Driving a Fiat Coupe 1000kms home

Intro.

Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo Plus, a modern day Italian classic!

A very special car that never disappoints, whether you're simply just admiring the car or behind the wheel you can't help but smile. It has that lovely Group B Audi Quattro type noise that only a '5 cylinder Turbo' can produce, it's just truly brilliant! 

The Fiat Coupe was so different from anything else on the road and still is 20 years on.

This example is the 2.0 20V Turbo Plus model, which benefited from a 6 speed manual gearbox along with the following. Body Coloured Side Skirts, Perforated Front Grille design, Front Spoiler Extensions, Leather Recaro seats, Red Interior Stitching, Starter Button, Recaro Strut Brace, Light Silver Instrument Panel with Yellow Needles and Painted Engine Rocker Covers.

Getting to Know the Fiat Coupe.

Finding out about the history and any recent work carried out.

Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo Plus, a modern day Italian classic!

A very special car that never disappoints, whether you're simply just admiring the car or behind the wheel you can't help but smile. It has that lovely Group B Audi Quattro type noise that only a '5 cylinder Turbo' can produce, it's just truly brilliant! 

The Fiat Coupe was so different from anything else on the road and still is 20 years on.

This example is the 2.0 20V Turbo Plus model, which benefited from a 6 speed manual gearbox along with the following. Body Coloured Side Skirts, Perforated Front Grille design, Front Spoiler Extensions, Leather Recaro seats, Red Interior Stitching, Starter Button, Recaro Strut Brace, Light Silver Instrument Panel with Yellow Needles and Painted Engine Rocker Covers.

First shots.

Grabbed a few shots in the city before heading for maratai/coastal drive.

It’s often said that the 5 cylinder turbo engine found in the Fiat Coupe was over engineered from factory. There are Fiat Coupes out there with 700 bhp plus. Many running comfortably on 300-400 bhp with much of the engine internals being stock.

With just under 220bhp on tap and 310Nm of torque available @2500rpm the Coupe really does shift. At the time of it's release in the 90's it was the quickest front wheel drive car in the world. With the 6 speed car having a claimed top speed of 155 mph or 250 km/h. 

It feels much quicker than you would expect, however the sound is really the best part for me whilst driving. Hopefully the basic video down below shows this. Even with the 60km/h speed limit the car sounds epic! As with most Italian classics, It’s a real emotive driving experience when behind the wheel.

Kaikoura Backdrop.

Shots in Kaikoura before the last push home.

The interior which was designed by Pininfarina is pretty tidy overall with the drivers seat side bolster recently having work. It was still firm and strong but starting to show signs of wear with light cracking in the leather, as you would expect for a car with these km’s.

The radio doesn’t seem to work (no signal) but bluetooth for calls and music works well. The tweeter type speakers on top of the dash are not connected, I purchased these from the UK as they were missing. It looks like the plug they go into was at some point cut, probably for an aftermarket sound system that was once installed. I’m pretty sure they could easily be re-connected. I will try and get the radio working before the auction ends.

Luckily the Fiat comes with it’s own music courtesy of the ‘5 cylinder’, I’ve done around 1,000 km’s in the car and not once thought of using the radio.

The gear knob is pretty worn, again inline with the km’s of the car.

Carpets are nice and tidy, just a small mark which can be seen in the passenger footwell below. Again if i was keeping, I would look at getting some tailored floor mats. Have seen these online for around $150-$200.

The Recaro seats are incredibly supportive and comfortable. A recent go over with Autogylm leather cleaner and conditioner has really lifted them up in appearance, feel and smell.