Shed of the Week: Fiat Coupe
Don't let the idea of wayward front springs put you off Fiat's dainty Coupe. We've even forgiven the absence of a turbo...
What did generally quench the flames of ardour in the pictures was the sight of what appeared to be giant pubic hairs twitching on the screen whenever the ad for the local kebab shop came on before the main feature. You don't get them on today's digital presentations of course, which Shed thinks is a missed trick when it comes to the warmth, humour and overall richness of the external media experience.
This only comes up as a topic of conversation because our Shed, a remarkably solid-looking low-miles Fiat Coupé, might need new front springs. A quick look online reveals that some of the replacements that you can get for this car bear a surprising resemblance to those fondly-remembered faux-pubes. Or, at the very least, to bedsprings from an exploded mattress.
Once you're happy that your Coupé is of sound wind and body, you can get on with enjoying the subtle ownership pleasures of this uniquely-styled Bangle/Pininfarina creation with its headlamp lenses shaped to resemble a woman's posterior region. Eeehh, you Italians!
The appearance on the forum of posts pointing out the superiority of the Turbo five over the n/a four is guaranteed, and there'd certainly be no arguing about that from a performance perspective: the Turbo breezes through the 0-60 sprint in six and a bit seconds and thramps on to 155mph, whereas the 16V takes three seconds longer for the 0-60 and tops out at 129mph.
What else can go wrong? Well, cambelt replacement isn't that quick or easy (though it is somewhat harder still on the five-cylinder cars). Coupés can be a tad greedy for tyres, and the old-fashioned pursuit of tyre-swapping is worth reviving to stave off uneven wear.
Bonnet struts break on pre-'98 cars like this one, owing to daft design. The alarm system can give trouble too, and anything electronic needs more than a hard glance. Importantly, there is no mention of rust anywhere, either by the owner or by MOT testers down the years, and the all-important red master key is included in the sale. Try and buy one of these for less than a king's ransom and you'll see why it's all-important.
We like the originality of this car, right down to its cassette player. Whether that works or not is unknown, but if it does you can get out all your Bay City Rollers tapes and remember the good times before, after and indeed during the Bay City Rollers' heyday.
The owner says that the car's 69,506 miles won't increase, but Shed thinks that's quite a pessimistic prediction. He reckons it's good for plenty more miles yet.
1 previous owner from new
69506 miles and won’t increase
MOT until Oct 18
Electric Sunroof / windows / mirrors
Totally original incl cassette player
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I'd personally stick with a 20V variant rather than one of these 16V ones, this is a proper rare version though being a 16V non turbo with literally a handful left on the road. Always liked the green they did on these early cars as well.
My only reservation with this would be 16V specific parts availability, struggled with some on my 20V towards the end so imagine this will somewhat harder. Great shed and I can't recommend a Fiat Coupe strongly enough.....I need another one.
This one, a non-modified 16v NA seems to be one to keep and maintain in its present condition in the hope it will increase in value.
Something interesting in the MOT history: -
It failed on number plate letter spacing in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
What the hell were the owners thinking, continually putting it in for tests with dodgy plates?
I had a 16v non-turbo Coupe for a while (as well as a highly-modified 20v turbo Plus) - the handling of the 16v was really sweet with the lighter lump up front and the power wasn't really capable of overwhelming the front tyres.
Probably the most under-valued and under-rated of all the Coupe line-up. I still prefer the grunt of the 'halo' model though, but if I had the room, I'd have another 16v in a flash.
Not in green though.......
20 years later and I've mellowed with age. I listen to new music, eat new food, have new friends and hold different opinions.
I still can't get over how ugly these are though. Front and rear are okay, it's just the large bit in the middle connecting the two ends that makes me queasy.
I had a 16v non-turbo Coupe for a while (as well as a highly-modified 20v turbo Plus) - the handling of the 16v was really sweet with the lighter lump up front and the power wasn't really capable of overwhelming the front tyres.
Probably the most under-valued and under-rated of all the Coupe line-up. I still prefer the grunt of the 'halo' model though, but if I had the room, I'd have another 16v in a flash.
Not in green though.......
Saying that, my daily is a Scots green S plate 20VT which I love. Loves to be hammered and likes to take it easy also. Yes, it's had its fair share of faults as I bought it minus an engine so work had to be done. Apparently, these were hand built at Pininfarina and I think mine was built by a one armed person as it rattles and squeaks more than a London bus. My mate has an identical one and his must have been built by a German.
People often point and stare at it with kids wondering what it is. Even if people don't like the looks, I don't care as it really is a nice car to drive.
As with most coupes of the era, it was based on a fairly mundane family hatchback and suffered accordingly.
The Coupe uses basic MacPhersons & wishbones up front and trailing arms at the rear, so its hardly cutting edge. Hondas from the same era had a significantly more sophisticated suspension setup.
As for power, I agree that a low power Coupe is still fun to drive, but a big-power coupe has another dimension entirely and of course the slug of torque from a forced induction lump can also make for very relaxed driving (TBH, the 16v is a bit "busy" when pressing on - 3,500rpm at 70 mph, if I remember correctly)
It always turned lots of heads, and a simple passive bleed valve mod gave me a reliable 1.1bar of boost in every gear. I absolutely loved it.
I think this is a great shed and a keeper to cherish! Getting very rare now!
I went to the NEC show soon after these were launched and it was stunning and totally different to anything else there.
The only difficulty was that I drove it for the second time in the pouring rain and it was ‘interesting’. I then drove something with similar performance but with 4wd and kind of decided on the spot.
I still wish I’d bought the coupe occasionally.
It failed on number plate letter spacing in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
What the hell were the owners thinking, continually putting it in for tests with dodgy plates?
I remove the full size and put it back in the boot on collection.
Mind you, this is the car that once failed an MOT because the passenger door didn’t open from the outside.
I enquired if they’d unlocked it, with a metal thing called a key.
They passed it shortly afterwards and were a bit sheepish when i picked it up.
(I no longer have a small plate on the front of this car)
I still love the shape, but I find they're a very colour-dependent car. This green does nothing for them. I'm not keen on the bright red either. For me it would have to be dark met red, silver or the aforementioned light met blue. And broom yellow too of course!
Great shed this week, best yet (maybe)!
I had a drive and enjoyed it,retro enough to have some interest and a bit of character but still modern enough to use daily if you keep on top of things, it rides really nicely on the 16 inch wheels and handles tidily, there isnt that performance you get from the turbo models but it moves ok, quite a characterful engine.
I would have it for a weekend car but dont have any space, I see what other cars are going for and am amazed you can still get a modern classic like this, in good order for not much more than a grand, even the turbos arent expensive, I suppose a yellow 16v turbo is the nearest you are going to get to an Integrale for a couple of grand, its Italian, yellow, distinctive and has the same engine ! but one is 30k plus and the other 15 times less, for those on a budget its a hell of a lot of pretty special car.
I think these have lasted long enough to not be called shed with all that entails, they have passed through the shed phase, any decent ones now should be treated more as classics.
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