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I must confess...

M21MFS

M21MFS

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Parked in the garage
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I've spent the last couple of weekends looking at Fiats again. The burning desire to own one IS returning again. I just can't decide which way to go.

There's a marea weekender? in Glasgow, on Gumtree. 1.9JTD - £500. Tempting as hell, but my biggest argument for wanting rid of the Vec is it's too big for my needs. Almost defeats the point of changing car.

Cinq/Seicentos - maybe a bit too small? Though it'd do fine if I was just nipping round town.

Puntos - head gaskets. And finding one that's not overpriced seems a challenge.

I really, really, don't know what to do. Keep the Vec and soldier on? Or give in and look for my next motor?
 
heres my case for the centos :p

cinqs and seis are more spacious than you think, infact i'd say they are marginaly more practical than puntos due to their boxier shape.

obviously though, if you need to carry 5 people, dont bother, they are too narrow, they can do 4 though, mine can only do 3 due to my abnormally long legs and fatter than standard front seats

i'd also argue as far as town cars go, they aren't good town cars like for example a smart, daihatsu cuore etc are. ok it's small, visibility is good and it has a good turning circle but tbh thats as far as its city attributes go. the engines don't like low speed town work overly, nor do the clutches and gearboxes and most damingly of all, for some reason in a car that i supposed to be used for nipping around tight spaces, up narrow streets and in narrow car parks, Fiat designed it in such a way where it's nigh on impossible to get out the car in a tight space due to its ridiculously out of proportion doors that need to be opened a good distance to get your legs out.

a true test of a city car is how it fares in those tests compared to how it fares on the twisty fast stuff, a smart or cuore will do all the town stuff well but get more and more out of their depth the faster they get, drive a smart car on a motorway or b road and you'll know what i mean. you live in fear of a crosswind or a corner thats sharper than anticipated and you'll end up filling up with petrol more regularly than expected due to engines being strained more.

a cento is the opposite of that, show it a town it will do it. not as well as the other cars but decently enough. get out the 30 zones into the 40 zones the car feels just that little bit more at ease than it did at 25mph, take it into the 50mph's and your just really entering it's comfort zone when city cars are suddenly falling out of theres. centos engines are at their most efficient at about 55-60mph like proper cars. they are fairly settled at 70mph, engines are a bit rev happy at that speed but perfectly happy to do it, the whole car feels more planted at speed than city cars.

oh aye, andstart tweaking them and you get something rather good indeed ;)

if in doubt you're welcome to have a sample of mine just give me advance warning so i can have it vaguely working that day :p
 
Great description there Mark.
Ad go for a cento :wink: raw passion buy a cinq (boy), slight refinement buy a sei (girl) Considering luggage space was a concern of Gill's with her car. The buggy WILL fit in the boot of a cinq and not so comfortably fit 5 including baby carrier and booster seat in the back, but be prepared for some serious winda licking :ROFLMAO:
It's surprising how well a cento suit motorway driving, tbh it's just as good as any of the other cars av used for the Bolton commute over the years.
 
Ming - you don't find it odd in any way that I run a Fiat site yet no longer own/drive one?

In fact, now that I think about it - aint driven a Fiat since this time last year. That's a year to the day since the HGT was pranged :(

The Vec - uber high miles when I got it, I've added a few more and I'm just thinking there's going to come a point soon when I should do the humane thing and destroy it.
 
IS just the vec is doing the job for you fine, then no point changing. High mileage is not a problem if you service it !

I would get a wee fiat as a second car :) . Cinq would be a good place to start as they are cheap to start with but pricey when tweekd lol.

Ming
 
puntos have the ame hg problems as cinq/sei. their prone to it.

tbh if you want abit of space but a small car... a mk2 punto ....hgt :p .
if you want a tiny but nippy car. cento. (sei)
if you want a larger car. bravo//marea... but get the larger engines.
 
It's simple really: keep the vec if you like driving it and get rid if you don't. Life's too short to drive a car you don't enjoy.

Although I quite like the perversity of someone running a car site whilst owning a different marque. It appeals to my warped sense of humour :lol:
 
I'm also looking at other Fiats in my big, random list of cars, with emphasis on a Coupe 20VT. Even considering another Stilo if I found the right one BUT, I'd probably get a Cinq if for nothing else the practicality of it.

Basically, it's cheap to insure, decent on fuel and tax, it's not so "look at me" it's going to get graffitinised on the street parked up AND it's a hoot to drive. If it's solid underneath and not been ragged to within an inch of it's life, I'd say get one for the heck of it and have a fun car. Good ones are a bit thin on the ground in the classifieds though, so that could count against it.

By the way, I'm not saying by default I'll be getting a Cinq. They're not quite jdm enough to be my next motor for definite after all :laugh:
 
muppet42 said:
I'm also looking at other Fiats in my big, random list of cars, with emphasis on a Coupe 20VT. Even considering another Stilo if I found the right one BUT, I'd probably get a Cinq if for nothing else the practicality of it.

