After coming back to Coupe ownership for the 8th time, Ive realised im permanently skint while its on the road,.

Ive realised its now classed as an older car, A nail if you like and simply cannot be classed as reliable as modern day machines, VXR, Focus ST, Copra R etc etc are all soo pretty, so reliable and all are nearly new,.

This is a 1998 20vt I have, Its full spec, Its had turbo seals done, Manifolds cracked, Electrices recently caught on fire, brakes wobble at silly speed, God the lists endless,

A friend has a 130k Cupra and it drives like new, And has needed nothing in 3 years except brakes and tyres,... This 20vt has 95k and is far from in every way.

They DO NOT age gracefully they are full of age related niggles and cannot compete in the reliability steaks as per VAG etc..

Im now driving my GF's lovely New Megane CC, Its lovely - feels new and is bang up2 date,

I can even do a trip WITHOUT checking the dash for warning lights etc.

Back in 2003 when I had my first Coupe they were cool and fast,

Now I drive it on a sunny day, RX8's TT's Go past and I know what theyre thinking, 'Ha bet that cost £1200!' And theyre right theres no money in even the best coupes.. Old hat old news, old mechanics...

Now as LE's are fetching as low as £2500 I believe they are pants.

Not a week goes by without a new noise of problem occuring.

Im now buying a TDI A3 Quattro and Il just watch my piggy bank brimming within a week.

RIP Fiat Coupe,.. Long live NEW or just reliable cars that are worth more that a few K.

Chrissy, Not Chrissy20vt

I shall expect coupe 9 within the year

I'm still on coupe 1 - thirteen years later. It's left me on the side of the road, what, twice in that time?

Yes but its a 16v N/A Deemed the more reliable of the Coops,. They are not fast enough to break or get hot enough to detonate!

And I presume you maintain it to your very best, If you dont pamper them they just die, The other cars I mentioned are more forgiving.

If youre not prepared to maintain them to their best and pamper them then perhaps it's not the right car for you.

Coupe's are delicate and cant take abuse or neglect but they can be very reliable.

They can be reliable at a cost of probably triple and equivalent car for age and mileage..

Wrong in so many ways I don't know where to begin...

Who gives a damn what drivers of RX8s and TTs think?

I drive my coupe because I want to drive it, not for anyone else's benefit.

Not of the same power though.

And you can bet your life your GF'S Megane will go wrong and won't age gracefully.

Any sports/high powered car needs time and money spending on them - it catches up with any car sooner or later.

None of the cars mentioned above are future classics, all copied the coupe styling in some way, ( brembos, red stitching, titanium details etc etc ) and none of them will look good almost 15years after their original design, why come on a coupe forum and slate the coupe ??

Chrissy, I'm on my second. I budget to spend £1k a year, and always spend less than that (Thanks CarlT, Alternative Autos and Matt at Seawall)

Just look after it, and it won't ever cost you the earth. My latest one cost me £1400 to buy at the beginning of this year, but it still looks like a car worth 10 times that much. TT and RX8 drivers who actually KNOW about cars (or is that mutually exclusive) know that the coop is a faster car than theirs, a better car, a prettier car...its just that it is older.

But screw what you think other people think. I drive a coop because it suits me. It is unique enough to be different, and flash and fast enough to give me the kicks I need.

I worry that when this one has done its time on this earth, that I'll be unable to find a decent (Fiat Coupe)replacement.

i have mates with tr4s others with tr6 other with porche,alvis,e type,the list is endless,when i bought my 20vt ,they all said brilliant when can they go out in it.They know its a fragile classic to be.But its a great car.
I love it

That's why I drive mine.

And as for the Megane CC, my wife's workmate has one - 58 reg. Within 2 weeks it was back in the dealership as the passenger seat wouldn't lock on the runners. When she accelerated it shot backwards, opposite when she braked.

Well I have just sort of done the opposite, getting rid of the new cars and enjoying driving again. Driving a BMW 5 series as work car. The coupe is in a different league. Yes it is Italian and yes you're going to have problems but what fun, you're never get that in a cc. As for cost a good car does'nt need to cost a fortune. Drove a Ferrari and prefer an X1/9. German cars have there uses they are a good taxi etc.

I like your write up, the Coupe is old hat compared to modern machinery and neglected it is a timebomb. You are not going to get far with comments like that here though are you, lots of people love their coupes.

Many modify the cars beyond what they were designed for and have ploughed thousands in to them, totally misguided in my mind but hey let them, maybe some could do with a reality check of where modern sports/luxury cars are OE without 'rebuilding' the entire Bangle concept i.e. engine mods, suspension, wheels, seats, ARBs etc etc

I like my Coupe it is well cared for inside and out and has given me nearly 4 years of driving pleasure for next to nowt. I don't put it anywhere near modern sports stuff it just isn't in the same league but as a stylish 2nd hand sporty car I quite like it.

I wouldn't have a new car if you paid me. I work on brand new and future design cars in my job working in new car development. And i happen to be an auto electrician in that field. If you had any idea how modern cars worked and how fragile they are then you would think very differently. Yes modern technololgy is wonderful, we now make engines that will do 70+ mpg. However that engine has 30 plus sensors and actuators. It can only be fixed after very expensive dealer only diagnostics. If you flick your wipers in a modern car your instantly dealing with 3 if not 4 ECU's on modern cars.

I've had more modern cars, i had a nice Peugeot 307 110hdi, nice and modern, quite low miles. And from when i bought it i had nothing but trouble. After the 5th dealer visit to do with the DPF system as only they could talk to the engine ECU i got sick and tired of it and sold it, making a large loss in the process.

Ill stick to my coupe thanks. I had a miss fire the other day, i traced it to a little bit of water down one of the spark plug holes. No biggy, i got the water out, cleaned the connections and the car ran perfectly. If you have a miss fire on latest generation engine, the MIL light will flag up, ur car will go into restricted performance and you will have no choice but to take it to a dealer. Say for example a spark plug has degraded...to get to the spark plugs on several modern engines that i know well is a 3 hour plus job. On 2 i can think of off the top of my head it is 3 times that long and involves dropping the coolant out of the engine and is a major strip down job.

