parp parp.....toot toot.....approaching a nice, clear, dry roundabout, my hands grip the chunky leather steering wheel, im grinning like a maniac as i blip the throttle and expertly match the revs as i change down the gears..the wee car responds urgently, the leather clad gear lever feels perfect in my hands, the gears are slick and smooth, the baby buckets fit my 6ft frame perfectly...into third now, roundabout seems clear, so i floor it and clip the apex as i pull the wheel round....im laughing out loud now, this wee buzbomb seems so alive, so chuckable, so friendly....foot flat to the floor, the chunky little alloys and sticky pirelli rubber grip into the road and the cinq rockets thru the roundabout, flat in third..im juan shumacer mcrae villeneuve in my head by now, the rev counter zings around as we exit the turn and i snatch fourth.....hard on the accelerator as i punch on down the road towards the next grin inducing series of bends on my personal racetrack......and its then im passed...by a citroen xsara...diesel....driven by an oap...who appears to be knitting a particularly vile winter jersey for a nephew or grandson that she obviously dislikes intensley......she is completely unaware of my heroic driving ability and good humour at this moment, because iv been enjoying myself at about 40mph..in my head, the wee cinq is a monte carlo stage weapon, a circuit racer, a targa florio racer made for the road.....in reality, its an overtyred shoping trolley with immense feelgood factor and about 50hp....this manic little buzzsaw majors on smiles per gallon....i love it.....gbn
General cinq sporting review...
- Thread starter biggbn
- Start date
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General cinq sporting review...
paragraphs.............
Commas.,,,,,,,,,,,,,
not one for the nicities of structure or punctuation..much to the dismay of my english teacher many, many moons ago..i prefer content over structure, and besides, the piece was meant to be written in a manner that mirrors the urgency and breathlessness of the wee buzbomb...other things i have written about cars i have owned include...
fiat coupe 20v turbo
Tech Spec:
1997 r reg
2 litre, 5 cylinder tutbocharged engine
5 speed manual
220hp, 228 lb/ft torque
styling-
as with many bangle offerings, opinion is very much split on the coupe...i admit im biased as its a car iv lusted after for a long time. i just love the contradiction in styling cues, its a masterpiece of retro modernity for me..the slash cut wheel arches, clamshell bonnet and bug eye headlights are very modernisitic, yet the recessed tailights and exposed alloy filler cap and general styling hark back to a golden era of coachbuilt italian exotica. this car wears pinifarina badges, yet pinin is only responsible for the interior, bangle is responsible for the love it or loath styling...i think his inspiration must have been the slightly quirky, slightly eccentric offerings of zagato in the 50's and 60's...imagine this car with zagato's trademark double bubble roof, it would look SO right..for me, the car is elegant and stylish, an almost eccentric, modernistic homage to the italian designs of yesteryear...
the interior is more of the same...you open the door with the cunning hidden door handles, and are met with lovely looking black leather seats, and that lovely body colour strip of metal that splits the dash horizontally, again, modernistic but so old fashioned!!.the chrome pinifarina script is subtle and attractive and serves reminder every time you get behind the wheel that you are wearing the automotive equivelant of a sharp italian suit!!...the dials are proper old fashioned clocks, and all the better for it...modern digital electricery would jar in this cabin..the seats are one of my gripes about the car..they look great but are a bit short on support when your pressing on..fine for a gt car, but this wee car can generate pretty good levels of grip for a powerful fwd car, and you are soon searching for similar grip from the seats..the later le models had leather recaros and must be much better in this repspect..genuinelly useable rear seats are a surprise, tho with the drivers seat right back its the usual coupe story of being a three seater!! the lovely chunky leather bound wheel and gear lever feel great to use, an old fiat trick this..make the bits you touch feel good..they even do it on the baby cinq sporting i own, but it does have the effect that you feel like the designers have cared about your driving envirionment!.whell is adjusteable for reach and height, so you can get very comfortable.....now..whisper this...this car, a fiat remember, actually feels like a quality bit of kit..perhaps its just cos im not used to having a 'nice' car, but the cabin feels well made, well screwed together, the doors shut with a satisfying clunk, the gearchange is positive, precise...this car was over 20k when new, and, was actually made by pininfarina at their factory, bit of pub trivia there!!..so this may or may not be why it feels so nice??...
