sempers

Looked seriously at both, wanted a car that was fast, fun and could take my sailing kit / tow the boat. Chick appeal was also a 'nice'.

Coupe 16v - from integrale.
Coupe 20v - 5 cyl.

Drove the 20v (turbo) Didn't give as much impression of speed as scoob - less raw. Very nice leather interior and interior styling. a little numb, lacking in traction (relative to power). Found the ABS engaging a lot, whereas the ABS never engaged on a scoob test - the FIAT breaking seemed quite marginal. Felt more ponderous than the scoob. Awesome engine - kept finding the limiter accidentaly.
Worrying from a reliability point of view (italian..) and more so, a servicing point of view. It's *very* tightly packaged, everything seems to involve having the engine out (ok, exageration, cambelt at least does).

Scoob - naff interior, felt faster (@sane speeds), very secure - traction not an issue. More practical space, much more secure under braking (I know most consider the brakes inadequate - given they can be cooked, but they do work well) Felt much more focused, like a big go-kart. Less spec / older car for the same money. Group lower in insurance than the coupe, but about same cost IMHO.
Found it surprisingly popular with the ladies too

Best 'fun' car I tried was the integra type-r. Just wish I could live with one everyday. Don't think they do a towbar for it either.

- Mark.

juan

I've only driven this one 20V turbo. Brakes are STUNNING but like I said b4, uprated somewhat!
ABS has only ever engaged once, when I pulled onto a dirt layby at fair speed
Never quite hit the limiter (never felt the need!)

Don't get me wrong. Scoob and evo are wicked but a fair amount of work and quite in yer face in my experience. Fiat grows on me more and more though. I was quite anti it when she first got it.

Evo definately put more of a smile on my face on country lanes and in towns, though I think the Fiat does more so now on dual carriageways and motorways. Could be because most people don't realise just how well it goes so its nice to show em! :-)

They are renowned for burning oil at a fair rate - up to 1 litre per 1000 miles. Dunno where it all goes but you certainly have to top up regularly. Its well known and Fiat garages will tell you you just have to keep an eye on the level.

Interesting comment about the go-kart like handling above. Thats exactly how I used to describe my old car :-) wicked

[Edited by juan - 3/15/2002 4:15:14 PM]

akshay67

Sempers,

You find the Scoob quite popular with the ladies? Where are you from? What sort of ladies???!!!!

john banks

You may find the MY01 unmodded struggles against some of the fruiter V6 repmobiles. Examples include 406 3.0V6, Alfa 156 2.5V6. Both crack 60-100 in under 12 seconds. I have played with a MY01 in our 406 V6 and slowly pulled away at motorway speeds as traffic cleared ahead, and on a very bumpy road it has a lot of composure if a fair bit of roll through the bends, and would not be far behind some Scoobies in the dry if at all. Certainly not the best car in the world, but not surprising since it puts down sufficiently more power at the wheels and gains through aerodynamics to offset its weight disadvantage. I think some of the quicker Saabs, and BMW 3.0 sixes could also not be shaken off by a MY01.

Sith

Had some fun with a 20v T last year. If I hadn't have had the DP changed I wouldn't have been able to pass him.

P.

sempers

Not phwoar, just nice / approval. I thought it a bit of a kev car, but what the hell I'm a boy racer - might as well 'fess up to it

Girls? Work (professional types), ones I sail with, the nice blonde walking past the house who was still staring over her shoulder as I went off down the road, and one tiny little girl outside the local school (shouts) "Look Mummy it's a scoobaru" LOL (mum was nice!).

Edited to say, on a serious note, someone commented on lift off oversteer being a problem. I'm wondering (this is a question) if this is a particular problem with mod'ed cars; pretty much any car will tuck in off throttle / light braking - I have spun a large saab as a result - however, the scoob does it a bit harder, but on the occasions I've been caught out, it's been a matter of staying out of the throttle and using appropriate counter steeing to manage the situation until the trajectory looks ok, then getting back in the throttle gently and sorting the steering.

All relatively progressive, appart from the danger of a counter spin if you get in the throttle too much on recovery it's the most un-scary of most cars in that attitude. Of course, if you arrive way too fast and brake way too deep, it's more likely to swap ends, then again, most cars are going off under those circumstances, it's just a question of which end leads

Is it likely that all these mods that sharpen the car, stiffen the suspension etc, also make it much more inclined to snap oversteer, less forgiving and harder to catch?

