Off Topic Why the Marea?

[Venters]

So as we all know the Marea isn't the biggest success Fiat ever had. But as owners we also know it's not because they aren't good cars.

My Orion was condemned at MOT due to terminal tinworm. At the time I worked at a Fiat dealership and the next car I worked on after getting the fail sheet back was a surprisingly cheap for it's age and spec red HLX. 3 days later it was sitting on my drive and it has been without question the best car I have owned.

So how did you end up in one?

 

[rat20v]

Nice story there buddy (former orion owner too lol) well i had a immaculate fiat punto which had to be sold due to new baby, and we had a stilo family car, but we then got invited to my cousins wedding in scotland (we lived in london at the time) we then checked how much stuff would fit in the stilo and it wasn't big enough, so i got on ebay and found a marea weekend 20v in gold for £790 not bad for a 7 year old car back in 2005, so i purchased it got it serviced and drove it to scotland (made sure i had AA cover) and it was faultless comfortable and cruised all day long loved it, sold it after about 2 years and bought another ford (big mistake) got rid of the ford after 10 months and bought a 02 plate marea weekend 20v which with only 40k on the clock caught fire after 6 months of ownership, gutted as i was i was not put off, so ebay was my friend and my current car was found on ebay for £725 (it needed the cambelt done) a deal was done and i drove it home, never once let me down, love the 147's but it has come time to sell my one in the next couple of weeks it will be going up for sale i shall miss it

 

[Venters]

Hmm so almost an accident then as well.

What's the betting this thread runs and not one person says they saw a Marea go past and though I have to have one.

 

[loveshandbags]

I would have expressed my views on my Marea already on. But I bought my car back in 2005 at an auction as a hacker for a house that was undergoing a full renovation job. It was used as a builders Van and micracously passed an NCT (MOT equivalent) which has delayed the watery scrap yard. Still going today with 118K on the clock but will decide if the cam belt should get changed next Feb when the NCT is due up again. Lucky to have it. It's a petrol 1.6.

 

[Hellcat]

About 5 years ago I had 2 Tipos. The milkbottle and the 1.9TD which had done me proud for several years. The TD sprung a leak from the oil cooler and faced with a huge bill, it had to go. So I was now doing 28 miles a day in a car which I wanted to save for best, so the search for a diesel started.

I had seen Mareas on the forum and thought they looked quite smart, for the price of them I'd be saving money over using the Tipo so a serious search began. I looked at one but what was A1 condition on the phone was ready for the scrappers in reality. I posted my frustration on the forum as the only other decent one was 250 miles away in Southsea. I was greeted with a reply from a FF member, H2DaE, offering to check out the car! He responded with tonnes of photos and the roadtrip to purchase started. Within a few hours I'd bought the car.

I had the green 1.9JTD; dubbed the longest car in the world; for a year before the itch for a 2.4JTD became over-whelming. One came available on ebay and after a quick visit it was bought. I had that until the 2007 Bravo was launched and purchased. The Bravo is long gone now, but the itch to get another 2.4JTD remains.

 

[madrat]

Mine was a last minute purchase as well. We had a 405 TD Estate that decided to eat its 5th gear, needed a car that would tow the caravan for less that £1500, found a gorgeous light metallic blue Marea weekend 105 JTD on Ebay for £1300, have had it for 4 years now and it has been a love love relationship that has been quite light on the pocket.

 

[MrMigs08]

Packed up on my Nans drive and slowly deccaying, i decided to start walking around it and as soon as you see the front end you can grasp that it is quite a spirited runner, soon enough i began looking at the specs of mareas and it appeared the 1.6 saloon had quite an impressive feature set as well as nice performance for the road.

I still haven't had it MOT'd, but im still working on it, hopefully in the next two weeks, i'l find out if shes a keeper .

 

[kimi1984]

i previously owned a bravo hgt. Step forward a few years with a son expected i needed a good,cheap reliable car. I found my 20v on the autotrader. 66000 miles, 6 months tax and years mot. I only paid £850! It has a huge boot for buggy's and bags and a bassbox as well. Its also just as quick as my hgt but a hell of a lot more comfortable. Couldn't think of a better car for the money.

 

[The Artificer]

Guy across the road had one, was wanting a chevy (that fugly gangsta type, PT cruiser?) and the stealer wouldnt give him a good price on the marea. So I hgave him £100 cash in his hand, 6 years ago for a 2000 plate weekend, 1900jtd. He said it was a slug. It was high mileage, had been used by a tiling firm as a hack... So, replaced the MAF sensor, and she flew. Overtook him in his pt cruiser anyway.

I've also replaced the front wishbones, the rear trailing arms and bushes, the rad, and a few other bits and bobs. new blower motor in the heater last week. (well, not new, 'pre-owned' ) It has well over 200000 miles on it, and always starts first time. I do an average of 20/25,000 a year in it. Got to replace the glow plugs soon, one is down according to the scanner.

All in all, I have probably spent about £2000 on it in parts and servicing in the time we have had it...not bad for a £100 spend really. A newer car would have cost more initially, and I would still have to spend on it.

And..its actually quite comfortable for a six foot six 19 stone bruiser like me.