Basically, it's cheap to insure, decent on fuel and tax, it's not so "look at me" it's going to get graffitinised on the street parked up AND it's a hoot to drive. If it's solid underneath and not been ragged to within an inch of it's life, I'd say get one for the heck of it and have a fun car. Good ones are a bit thin on the ground in the classifieds though, so that could count against it.

By the way, I'm not saying by default I'll be getting a Cinq. They're not quite jdm enough to be my next motor for definite after all :laugh:
Click to expand...

Spoon caliper, Bride bucket seat, HKS filter, HKS fuel pressure regulator, SPoon oil cooler, Mugen 14" rims in 4x100. Tell me a cinq is nto JDM enough with all that fitted :p
 
Right Martyn, I see where you're coming from.
Vec- good to haul items about or use as a removal vehicel, but for everyday use not really that practical.
Cento's (Cinq & Sei), ideal for a wee bast, but as Mark said, you start crawling at 10mph the car hates it, 30+ MPH the car feels a bit more responcive, but at 70MPH in a 1.1 you'd be sitting @ 4000RPM so halfway through the rev range.
Maera Weekend- shrunk down estate, same with Stilo easte.

What about another Bravo? or even a Stilo?

End of the day, it's you're decision, you're money & you're life, so spend it how you want.
 
just thought id say centos arnt as cheap to run as people think...

atm my 1.8 hlx is costing less on insurance. more mpg on average and has very similar performance but with a larger boot and way more room.

as for performance. centos 'propperly' set up are immense in corners and you can have some power with it. tbh i never found low speeds even slightly a problem and in 5 years ownership never overheated once. even with lightened bits it was still fine at low revs.... motorways yes 70mph is 4k. but just imagine the throttle responce when your already buzzing along 500rpm into the power band... surprises alot of people with the instant power that they offer.

imo if money was tight and looking at it now a cento isnt the option. their not mega cheap or cheap to run or cheap to repair really.. there just as good/bad as anything else... their just easier to work on yourself to save some money.

that said when ive got myself sorted i will wonder back to the cento for a 'track' car similar to mings (can be used on the road but why when you have something ele).... ill never own one as a every day car again, their great but there nothing particualrly 'special'



looking at it in your position martyn a bravo/marea is the way to go (and not becasue i have one now). its large enough and you have past knoledge to put to use and choose a good one. you know all the problems and you know many solutions... go with the devil you know!


you make your choices.... dont look back bus
 
Puntos arent as prone to failure as much as people think, imo its all down to how you look after it. I had my mk2, for nigh on 3 years and didnt have an splat of trouble with it, ran sweet as a nut however i did look after it, and alot of people think because its a reletivlty cheap car then there is no need to service it etc.

Due to the mileage requirements etc, what about the Stilo the later one if possible, the 1.9 derv gets a decent amount of mpg, better than my GP tbh and are generally roomy inside.
 
Jodie said:
Puntos arent as prone to failure as much as people think, imo its all down to how you look after it. I had my mk2, for nigh on 3 years and didnt have an splat of trouble with it, ran sweet as a nut however i did look after it, and alot of people think because its a reletivlty cheap car then there is no need to service it etc.

Due to the mileage requirements etc, what about the Stilo the later one if possible, the 1.9 derv gets a decent amount of mpg, better than my GP tbh and are generally roomy inside.
Click to expand...

Standard Stilo's from what I've heard aren't as much fun to drive as the older Bravo's, but I have to say mine was a major step up in dynamic abilities from my mk2 Punto. I've said in the past that though it was the first car I'd consider my own, it just wasn't very good. Could've been down to the 8v engine trying to hall it along, could've been down to the fact the suspension always felt broken for some reason or it could've been that the garage I always took it to on a frequent basis did it more harm than good but either way I was far happier when I drove away in the Stilo and happier still when I found an independent to service it :)

Certainly the Stilo is a good proposition in many respects. You get great spec and often a far newer car than it's rivals for the same money and looks wise (3dr at least), it's great. Driving wise, it's not great as the standard suspension set up's kind of pants and the steering though decently weighted doesn't give as much feedback as many would like. Even lowered, it's not amazing but when it is lowered you can certainly have a lot more fun. Putting a 50mm drop on my 1.2 along with Eibach dampers for example didn't really detract from the comfort levels all that much but improved the way it handled a heck of a lot.

Best model is apparently the MJet 150, though they're late model and pretty rare from what I gather. Priciest too alongside the Schui edition 2.4s. The earlier JTD's though are still great cars if you get a good serviced one and some were specced up to pretty much the Abarth level, leather, Connect Nav and all but with none of the issues you face in the 2.4.
 
B3nnett on TI has the mjet, and its remapped to 177hp, its an total beast to be honest, but is a very late model, registered as an 06 plate. However by all accounts its a total misbulid and intitally was headed as a dynamic for sodding austria, and ended up in wakefield as a mjet LOL, still the best of the older fiats to be honest
 
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