General The ups/downs of my first month with a coupe

[Ori]

Well, after a month with the car, I can say the following. It is lovely to drive when everything is working properly!! ;-)

Since I bought it(I knew I would need to do some bits), I have had the thermostat, Cam belt + bits, bonnet struts, clutch, front pads and discs, new front springs,Hazard light relay, and new wiper blades.

The clutch is slipping (intermittently this time) again which Roger (poweritalia) suspects is overboosting due to a fault. He didn't get much time to look at it today and it only did it once. He will connect a boost gauge on Friday and see if that is the problem. If not then the clutch is under warranty.
Possible that the idle control valve needs replacing and/or coil packs. Not 100% certain yet.
Turbo will probably need replacing in 12-14 months.

So my verdict?? Well........ I am hoping that once these issues are sorted, the car won't see Roger until it's service. I knew that buying a 10 year old italian sports car would be interesting, but I am still optimistic as it seems that most of the big jobs are now done. Wish me luck!

 

[spit]

I would not be too optimistic if I were you
This is my second coupe and so far I have spent over £4000 in about a year on performance and service costs and that is without the initial buying cost and I don't think that is too extreme.
Anyone who knows anything about the coupe will tell you.....be prepared to spend.
These are amasing cars but require you to spend to keep them in top notch.
You really need deep pockets to keep this super car running at full pelt.
I have to ask,did you check out the forums and peeps verdicts on this beautiful,expensive to run Italian stallion before buying this instead of a jap import ?
I have owned all sorts....scoobies,skylines,MR2turbos...etc. but came back to the Fiat (which was my first performance car) because I can honestly say that nothing gave me as much pleasure when looking forward to driving a car as the coupe.
Paul

 

[Ori]

Thanks for your honesty. I was aware of high running costs. I'm not upgrading performance so it shouldn't be too bad. I estimated around 2k a year. I hope I wasn't too far off the mark.
I'm also thinking of buying a little small car so I can do my work mileage on a congestion charge free car.

 

[Ori]

Ps. I hope my clutch slipping problem is not a major issue. Either it's overboosting or a replacement clutch.

 

[spit]

Plan to spend about a grand a year and you won't be too far off the mark buddy
clutch is around 400 - 450 and once it's done......that's it so not too bad on the grand scale of things,
I really think these beasts are worth the entrance fee.......the look on someone with a 30- 40 grand car when you have just left them for dust speaks volumes

 

[Ori]

The clutch was done 2 weeks ago so it's under warrantee, hence we suspect overboosting.
I'll be more than happy with 1k a year.

 

[spit]

I can't see overboosting on a standard turbo causing a Valeo unit to fail as these are good for around 300 bhp (if that is what you mean ?).
Sounds more like a naff clutch to me.

 

[ChrisUK]

I've spent less than £2000 (including initial purchase cost not including Insurance, Tax, Petrol etc) in just under 18months. It is now 1 garage visit (rear bushes) from being perfect mechanically *touch wood*. It is however a bit neglected on the paint front which I'm going to sort out in the summer myself with the use of a friends spray equipment :slayer:. Moral of the story is it doesn't 'HAVE' to cost bags of money to keep it going until you go down the modifying route .

Glad your enjoying your Coupe ownership .

 

[spit]

Chris,what's the point in having a car that can only do 155 mph and 0-60 in 6 seconds......I want more....lots more and that's what I have :devil:.....as well as going like it's on rails as well
PS...most modern cars are electronically limited to 155mph.....not the coupe.
That speed is a rough guess what it can do and I can assure everyone here it can do that speed and more as standard because I have done it (private track of course although the steering does get very light at that speed)
I guess my one would be close on 165 ish. and 0-60 in about 5.5 secs.

 

[pinin__prestatyn]

Here you go chaps, here's what I've spent in 7 months:


