RE: Shed of the Week: Fiat Coupe
Discussion
This was mine...
... I loved and hated it in equal measure. Owned it for 2 years and paid less than old SOTW money at £700. If you revved it in a multi-storey, it'd set of car alarms, that was definitely a 'love'. Similarly blasting through tunnels - I barely used the stereo in that car, I just lowered the windows.
Mine was a 20v NA non-VIS with 147hp and I thought it was fine in terms of pace. Not crazy fast but enough pull to safely overtake. It made a great long distance tourer - I still have pictures from driving around the Highlands and always got brilliant reactions from everyone. I never once had a negative comment and people would often compliment it, even taking pictures as they drove past.
I daily drove it and that was probably the mistake. I felt guilty putting the miles on and was always nervous of bigger bills round the corner. Plus, my best mpg was in the low to mid-30s. I didn't get my best mpg very often.
I do find the Coupe divides opinion, with most either preferring this or the GTV. To me, I don't mind the Alfa but the Coupe just looks...right. Plus its more practical, comfortable and arguably the better overall car depending on your perspective - I'd argue from driving both that the 20v Coupe is more characterful than the TS GTV. 16v Coupe, maybe not. And then you have the 20v Turbo vs a Busso GTV, yeah, I'd have to try nothing to give an educated opinion(!)
Whatever though, I see my old one around my neighbourhood every now and again and it even followed me to work the other day and I just thought, "damn, that looks so good..." as I checked it out in my mirror. Would I want it back though? All too tempting.
... I loved and hated it in equal measure. Owned it for 2 years and paid less than old SOTW money at £700. If you revved it in a multi-storey, it'd set of car alarms, that was definitely a 'love'. Similarly blasting through tunnels - I barely used the stereo in that car, I just lowered the windows.
Mine was a 20v NA non-VIS with 147hp and I thought it was fine in terms of pace. Not crazy fast but enough pull to safely overtake. It made a great long distance tourer - I still have pictures from driving around the Highlands and always got brilliant reactions from everyone. I never once had a negative comment and people would often compliment it, even taking pictures as they drove past.
I daily drove it and that was probably the mistake. I felt guilty putting the miles on and was always nervous of bigger bills round the corner. Plus, my best mpg was in the low to mid-30s. I didn't get my best mpg very often.
I do find the Coupe divides opinion, with most either preferring this or the GTV. To me, I don't mind the Alfa but the Coupe just looks...right. Plus its more practical, comfortable and arguably the better overall car depending on your perspective - I'd argue from driving both that the 20v Coupe is more characterful than the TS GTV. 16v Coupe, maybe not. And then you have the 20v Turbo vs a Busso GTV, yeah, I'd have to try nothing to give an educated opinion(!)
Whatever though, I see my old one around my neighbourhood every now and again and it even followed me to work the other day and I just thought, "damn, that looks so good..." as I checked it out in my mirror. Would I want it back though? All too tempting.
coffeebreath said:
I find most Alfa ugly but they seemed to lose their mind completely with this one. Still definitely one of the nicest sounding cars imo.
WTF are you doing on PH if you don’t know the difference between Fiat and Alfa?In fact, forget the Fiat faux-pas, how can any PH’er think “most Alfa ugly”?
Unreliable? Some, definitely
Rusty? Quite a few
Iffy electrics? Sadly, yes
But ugly? Apart from oddities like the Arna, Alfa probably has the best beauty-to-minger ratio in the history of motoring
Back on topic with the [u]Fiat[/u] Coupe, most owners would agree the looks are polarising, but your can’t argue that it’s distinctive and this is why quite a few people own them (rather than blending into the traffic with a bland euro-box)
Didn't understand the reference to the 5 cylinder versions snapping crankshafts. Never heard of such crank trouble in either the 4 or 5 cyl versions - these Fiat engines are tough. Most likely problems nowadays will be corrosion in the boot edges, but then they are all around 20 years old now.
had a couple a few years ago - the sheddiest 16VT ever and a funny purple 20V NA.
the current 20VT is in daily use and survived the recent "weather" with no fuss at all. everything still works, the brembo's don't squeal and specialists offering belts services at £305 and clutch changes at £350 means i'll probably be able to afford to keep it until it becomes "collectable".
oh, and it's still very red (as opposed to middle aged fiat pink)
i couldn't decide between the GTV V6 or the coupe so i eventually got one of each
paul
the current 20VT is in daily use and survived the recent "weather" with no fuss at all. everything still works, the brembo's don't squeal and specialists offering belts services at £305 and clutch changes at £350 means i'll probably be able to afford to keep it until it becomes "collectable".
oh, and it's still very red (as opposed to middle aged fiat pink)
i couldn't decide between the GTV V6 or the coupe so i eventually got one of each
paul
I had the pleasure of owning a 20V Turbo 5 speed Portafino Blue I ran it for 6 odd years.
