General New Marea Owner

[Roberto]

Hi,

Blimey, it's been a while since I posted here !

I've just bought myself a Marea Weekend ELX 1.8 115 in Ischia Blue and pick it up on Monday. It will replace my Seicento Sporting as that is no longer practical for me & my family.

My FIAT history dates back to the early 90's with a Tipo 1.7DS, followed by a Punto Mk.1 1.7TDSX, Punto Sporting Mk.1 Sporting 1.6, Cinquecento Sporting, Bravo HGT 147, Seicento Sporting and now the Marea

For the last few years I have had company cars and the Sei was used as a runaround by the missus, but I recently changed jobs and no longer have a company car, so the Sei became our only vehicle and with two young children and all the luggage and equipment that goes with them, the Sei just didn't cut it.

I took it in to have the radiator fan checked out on Wednesday (I had somehow broken it when installing a new radiator a few months ago) and the garage (an independent FIAT specialist) had this Marea on show for £1995. I asked him what he would give me p/ex for the Sei and he quoted me £1350, which I thought was reasonable for a 2000 W Plate with a very low 28500 miles and in immaculate condition. I knocked him down £250 on the Marea and did the deal.

I took it out for a spin and it felt very familiar, almost like being back in my HGT again, except it didn't have that gorgeous 5 pot growl !

Anyway, I can't wait to get it tomorrow and am really looking forward to being able to get all my crap in and still be comfortable

Here's a couple of pix....

 

[HP]

Looks nice, good luck!

I've got a 20v saloon, awesome machine for the money.

 

[tazztham]

welcome to marea group. mine is the same color as your but running on JTD105. u don't like diesel? i think JTD will pull faster than petrol.

anyway, enjoy it!

 

[polecat]

Ditto and more of the same

Enjoy.

 

[Roberto]

welcome to marea group. mine is the same color as your but running on JTD105. u don't like diesel? i think JTD will pull faster than petrol.

anyway, enjoy it!

I love diesels but decent Marea diesels are as rare as the proverbial rocking horse sh*t round here !!

I've been driving a Mondeo Ghia X TDCi 130 for the past couple of years and know how good modern diesels are. The 1.9 & 2.4 JTD engines are great (so great, that Vauxhall pinched the 1.9 and stuck it in the Vectra !) but I doubt your 105 would out pull the 115 1.8. To really keep up with petrol cars, you need a good, modern common rail direct injection turbo charged oil burner. I know, I've driven a few. The Vauxhall 1.9 CTDi is superb and the Honda i-CDTi 2.2 is sublime and powerful, but the Ford is, IMHO, one of the best, only beaten by a nice 2.4 JTD, especially when it is married to an Alfa 156

If I had a choice, I'd have waited to find a 2.4 JTD Marea, but Hens Teeth are easier to find Having owned a Bravo HGT, the lure of a 2.0L 20v was there too, but I am also familiar with the increased running and maintenance costs It would have been so much fun tearing up the local boy racers in one of them

Anyway, I'm picking her up tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have loads of fun, especially now that I can ferry my entire family around !! LOL

 

[bulldog5046]

It would have been so much fun tearing up the local boy racers in one of them

out on the track of course

 

[Roberto]

out on the track of course

Of course LOL

 

[Hellcat]

Welcome to the Marea forum! The least known but best value section by far! Love the colour of yours, if I'd had choice of colour then that would be it, but good engine and body were more important at the time.

I love diesels but decent Marea diesels are as rare as the proverbial rocking horse sh*t round here !!

I drove 700 miles in a 25ish mpg tipo to find my diesel Marea

To really keep up with petrol cars, you need a good, modern common rail direct injection turbo charged oil burner.

JTD 105 is a good, modern common rail injection turbo charged oil burner!

Ford is, IMHO, one of the best, only beaten by a nice 2.4 JTD, especially when it is married to an Alfa 156

Alfa cheats - theirs is 20 valve!

If I had a choice, I'd have waited to find a 2.4 JTD Marea, but Hens Teeth are easier to find

I actually found more hens teeth for sale than 2.4 jtd weekends Hope it serves you well. Any queries, we're here to help!

 

[CheeseMaster]

Welcome aboard

 

[Roberto]

I drove 700 miles in a 25ish mpg tipo to find my diesel Marea

A luxury I could ill afford, but would have loved to have been able to do.

JTD 105 is a good, modern common rail injection turbo charged oil burner!

Absolutely, and I'd defend that to the hilt, but it's not in the league of the oil burners we have in todays' Mondeo's/Vectra's/Accords etc. The bar has been raised. I haven't tried any of the recent FIAT oil burners found in the Croma or Stilo, but I'd imagine they are up there with the best as they always have been. Having had the Ford TDCi for some time, I guess I've been spoilt because that is one heck of a diesel engine. Although it claims to be 130bhp (well, PS actually), they actually output closer to 147bhp, but Ford don't publicise this as it makes the ST-TDCi 155 look a bit pointless for the extra money you have to pay for it.

My step dad has a Marea Saloon TD100 and those old TD engines are akin to a John Deere or Massey Ferguson in comparison to the JTD, which is a cracking lump

Alfa cheats - theirs is 20 valve!

True, but even the 2.4JTD Marea is a superb car

I actually found more hens teeth for sale than 2.4 jtd weekends Hope it serves you well. Any queries, we're here to help!

I can imagine. I only found one and it was at the time I didn't have any cash

Being my seventh FIAT, I am sure this will serve me as well as the others and I'm grateful; for the assistance and welcome I have received so far

I've been a member of B.O.O for 4 years already (I'm a moderator there. In fact I was a moderator here when it started, looking after the Seicento section), even after I sold my Bravo, so these two sites will be top of my favourites list for a long time to come

 

[ben]

Blimey Rob, welcome back - it's been a bit of a long time (though you had no excuses, what with having the Sei for so long )

For those of you who can't be arsed to seach back, Rob was one of the very first members (number 8 to be precise) and helped originally get the FF off the ground

Changed a bit since then eh?

 

[Roberto]

Blimey Rob, welcome back - it's been a bit of a long time (though you had no excuses, what with having the Sei for so long )

Thanks, it's good to be here

For those of you who can't be arsed to seach back, Rob was one of the very first members (number 8 to be precise) and helped originally get the FF off the ground

Makes me feel old & I feel guilty for neglecting this place for so long, but then life always has a habit of getting in the way.

Changed a bit since then eh?

Very much so, and definitely for the better