This seems a bargain sports car to me. For under £5k you can buy a low mileage, 220bhp car that was raved about at launch.
But that Fiat badge on the front often conjures up thoughts of unreliability and questionable build quality?
What are the views of this car? Too high running costs to justify it?s purchase? Is the chassis really that good? Are the non-turbo 16v and 20v worth considering?
|
I owned one for 8 months (20V turbo), great car, odd niggling problem but generally reliable, dealers not the best to say the least. The 6 year 72000 mile service is a 2 day engine out job (cambelt) at some dealers costing £1200. Specialists and some dealers do it with the engine in situ for £400, better idea and worth changing the cambelt long before 72000.
Sold my Speed red Coupe for an Impreza as I needed 4 doors and a sensible size boot but still miss it, a real good looking car.
I looked at 10 before I found one worth buying, many are not looked after and they are prone to loads of parking dents down the sides as they are quite wide and they don't have side rubbing strips, find a good one and park away from other cars if you can!
Many are overpriced so look around and make offers, when I sold mine it was truly immaculate but the phone was not red hot despite a realistic price below booh prices. Leather and aircon is desirable and will help you when you sell it on.
www.coupe-sport.co.uk is an excellent web site dedicated to the Coupe, will tell you the good things and what to look out for (cracked exhaust manifolds, dodgy electrics, kerbed alloys...).
good luck...
|
I had a request to source one of these about a year ago.I think jonsey is spot on, saying about looking at lots!
I was unable to find one I thought good enough for my customer, so started looking for alternatives & this when you find REAL value...Nissan 200sx!
These seemed to have been 'dumped' on the market,new, for around £17000 ish at the end of 99 start 2000.List price was £23,000.So there were a glut of these with miles as low as 6-10,000, for around £8500, from the leasing companies.
Not sure what the supply is just now, though.
VB
|
|
seem to recall a well documented engine problem with these, symptom was sounding like a diesel. Cant remember what the problem was tho.
|
|
|
|
|
The 20v Turbo is immensely quick and was loved by the vast majority of its owners, but you have to budget for the unexpected. Think of it as 5-7K £2-3k tucked away for emergencies. I\'d love one as a second car.
|
I have never owned one (though I might soon), but can remember looking at one a few years back at a local fate, stunning to look at and it will be a classic. I love the yellow or the metallic blue.
Look at www.fiatcoupe.net/ for lots more info. The cam belt change seems to have been fixed by independent specialists so you dont have to remove the engine.
Main Dealers I have used are rubbish, though they may take more interest in a coupe.
|
Well I'll add a few comments as I owned a 20V Turbo for 2.5
years.
In terms of reliability I had only one major problem in my time
with the car and that was due to me not getting a water leak
on the windscreen fixed in time. So I would say they are
generally reliable but one the other hand they do need to be
maintained - the front wishbones need replacing every few years
and they wear front discs heavily. I had a replacement steering
rack which was not cheap and various other sundry items. I
had all the work on the car undertaken at a specialist (L&M in
High Wycome) to save money and get better service than a main
dealer. In my experience main dealers are pretty poor when
working on this car - one couldn't change the oil filter
properly. Overall I spend quite a lot on maintaining the coupe
so I would ensure that you have on average 1K or so a year to
spend on servicing/maintainance.
Only buy a turbo - the performance is so much better I can't
understand why anyone would want a non turbo. Prices on
autotrader seem to reflect this. I would only buy a car where
the cambelt has been done and you can see the bill. Its silly
money at a dealer (1100 quoted) or reasonable at a specialist
(650 L&M). No specialist will take the engine out for this now
and I doubt main dealers will either.
The exhaust manifold can crack on one cylinder - no real loss
in performance so many will not have been fixed. Don't know if
mine was broken as I never looked.
Watch for crash damage - I crashed mine sadly although not
majorly. I wouldn't rule one out on that but obviously look at
the repair bill to ascertain whats been done.
Only buy one like mine with an A4 folder full of all bills and
history - with a car like this I think you need to be happy with
the seller as much as the car. Also make sure they have the
red (master) key. It really is 1k to get a new one! (Although
you only need it if you loose all the other keys)
Great cars overall - huge performance and good handling, rock
solid around corners and pulls up sharply when required. Not
the faint hearted or financially challenged though.
Check the websites mentioned - wealth of useful info there.
Cheers,
Mat.
|
|
|
|