- Sempers.

[Edited by sempers - 3/15/2002 5:33:16 PM]

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

fiat`s are poo!
poor build quality
unreliable
crap handling
should i go on!!!
there is no comparison in my book,i know what i would(did) buy.
if you had said an evo or a scoob then you would de talking but a poxy fiat,no f***ing way

wilf

Jonny,

So your undecided then.
Must admit my only foray into Italian ownership (Alfa) ended in disaster and the dealer taking the car back after 4 weeks. (Every journey I travelled in it another bit fell off or went wrong).

JamieMacdonald

Fix It Again Tony

sasman

Had a 20v turbo from new "sprint blue is best"in 98,"got 01 now" I loved it and still miss the engine growl. The detail is also brilliant, Race fuel cap, all metal key, body coloured dash. If you ever get to drive one floor it in third at 80mph, It flies. It's much more fun on the long sweeping roads and it drives better at 85+,but as everyone else has said on B roads it's no where near, all front end. If I was doing lots of motorway, dual car, and town i'd have one but all my driving is on wet and muddy country lanes so i sold it ,and me bike "bloody farmers". 8k for a 98 is a bargin just make sure its got a new cambelt, i'd say the running costs are similar, even if you don't want one it's worth a test drive to see how nice they are .

simon_prickett

Fiat Coupes are reliable, ran mine hard with no problems whatsoever (but we do have a Fiat specialist in the family, so made bloody sure I got a good one to start with!).

Here's mine with igratton's MY00 at Donington services before he got his P1 and I got my MY98 wagon:



The Coupe is metallic green - great colour.

Simon.

sasman

STOP THAT Simon NOW, i'll have to bye one now just to put it in the garage and look at it "sprint is still nicer "

chrisp

I nearly brought FCT in 1998, did the test drive, got a great part ex price but just decide to call in the Subaru garage on last time. Lucky for me they had just had a cancellation. I am sure I would have been happy with a FTC (great looking car) but the depreciation would have been massive compared to the scoob. the scooblost 6k in two years the FTC would have lost 6K in 200 yards . I would have thought thats it would make have a great 2nd buy though. Avoid the 4 cylinder turbo ones, a friend of mine had one and swapped it for an EVO as they had numerous engine problems.

simon_prickett

sasman - mine was the green UK press car

JKJ2

This was my choise, about two years ago, Scooby or FCT. Lasted about 2 miles into the Fiats test drive, probably up until the first corner and clear straight. It's a front drive car with alot of power thats going to be marginal in the dry and definitly crap in the wet. Pick up from speed is OK but not as good as the Scooby, regardless of the figures quoted here. There aren't many cars the Scooby wins over wrt overall build quality/cabin presence, but the Fiat is easy meat, the cheap interior metal finish, makes the Scooby interior look rather up market. Mechanical reliabilty has also been atrocious with failing variators on the variable valve timing and problamatic clutch release bearings, tending not to be covered by the warrenty.

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

look at it,its a hairdressers car,bet the turbo is made by revlon!!!

simon_prickett

Ever seen a hairdressers car electronically limited to 155mph?

MattN

well you must all be below average drivers .

I can safely say having owned FWD, RWD and AWD that if driven properly around the twisties there's not much in it.

There 'could be' but in my experience the extra grip and handling of the sccob whilst better undoubtly doesn't make much of a difference unles at really silly speeds which I'm not prepared to do on public country lanes.

Where I used to live I could throw all the cars round the lanes at 60-70 no probs, once I had a race in the FTO (FWD) and the guy I was racing was very surprised he was a mate and in his 306 S16. I reached speeds in excess of 80-90mph. Car felt fine, could have done more - the point being whilst the car was fine I was not comfortable driving as those speeds, so I backed off. So the AWD scoob could have done even more but in my opinon my car may have been fine but if a car was in the middle of the road or something in the scoob I would have just had a more spectacular crash due to the higher speed I could do because the *car* could go faster 'round the twisties'.

I think all modern sports cars are better than modern drivers.

