Lancia Delta Advice

well not far from me is a nice looking Delta HF Turbo IE 1.6 in Red for sale. Now its not to expensive and nor is the insurance considering some quotes i get so i may go have a peak.

But out of interest.....

What kinda problems do they have/get ?
How they an effort to drive or quite an easy car todrive, like as a daily driver or on long journeys?
How many mpg would i be looking at with a steady foot? motorways? etc (probably the most stupid question ever lol)

And any general tips on what to look out for and so on.

Reason im asking here if i dont know any lancia forums realy and dont go on many others and i know a few of you are into this kinda car

Much appreciated
J

what kind of problems? bloody hell thats a big question. take your pick.

even i'd be scared to own one.

there are plenty of delta websites with good info.

as long as you've got £3000 to spend on it each year you should be able to keep it on the road.

Rust will be the first consideration IMO, then keep a fund for breakages as Jug says! Nice motor, great fun and rare, but expensive to run, service and repair, a specialist car.

lol, sounds like fun, still dont know tbh, ive got my eye on a this, and two french cars, cant decide which to get.

Theres good and bad things about em all i guess.

So maintaining one is that bad is it? What is there that is the most common to go wrong? probably another stupid quesiton

views from current owners or past owners would be appreciated as well, on how they drive and such

Wouldn't say that a Hf would cost much more to run than say an Uno Turbo really..

It's certainly not in the same league as the Integrale to keep running anyway..

I'm Sure J333EVO will be along with a host of forums and his opinions soon lol

And the possibly some more if you're unlucky. Wouldn't dream of having one as a daily driver.

#1 Prio: Check for rust on the rear suspension turrets - lift the carpet in the boot and have a good poke around.

If OK, check the sills, round the windscreen, door bottoms and the rear of the roof.

#2: Then worry about the electrics. Check everything works - most common issue is the windscreen window switches fail. Replacements are on ebay. Check the Speedo works - the gear box sensor can fail. This can be bought from FIAT for about £70.

#3: Mechanicals. Engine is fantastic. There will be some small oil leaks usually - the gaskets are 20 year old after all, but nothing to worry about unless really bad. Just keep it topped up. Check for the usual turbo issues - replacements are available.

Main issues are electrical - immobilisers/alarms followed by the throttle potentiometer are the main problems. The fuel pump relay and fuse can rust, and this can cause cutting out issues.

Start it up - check for a rough idle (Should be about 900 when warm). Check it revs smoothly.

#4: Check the boost guage works and fan controls work - this is usually an easy fix if not.

#5: Usual stuff for a hot hatch. If caned, front tyres wear fast. Check for clonks from suspension. Bushes can be bought easily enough. Check the rear cross member - people jack the car up using it and it can be bent out of shape. This ruins the handling.

#6: Rear brakes seize on cars left lying.

No power steering unless very late LHD version - this makes it heavy work to park in tight spaces when compared to a modern car. Steering fine when on the move. Brakes should be good - discs all round after all.

Fuel economy is about 30 if driven like a saint and about 15 if not.

I had one as a daily driver when I was Student. Apart from fuel and insurance it was ok - though I did the servicing myself.

Still got one for week ends only.

thanks alot for that guys. All info is much appreciated, may just go down n ahve a peak, as you never know it could be a bargain lol.

Yeh thats who i was waiting for as he was first to come to mind lol.

Even the newest HF Turbo is near 20 years old now, and with anything that vintage, rust is main problem. the shell is galvanised from new, but time takes its toll. SAAB showed Lancia how to galvanise properly in return they got to sell Deltas in Sweden as SAAB 600's!

Car is brilliant to drive, it has full independent McPherson strut suspension all round making it much better than contemporary cars of the day.

Electrical issues are almost always down to dirty earths, so a matter of cleaning them all up.

The HF is often overlooked by many as its not an integrale, but that point is slowly being readdressed by many who believe that the original shape is the purest one as designed by Guigiaro.

There are two models of HF Turbo, early carb version, very very rare now with 120bhp and later fuel injected model with 130bhp.

Fuel economy, well my integrale EVO has a 2L 16V 220+bhp 1300kgs and will return hi 20's no problem. I honestly can't see a lighter FWD car with a smaller engine being any worse, must be better, god my Celica GT4 does over 32mpg on the motorway when i drove back from Glasgow last week 360miles in little 5 hours, even get 27mpg doing work run, but then not many people are daft enough to run two 2L 16V 4WD cars like me.

