Bigpower

Thoughts?

Looking for something cheap, fast and fun on behalf of a friend

Does anyone have any ownership experience, or better still, tuned ownership experience.

i'v heard they all suffer from various electrical problems mainly,
a friend of mine has a 20v coupe and he loves it

It's a Fiat FFS

Would be worth a PM to Jamie3, not sure if he's on here much though. Could try Hugh Janus as he knows Jamie

Make sure it's had a cambelt and tensioners (and that it was done by a reputable garage/specialist/Dealer) because on a 20v you're looking at around 8 hrs as the engine needs to be lowered off it's mounts and pushed over to one side. Officially it's an engine-out job and around 16 hrs labour.

Check for oil leaks from the filter (front of engine)- these are hard to get to and often are not fully tightened when serviced (although even when replaced correctly, it's difficult to clean-up all of the spilt oil fully).

Expect a fair amount of torque-steer under power, though if it's all over the road it may mean the wishbones are on their way out. AFAIK all 20v's had LSD's.

Brake pipes will be corroding by now, if they haven't been replaced already. The rears aren't too hard to do, but with a lack of space- the fronts are! Rear calipers can stick due to lack of use or gentle, economic driving. Rear radius arm bushes tend to go with age leading to play at the wheel which is easily felt by jacking-up the back, then holding the wheel top and bottom and rocking about the centre.

That's all I can think about for now...

There was a guy in a red one running in the time attack at snetterton it looked very well set up and quick and looked good to, looked at these my self. mike

Wouldnt a 200sx be a better buy mate ? Or an old BM ?

Never keen on a Fiat Coupe myself, its FWD also isnt it ?

Thanks for the input Dan. I had hoped that you'd see this

Marco Haig (I think) was the dude in TA, and yeah, that went very nicely. Will get the man in question to go and drive a few first.

RX7 wrote:Wouldnt a 200sx be a better buy mate ? Or an old BM ?

Never keen on a Fiat Coupe myself, its FWD also isnt it ?

Fiat's are around from a grand Gareth. 220bhp with Brembos and Recaro's for a grand. Not for me anyway and front wheel drive would be ok for the chosen use.

No worries Stu.

We had one traded-in under scrappage, so they're getting cheap, but you will notice a wide variation in quality depending on whether they've been looked after or not!

Oh, and push every button to make sure all the electrics work, lol.