Early '80's 128 saloon in blue. Very comfortable and definitely quicker than the 1.3 rivals from Vauxhall, Ford and BL. Apart from comfortable seats and more space than the others, the thing that really stands out was that you could screw the knackers off it and then slow right down to drive through a village in heavy traffic and it was like a ***** cat, smooth and tractable. When you came out back onto a faster road it was fast again. Unlike its rivals which use to run like a bag of .... when you slowed down and fluffed like no-one's business when you tried to accelerate again.
In 1985 I worked for a Lancia dealer (I know, not quite FIATs but with FIAT engines) and had a Delta 1.6GT and a Y10 Turbo. The White Hen was certainly a car to remember, lousy ride and horrendous turbo lag. Talk about all or nothing. Off boost, it felt like someone had stuffed a sock in the air intake and all of a sudden it would spin its wheels and take off like a bat out of hell. Embarrassed more than a few XR3s with that one.
1989 Uno 60DS in silver. Bought new and used as a driving school car. Went at least 40,000 miles on its first set of brake pads and 75K on its rear shoes. Totally reliable and rattle free. Eventually passed it on to the wife and was disposed of to the mechanic who serviced it (the car not the wife) for use by his sister. Eventually met its end in a tete a tete with an ex-army Land Rover. Let's face it, there was only ever going to be one winner in that little contest. Since then, a Punto 60S for she who must be obeyed, since replaced (the car not the wife) by an '05 Stilo Active, and I've returned to the fold with an '05 Panda MJT. Where we go from here we'll find out in a couple of years when we think about replacement (the cars not the wife you fool)
In 1985 I worked for a Lancia dealer (I know, not quite FIATs but with FIAT engines) and had a Delta 1.6GT and a Y10 Turbo. The White Hen was certainly a car to remember, lousy ride and horrendous turbo lag. Talk about all or nothing. Off boost, it felt like someone had stuffed a sock in the air intake and all of a sudden it would spin its wheels and take off like a bat out of hell. Embarrassed more than a few XR3s with that one.
1989 Uno 60DS in silver. Bought new and used as a driving school car. Went at least 40,000 miles on its first set of brake pads and 75K on its rear shoes. Totally reliable and rattle free. Eventually passed it on to the wife and was disposed of to the mechanic who serviced it (the car not the wife) for use by his sister. Eventually met its end in a tete a tete with an ex-army Land Rover. Let's face it, there was only ever going to be one winner in that little contest. Since then, a Punto 60S for she who must be obeyed, since replaced (the car not the wife) by an '05 Stilo Active, and I've returned to the fold with an '05 Panda MJT. Where we go from here we'll find out in a couple of years when we think about replacement (the cars not the wife you fool)
