I'm looking at spending £5-£6k max on a car,

It needs to have a 0-60 time of around 6 seconds, 0-100 of 14-15 seconds, it needs to look good (rules nissan pulsar's out), reliable and sellable as I will be selling it in May to make way for and EVO8.

Any ideas? Thought of Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo but can't find one for that price with low miles.

Corrado VR6? I've got a lovely one for sale ;)

Fiat Coupe Turbo will swap ends quicker than a MK1 Capri RS3.1 on sheet ice with bald crossply tyres and a sticking throttle cable with short action chokes.

Find out like a colleague of mine did.

Merc,

A Fiat Coupe Turbo being Tail Happy?

Yeah - tail end gets extremely happy on the brakes...

Had an Alfa 155 which did the same - turns out the brake bias was some 65% rear.

Alfa is Fiat - go figure.

Stormingly quick in a straight line though

Dracoro,

Thanks but I've had too many VW's, fancy something different

Cheers Juan,

I don't do too much b-road stuff, mainly a-roads, and a bit of m-way driving, I sold my EVO6 a few weeks ago and need something to fill the gap but it needs to be fast!

heh - sounds familiar :)

I didn't like the Fiat for months after having the evo (understandable), but once you learn how to get the most out of em (very different drive!) then they are really nice. You gotta hold on tight if you're flooring it in 2nd as opposed to just using one finger to steer the evo ;) but having said that they're good fun and awesome overtaking machines. 3rd is good for somewhere approaching 100 and it was nice to go past stuff without having to change gear halfway through the procedure :)

The evo would do certain fast b road corners easily 30 mph faster than I dare go in the Fiat but now I'm looking for new transport I'm looking for another Fiat rather than another jap.

Don't get me wrong - loved the evo - dream car - but the Fiat grew on me so much and people really don't rate them either, which is great fun :)

Personally I'd only be after the latest ones cos they sit a lot better than the earlier ones and you get the 6th gear which is a real cruising gear. I don't particularly like the look of them but a beautiful a road / motorway driver with a cracking engine and box.

I've not heard bad stories about mileage, but admittedly don't know many owners. I'd have thought the engine and gearbox would be pretty tough. Loves some abuse ;).

They do drink oil though - bout half a litre per 1000 miles! This is normal allegedly and I've never heard of one that didn't do it. Clutch went on ours after 45K and others have gone even sooner - seems to be pot luck on that. Also they need a timing belt (I think) change at around 72-75K which is an engine out job or something similar - big service anyways so if you're getting to that sort of mileage watch out for that.

Front tyres lasted 15K easy but fair amount of motorway use. They WILL let you know when they need changing as the car will go where it chooses on any kind of uneven surface but new tyres sort that.

Can't advice on the sensibility of buying an older one but I'd have another new one tomorrow :)

You can't match the japs 0-30/40 or so and official 0-60 is 6.5 which sounds about right. Its just that first 20mph or so that you miss out on. Once you're rolling there wouldn't be a lot in it. 60-100 is 8.0 (same as P1 and 22B) but the Fiat is just going into its true territory then whereas the 4WD beasts (flamesuit on ;) ) have already hit their best and the Fiat will be accelerating faster than them as you approach 3 figures (allegedly! ;) )

mmm I want too!

[Edited by juan - 2/10/2003 5:28:22 PM]

Funnily enough, it was...

He swore it swapped ends as he was braking into a roundabout off a b-road.

Fiat failed to find any cause for it.

I can't comment for fear of prosecution or persecution.
Make your own mind up ;)
I wasn't aware it was common at the time but have seen numerous owners mentioning it since.

Luckily all we needed was a new wheel. Soz bout your mate. Apart from that it always felt really nicely planted.
Did he have many incidents where it felt loose? and what year car was it? any idea?

cheers
Juan



p.s. presume you have / had a merc cosworth.
Cor a mate took me for a spin in a 190 in the French alps back in 1991. My first ride in a 'real' performance motor. Can still remember it rather vividly! He was mental.

[Edited by juan - 2/10/2003 5:48:12 PM]

Well, to be fair to Fiat, there wasn't a lot of coupe turbo left to investigate a probably cause of crash.

Left the road backwards at around 60mph

and then made a close and immeadiate impression on a very very large oak tree.

A brief and rather one sided fight ensued between the Fiat and said Tree.

Unsurprisingly the Tree won by a knockout blow to the bootlid and retained its world heavyweight 'F*ck yer car up good n proper' Crown

hmm might be something else then. In our case she knew the brake was sticking at first but had to get to work a few miles away - max speed 30 all the way and she thought it had unstuck and was just being a bit sluggish due to cold weather etc (it was rolling round ok).
Unfortunately found out otherwise at first corner as soon as some sideways momentum and lack of traction due to ice was applied it locked up :(

Had a drive of it before he killed it though - bloody hoot in a straight line!