It was surprisingly big inside comfortably fit 4 adults and the boot two sets of golf clubs plus trollies.
It made a great noise a lovely unusual warble
3rd gear was gear fun 40mph until rev limit was hugely amusing.
It was plenty fast enough and back then very quick for what it was.
The racing filler cap was a bit of a pain at times to keep shiny and to shut but it just looked so right - as did the coloured strip on the dash same as the car colour.
Mine used a consistent 500ml of oil every 1,000 miles which is very common. The oil pressure gauge was like driving a Porsche 911 😁.
Very reliable
Cheap to run
Economical
It loved Cold weather (as in air temp) it certainly punched notably harder then.
I had to change the exhaust but it had lasted 1r years
Tyres were good but it cornered much better with Goodyear F1’s
I wanted one from the first moment I saw a banana yellow one passing me whilst I was standing in a bus stop 7 years later I had one.
The engines are very reliable and many are used at Hill climbs
I’d certainly have another
It was surprisingly big inside comfortably fit 4 adults and the boot two sets of golf clubs plus trollies.
It made a great noise a lovely unusual warble
3rd gear was gear fun 40mph until rev limit was hugely amusing.
It was plenty fast enough and back then very quick for what it was.
The racing filler cap was a bit of a pain at times to keep shiny and to shut but it just looked so right - as did the coloured strip on the dash same as the car colour.
Mine used a consistent 500ml of oil every 1,000 miles which is very common. The oil pressure gauge was like driving a Porsche 911 😁.
Very reliable
Cheap to run
Economical
It loved Cold weather (as in air temp) it certainly punched notably harder then.
I had to change the exhaust but it had lasted 1r years
Tyres were good but it cornered much better with Goodyear F1’s
I wanted one from the first moment I saw a banana yellow one passing me whilst I was standing in a bus stop 7 years later I had one.
The engines are very reliable and many are used at Hill climbs
I’d certainly have another
14.2 seconds to 100mph and hitting >100mph in 3rd
One annoyance was the turning circle which caused issues in getting round multi story car parks.
Conversely 2.3 lock to lock made for an engaging direct drive.
2 pot nrembos up front with no room at all between the disk and the alloy - oddly the rear discs were tiny
One annoyance was the turning circle which caused issues in getting round multi story car parks.
Conversely 2.3 lock to lock made for an engaging direct drive.
2 pot nrembos up front with no room at all between the disk and the alloy - oddly the rear discs were tiny
Nigel_O said:
rastapasta said:
didnt these have a detuned Lamparelli 2.0 straight out of Lancia Delta Integrale?? or am i way off?
Lampredi - and it was in lots of cars long before it was in the IntegraleThe 16v Turbo was essentially an Integrale 16v engine - the Pre Evo spec.
Always figured the 16v and 16v Turbo were the ones to get as they avoid the cambelt access issues of the 5 cylinder engines - the trade-off being that the 5 cylinders have a proper quattro-esque wail under power.
I sold an Alfa 156 V6 (which I loved) to buy a totally original '98 Wine Red 20VT Coupe.
I had it remapped, changed the dump-valve, air-box and had a couple of other (all reversible) mods - it dyno'd at 265 BHP, sorted out the tan interior and loved every single second of driving it. The 5-pot burble was glorious, the performance in 3rd gear was intoxicating, servicing and maintenance wasn't too bad and it got great reactions everywhere it went. It had an excellent OE stereo with a multi-changer in the boot and remote control, which I don't think I ever turned on!
It was perfectly reliable, the owners club, spares availability and specialists were excellent and it was a brilliant car - I never managed to stop the boot from leaking though... The only reason I sold it was because I wasn't doing enough miles to justify the insurance costs - its only Achilles Heel and hardly its fault.
I sold it to buy a Panda 100HP, which was hilarious, and that went to make way for a '70 Alfa 1750GTV which is the best car I've ever owned.
My daily driver is a Mercedes C220d estate - my first non-Italian car, the most unreliable (refused to start twice in the two years I've had it since brand new) I've had and the most boring by a mile! I do love the heated seats though...
I had it remapped, changed the dump-valve, air-box and had a couple of other (all reversible) mods - it dyno'd at 265 BHP, sorted out the tan interior and loved every single second of driving it. The 5-pot burble was glorious, the performance in 3rd gear was intoxicating, servicing and maintenance wasn't too bad and it got great reactions everywhere it went. It had an excellent OE stereo with a multi-changer in the boot and remote control, which I don't think I ever turned on!
