(G) Just picked up my Fiat Ritmo this arvo :D

I know how you feel

but small motor??? have you ever been to europe? this is a big car by our standards.

He means small engine not the car. Even then the car is more small to mid size by Australian standards.

Troy.

yeh i was refering to it being a 1.4L :P

Aussie cars tend to have bigger motors under the hoods. When i opened the hood (odd the release is on the passenger side) i was suprised how much space there was around the motor... they easly could put a 1.6 or 1.8 in there but yeh anyways.

Yeah anything under 3L tends to be seen as small over here. What's the saying here, only orange juice comes in 2 litres?

It was a pleasant suprise to see so much space under the bonnet of the Ritmo, they generally tend to really pack them in under the bonnet these days. My 207 engine bay is really packed and it's only a 1.6.

Troy.

Remember the bonnet release is on the same side (therefore drivers) in Italy!

the black does look very good!!

Yes but sometimes they have bothered to move the bonnet release when converting to RHD. Regata was from memory (Croma might have been. NoRC would be able to confirm). But it tends to be the exception rather than the rule.

Troy.

Check the big beefy tube taking your brake input from the right to the brake cylinder on the left! It's a very LHD car, not as much as the new Croma...

iirc almost all the previous fiats hand them converted but a lot of other manufacturers don't. A mate of mine had a C4 for awhile, it had remote central locking and as usual it also had a keyhole to allow for manual opening with the key. However Citreon didn't change the handles over so to open the car manually you would have to use the passenger door!!

Haha, yeah I remember that. I drove a C4 which had one of mirrors dip down to see the kerb when you stuck it in reverse. Unfortunately it was the drivers mirror on the RHD cars so it made the feature somewhat useless. Conversely the Xsara had the bonnet release converted over on the RHD cars.

Troy.

yeh the Croma did have it on drivers side as did Regatta

So i was a little suprised to find it on the passengers side in the new Ritmo considering they had convereted everything else.

The centre drink holders, are on the right of the handbrake which makes putting anything more than a can there pointless as it gets in the way, im wondering if they are on the right of the handbrake on the LHD models as well.

Yeah the handbrake and drink holder set up the same on LHD cars.



Troy.

Well thats pretty dam retarded as they are unusable in their current location as drink holders.

Wonder if there is any center piece moulded for RHD cars with it on the other side that could be aquired.

Sorry am I missing something...where are the drinks holders in that pic?

hidden in the shadows!

They're next to the handbrake - I kep my loose change and MP3 sticks in there so no space for bottles or cans.