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

155! hairdressers wont go that fast,pointless making a turbo version of a car thats chassis cant handle the non turbo 20v engine.
fiats are crap handling cars full stop,i have driven a 20v turbo and i have no plans of ever driving a fiat again.
sorry but thats how i feel about cars that try to be somthing they are not

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

Is it true that a cam belt change for the fiat is around 1000 quid?.

simon_prickett

There's 2 methods of doing it, one requiring approx 16 hours labour, the other is much faster as it only requires access to one end of the engine.

Both are Fiat approved methods, but I think you have to pick your garage as not all do both.

I sold mine before it needed a cam belt.

Excellent Coupe site is coupe-sport

jonny gav - never mind eh?

Silver-Bullet

Juan,

What EVO are you talking about, Intergrale or Lancer Mitsubishi???

Interesting views if its comparing a Fiat to a Lancer EVO, what model EVO??

juan

lancer evo 2 with mods (more torque than a 6 and less weight!) - awesome up to 70 or so. Would show clean heels to Fiat easy peasy. Still fast from 70 up but the Fiat would have it from then onwards quite easily.

Jonny gav has obviously not driven one. Another of these who has talks the talk without walking the walk.
Having owned evo and missus owning Fiat for over a year now, and having driven a couple of scoobs I feel my opinion is slightly more realistic.

It will beat scoobs (except for very fast ones) once you're over 70 on nice roads, and the faster you wanna get the more its gonna pull away.
It will be left behind on country lanes (for handling reasons - not power reasons). simple as that

p.s. Thought the Fiat was limited to 160, not 155!

Jonny gav - chassis can't handle it? what are you on? Its a very solid well put together car. The one I have a lot of experience with is quite new - W reg. (Maybe some of the earlier ones were a bit more ropey I dunno)


If you have a scoob and put it against the Fiat on a nice A road or motorway you will only see the back of it. If thats a car trying to be something its not then I'm sure you're glad its not actually able to be want it wants to be (in your eyes)! Our Jap 4WD friends are made for acceleration and handling and they're very good at it, but if you want to challenge at higher speeds then you're entering the Fiat's territory and will not beat it.


[Edited by juan - 3/18/2002 10:41:10 AM]

simon_prickett

juan - my P plate was one of the first 20v turbos in the UK (ex Fiat press fleet) and was fine with some mild tuning.

I also think johnny gav lost the plot!

Simon.

juan

To be fair I was less than impressed with it initially. Compared to the evo it felt sluggish and lardy!

But once you learn how to get the most out of it its a real fun motor. Took time because I found it a very different drive to the evo which would pick up like crazy from 2K and used to rev like a big bike and handle like a big gokart! The Fiat is not the same at all. She's a grunter and a growler and you have to learn to make her scream! :-)

Its superb on main roads though, and a wicked overtaking tool on any road once you know how to use it.

Most of our driving now is motorways etc. so its perfect. If I was driving down lanes a lot it wouldn't be so good.

My other gripe is the headlights. There is no diffusion of the light so there is a well lit area in front of you but it almost as if someone has drawn a line where the light ends and its pitch black from there on - quite dangerous on the lanes sometimes. Really slows you down. Like one of the old arcade 2D driving games when you enter a dark stage and just have an exact cone of visibility in front of you.


[Edited by juan - 3/18/2002 10:52:03 AM]

P1Fanatic

Must agree that they do look like the ultimate hairdressers car, go any higher up the scale and youll be driving a Renault Megane Convertible

juan

I too agree some can look a tad hairdresserish however to call it the ultimate hairdressers car sounds harsh. Surely things like MX5 and Audi TT win that hands down.

I can live with the looks because of the performance

HELLOM8

This Italian piece of crap shouldn't even be in the same sentence as Subaru.
The difference is of course, the boot on the Scooby is for holding things like shopping etc, where as a Fiat's boot is for holding the bits that fall off it.

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

the point is they are no scooby

juan-true the mx-5 are more hairdresser than the fiat but well put together,you have got to be joking.
i also have a bmw,that is well put together.
scoobys are drivers cars,fiats are for posers/girls
yes they are fast in a straght line but what fun is that?
you cant say its more fun than your evo can you?

SWRTWannabe

Doesn't the fact that the Scoob is 4wd make it much better at cornering?