I have had the good fortune of driving a couple of RX-8's and both the new and old TT's. They to me are if im honest dull and lifeless. Yes great machines...but they give no driving pleasure at all. Everything about them is artificial. As for Focus ST's and such like both through the bends and on the straights my lightly modified coupe will leave them for dust. Nothing gives me more satisfaction then seeing the look on their faces as they disappear into my rear view mirror.

I have one coupe, i have just bought another, one is a project to bring it back to the state it should be in and why?? because i love them and i want to see every coupe on the road that i can.

Sorry for the long post but i feel strongly

Old car, not the same driving experience as newer cars, some won't be as reliable etc etc. All well and good. Not everybody seeks the same thing from a car. The following statement is just plain daft though:

"Now I drive it on a sunny day, RX8's TT's Go past and I know what theyre thinking, 'Ha bet that cost £1200!' And theyre right theres no money in even the best coupes.."

Are you really that hung up on how much people think your car is worth? If you're after something really ostentatious, to show those blighters just how much cash you have, you'd be wanting a Porsche SUV or some such. Yup, that oughta do it - show the world how rich you are.

What's the point? That's nothing to do with a passion for cars, it's just a materialistic statement. Shame

Buy a Porsche SUV and everyone will be thinking, what an ar$e, that thing will be depreciating faster than Zimbabwean inflation is increasing

Yes, you may spend less on maintaining a newer car (probably not an Audi however, given the cost of parts), but you'll probably lose more in depreciation in the long term

For the money i don't think there is a car out there that can compete, still get admiring looks i bet you don't in megane cc

You slate them... I BET you you have another coupe in the next five years!

"Buy a Porsche SUV and everyone will be thinking, what an ar$e, that thing will be depreciating faster than Zimbabwean inflation is increasing \:D"

Isn't that why some folk buy them..? To show just how much money they can flush down the toilet without even missing it.. Waddaya mean you're not impressed, do you have any idea how much it cost!!

I don't really see the point in that. Especially considering the Coupe wasn't even that expensive when new anyway

anyone can afford a coupe, but it doesnt mean they will b able to maintain it. who carez what the rx8 and tt drivers think, fccuk them

Sounds a bit like the Coupe blinkers have come of Chrissy.

Realising its now classed as an older car?? Yes, obviously!

Just sounds like its time to move on thats all, it will happen to everyone eventually.
When you own a car your very fond of its on quite a pedestal. For example threads where people state if i won the Euromillions i would still have my coop. Maybe you would, but you would probably take the Lambo out the garage more often than your Fiat.

If you have the money to move on to something better then do it. I spent out quite a bit on my Z4, but haven't spent a penny on a mechanical problem since. Like you say the pennies build up and you don't feel like the car is raping you each month.

I agree that the new hatches are pretty cool looking, if you showed a picture of them to me 10 years ago i would have thought they looked mental! Often overlooked though as you're so used to the sight of them now.

In the words of d1ckhead Ramsey..Coop ownership...Done. You wont forget it though.

I hide the receipts from myself and can’t remember how much it cost me so the Coupé is very cheap... in my mind.

Sorry, I just read "devils advocate" when I see posts like yours Chrissy.

We all know most of the points in your post are fairly accurate.

But, if you're a true car enthusiast, there's so much more to owning a car than maintenance costs and reliability issues.

That said, it sounds like I'm confirming the Coupe is unreliable. In my experience, it's not.

I still don't understand why it's taken you 8 coupes to come to this conclusion

Well I'm still on my first 20vt, 12 years old now and owned since virtually new, phase sensor meant I was without it a while, other problems were rounded sump plug thread and sump off meaning off the road a while, CODE box getting corrupted mean more down time, but as for actual breakdowns at the side of the road, ummm, struggling to think now, I did have a boost hose pop off, fixed that myself, what else? I really can't think. It's no less reliable than wifey's 5 year old V40. If it's been properly looked after from new there's no reason why it won't last another 10-15 years...(he says hopefully )

LOL, I do tend to agree with Chrissy, but it seems it has taken him too long to get to this point. The coop is what it is, it is a cheap fast car, but with that comes all the complications of owning a cheap fast car.

My first coop was one of the youngest coops in the country and had no issues at all, my second coop was modded and still had no issues, but that was 4 years ago, you can bet they are suffering now. But that doesn't matter as long as you go into coop buying with your eyes wide open.

If you are not prepared to spend the money on the coop then you shouldn't have one, but that doesn't just for the coop, but any old fast car. It has nothing to do with Italian flair, style, etc, forget all that and remember it is an old fast car.

To try and compare it to, say, my ST, is rubbish, as the ST is 2 years old compared to a 12 year old car. You can bet when the ST is 12 years old, it will suffer!

But just to pick up on a couple of other points I don't think the coop was the first car to use red stitching, brembos and titanium, I really don't think you can say that!

A few things:
1. You are comparing a modified car with a standard car, where one has more power, so yes it may leave it for dust!
2. Leave it for dust, LMAO, what does that mean, your car probably does 0-60 in 5.8 seconds, an ST will do it in 6.4 seconds (well mine does), is that leaving it for dust, as for straights well maybe, but we don't live in the US do we, as for twisties, dream on!

Interesting and brave post. It's your point of view and don't be put off by the baying mob with pitch forks.



They are still cool and fast, it's just they are now cool and fast and very, very cheap.


Secondly your experience with Coops is inevitably down to the particular examples you are buying. i.e. dogs.

Buy cheap, buy twice.

You'll have just the same problems with your A3 TDI unless you do your homework first.

I've got two quality German cars now, one 8 years old and one 16 years old. Both will cost me more to maintain than I paid on both my Coops over the same period of ownership.

Old cars cost money. New cars cost even more, end of.

Chrissy - I know exactly what you are saying.

However if you buy a 20VT for a grand then by far the majority of them are going to be nails as they will not have been maintained properly. Rattles and clunks and squeaks need to be fixed on a regular basis, if you ignore any issues on the car then before you know it you will be driving a heap, and it does not take much for a coupe to look and feel pretty ropey.

The same can be said of cossies. There are plenty of Sapphires out there that are nails. Why? Because they are cheap to buy, and people buy them either without the money to maintain them, or because they dont care about maintaining a car that old. They are of the age now where they need a complete suspension overhaul etc. to feel like they were intended.

a few years ago a friend of mine bought a dog of a 20VT (which had only done 50K) for about a grand as a temporary car, despite my telling him not to having seen the car in the dark with him. I test drove it and it felt like a bag of crap...he sold it within two weeks.

