Hi,
i have needed the the Red Key a few times now probably 3 in total in over 2 years of Coupe ownership, the last time was about one week ago when some work was being done to it and the battery was disconected for a while, I didn't have the red key with me so I just disconected the battery for another five minutes and then tried it again and it started with no problems.
To be honest i think its rare to require the red key I mean the other 2 times it has happened was one year ago in the same week when I had battery problems (wires not connected properly where shorting it out) and im sure just taking the wires of the battery for a few minutes and reconecting them after 5 mins then would have sorted it out anyway.
The last time it happened I was at Barbz and even he seemed shocked that the car was asking for the Red Key so I rekon its very rare.
When I bought my Coupe it came without the Red Key, I panicked for the first year worrying that the immobiliser would get set of then Id have to find a whole new ecu with new keys etc(or worse still hand it in to a Fiat garage
)...but if worse comes to worse im sure somebody in the know could hook it up to a machine and set it straight if for some strange reason disconecting the battery didn't reset it.
I wrote a letter to the first keeper who spookily had found the Red Key a month before he recieved my letter and kindly fowarded it to me!
I personally would but a coupe without a Red Key again but thats only because I can't clearly remeber anybody not beng able to get around not having a Red Key when their immobiliser has been activated, good luck!
Cheers
John