My 1996 1.6 Bravo has been lying for a few days in the cold weather and when I went to start it its was turing over ok but would not fire up. There was also a smell of fuel in the engine compartment. Usually the car fires up right away and haveno problems. I think the cold is to blame but can anyone give me ideas to what the cause could be and how to get it started?

Ignition cables are most common problem. Try to clean contacts between them and spark plugs with wd-40. You can also try to press throttle a little during starting up.

You could search also for leaking petrol tubes, maybe the cold snaped some.

I have been recently informed by a local electrician that it is common for cars of this age to have rusty earth connections and this can invariably cause all sorts of problems when starting up on a cold day in particular. Unfortunately there are more that one such points in the engine bay making all the more difficult to pinpoint the failing one.