Cinquecento Sporting-Guttless wonder??

[Si_M]

Thinking about getting a 1.1 Sporting as a cheap, fun way to get stuck in traffic every morning, as i've seen decent looking examples for less than £800. Yet to test drive one, and just wandering what people that have/have had one think?
Are they nippy/reliable/fun?
Thanks in advance,

[Howell811]

Had one as a courtesy car a few years back. Couldn't say I was a fan. If you want something small (& cheap) I'd look at Japanese possibly.

[Slinky]

Nippy and fun for a 1.1.. Reliable.. Hmmm kinda, it'll eat cluth cables..

I used to have a seicento sporting, it was a surprisingly good little car..

[jamieboy]

Slinky said:

I used to have a seicento sporting, it was a surprisingly good little car..

Same here, bought a Seicento Sporting for my wife to learn in, and it was loads of fun. I had to move it to get my own car out of the garage, and loads of times I just didn't bother and took the Seicento instead.

It's a proper old-style small capacity Italian engine though, in as much as you really need to wring its neck to get anywhere.

edit to add - ours was new, and it was perfectly reliable for the three years we had it.

Edited by jamieboy on Thursday 15th January 11:44

[Mr E]

I liked my old Chinq, but I never deluded myself that it was quick.

[dpbird90]

I will second that it's a great car. I also have the Seicento Sporting, and apart from it not being the "Abarth" version (which just had some Abarth badges and a fancy bodykit/wheels) it is the perfect small cheap ragabout. And yes, rev the nuts off it to move is the norm, but it doesn't become tiring, honest!

Easy to park too...

[taznuv]

Test drove a Seicento Sporting back to back with a standard Ka, a few years back (both almost new then). I'm afraid to say IMO the Ka won hands down in every way.

[Podie]

Had a Cinq and a Sei sporting, and prefered the Cinq.

Absolute hoot, and good fun. Not quick, but that's not what they're really about... keep it on the boil and they're good fun.

[sjg]

They're great. I owned one for 3 years - a lot of the fun is in conserving momentum, they handle well, have decent brakes, wonderful (unassisted) steering that has fantastic feel. If you drive anywhere congested or have to find street parking spaces the lack of size is ace. If you regularly need to carry rear seat passengers or get bulky things in the boot or spend lots of time on the motorway then there are plenty of other (albeit less interesting) ways to spend 800 quid that might fit the bill better.

Nothing really went wrong with mine. I think one engine mount and a new exhaust were the only non-servicing/consumable bits.

[Mr2Mike]

taznuv said:

Test drove a Seicento Sporting back to back with a standard Ka, a few years back (both almost new then). I'm afraid to say IMO the Ka won hands down in every way.

Apart from being one of the most girly looking cars ever made, the Ka's are pretty good.

[sjg]

Mr2Mike said:

taznuv said:

Test drove a Seicento Sporting back to back with a standard Ka, a few years back (both almost new then). I'm afraid to say IMO the Ka won hands down in every way.

Apart from being one of the most girly looking cars ever made, the Ka's are pretty good.

And the ropey old Kent engine strangled by modern emissions regs, and the flat seats that prevent you enjoying the corners too much.

SportKa sounds like a better prospect as it addresses both of those.

[Andrew D]

I had a Cinq Sporting as my first car, and I'd heartily recommend them. It was formerly my brothers, who got it about 45k miles, learned in it, kept it for a bit and sold it to me at about 65k miles. I learned in it and put about 30k on it before trading it in (for £500 in 2005, so prices seem to have remained firm).

So it had a lot of hammer, but performed admirably. Very good reliability; in fact at one point it was an ail-cooled dry-sumped straight four, by which I mean I ran it virtually dry of oil and water and it still didn't quit on me. We did most servicing ourselves, but probably wouldn't do the cam belt again as it's a nightmare. It needed new rear suspension bushes once, which were about £300 IIRC and an engine mount, but other than that only consumables (of which there weren't really many).

It's a real hoot to drive (and it'll drop a Ka ), and while it needs to be revved it's not really a burden and the (five speed) gearbox is sweet. My biggest cost was replacing the front tyres, as the body roll scrubs off the shoulders pretty quickly. The OEM Pirelli's were £70 a corner and didn't last, but I swapped them for Nagkangs at £30 a corner which lasted a lot better.

[GhostWKD]

Andrew D said:

I had a Cinq Sporting as my first car, and I'd heartily recommend them. It was formerly my brothers, who got it about 45k miles, learned in it, kept it for a bit and sold it to me at about 65k miles. I learned in it and put about 30k on it before trading it in (for £500 in 2005, so prices seem to have remained firm).

So it had a lot of hammer, but performed admirably. Very good reliability; in fact at one point it was an ail-cooled dry-sumped straight four, by which I mean I ran it virtually dry of oil and water and it still didn't quit on me. We did most servicing ourselves, but probably wouldn't do the cam belt again as it's a nightmare. It needed new rear suspension bushes once, which were about £300 IIRC and an engine mount, but other than that only consumables (of which there weren't really many).

It's a real hoot to drive (and it'll drop a Ka ), and while it needs to be revved it's not really a burden and the (five speed) gearbox is sweet. My biggest cost was replacing the front tyres, as the body roll scrubs off the shoulders pretty quickly. The OEM Pirelli's were £70 a corner and didn't last, but I swapped them for Nagkangs at £30 a corner which lasted a lot better.

Cambelt is a walk in the park once you get the hang of it, could probably swap one with my eyes closed in a hour or so

The OEM tyres are a odd size so demand a premium, nankangs are ditchfinders if pushed, better off going slightly wider on 175/50/13's for a wider choice of tyres and a noticeable handling improvement

Had 4 Cinqs prior to going to 106 Rallye then on to MR2's/RX7 etc, great fun cars even in standard form and if fettled with can be extremely entertaining