I’m a big fan of coupés, youngtimers and Italian cars. And I like the Coupé Fiat. Sometimes. At other times, not so much. It’s marmite, and it has always divided opinion – mine too.
If my memory serves me right, I believe Fiat is currently the marque of which I’ve owned the third most classics from. I was reminded of this recently when I saw a beautifully elegant Fiat 124 Coupé CC from the early seventies. A thoroughly wonderful car, but one which I have in fact already owned – with orange paintwork over a black leather interior, which really suited it quite nicely. But I’ve already got plenty of seventies classics in the garage, so I see no reason to re-visit the 124 – at least not at present. But then the whole thought process had already been kick-started by this point. What about the Coupé Fiat then? Has it matured enough to be considered for my garage?
It probably has – at least for a short visit. Because I’m absolutely sure that a Coupé Fiat would never be a keeper for me. I can say this with resounding certainty as I’ve never really managed to come fully to terms with the model. It constantly changes in my mind from a “must own” to “couldn’t care less” including every variation in between. The very second I imagined the Coupé Fiat in my garage, I got all excited about my own clarity of vision. But now, only a few days later, when I sat down to investigate the options further, I can hardly muster the enthusiasm to search the internet for suitable cars for sale.
And that basically sums up my feelings for the Coupé Fiat: The very first time I saw one (I believe that might have been at an exhibition in the UK around 1993), I was more than just a little impressed. But since then it’s been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride.
In fact, its whole design is like a rollercoaster ride – a bizarre combination of the traditionally stylish, the conventionally pretty and the utterly whacky and far-out. These are the type of cars I usually really appreciate, but I also usually fairly quickly establish my own opinion about them and then manage to stick to it. Not so here! My feelings about the Coupé are probably best described as turbulent.
And not least as hypothetical. I’ve actually never driven one, so it’s all based on what I can see and what I have read. The later of which has generally been quite positive – at least when the car was new. However, as a secondhand car of a reasonable age, the reviews seem to be less upbeat. I’ve heard many claim that as a Fiat owner, you simply learn to accept their poor build quality. But all of my Fiats have been older cars, and I’m not sure that’s always the case. I was actually positively surprised with my Fiat 132 GLS. Okay, so the Ritmo didn’t display the same solidity. And I understand that this is unfortunately the case for the Coupé Fiat as well.
It somehow lacks substance – in my considerations as the next car to join my garage too. But there’s no denying that it has character. And that might very well be its best attribute as an upcoming classic – or youngtimer at least. It is immediately obvious to most, that with its distinct Chris Bangle design, which in so many ways set the trend for things to come, it will no doubt reach proper classic car status one day. Furthermore, they only produced approximately 70,000 of them between 1993 and 2000, which really isn’t many by modern terms.
Everybody seems to want the Turbo version, but combine Fiat and turbo and what you get is yet another thing which can break, explode or disintegrate. Therefore, I would personally opt for the normally aspirated version – that 5-cylinder with 146hp sounds lovely, thank you very much! The fuel consumption of the normally aspirated engine would probably suit my long commute a lot better too. But then, the 5-cylinder turbo pushed out an impressive 220hp, which in period made it the world’s fastest front-wheel-drive production car. Needless to say, that alone will help bucketloads with its classic car status.
Someday. Maybe. But just not quite yet…