Solo Italia are still selling LE's and Pluses for seven or eight grand in good condition.

Compare the car to an Integrale - they share most of the coupe's flaws, but they also are worth a lot more - so you dont see ropey ones on the road.

Your comments about what other drivers think are pretty dumb IMO. I have never been, and never will be, bothered about what other people think of the coupe. Have you ever tried to expain to a BMW enthusiast (sorry cosmo) that has never driven an Italian car what the experience is like? All you will get out of them is statistics and comments like 'it'll break down every day.'

Chrissy, you have had 8 different FIAT Coupes and it has taken you this long to work out that they cost you money?

No seriously, take any modern sports car, drive it hard everywhere, ignore those suspicious noises, and flog it on when it looks a bit tatty. Repeat the cycle a few times and 8-12 years later, say that the car is rubbish. What else would it be?

Why are the Turbos less reliable than the non-turbos. They share much of the construction of the more powerful version, but are not as highly stressed. So yes should be a bit more reliable. The other variable is that they were more likely to have been bought by people who were worried about the the extra complexity of a turbocharged car and they also do not drive the car to its limits. That was my choice. Yes the Turbo was in a different league, speedwise but, even in Germany, the extra top speed is hardly useable. The non-turbo seemed to handle better and I made my choice.

Since buying the car in early 1997, I have looked after it, and it has been nearly 100% reliable. The clutch pump went after 3 years and a coil pack went after 6 - neither time was I stranded. No other costs apart from tyres, brakes, exhausts and batteries. Obviously, I'm surrounded by friends and colleagues with German cars, and hardly any seem that reliable.

I don't feel like I'm driving a rust bucket, because mine still looks nearly new and it turns head just like my Jaguar (which are like hens teeth but respected in Germany - strange, I know). I don't think it is my handsome good looks that does it I would say mine has aged amazingly gracefully. Dynamically it is not as good as modern cars, but that is not expected. For its time it was very good, so is still acceptable.

As for comparative reliability, the ADAC has just released its customer satisfaction survey results. Remembering that Germans are very patriotic about their products, VW came near bottom. The rest were average.

I get the feeling you are comparing apples with a lemon. A car that was last produced in 2000 is, by definition, an "older" car. An old car can't be new or nearly new- contradiction in terms. A new Megane should feel new; something wrong if it does not. A 12 year old RX8 will also be worth very little when that time comes.

A very confusing post - I'm not at all sure what you are trying to say.

Yep, keep perpetuating the stereotypes, that will help enormously to a balanced discussion.

Have you thought that some BMW enthuiasts have owned an Italian car at some stage in their driving career. That's why they are now driving BMWs. Some folk don't value passion and soul as a substitute for engineering.

Personally speaking I never found much 'passion and soul' in the Coop, just an indecent level of straight line performance, a nice noise, exotic looks and hours of fun fiddling with it.

Yes! hence the brackets in my post. I dont include you in that group - but it does undeniably exist!

I would agree with that, although I never really found the noise that great either. Where as my GT had the italian "passion and soul", way more than the coop in my eyes.

Its all different strokes for different blokes I guess, if everyone was the same the place would a dull planet!

Ain't that the truth

That group is represented by at least one in every workplace throughout the UK.

What Cosmo said .

And, I spent the weekend at Snetterton, with the bmw 5 series forum, all showed interest in the coupe, never asked how often it broke down, then proceeded to drive with 'passion and soul' in everything from a 2.0 auto ( 520e )to a 21 yr old track prepped M5 around Snetterton, showing many a newer car their heels..

The Coupe is far from dead, to say a VXR / Cupra / ST are suitable alternatives and ( PRETTY ) is madness .. they're hatchbacks with bodykits and fizzy engines ( ST aside, sounds crackin ) . When they hit 12 years old, I doubt as many will exist in proportion to the Coupe at 12 yrs old due to the electronics used !

I love all cars, to ringfence yourself to one make is ridiculous.. they all have something unique to offer, I'd have another 5 series tomorrow if I needed it ( to replace the c4 picasso say ), doubt the coupe would leave my ownership though It was as much fun to drive as a Coupe, but in a different way, a competent cruiser, but scared hot hatches when allowed

Anyways, put the tar brushes away, this forum is getting like Rolf Harris in an oil spill...

Got about three posts down then zoomed to the bottom - so sorry if I'm repeating what's already been said.

BUT...

I owned two Coops for nearly six years, did around 60,000 miles and apart from one hose which 'Tourqueitalia' handily sorted cos it happened virtually on their doorstep, had no problems at all. Credit for this to the previous owners and SuperRog)...

You reap what you sow - there are good uns about that have had time and effort put into them which still give their owners a buzz. Buy an older, cheaper car and you can be stung - it's the same with any marque. I found out with the first Integrale I bought years ago and I'm not bitter about it cos I had four good other Lancias before and after.

I followed Big Mike's Coop last night and still thought it looked great. Great road presence, great performance, top sound - and you hardly see any of them about (this coming from someone who drives something even rarer).

Fair play to you for posting and stirring up a passionate reply or two. Sorry you feel let down but, please, don't have nightmares...

I think you'll find it should be referred to as either 'classic' (optimistic) or 'future classic'...

Why do you care what audi tt/rx8 drivers think? At least you have the confidence and balls to do your own thing and not be a sheep/follow the crowd.....???

I'm not sure about worrying what anyone else thinks tbh, but I can see where crissy is coming from. If they were still making them, I might have bought another, but things move on so quick! New cars are now so much "better", and I don't mean that to be nasty, it's just progress.

Loved the coupe and wanted to keep it forever, but every dog has it's day and I think the sun is setting for lots of owners now.

If anyone has a proper minter, keep it and it'll soon start going up...as for the rest.....