It was perfectly reliable, the owners club, spares availability and specialists were excellent and it was a brilliant car - I never managed to stop the boot from leaking though... The only reason I sold it was because I wasn't doing enough miles to justify the insurance costs - its only Achilles Heel and hardly its fault.
I sold it to buy a Panda 100HP, which was hilarious, and that went to make way for a '70 Alfa 1750GTV which is the best car I've ever owned.
My daily driver is a Mercedes C220d estate - my first non-Italian car, the most unreliable (refused to start twice in the two years I've had it since brand new) I've had and the most boring by a mile! I do love the heated seats though...
ThousandYardStare said:
Always figured the 16v and 16v Turbo were the ones to get as they avoid the cambelt access issues of the 5 cylinder engines - the trade-off being that the 5 cylinders have a proper quattro-esque wail under power.
There is no major cambelt issue with the 20V engines. It's just tight for access, but can be changed with the engine in the car. I loved my 20VT, an unusual and surprisingly quick car and fuel economy wasn't bad either.IIRC the 16V engines had a bit of a reputation for eating camshafts and if left too long the resulting metal swarf knackered everything else.
Mr2Mike said:
ThousandYardStare said:
Always figured the 16v and 16v Turbo were the ones to get as they avoid the cambelt access issues of the 5 cylinder engines - the trade-off being that the 5 cylinders have a proper quattro-esque wail under power.
There is no major cambelt issue with the 20V engines. It's just tight for access, but can be changed with the engine in the car.IIRC the 16V engines had a bit of a reputation for eating camshafts and if left too long the resulting metal swarf knackered everything else.
J4CKO said:
Mr2Mike said:
ThousandYardStare said:
Always figured the 16v and 16v Turbo were the ones to get as they avoid the cambelt access issues of the 5 cylinder engines - the trade-off being that the 5 cylinders have a proper quattro-esque wail under power.
There is no major cambelt issue with the 20V engines. It's just tight for access, but can be changed with the engine in the car.IIRC the 16V engines had a bit of a reputation for eating camshafts and if left too long the resulting metal swarf knackered everything else.
ThousandYardStare said:
Sorry, I should have clarified - the 'cam belt issue' is the difficulty in replacing them - for many cars fitted with this engine, the cost of a belt change outweighs the cost of the car.
As I said, it's not that bad a job to replace them, just fiddly. Fiat originally suggested engine removal was required, but no-one in their right mind would do that these day as it's simply not necessary.IIRC the specialists will do it for around £450, and I changed mine on my driveway.
Absolutely and utterly unreliable... not.
I've had a 16NA from new, used it as a daily driver for fifteen or sixteen years, still using it regularly. Indeed, it was at the Practical Classics show a couple of weeks ago on their High Mile stand. In that time it's stranded me twice: once from a broken cambelt and then ten thousand miles later from ancillary damage (turns out the bearing shells get damaged when the valves hit the pistons). That was a hundred and thirty thousand miles ago; I dropped an engine from a scrapper straight in.
Rebuilt half that engine a couple of years ago - worn exhaust cam and a crank regrind/reshell at 170k miles - drove it home and then on a 4,500 mile trip around Norway. The only thing that broke was a headlight bulb...
Like any car of that vintage and mileage, it needs a little looking after: change the belts every three years (£300 at a specialist) and keep an eye on the rust (not as bad as you'd expect but there is some to be found if you look really really hard
), change the oil, and above all, use it: there's nothing the car hates more than being sat still for months.
Now it's on 183k miles, and looking forward to 7,000 rpm in the sunshine. That engine just loves to rev...
I've had a 16NA from new, used it as a daily driver for fifteen or sixteen years, still using it regularly. Indeed, it was at the Practical Classics show a couple of weeks ago on their High Mile stand. In that time it's stranded me twice: once from a broken cambelt and then ten thousand miles later from ancillary damage (turns out the bearing shells get damaged when the valves hit the pistons). That was a hundred and thirty thousand miles ago; I dropped an engine from a scrapper straight in.
Rebuilt half that engine a couple of years ago - worn exhaust cam and a crank regrind/reshell at 170k miles - drove it home and then on a 4,500 mile trip around Norway. The only thing that broke was a headlight bulb...
Like any car of that vintage and mileage, it needs a little looking after: change the belts every three years (£300 at a specialist) and keep an eye on the rust (not as bad as you'd expect but there is some to be found if you look really really hard
), change the oil, and above all, use it: there's nothing the car hates more than being sat still for months.Now it's on 183k miles, and looking forward to 7,000 rpm in the sunshine. That engine just loves to rev...
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