Running costs are no more than any old turbo car, be it a R5GTT, Uno Turbo, RS Turbo, they are old turbo cars that need regular oil and filter changes and being old will have things worn, bushes, dampers, etc but talk of £3K a year is nonsense, I have never needed to spend that on my integrale. The Delta is not an exotic car, it is a FWD hot hatch, unlike its homologation big brother, so no horror stories there.

i used my integrale everyday for 18months with no more than servicing costs, i know someone who uses an integrale EVO as everyday car, has done now for over 5 years clocking up 60K, and uses it to tow his Caterham on a trailer all over the country for track days etc and had no major issues with it, so can be done if protecting value is not a priority.

6 page article in this months Performance Tuner mag with poster mostly on integrales but mentions all Deltas which is worth a read.

http://www.lanciasport.com/forum/
http://forums.delphiforums.com/evoforum/start

thank you very much for that

and thanks to the rest as well, i think im deffo going to call him today for a peak, well a test drive as well

what sort of price would i be looking for? he isnt after integrale money which is good but then it does seem a little low for such a car, but then i dont know much about these cars lol.

the car its self is a 1991 so im guessing fuel injection? and it is a right hand drive model as well, which is better for me i suppose and also better for driving over here

he also says its got the odd rust scabs (bottom of doors and boot lid) but arent excessive and also the drivers side electric window dont work (as you said could be the earth? )

Servicing costs dont realy bother me either, as long as i enjoy a car and it isnt always breaking down then its all good, just like fuel costs, if you enjoyed the drive then why complain

Anyways ill just go have a peak n report back.

All the help and advice is realy appreciated

Jonathan

edit: added a picture of it

Perhaps just the angle but the front looks quite a different colour to the doors and rear. Could be a crash victim so just make sure if it is that everything is as straight as it can be

J333EVO's quite right about evonomy. When driven gently even a turbo car can still be quite economical. I used to drive the g/f's L reg Legacy Turbo to work and I could keep to the speed limit with the occasional foot to the floor to pass moment and still get almost 40mpg out of it which I think is pretty good. I don't live in the city so that's pretty easy for me as I never had to come to a complete stop on the way to work. There's just something cool about homologation specials

parts availabilty is far worse than a R5GTT or RST, so they cost more. used as a daily driver you need to have some cash put away ready for problems. if its a weekend toy and you can do the work yourself then yes its far more affordable, but a dialy driver owned by someone who will need to use garages to do any work = potential for an expensive ownership.

lol, it would be a daily driver so to speak, but then a fun car, as im getting a van for work soon so it will all work out. Plus once our garage is built ill try and not use garages and do it all my self.

ANyways i gotta go view the damn thing first

Parts availabilty is not as good as others, but it is no worse than an old Uno Turbro, Fiat/Lancia do not cater as well for older cars as other marques do. But the specialists keep or can get many parts for not much money.

They are not expensive to run, no more than any other old car, as said I know a guy who has an integrale EVO which now has 170K on it, his 16V integrale had well over 200K when he sold it, they were sued to two his variuos track day toys around Britain.

I used my integrale as everyday car, never had an issues.

I am not saying you will not have any issues, but it is a FWD small capacity turbo car, it will have faults but things are no where near in same league as costs of integrale parts, £500 for EVO headlamps for example. They are also easier to work on, due to smaller engine in the bay & have no complicated 4WD system.

A car ran everyday but covering average mileage will be easier to maintain than something hardly run, cars like to be used.

I would say if you run anycar over 5years old you need to keep some money aside for eventualities that will happen.

Deltas of the 2WD variety do not comand that much except low mileage or Martini liveried ones which I see now going for upto £3K. I do think values will continue to rise.

Electric window switches can fail, cheap to find 2nd hand.

The main rust area to check is bottom of windscreen, the scuttle panel can rust its due to teh drain holes clogging with debris from trees etc and panel rusts from inside out, even small rust bubble can hide much bigger sins.

Tailgate the same, often can be saved, but sometimes cheaper to get decent 2nd hand one.
Rear of roof, three sectrions of metal join, cause friction, galvanised covered wears off, rust from inside out, repair panels available from John Whalley or Auto Integrale for couple of hundred IIRC.

Aaron.

Thanks alot for that Aaron, all this is realy appreciated. Nice to get some help from someone who knows there shizzle

Insurance is very interesting to get hold of for this car, i can tell you that, also most classic insurers dont insure under 21/23's which dont help.

Cheapest im getting tpft is err 1800 tbh thats about the same as alot of n/a cars with less power that im looking at, and it alsdo includes having the gf on it, which may not be a good idea.

Thanks

J