New cars are not 'better', they are safer, have better ride quality and economy but i also find the majority of modern cars horribly dull, lifeless and they all seem to look the same as each other. I'm getting more and more into older/classic cars as they have so much soul and passion which is sorely lacking in modern cars, supercars etc aside. I drive many new cars for my job on a daily basis, and take brand new cars to customers homes etc, i find them all boring and same-old same-old, its such a relief when i climb into my coop on the way home at the end of the day and hear that 5 pot engine roaring :O) I really dont understand where crissy is coming from as the market value of a car matters very little now due to depreciation and the coop is one of the best looking cars i've ever seen alongside astons, porsches, ferrari's etc, far prettier and cooler that a dull tt and rx8. I still cant get over what incredible value for money these cars are as they look a million dollars and have so much kit in them. Anyway, rant over lol, i just love my coop to death.

I am on my 4th coupe and i have now had a complete knob full of keeping on top of them, i have only done 10k in 2 years and have spent a fortune on them, but i just love the noise they make on full boost, and as for performance they wipe the floor with most cars on the road, i know its time to get rid of them but i just have not got the will to live with out one even if it is on my drive doing nothing, its just nice to say i have one and not had.

My Coupe has only let me down once in the 2 and a half years I've owned it and that was only a pipe coming off the turbo

It's a daily driver and only used mainly for short, sh!tty journeys, but it's been very reliable.

It was a bit of a dog when I bought it, with no history, etc, etc and it's still a bit of a dog, but who cares, I love it.

It's an 11 year old car that needs a bit of money spending on it now and again, so what? I'd expect that with any 11 year old car.

I don't expect it to go up in value and don't expect it to pay me back for what I've spent on it either - which hasn't been much, to be fair.

I intend to keep my Coupe until the day it dies or until the Alfa GT's come down to about 2K

Until then, I'll treat it with the care and respect it deserves and I'm sure I'll get it back in return, as I have done so far

My coupes lets me down monthly - I have to run two of the sods to ensure I have a working car.

The amount I have spent on the cars over 18 months of ownership I recon I could of outright bought a 20K car.

However I would rather have burnt the cash !

I love the coupes they just hate me

well said mate

my coupe is a nightmare too, now it has burned ecu and some other electric probs. It was solid only for the first month I bought it. However I like its looks and performance a lot. And I like to drive rare unusual car. I`m unlucky with it but I`m stubborn and believe I`ll finally have 300hp reliable coop.

A side observation: in thirteen years I have spent perhaps a quarter of what I paid for the coupe in maintenance. In six months I have spent on daughters (slightly younger) punto slightly more than she paid for it.

Any old car will cost. Bits wear out. But if you like it and you can keep it going, why replace it with modern mundanity? the roads are generally too crowded to stretch even a 1400 these days; ultimate power and speed is so pointless an activity as to be beneath consideration in the purchase.

Bought my coupe (98 S reg) in Jan 2001

Its never broken down and other than routine servicing/replacing parts worn out due to age mileage, its only needed two injectors, two wheel hub/bearings and a coil pack

Its certainly cost me far less than buying a new car every three years

Aside, a chap at work has a brand new Yaris - less than 15k on the clock and its had the clutch replaced three times! (and various other problems - its only on the road 50% of the time)

So much for new car/Jap reliability - you can sometimes be unlucky

One of my mates runs 2 japanese cars just to be sure that most of the time at least one of them will be working. When mine was off the road I just walked to work instead.

The only problems I ever had were modification related, rather than general reliability.

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Chrissy on a number of points. The reason I left Coupé ownership was because they are old, and they look and feel it too. I had no major breakdowns in either of mine and I spent the money to keep them maintained, but they're nearly all over a decade old now.

Yes they're fast, even by today's standards, but then so is a Nova with a red-top fitted and you won't catch me driving one of those. When I bought my first one they were still fresh looking, still had some value and felt unique. People knew you'd bought one because you'd thought about it. I could have easily spent the £7k on a decent Subaru or Evo, but I didn't. I wanted to be different. Unfortunately now, people aren't buying them for those reasons, but merely because you can't get more bang for banger money. The shine wore off for me and any niggles weren't quirks of the car that we're to be expected with Italian exotica, but because it's an old shed worth £1500.

Reading that back I realise it all makes me sound a bit of a snob, and I couldn't argue with anyone if they made that accusation. Unfortunately they just didn't feel special to me anymore which is why I've got the GT. I know it's not as fast but in every other way it makes me feel special. The way it looks, the admiring glances, the nice comments. All things I used to get in the Coupé but that had dried up in the last couple of years.

I know there are a lot of genuine owners out there that will look after their cars, keep them regardless and fair play to you all. If they make you happy then that's what being a petrolhead is all about. I have no doubt the Coupé will come out the other side of this, but it's not going to be for many years yet.

I own a 16 year old Mazda RX7.

The engine under the bonnet is probably considered one of the most fragile powerplants to make it into a production car.

Yet there are still thousands of them on the road and people are more than happy to continue keeping them that way, because they are great cars and will always be great cars wether they were built yesterday or are 50 years old.

The Fiat Coupe is a great car. Think of all the other dross that was in production when it first came out, and try and guess how many of them are now new cans of Heinz Beans. Most of the "throw away" cars being produced today can look forward to the same thing in 15 years time because if people moan about maintaining such a simple car as the Coupe, what will be it be like with the over complicated nonsense attached to many of the ordinary systems on a new 5-Series or Vectra?

Comparing an old 20vt to a new fast hatchback is pointless. Name me any "performance" car (please dont try and say that cooking 3-series, Mondeos or Audis fall into this bracket) that after 12-13 years, numerous different owners and 80-100k miles is going to be completely fault free with no major maintenance required. It just does not exist. Do you honestly think that in over a decade that the thousands of Focus ST's on the road will drive exactly the way they did when they drove out of the factory? I think not.

I used to be a car salesman, I have driven many different cars, ranging from a 1972 7.2 "Hemi" Jensen Interceptor to a 2006 Mercedes S500 with a 123hp Modified Smart Car in between. I have owned many performance cars, one of them being a 330hp 1998 Fiat Coupe. Now i have the car i mentioned at the start. Both of them rank much higher in my standing than a Megane CC (yes i have driven one). At the end of the day i have settled for the car that provided me with the biggest feeling of happiness and excitement whenever i look, drive and repair it. Some people buy a car because they can drive fast in it, some buy a vehicle that impresses people and some couldnt care less as long as it moves. Its all down to what you want from your "car" and it sounds as if you want something that feels new and needs no attention to get the best out of it, maybe a good comparison would be someone who prefers a new build flat over a 1920's cottage, both have their pros and cons.

