hi guys,

well time has come to sell the hgt my partner needs to learn to drive, and she has spotted a R reg diesel bravo with 96k miles on it, abarth body kit and was just wondering if anyone had some advice on diesel bravo's as i have only ever had the 1.8 hlx and the hgt. i gonna go look at it this afternoon as i havn't seen it yet

thanks

nice cars actually. I had one for a while. The JTD is much better because of its lower power delivery and smoothness.

However the TD is much cheaper, cheaper than the pug 306's of the same year. I would go for the 100bhp, they also come as 75bhp.

My 100bhp one went very well. Only let down was the suspension, in comparison to the HGT or my Peugeot 306DTurbo. The bravo is quick for a diesel of this era.

Look for the usual. You can tell a lot about a diesel by the way it starts up. A good one will fire up as soon as the glowplug lights gone out.
Feel the bonnet 1st before starting if its warm then be suspect.
If cold then give the glow plugs a couple of times to light up.
look for excess black smoke a bit on sudden throttle is normal.
same as petrol, watch for white and blue smoke. Obviously though a bit of white is usually condensation on start up.
ask about cambelt change
make sure its got years MOT this usually rules out 90% of mechanical issues.

cheers for advice it turned out to be a 100bhp r reg turbo diesel with 96k on the clock,12 months MOTbut no tax, had scuff on front bumper, front bottom edge of passenger door had been pushed in by a bump of some sort, pads were grinding and needed replacing, it had a motorbike exhaust held on by tie wraps and the final nail in the coffin........................................NO RED KEY!!!!!!!!!

he said he had only had it a month and he had bought it from a lithuanian guy a month ago with no red key what an idiot

so gonna give that one a miss i think lol

Red key isn't the be all and end all of bravo/a buying. I've had plenty experience of this generation Fiat and not needed the red key once.

The bump on the door and bodged exhaust would make me worried other jobs would have been bodged.. cooking oil in the brake reservior etc.. Best to buy from someone who at least looks after their car.

if i was buying a diesel bravo it would have to be a JTD HLX. all bravos are cheap as chips so choose the model you want and get a good example. it may take a few weeks to find a JTD HLX but it'll be worth it, especially once its remapped.