fiat coupe 20vt
 

hi , any one had any experiences or thoughts on these, im told there pretty rapid when up an running.

My only experience of one is when I wooped it from the lights in my bug wrx.
Oh and there was a few at totb last year that was very rapid.

I know.....................no help at all.:p

not much help but a friend at work has one and he's really happy with it but i know he's had a lot of problems with the electrics

You beat a front wheel drive car from the lights in a 4wd one, hardly a revelation !

Once rolling a FCT 20VT is more than a match for Standard Scoobs.

I had one, disaster, don't bother unless you are very brave or very sure of its provenance. I ignored all my own car buying rules and bought an oil guzzling POS.

If you get a good one (big if) otherwise its a nice and rapid car.

yes i had a little play with one of these in an my o5 sti running about 330 340
did pull past but not as easy as i though it was on a straight bit of motorway 3 4 5 gear. up and running very fast cars

think it was a 20v turbo plus

Nearly bought one but I wasnt happy with the torque steer, it just hit the turbo and pulled like a t**t to the left....pulled it back, hit a white line and was off again!!

I had a couple of these, they don't torque steer too badly unless the tyres are shagged and they are very,very rapid.
Also found mine was very rapid at emptying my wallet. Engine rebuild and constantly needed fettling although it had done 110k by the time I sold it on.
Great cars but on the limit for what is sensible in a front wheel drive.
Above 50mph a standard one would eat my WRX alive.

i too had one running 300+ bhp , once rolling i had no problem keeping up with my brother in his modified type r (v6) running similer power , too be honest i loved it and only got rid when i injured my back and needed an op meaning i couldn,t justify having it sat there for months i even had a play with an m5 and c4s before i had my blitz sbc id fitted and had the car set up and the c4s only pulled me about a car length up to 120 ......go over to the coupe forum and speak to the lads over there for any info , there are lots of good knowledgable people over there who could answer any questions you may have..........

To counter the above, I had one for nearly four years and in that time, no electrical faults, no engine rebuilds, decent economy, rapid enough for me.
Only things that went wrong were battery stopped keeping it's charge and oil cooler pipes went. Even did some trackdays in it.

I very nearly bought another one in november.

My friend had one, he had to do the dredded cam belt change which was several hundred pounds, faily rapid one moving but i really didnt like it one bit to be honest, handling wasnt all that and plus the noise from that straight 5 didnt do it for me!!

Would never but a fiat after 3 years with a punto GT and the worls problems!!

my friend had one he hamered it all the time he had one of those fcuk chips on it and it lasted to 70k miles i know he had brake issues i think warped discs or something....the noise from the exhaust is like the rush of air exiting the exhaust and its bleeding loud imagine holding and air hose with the air rushing out!!!
after he blew that up he said he would never buy an itialian car again then he went onto an evo 3 japanese reliability all the way then realised **** this thing eats petrol and last i heard he was driving a bmw v12

Brother has one.

Great car, lots of punch, can be a handfull in the wet if you are pressing on but generally problem free.

Watch out for people selling them just before they are due a cambelt change which from memory is every 45,000 miles - it is a seriously big job and can bite you hard if you do buy one and it is due within a few thousand miles. Cheapest I could get one done for my brother was £400 but the going rate seems to be approx £700 by independant fiat specialists.

Check the brakes out as well, they also are not cheap - brembos on the front, not sure about the backs - but like with scoobs you don't want to be forking out to soon into ownership.

Don't pay bottom buck as generally they are the ones that will have impending large service costs looming - do your homework and I'm sure you will find the right one.

They are great fun but just watch out for the above couple of issues that most people are unaware of.

Regards

GB

The Plus versions and the LEs have a 6 speed box, otherwise 5 speed apart from some late run-out/empty the parts bin type models.

There's a list of common problems (as always) but generally....
- Watch the oil level like a hawk and top it up if it drops.
- Decat on the std. turbo can leak oil past the seals as no 360 degree bearing.
- Oil cooler pipes corrode and eventually fracture if not caught early enough.
- Oil cooler and pipes sieze together (different metals) so lead you to replace the cooler too.
- FIAT dealers are a joke, don't understand the cars, find a reliable independent instead.