If i had the choice in 1996 of a new Fiat Coupe or a new ST/VXR/GTI or any comparable "modern" performance car, i would pick the coupe every time.

A well sorted coupé that has been looked after shouldn't give too many problems. By problems I mean the real show stoppers, not the odd little niggle here and there. If you maintain it well then it's going to be fine. Nigel's car is a perfect example for the simple reason he does 20-30,000 miles a year in a very fast coupe and in terms of pure mechanics what goes wrong?

My coupe is very fast, indeed it's about to get a little faster, but more than this it looks fast. Only yesterday, a chap walking by in the car park said out of the blue "Nice motor", the kids on their bikes riding past later stopped and chatted. I live in a nice part of Bristol, these are not your "fast n furious" fanboys, they simply see a fast looking car that looks nice. I see it too, I recently had the pleasure of being followed by my very own coupe. The headlights were on as dusk approached, the nose was set low looking poised and ready to strike. More than this it exudes a sophisticated charm, enough to cause grown men and women to circle the car trying to find out what it is (no badges )

Quite simply, there are some rough as sh** coupes out there, but the really nice ones... well, they are still something special.

If you don't like coupes leave, bye.

Brewster - I agree if the coupe no longer feels special to you, then yes its time to leave

As for £1,500 sheds on the road - I'll give them less than 2 years before they are all broken beyond economical repair.

Is it likely that a person buying a £1,500 coupe is going to have or be willing to spend the £100's required for a new cambelt, oil cooler & pipes, radiator, suspension - all jobs which, if they havent all been done, need doing asap (and who's going to sell you a coupe for £1,500 with all this lot already done?)

You cant run a coupe on a shoestring or it will break and you cant cut corners if you want to modify a coupe - both have been proved many many times on this forum

I know my coupe is very well maintained and, having done all the '10 year old' jobs (oil cooler & pipes, 2nd cambelt, radiator, manifold, suspension etc.) I fully expect my coupe to give me another 5 years without any major expenditure.

Why not, I did?

Low mileage Coupe 20vt bought a few years back now.

I didn't spend a great deal of cash on mine at the asking price when I bought it. I knew the oil cooler pipes were corroded, and manifold would need a replacement, and exhaust would need to be replaced too, and the all important cambelt change. Plus a few other less important parts needed doing.

But, they were all replaced and repaired. And now, like many others on here, the Coupe is in far better condition than it ever was, both mechanically and cosmetically.

But again, isn't that the difference between the car-enthusiast, and just a car-owner?

Exactly - your "£1,500 shed" is no longer a £1,500 shed as you've probably spend £1,500 getting it back into good condition

My post was more aimed at people who buy a £1,500 shed, thrash the crap out and wont or cant spend the money doing the required jobs - those coupes will soon be off the road

Coupes owned by enthusiasts will continue for a long time yet and still look good compared to most modern cars

I've owned my coop since May 2008 and havent had a single problem with it, all i've done to it is taken it for a full service and i just check the oil, coolant, tire pressures on a regular basis, it runs superbly, i cant believe how well it runs actually, very impressed :O) Only thing i have is a slight squeal on cold start up but this only occurs in cold weather, never does it in the summer, probably the starter motor staying engaged or a belt needs tightening but otherwise abs bullet proof :O)

would just like to add -

i owned 2 20VT's many years ago, back in 1988 and then again in about 2002. I have had a few nice cars since then like Audi's, Hondas etc , but i can tell u i am after another coupe again.

Why ? Look at the state of the car market. I was lucky, i bought a new 57 plate TT convertible last year and it got abused twice ie keyed. I sold out and didnt lose much money before the values plummeted. It rattled, and people gave me the finger wherever i went, it sounded souless compared to the coop and also GTV V6 i owned. It was no quicker. Even getting out when i did, i lost 4k in 6 months, the price of a top class coupe.

For 4-5k, i could buy the best coupe out there, budget £1k a year to maintain it and it would still cost less than any modern car would deprecaite by.

I now run a golf gti, its a great every day fast car but doesnt have much character hence im thinking of buying a top class late coupe because i never really lost the bug.

Oh, and have a glance through the 0-100 times in the back of evo or performance car. See any cars around the 20k bracket, new today that do 0-100 in 14.5 secs ? er no, not many Why? they have all got heavier so despite having 250bhp or more they arent any quicker. The coupe was so ahead of its time performance wise that nothing has moved on since 96-97 when the 20VT came out, i mean that 0-100 time in 96 was nearly as quick as a Honda NSX !!

As someone said, every feature on the coupe has been copied.. Brembo brakes, aluminium filler cap, sloped-in headlights etc etc.

Guess you just need to make sure u get one that has been looked after and dont expect to run it for £50 a year, but modern motoring isnt all its cracked up to be !!

Squeal immediately after startup? Check your alternator belt; probably a touch loose. But if it's tight, it's probably on its way out and you should change it lest it break and in doing so eat the other aux belts and the cambelt.

A lot of sense spoken there.

G

Food for thought, good words and why I am not going to sell my Coupe!

all in all this was a good read for me, i think there are valid points all over this thred

"I love the coupes they just hate me"

yep, i feel your pain but change coupes to cars in general

i have had 3, and i love them.

i think the main issue here is people walking in to coupe ownership and expecting a 230bhp car for 1.5k and for it to have the service requirements of a 3 year old car.
if a coupe is maintained, money spent when it should be, and the last owners have looked after it. your on to a winner if not your in a hole new wold of pain
this can be said about any 10+ year old car

i have driven many many cars. non of them feel as special to me as the coupe. at the end of the day thats my opinion.
lastly buy a car for you needs, i beleve a coupe will cost just as much as any other car in the long run

im looking at another 20vt yellow coupe, it needs some odds and sods and im expecting to pay what i will pay for the car in maintenance and repairs in the first 6 months. But thats just not important to me it will be a well sorted coupe that i enjoy driving. i want a coupe for me, no one else

I've just come from a 15 year old Porsche 911 turbo. Absolute SUPERCAR but what a PITA to maintain! Parts are horrendously expensive eg. wishbones £400 the pair plus another £400 for allignment. Topend rebuilt £6K minimum, etc.