T316 LMS 1999 Fiat coupe 20VT Purchased 23/05/10


Cleaned Coolant expansion tank S/H Jun-10 15.00
Full engine stickers from Kelv27 5.00
New Coupé Mats from FIAT online Jun-10 25.00
Auto Gauges Boost gauge, Pillar pod and 3m vacuum hose Jul-10 26.00
Work at Midlands car servicing specialist (JBT) including:
Full cambelt and aux belts
New Clutch
All solid brake pipes replaced
Underneath of car and wheel arches wax-oyled
Tracking
Front arm replaced
New Radiator
Manifold gasket replaced
OSF track rod end
OSF tie rod
Handbrake cable replaced
Front brake flexi hose
Clutch slave cylinder replaced
Rocker gasket replaced
Rocker cover replaced (second hand, original cracked)
Full service including new oil, filter and NGK Iridium plugs
New Thermostat
Anti Roll Bar link rod
New window wipers
OSF steering Rack Gaiter
Turbo to water jacket coolant hose (hose of death)
Air con hose (S/H) and regassed (condenser needs replacing)
fresh Anti freeze
Brake fluid replaced
Gear oil replaced
Screenwash
MOT'd (passed first time)
Supply and fit Undertray (S/H)
Fix gear selection problem
Delivery and collection to 16 Bastion Road Jul-10 2,000.00
Flea re-map 29/7/10 Jul-10 175.00
Rolling Road @ Circuit motors (after Flea re-map) Jul-10 60.00
Stainless steel air filter Jul-10 35.00
Jubilee clip for filter Jul-10 0.92
Cobra sports cat-back stainless exhaust system S/H Jul-10 100.00
Forge DV006 Re-circ dump valve S/H - but like new Jul-10 65.00
Fiat original options alloy gearknob S/H Jul-10 30.00
speedo alloy rings Jul-10 25.00
Paint Correction + wax from Phil (Patch234) Aug-10 100.00
Plus alloys – Freshly powder coated, with tyres Aug-10 395.00
S/H O/S/F hub + bearing ( stripped thread on old one) Sep-10 40.00
Taffy's short shift kit +labour to remove old +fit Oct-10 60.00
S/H Coil pack to replace faulty one – from Taffy Aug-10 10.00
BKR7ET plugs – S/H as had only done 200 Miles (Taffy) Aug-10 10.00
Rubber exhaust hangers (3) Oct-10 3.60
Turbo Dynamics MD347 Stage 3 hybrid T28 (S/H Clee) Dec-10 400.00
Square FMIC and all pipes (S/H Theaudioguy) Nov-10 120.00
Genuine Zender rear lip, GRP Side skirts (S/H Taffy) Dec-10 110.00
Blitz 1.5 Boost gauge (S/H Taffy, in with above bits) Dec-10 0.00
Nomad Single Pillar Pod (52mm) New, Group Buy Jan-11 70.00
New Pollen filter Jan-11 6.00


TOTAL SPEND TO DATE: 3,886.52 (NOT including the car's purchase price)


Oh well, over half way through the first year eh
The car is in rude health now though, I just get in and drive it with no worries!

 

[NigelO]

You really don't want to know what my Sprinty cost me.....

Oh - you do?

OK - I'm not going to list each item (although I have it all in a spreadsheet) but the total comes to just over £30k in six years

 

[Ori]

You really don't want to know what my Sprinty cost me.....

Oh - you do?

OK - I'm not going to list each item (although I have it all in a spreadsheet) but the total comes to just over £30k in six years

bluurughghughutghuhghghghghghghghghgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NigelO]

bluurughghughutghuhghghghghghghghghgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup - that's what I would sound like if the wife ever found out....

To be fair, the car was very heavily modified (well over 400bhp) AND it was doing around 30,000 miles a year. When I finally decided to break it for spares, it had 246,000 miles on it.

My true cost of ownership was 16p per mile (not including fuel)

 

[spit]

But Nigel,
You fail to mention that you have bought another coupe in excellent condition and have transplanted all the goodies to the new beast

 

[Ori]

But Nigel,
You fail to mention that you have bought another coupe in excellent condition and have transplanted all the goodies to the new beast

And there lies the problem.

What do I do after my coupe? What is going to give me this much fun without spending 15k on a car? I struggle to think of a car that will do the job. I used to have a corrado VR6, but I think this is more fun.

In the days when I had money, I used to own some very nice performance cars including a 911 Turbo S which had 450 BHP from factory (520 after DMS fiddled with it). Since I won't have that kind of money for a while........I hope my little coupe will last at least 2 years.

 

[spit]

And there lies the problem.

What do I do after my coupe? What is going to give me this much fun without spending 15k on a car? I struggle to think of a car that will do the job. I used to have a corrado VR6, but I think this is more fun.

In the days when I had money, I used to own some very nice performance cars including a 911 Turbo S which had 450 BHP from factory (520 after DMS fiddled with it). Since I won't have that kind of money for a while........I hope my little coupe will last at least 2 years.

Look after it and it will last you a lot,lot longer than 2 years
My one is one of the last built on a "Y" plate and the body work is totally rust free as are a lot of the older ones.
The 5 pot engines are pretty bullet proof with the correct servicing and I am pretty sure it is just the ancillaries that may not last as long as the engine (belts,turbo,radiator etc.) but you will probably end up having to change these after a few years,as I have anyway.

 

[Ori]

I hope so. I will probably buy another car for my day to day work stuff.
I think I car should be called a fiar rather than fiat.... fix it again Roger.

 

[spit]

They are not that bad mate
I drive a 1,7 Puma for winter so I can keep the beast off the road.
Makes sense to have another car as a run a round IMO.

 

[pinin__prestatyn]

If you can afford it!

 

[Ori]

At the moment after buying this car I'm skint!!!
If I don't buy another car I will do 15000 miles a year. Then again the money on another car pays for a lot of maintenance on the my fiar coupe.