I oh-so-wanted to buy one but it would have been my 1st turbo charged car. Couldn't find one at a dealers with a warranty, then found out the dealers were crap, generally got put off and didn't do it. I blame DVLA mainly as the one absolutely mint car I looked at was pending a cherished transfer and so would have involved fighting apparently incompetent beaurocracy to get the V5 sorted out.

J.

was told from a reputable tuner that its not the turbo seals that keep the oil in the turbo its the back pressure in the exhaust so not to go for a totally straight through large bore exhaust in turbod cars....

Leave it ticking over for a while (ten mins), if it starts smoking turbo is on its way out, the lads who bought mine (Itold them it was buggered) did this and it smoked like an Ultravox video, unfortunately (for him) the rest of the engine was knackered as well, piston were hitting the head and it was caning its way through oil, he re built it himself. Bought a Saab with more miles and thrap it every single day and it just puts up with it.

I had one sat up my arse(TSL333) pulling onto a dualy, could see a large FMIC, anyway rolling start at about 40 i punched it and he slowly fell back, probably only 2 car lengths by silly speeds.
Dont underestimate these as some are real animals.

Had a 20vTurbo LE. 0-60 6 secs, 0-100 14.5 secs. Very fast in its day, the fastest FWD production car at the time of launch in the mid 90's I beleive. Even now, there isn't that many FWD cars that can match its straight line performance.

I had very little problems with mine, only problem was with the alarm, drank .5 litre of oil every 1000 miles. Handling wise, its OK, but very much nose led despite the LSD, however, it will snap into oversteer if you lift off when giving it some beans, which was how mine met its end! :(

To sum up, great for fast A roads and motorways, still looks good despite its age and great performance for the money . However, theres questionable reliability given the age now and expensive to run,

A couple of people had them running "up to" 400bhp. Someone else was developing a 2.2 or 2.3 kit for engine. Apparently, the later 2.x engines from the Stilo etc. are too tall and won't allow the bonnet to close.

Forgot to mention the exhaust manifold manifold cracking on no.5 but that's common. Bad design of the orginal manifold and the redesigned one isn't too much better. Front wishbones take a lot of stick too.

Main advantage it's got over an Impreza etc. is aerodynamic cleanness and a small cross-section area. Relatively, they go faster at higher speeds than a "rallybred" saloon.

J.

When these first came out I had a VR6 Corrado... remember nailing it in 3rd and seeing a s0dding Fiat blast past me.. awsome exhaust note too... will always remember looking over in shock at the b'tard:eek2:

cheap as chips now.. but most are probably in need of TLC* now.. :thumb:

My brother had one for 2 years. Reliable car, think a stuck thermostat was the only prob. Very good for the money, seemed well built, excellent interior. Changed my opinion on fiats. He had 20v Turbo and it felt quite quick, but small turbo ran out of breath early, although it did seem to come onto boost at about 2200rpm!!!
Handling was terrible. I had a Corrado VR6 at the time, and the handling was in a different league. Not just torque steer, it was just all over the show. Dangerous to nail down the lanes.

I drove the very same car as mentioned in the above post and I didn't like the handling at all.

Fast though

The FCT wasnt that bad with torque steer, mine used to spin up in third at 60 in the wet, until I changed the **** tyres for Conti's and then even in first it was difficult to unstick without being brutal, put Nankang rubbish on anything and you are on your own. Handling was ok but mine had the rather flat and slippy leather trim which detracted from the cornering experience.

The turbo wasnt that small on the coupe was it ?

get a turbo volvo instead. much better.

what like a POS S40? Yeah right!!

Jonc, Audilover does have a point, I have had a 850 T5 and a Coupe Turbo, the Volvo was a way better built car, not saying the Fiat wasnt solid but its just too iffy in the reliability stakes, the Volvo used virtually no oil, the Fiat used loads, both bought at 40,000 miles with service history.

S40 isnt the best example but they arent that bad in turbo form, most front wheel drive cars are compromised handlers (short of the latest, best hot hatches, FTO's and ITR's) so whether its an S40 or a Fiat Coupe turbo, neither is going to be leagues ahead of the other, the FIat has the edge but bother with turn into an understeering wobbly pig if you get to ambitious.