I owned a 20VT when they first came out and ran it for 4 years and 40K miles, only fault at all was the alarm. Amazing car.

Now I have another 20VT, and it brings almost as much excitement as the 911, but what is much more reassuring is the LOW maintenance cost. Hell, if it needs a replacement engine that'll be less expensive than the exhaust system I put on the Porsche!

As for quality and reliability? Whatever the marque, you need to maintain a sports car regularly, or it'll bite you.

Well said

Well... Good answers ladies and gents,

Mild exotica when I bought my first 20vt...

But now they are the quickest way to get from A to B for sub £2000,

Now some one that can ONLY afford a £2k car will never get respect these days,

I have mates with X5's Z4's etc and when in their cars we get respect and look like we have cash to hand...

Yes they dont have a nice house like I have just bought, But im not able to get my house down the nearby DC for a spin on a summers morning..

Il stick to the Megane CC for now, everything works, for now - and it doesnt qualify for classic insurance or black number plates

As for the mention of future classic??? WTF??

In 5-10 years there will probably be no coops alive, If they are available now for £1000 what then...??

Classic car example - 1994 Escort Cosworth £12000.

Near none under £10k, Thats a classic....

Chrissy

'Get respect'? Is that really what its about? Why do you give a toss what other people think about you and whether you have cash to hand or not?

If the only way people think they can 'get respect' is down to what car they drive, then they are well suited to their X5.

I couldn't give a flying sh!t what other road users whom I've never met/never going to meet think of me and I don't want or ask for their 'respect'.

True respect is not about what you drive, but is earned.

Re: Simon J.

Couldn't have put it better myself - it's just desperate.

An old friend of mine now drives round in a brand new Lotus - worthy of said X5 driver's respect. Does he own it? No, it's on HP. Could he afford to buy it? No. Does he have 'cash to hand'? No, he spends all his money on HP and still lives with his mum and dad!

It's all an image thing. It's sad that some people are that lacking in self-belief that they need the imagined respect of other people. With cars like X5's, you'll find more resentment than respect.

Still, to each their own. The Coupe is obviously not the right car for you, Chrissy, anymore. Just remember when you drive by one and think ha, that's all he can afford, it may actually be what he wants to drive, irrespective of cost.

Good post though, you've certainly stirred a hornet's nest

so glad i could'nt care less about what people think of what I drive....or if I have money...what the hell is that about ??? if i ever get that materialistic or shallow then i'll have greater problems than what car I drive !! imagine getting into years of debt for the sake of looking good in a X5.....

"imagine getting into years of debt for the sake of looking good in a X5"

You can look good in an X5?

good luck chrissy, i hope you find the holy grail you're looking for. me? i can afford a z4 or whatever but choose not to as they're pretty faceless really imo.

bottom line too is, respect is earned not bought or assumed to be given because you're sitting in someone else's (probably via a loan) rapidly depreciating, soon to be outdated fashion wagon.

i doubt the coupe will ever attain true classic status, but i know i feel so much better getting into that than i have any other car i've owned - and that's got absolutely nothing to do with value, power or looks, it's the magical combination of everything the coupe gives in spade loads.

all imho of course....

Alas, You are on an ENTHUSIASTS club, you DO care what you drive, If you didnt then you would be saving tonnes of money by driving 5 door astras that return 60mpg, So the lil shite houses pretending they dont give a rats ass are fibbin! You just are retalliating to the fact your cars are worthless in comparison to modern MILD Exotica..


Ive hit a nerve thats all, Doesnt make you bad people...


Chrissy

How does a car get you respect? I mean ANY car?

It doesn't matter what kind of car I saw someone driving in, whether its an X5 or even a car I actually like, they wouldn't get respect from me because of it, they'd get it because you've earned it surely?

I don't even care if they've bought it outright, you can still be a t**t and buy an expensive car for cash.

I don't think so mate. I've got a Coupe because I like the car. Me, not somebody else.

If that was the case I wouldn't have bought a porto, it's not exactly a manly colour!

Respect is a poor use of word by me, So apologies for that -

I mean apreciated in a nice car is nice, You can see that a passer by may smile and think its a smart car, thats a good feeling to know you have a car like that..

A coop is none of the above anymore - They lost their status years ago IMO, When they dropped in price beyond, And yobs started driving them.

When I had my 1st one there were probably 3-4 in my City, Now there are dozens of them around, teens ragging them to death and thats what has finished them for me.......

so why are you on here then Chrissy ?

Well maybe your gay?

I like to see what people are upto - I also have to as I have a 20vt that needs me to keep referring to the Technical advice section..

I cant get the right advice on the Megane Forum

Obtaining finance is still easy if you have a relatively good job, within reason (say under £35k) I could get whatever car I want. Insurance is no longer an issue. I only drive every now and again so petrol and 60mpg is also irrelevant.

Fair point Chrissy, it is an owners club so you probably will get a biased argument :). Some of it does actually make sense, tis all.

I'd rather spend money in other areas of my life. As you say, your friends can't match your nice house because of the cars they drive, it's all down to priorities. Personally, I don't like most new cars.

I want something different, and if you have a look around London you'll find plenty of older cars in A1 condition - the owners aren't poor, that much is evident from the standard of their cars and the areas they live in. Most people want to look good, but it doesn't have to include a big expensive car to achieve it...

maybe not, but whats the best shampoo to use?

Spot on philiplazyjourno

It's blue, not a suzuki vitara!

Strange posts Chrissy. You've had 8 coupes and you've decided they don't have the class you require?

Regardless of the price of Coops nowadays, anyone with a modicom (sp?) of interest in cars will appreciate one as a nice car. Cheap yes, styling yes, fast yes, classic? That's a matter for debate. ok not appreciating classic in £, but the fastest front wheel car in its time, ground-breaking styling by Bangle and Pininfarina (and I heard the rumour that Fiat canned it because it was taking too many customers from the Alfa marque!).

Anyway, back to image. My last car was a 1992 911 turbo (965), the last of the hairy chested rear wheel drive turbos, with curves to die for, and frankly you can't get much better than that.
Here's a pic
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/pesty1/RIMG0133.jpg

It was faster than its contemporary Ferrari or Lambo rivals and even today its a true supercar. But, it wasn't NEW, so the no-clues and snobs said "Can't you afford a new one?"
But the petrolheads, kids and absolutely anyone appreciating a beautiful car said "Wow!" I have to say I enjoyed the compliments and the looks I got, as well as the adrenalin rush from actually driving it.

