for 7 years, a 20vt plus with the factory bodykit and recaro seats. I still think they look beautiful from the right angles and very odd from others. It's a car with many flaws, but definately a car that gets under your skin. Most cheap ones don't drive like they should though, these cars need a lot of maintenace to keep in top shape. A good one shouldn't tramline much, shouldn't have much torquesteer and should be able to put the power on the road in the dry without wheelspin (with good tyres and fresh suspension parts).

I loved the sound of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIynLIid2H8

[s m]

snotrag said:

I've often thought about one of these or an Alfa GTV. Generally I have the Alfa down as favoruite, prettier, classic engine, better handling by all accounts.

But occasionally I do have a little look in the classifieds to see if theres a nice one nearby, it just has the little party tricks that the Alfa doesnt.

Theres a number of threads on PH comparing the Fiat and Alfa too with lots of interesting info, photos and owners opinions, worth finding if your interested in one.

There's a good article in an old Top Gear from 97. Tiff Needell pasted them both ( and the 200SX ) round Thruxton ( impressions on the last page http://www.labrutabellezza.com/images/topgear1997.... )

[keith2.2]

Jurgen said:

That definately wasn't a good example then! Full boost should be there before 3k revs and continues to pull hard until the redline (although boost drops off a bit over 6k revs).

I've had one for 7 years, a 20vt plus with the factory bodykit and recaro seats. I still think they look beautiful from the right angles and very odd from others. It's a car with many flaws, but definately a car that gets under your skin. Most cheap ones don't drive like they should though, these cars need a lot of maintenace to keep in top shape. A good one shouldn't tramline much, shouldn't have much torquesteer and should be able to put the power on the road in the dry without wheelspin (with good tyres and fresh suspension parts).

I loved the sound of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIynLIid2H8

That would explain things - if memory serves me correctly, it was dropping to 3k rpm, and it wasn't on boost until 3500.

[Chris71]

I know it's a matter of opinion, but I really don't get how anyone can take a dramatic dislike to the Fiat Coupe's shape. I think they're gorgeous cars.

And the 20VTs are properly quick. There'd always be the nagging doubt for me, though, that the Alfa GTV V6 does 'baby Italian exotica' with just that little bit more class.

[heisthegaffer]

Love these cars. Back in the 90's my mate's dad worked for Fiat so used to bring one of these home for the weekend when he could.

I remember on the continent in one joining the autobahn and he just booted it... it felt so effortless, just kept going and going to over 140. What struck me was other cars I'd been in previously seemed to gradually pick up speed above xxxMPH but this seemed to accelerate at the same rapid rate irrespective of whether we were doing 70 or 120. Amazing.

Sounds lovely too.

[glendon]

Jurgen said:

That definately wasn't a good example then! Full boost should be there before 3k revs and continues to pull hard until the redline (although boost drops off a bit over 6k revs).

I've had one for 7 years, a 20vt plus with the factory bodykit and recaro seats. I still think they look beautiful from the right angles and very odd from others. It's a car with many flaws, but definately a car that gets under your skin. Most cheap ones don't drive like they should though, these cars need a lot of maintenace to keep in top shape. A good one shouldn't tramline much, shouldn't have much torquesteer and should be able to put the power on the road in the dry without wheelspin (with good tyres and fresh suspension parts).

I loved the sound of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIynLIid2H8

My God they do sound good!

Fantastic shed- always loved them, they've aged really well too- a truly classic design

[MadDog1962]

thirsty said:

Is Chris Bangle currently employed? What car design is he ruining these days? My wife looked at one of these in the late 90s as a fun car to replace her Volvo. Loved the inside, hated the outside. Sounds about right.

I dunno. I was quite surprised to read that this was Chris Bangle's work. I was not a fan of what he did at BMW - I thought all his designs looked awful. The Fiat coupe has appealed to me from the start. It's a shed I'd love to own. To me it looks like a baby Ferrari (in a good way), and the performance is more than adequate for the real world. I scored this shed 8 out 10.

[Jurgen]

I also think they look nicer than a GTV and it's a lot more practical. The 20vt engine is pretty good on fuel too, especially the later ones with the 6spd gearbox. Makes it a great GT car, I've done regular long trips at speeds over 200km/h on the German autobahn.

I do miss it, not so much the paranoia and maintenance costs though :P

[ehonda]

I had a red 20VT LE. It was a great and certainly shifted, only got rid of at as we moved house and the threat of big bills was worrying at the time. I'd buy it back now given the chance, assuming it hasn't been ruined.
On the day I got it an old boy at in a petrol station asked me if it was a Ferrari. Obviously he needed his eyes testing, but it was pleasing none the less.