IMHO still looks like they styled it yesterday - which is a rare thing amongst Coupes.

Juan,

Thanks for your advice, I'll be looking at an 'R' or 'S' reg as I need to keep my budget down.

Are there any other cars I need to be considering with the same performance at a similar price?

With regards to fiats bad design of there rear caliper. I had a fiat punto GT with discs at the back, same design as the coupe, freezing weather, the calipers clamped on. The apparent cause is that the pipe was the calipers initially runs down from the calipers and up to the floor of the car, like a U shape. The seals break and the U bend fills with water which freezes and clamps the hanbrake cable on. FIAT know about this problem and refuse to admit it or recall it, which is dam right dangerous and arrogent. This is the bery reason why i didn't buy a coupe and bought a scoob instead.

PS - the coupe plus is the one i nearly bought, with anthracite alloys, 6 speed box and push button starter ! :D

fiat coupe have a forum was looking there a while ago when considering a 20v turbo? lots of good advice, apperently off the mark thay are slow but once going sh*t of the prevebial!!
I wonder how one might compare with a focus rs, round the bends the focus would be better but the straights??

A mate had one, superb car, he sold it and got a 206 GTI and wasnt very happy, wonder why ?

So Fast, I drove it back to back (almost) with a UK Scoob Terzo and it felt way faster (until any kind of corner)

Loved the looks, was a black one, very mean looking.

My problem will be finding a good one with less than 40-50k on the clock for £5k, I would want leather and air con too. I've been having a look at the coupe forum and most of the ones for sale have highish miles or silly prices.

The fiat looks far better than a focus any day.

cyberevo,
could you point me to the coupe forum please?
just been looking on autotrader so far. nice looking yellow one on there but has gone unfortunately :(
and yes you really are gonna struggle to find what you're after at that price. You never know though. Some really good bargains crop up from time to time when people have to sell fast.
dare i suggest gti6? not really same speeds but nippy and fun, and only for a few months

J4CKO,
to be honest its hard to compare them at all to hot hatches etc. (harsh putting CTR and RS in there) but they are very different cars. Like I said in an earlier post the coupe feels very much like a GT car and nothing at all like a hatch or even a scoob / evo. Guess thats why country lanes aren't its favorite place.
btw what is a terzo exactly? - keep seeing them mentioned

I'm not surprised he was disappointed. you don't know what you got til its gone!

I'm pleased I really grew to appreciate ours before we lost it.

Juan,

http://forum.fiatcoupe.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=

There you go! and a Terzo was a limited edition impreza (Blue with gold wheels)looked the biz when it came out new.

Gti-6, no thanks, it's a 306! I would love a late Integrale but they are still expensive (for good examples) best steering ever and handling is awesome for a 90's car

cheers for the link

not tried a gti6.
a friend had a 306 s16 which who used to lend me sometimes. Not fast at around 9 secs 0-60. good fun though and cornered pretty nicely (as long as you were in the right gear!!)

Its a struggle to fit your needs. sink to a cossie? ;)

Noooo Cossie, my boy racer image days are long gone (sorry to cossie owners), I would love a 911 carrera 4 (996), they just don't seem to depreciate though, which in the long term is a good thing.

911s are lovely cars.

I had a go in an oldish carrera and instantly had to check the prices of secondhand 911s. nothing at all under 12K worth looking at and even that would only get you an pretty old car.

Juan, Terzo is a limited edition UK Turbo with Met Blue paint, a little plaque with a number on it, er some other bits but standard engine, I think they made 555 of them, spooky.

cheers J4CKO.

cyberevo - http://forum.fiatcoupe.net/ubbthread...b=5&o=&fpart=1 - any good for ya?

O.K.

It's bdown to a 2 car race.

Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo or Honda Integra Type R - both cars will cost roughly the same to buy, has anyone had good or bad expereinces with either.

MR2 Turbo would also fit the bill - unless you particularly want rear seats? Worth owning just for the experience ;-)
Get a rev2 with aircon/leather/T-bar etc easily in that price range - might even squeeze a 1994+ model for 240+ bhp standard - add a bleed valve/grainger valve and you'll have a very fun car to last you until May!

Mister2,

Did have a go in one in the wet once - Never again....

Hehe fair enough - it's not as bad with S03's or Eagle F1's on though... The Rev3+ had many alterations to improve them.
In the dry they are very good. (We're past the worst of winter now - up until May should be ok...)
Drive gingerly in the wet and you'll be ok!
Out of the Fiat & Honda, I'd personally go with the Fiat...

Mate has a ITR and loves it!!!Bit low on the mod cons and very noisey. Does anyone have any figures for the Accord Typer?
I am personally looking at a newmotor, was looking at a 20v turbo last year, am only waiting for the second years no claims!!!
8 grand plus my px should get me a beaut!!