Some of the guys on the forums who own these 965's are very rich (edit: and you need to be with the running costs: horrendous!) and they own lots of other expensive, modern stuff, but they bought the 911 for the hard-core driving experience and the beauty of the lines.

Due to money constraints I recently sold mine, but I still wanted something with soul. I nearly bought a 350Z (great driver's car and pretty cheap now too compared to new) but for the money there was nothing to touch a 20VT. OK its a downward move for me, but I don't feel bad at all. Its cheap (which is a great benefit to me now) but its great to drive and to look at too. Whether people ignore it, or admire it, I know I've great taste in finding a car that's quick, rare, and nicely styled for just a few thou.

Good post Addict and my God, how much do I want your old 911? Beautiful!

What a load of horse sh$t, you don't deserve to own a coupe.
Please leave and go play with your little friends and their small co$ks in their X5s.

Slightly harsh - but I have never, and will never buy a car for what others think of it and me by association.

For example I love Cossies, but there are plenty of people that despite the cost of buying one still think that they look like an old escort / Sierra with a big wing stuck on the back. The same can be said of Evo's and Scoobs.

[/quote]
What a load of horse sh$t, you don't deserve to own a coupe.
Please leave and go play with your little friends and their small co$ks in their X5s.

[/quote]

What all £2000 worth of tired circa 98 Tipo floored Coupe?

Not sure who you are Mr fingerlickinggood, But your posts are wasted on me,

I have a huge penis.

Chrissy

no need girls, no need....keyboard warriors rarely prove anything, least of all appendage size.

im going to say don't feed the trolls on this occasion....

chrissy is just poking a wasps nest for fun. i see no reason to justify my desesions or preferences to any one else, especaly to some one like chrissy

i know why im here, you know why im here, i know why your here, and you know why your here

and its got nothing to do with proving our social status

im a little disapointed in chrissy to be honest, for some one who has clocked up over 1k posts i expected more.
you clearly have your reasons and have moved on chrissy. i wish you all the best of luck with what ever you chose to own next, even a X5
please leave this owners club/infuasts club with the good grace you entered it in and we will all be happy

If we go back to initial thread -

I was talking about unreliability, and the fact they are available for under £1500

The status, and cred part was just an addition...


Chrissy

This was just meant to be a thread about my gradual dissapointment with these cars.

Can I stress I still have a 20vt and its used daily...

I just cant understand the posts people have written over recent months about opening the garage and gazing for hours at a coop...


Chrissy

If i had a £ for everytime someone smiled at my car in traffic or on the motorway ide be able to buy a nice set of ferrari badges to stick on it! lol

Seriously tho, ive had people in porches wind down their window and say nice car mate. . . is that really important tho? i dont believe so! i wouldnt care if people didnt like my car. Everytime i sit my car i have a big grin on my face, i love every min of it and thats why im here. People within the forum and the club share the same passion as me and if i was really bothered about "respect" from other motorists then i would look for it here. . . from fellow coupe lovers. If i get "approval" here then im happy with that.

This thread has started to get a bit bitter and there really is no need.

I hope you enjoy your new car Chrissy . . . and next time you see a coupe drive past you will remember the good times you had.

that last comment really sums it up, Chrissy you have loved coupes too, and decided to move on, fair enough, remember the good times

glad to see you taking it so well likyl...

If you dont like it,dont buy it!!!
I buy my cars because I like em,sometimes thats got me grief from Mrs .S but I can live with that!
I dont like many new cars,within an affordable price range,and couldnt justify spending stupid sums on ones I do!
The coop is an individual thing,personally I love em 1I also like the way people look at at it,not one person at my work etc has said they didnt like the styling of it.
It suits me just dandy so Im happy.
If you aint happy then sell it and get sumthing else!
Jeez its not rocket science,

I agree with the sixth smiley.....

Is this thread on loan from Scoobynet?

Some really bad attitudes on here.

I don't understand why you care what other people think?
Also - when you say TT and RX8 drivers go past and think "Ha thats only a £1200 car" thats not a reflection on the coop but a reflection on you as an owner
If you kept it in the condition that it deserves to be in then people would think it's worth a lot more than it is! I've spent about £3k getting my car to look as beautiful as she is and I couldn't care less how much it's worth because I'll never sell her!

New cars are good but they aren't interesting and they aren't classic. Why would you have had 8 coupes and clocked up over 1000 posts on here if you thought they were sh!t??

I agree 100%.

I've had all sorts of cars, including two Range Rover Vogue's, two Range Rover Sport's, an Audi Q7, two RS4's (one saloon one convertible), two E46 M3 convertibles (one was manual one was an SMG), an E60 M5, an S3, two ST-3's... I could go on, but I won't.

Every single one of them cars is in a different league to my little 20vt, and they all offer different things. I still get a smile on my face every time my Coupé comes into vision when I'm coming down my road. I loved every single one of the cars I've had (except my Shogun I've got now, and my manual M3, the M3 was a bit of a dog...) and I've loved them all for different reasons.

My Coupé has been a garden gnome for the past two years, and hasn't done a single mile. Regardless of that, it's still had an oil change every 3 months, gets washed and hoovered every week and is going for a cambelt service in a few weeks time. That's because it's "my little baby" haha, and I care a lot about this car.

I've had all sorts of attention in my cars as you can expect, I'm only 22 after all. That has been anything from girls swarming round me as I'm getting into my M3 (red with a black roof... It was a stunning car), to police pulling me over in a Range Rover Sport. I even had one policeman say to me... "Just because you're in Daddy's Range Rover, doesn't make you good!" He was gutted when the check came back on it to see it was mine. Attention because of your car isn't always a good thing. The only good thing that can come from attention is that some women love it because they think you're rich... These are 9 times out of 10 the ones who'll leave you in need of a trip to the cock doctor though, so it's not really a good thing. And for using a car to impress men isn't a good thing either in my eyes, unless you're into a bit of sausage.