driving/ride/handling
the wee coupes controls are very nice to use..the box feels smooth and precise. its a lovely place to sit tho the one dissapointing thing about the whole experience is a lack of drama..this is a swoopy italianate coupe with a bespoke interior..yet, it feels like a saloon to sit in..its airy and spacious...a case of damning the car with faint praise??..the cars ride has surprised me..i had expected a recalitrant bucking bronco, usual stiff legged italian sportscar..but its quite supple, quite civilised..the car is happy to trickle around town, the steering, if anything, is a bit light for my liking..fine for the town, but a bit more of a meaty feel would be welcome when your tanking on...the cars handling has surprised me too...with the caveat that you pick your line and apply the power smoothly on the way thru the corner, the wee car digs in, grips and goes....if your brutal with the power, or if the roads at all wet/slippery, it will torque steer/understeer with so much power and torque going thru the front end and no traction control...but then, as iv always maintained, the best traction control is your right foot...you can throw it around with the exuberance of a hot hatch, but this is a car that rewards a more precise style of driving, a more measured approach..it doesnt have outrageous wheels/tyres so relys on decent engineering and chassis in the first place to generate good levels of grip, and as a result of this, feels much more communicative than an overtyred hot hatch
Performance:
the cars trump card....it is a great q car...only place this car has a turbo badge is on the b pillar..outwardly, its just another fiat coupe.....let the sonorous 5 pot warm up tho, find a long staight and floor the throttle and jeez, this car GOES..not like an old school lag lag bang turbo, its smooth, almost linear power....the car does have a wee bit of a kick low down as the turbo spools up, but you can drive around this and it will rev freely to the red line if you feel the need..and you WILL feel the need..the little coupes pace is both searing and addictive...it pulls really, properly hard in all the gears...even in 5th if you floor the loud pedal, it pauses, takes a big gulp of air and rockets down the road...like most good turbo cars, it combines that almost instant dollop of torque you get in a good turbo diesel, that inititiall wallop in the back, with a good n/a engine ability to rev freely and keep on delivering in the higher rev ranges..best of both worlds....it can get a bit lairy on bumpy roads if your not careful putting the power down, and lets not kid anyone on, 220hp/228lb/ft is too much to put through a wrong wheel drive chassis that i think, dates back to the tipo of the late eighties!!!..but, like many other cars with this kinda output and this layout, you can drive round the inherint flaws..i tend to think of the car more as a relaxed tourer than an out and out back road burner....
in summary, this car is a stylish, elegant q car. those in the know exchange meaningful glances, those who arent are best left in blissfull ignorance..this is a rare commodity..an italian poster boy with style and substance..a male model in an armani suit....carrying a half brick...and a baseball bat...just in case....this car fits my whole 'walk softly but carry a big stick' ethos to perfection
a resounding 9 out of 10 from me...but this will innevitably drop as soon as the first hideously expensive problem rears its ugly head!!!
and....porsche 928 s4
ever met a retired heavyweight boxer..a champion....a tyson, a lewis, a holmes.???...they put on a few pounds here and there, let the middle aged spread, well, spread i guess.....yet under it all, you know that there is still immense, nullifying power....sure the reflexes have slowed down, dulled by the passing of time, the lithe, effortless grace is no longer apparent, but you know that he could get up on his toes for one more round if he had too, you know he has that burst of speed, that sudden burst of energy that will leave his contenders trailing in his wake.....he just cant put it together for the full 15 rounds anymore...and hell, he doesnt have to...in his time, he was the man..the undisputed champion..those that thought they could compete were clinically dispatched, those that did compete went life and death and were left battered and bruised...when his fans spy him today, they still speak in hallowed tones, point and whisper..'there he is..remember when he was top of the tree..jeez, that was a sight to see...'..they dont care that his suits are now a little threadbare, that he no longer dresses in armani or boss, that his muscle tone aint what it was..they just remember the glory days..the days when he ruled the division with an iron fist........but im not talking about a boxer here, truth be told....im talking about my 928.....sure it cant do 170mph anymore, and maybe some of its 319 ponies have jumped the fence and went off to pastures new, but its still got the heavyweight champions ambience, people still point and whisper....people regard the old scoundrel with a fondness, even though its a bit down at heel and has a few bruises and scratches here and there.....but like any heavyweight champion...not many people wanna engage it in a streetfight..even now..cos they can remember what used to be......ladies and gentlemen, i give you the ex heavyweight champion of the world...the 928....
and if you have read that little lot, your sadder/madder than me.....
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m starting to think that owning my 20v turbo coupe is like being in love with a gorgeous woman who doesnt know you even exist....she takes your money, demands your love and attention but only gives you anything back briefly and tempestuously, on her terms..when she wants..and then, and only then, for those brief moments of stolen pleasure, does all the effort seem worth it!!...life it seems is, and fiat coupes are, a bitch.....
not like my cinq sporting then...thats a little slut, up for anything, always puts a smile on my face no matter what and wants nothing back in return.....if im goin for a solo back road blast then, i take my cinq....but if im gona visit the parents, i take the spoilt bitch......
not like my cinq sporting then...thats a little slut, up for anything, always puts a smile on my face no matter what and wants nothing back in return.....if im goin for a solo back road blast then, i take my cinq....but if im gona visit the parents, i take the spoilt bitch......
