Been lurking on the forum for a while & bought a 20VT which I picked up on Saturday (1997 R, 80k miles).

Has service history, including cambelts done by Alfashop (Norwich). HPI check shows it has been on private plates LIIAM5, ROAD5, (anyone on here?).

Original colour was ink black, but is now dark blue (unless this ink black, looks black unless in sun), with tan leather interior.

Thanks for Buyers Guide section which proved very useful, saw some poor examples before taking the plunge.

Any hints, tips or advice?

Yeah its standard colour, the blank is an inky blue etc.

Tips check oil, alot, warm up before canning it and have it checked over by Powerfiat (nearest specialist).

Sounds good! - welcome to coop world you will love it!

Check the oil religiously - every week, should use around 800mL - 1L every 1000 miles.

Change it every 3000 miles with good quality fully synth - loads of info on this topic on here!.

Keep an eye on the oil pressure guage aswell , if it drops below 2.5 bar whilst cruising/speed - kill engine straight away!

Enjoy!

Ehmm no, it should use next to nothing, but it can use up to 1L per 1000km (that's the max though!)

Enjoy the car

Oil consumption varies wildly from car to car. My advice would be to check date of change / mileage the belts have done. 30K miles is about the max you want on each belt. The aux belt is usually the probelm. It breaks and takes the timing belt along with it.

Also check the condition of the oil cooler pipes under the drivers side wings. These often need changing. A split here can be fatal to the motor.

Hello and welcome to the Forums

God, no wonder why people would get paranoid about owning a Coupe with a post like.

It's the people that aren't paranoid that have the problems


Welcome to the forum by the way Mr McShine

Shiny, don't be fooled by all the "coop-a-noia". Your 20VT will be a very reliable beast, providing you.....

Check oil weekly (If you are like me and do 500 miles a week )

Don't cane it until your oil temp is up 2 lines over the lowest point.

Use Super Unleaded, Coops love V Power.

Stop worrying about your keys

Don't be tempted to tune it. (That will be the controvesial part of this post)

Thanks guys, getting paranoid about losing keys after reading about Red Key hassles.

Haven't seen V Power around here, so put BP Ultimate in.

Tesco Superunleaded is fine too - 99 octane my car loves it.

Hi and welcome