But still, tucked away on my path, my Coupé gets attention, and for good reasons. It was only last night there was a bunch of lads crowded round my gate, when I went out, they were trying to figure out what it was, one even asked if it was a custom made car because he'd never seen one.

I first got my 20vt when I was 18, and I got it because I loved everything about it. Back then, I liked and had an interest in cars. But now to me, a car is just a car. That might be because I've had so many of them I've got bored of them. Despite that though, the Coupé will always have a special place in my heart, like the girl I lost my virginity to haha!


I don't know what the point in this post was, or what I've proved, I just wanted to jump on the bandwagon and get involved.

Just think for a minute about how, if you have say £15,000 to spend you could buy a Megane CC or something else modern, or you could buy a Coupé. How much it will cost you for the next five years. If you are lucky enough (or perhaps not un-lucky enough) to have a reliable motor your running costs will be low - but you are GUARANTEED to loose in the order of £10,000 in depreciation (plus another £2-3000 if you buy with finance. If you spend £5K on the very best Coupé you are pretty much guaranteed not to loose more than £4000 in depreciation, and it is very possible, much less if you treat her as she should be treated. Therefore you can spend at least £1200 a year on maintaining your coupe before you even begin to be worse off. This means that the bill I got for an engine rebuild of £2400 just after I bought my Coupé is effectively cancelled out after just two years.

The problem arises if you don't have £15000, you only have £2500, or you don't even have that, you have to finance the purchase. That's when buying a Coupé is a mistake. That's when you should buy the best Focus you can find. I bought a Merc C230 Coupé earlier this year as the daily drive. I hate it, I want to sell it, and if I'm lucky, I'll 'only' loose £2000 on it. I want to replace it with another Fiat Coupé (in yellow if anyone has a cherished original example). Paying for its upkeep will be a pleasure.

In a way though, what chrissy said originally said is kind of right. A Coupé can no longer be relied upon as you only and daily means of transport. Which means they are now ‘classics’, to be kept in the garage, for high days and holidays. Or as your daily transport only if, like me, you drive about 1 mile to work, with a back up car at home.

i have to dispute that a coupe cannot be used as a daily driver
a well maintained coupe will be just as reliable as any simuler car

i did indeed use my 16vt which was tuned as a daily driver, even to see clients the length and breadth of the county

so i do take exception to that, and a lot of people on here also use there coupes as daily drivers

"IMO if you have spent 3k on your car then its a waste, as it still looks shite"

Well one thing that hasn't changed since it was new is the design - so you must have one hell of a low IQ to buy eight of the damn things if you think it looks so bad.

IMO

Mods lock this thread please - Many thanks.

I think we all know what you mean Chrissy, but maybe saying it like that is not going to score points.

I do think its a little confusing that people are saying they don't care what people think of them and there cars though.
If you think of a car as a jumper, most people would prefer not to wear the one that their gran gave them for christmas.

dont you just love it when the boys come out to play

I use my coupe as my daily driver, about 1200 miles a month, and its been a damn site more reliable than any other car I've had so far. In fact my golf gti was the least reliable, It broke down on the way to work at least 5 times in just 10 months of owning it.

I've been lucky with cars to be honest (touch wood)...

The only problems I've ever had have been...

Coupé - Clutch and cracked manifold. (I also had some stones that jammed up the gear selector stopping me from getting first and second)

M3 (Red one) - Coil pack failed, fixed under warranty

M3 (Silver one) - That was just a dog. Something with the gear selector went and caused the gear stick to be sloppy. It had just been ragged though, and was a cheap car.

RS4 cab - Clutch pressure plate buckled after 4100 miles and took out the friction plate within minutes

Range Rover Vogue - Blocked oil breather

Range Rover Sport - Snapped ABS sensor wire

Audi A4 1.8T - Clogged up sump that took out the oil pump, fixed under warranty but should have been recalled because of a design fault

Renault Kangoo - Fuel leak that couldn't be found

Transit Connect - Snapped drive shaft (at 1 in the morning just after the junction for Silverstone on the M40... And it was raining and I didn't have a coat!!!!!)



Things go wrong with any car, no matter how new or old man!

I would venture to differ. Mine has been a daily driver for, what, thirteen years now. It's like any thirteen year old car: if it's looked after, properly serviced, and doesn't have the wheels ragged off it, it will behave with no more and no less trouble than any other. I have no worries getting into it in a morning to go to work, or to drive six hundred miles each way to the north of Scotland. Or indeed, to drive it two or three thousand miles around Europe and thrash it across an Alpine pass or two.

And I do that with no kid gloves, no special preparation beyond checking the tyres and the water and the oil, and perhaps an oil and filter change before the longer trip.

It doesn't break because of any intrinsic 'fiatcoupeness'. It breaks because it's used outside it's design parameters (A mile to work? It'll never get warmed up, but then again, neither would anything else - at that distance, I'd walk...), because it's badly maintained, or because it's badly modified.

I keep the coupe - which I do think is becoming something of a classic, but which I don't think will be valuable in the near future - for one reason and one reason only: I like it.

It owes me *nothing*. It's been paid for ten years and more. It's cheap to run and cheap to service, compared to the service costs of modern fast cars and the depreciation of pretty much anything. It's comfortable, fast enough, and equally at home on the motorway or the twisties. What's not to like?

Neil

Why's he still here?

Like this idiot

Chrissy, with as much clout as you seem to think you carry on the forum you would think the mods would be clambering over themselves to obey to your wishes, but alas it doesn't work like that. We lock it, when we want to, not when we are told too!!!

Also, just to add to everyone else, this is what the thread is about, not name calling or trolling, so on topic please!

chrissy ok you've fell out of love for the coupe but why slag them off and there owners on a fiat coupe club forum? A bit stupid don't you think?

[/quote]

Chrissy, with as much clout as you seem to think you carry on the forum you would think the mods would be clambering over themselves to obey to your wishes, but alas it doesn't work like that. We lock it, when we want to, not when we are told too!!! [/quote]

Thats a bit below the buckle JimO, After all we have been through,... I just didnt want the thread getting ugly and me blamed..


Also can I clear up 1 fact, My 20vt is in excellent condition, Washed, buffed, tyre shined etc etc,.. as far as 1998 cars go, Not many look as well kept as my car.

I dont drive it in a hidious and filthy state.

Chrissy