I was happy for mine to be called that. I'm hardly rich after all and it kind of looked, sounded and went a bit like a Ferrari...

Is that supposed to be complementary or insulting?

I took it as complimentary, every other car that gets called poor man's **insert more expensive car here** seems to be intended and taken as offence...

When I bought mine the guy selling it kept referring to it as a "baby porsche"...I didn't have the heart to correct him.

judging on performance only, from what i saw at spa from flea/matt/Joe(cc) etc they can rightly be described as "baby ferraris". many more exotic cars had to move over to let them through.

having said that, who would choose a coop over a fezza if money was no object?

Yes, the coupe is a poor mans ferrari, much the same as a hyaundai is a poor mans GTR.

Can we close this thread now.

Sure the indicators are the same! It's practically a 355

I think that a fast italian 2 seater built by Pininfarina can reasonably be compared to a Ferrari, even if it cost about a fifth of what a ferrari did new.

It's not a poor man's anything; Ferrari least of all. It's a Coupe Fiat. Nothing more, nothing less.

Should lock this now Neil.
Bells 'n' Whistles boys are getting ideas above their station.

Since THIS bad boy hit the streets!

If anything the only car i recall that was ever refered to as the baby ferrari was the X19

Maybe it's a rich man's racing bike?

we need to be proud of the fiat coupe fantastic car and soon there will be less of them as people are braking them up for spare parts ,even now i see more farraris then i do coupes ,long live the fiat coupe ,

Poor man's Ferrari! More like styled by italians and sold at a realistic price.

Fiat Coupe £3500.00
Ferrari - From £90,000.00

Who's the stupid ones who can go to the supermarket in the car? Who can drive around their town without looking like a jumped up 'p***k'

Who saves fortunes on servicing compared to the other (mmmm, could be tough this one! )

Jeesh!

Slightly off topic, but am i the only person that thinks of the Audi R8 as a poor mans supercar?

I just cant get excited by them. Even the Nissan GTR is better in my mind.

Bugatti, McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari...Audi?

It's too boring, there's nothing exciting about it. Even the Nissan is made exciting becuase it's got more gizmos than Q ever thought up.

Anyway, sorry rant over... Fiat coupe, baby Ferrari? nah. Cheap, exciting, interesting, fast, and actually very safe to drive fast (front wheel drive), yup!

when i was an owner of a toyota mr2 sw20,that was always know as a baby ferrari on the owners club threads

no. beacuse there is no such thing.

a poor man cannot afford a ferrari, and a fiat coupe is not a ferrari.

but then again, it has the looks, the performance etc.

but, its a front engined, front wheel drive, 2 litre, 4 seater, based on a Tipo.

ferrari? i dont think so.

Totally agree about the r8, although i think they look stunning espec in white, im not 'excited' by them nor the gtr realy, lamborghini or ferrari anyday (preferably older models)

Fiat coupe, poor mans ferrari? Certainly not.

Having said that i cant think of any other car that doesnt wear the prancing horse badge that looks more like one, unless its one of those hideous mr2 replicas,no just NO!

n.b - to echo other comments about the R8, its everyhting a 'supercar' shouldnt be.

and tommy, totally agree with that, but then i guess it was inevitable that having ferrari as its jewel in the crown, Fiat would let the occasional 'pretty' car have a bit of ferrari flair.

If somebody ever said to me 'look at you in your poor mans ferrari' i would have a huge grin on my face

What bigger compliment can a car get than that?

It's like saying your bird is a poor mans kate moss

The other day I saw an Aston Martin DB9 and instead of going 'that looks nice' I just thought, 'the Coupe has a nicer rear than that!'

And its certainly not a bad thing that the Coupe is mentioned in the same breath as the archetypal 'most desirable car ever.'

I was followed up the M11 by a 2002 DB7 this evening.

As I watched it in the rear view mirror, I was thinking to myself how I preferred the look of the Coupe, but it would be interesting to see an 'Aston' looking bonnet and grill on a Coupe.

But that's the point. Some people actually DO think it's a Ferrari, like children and slightly simple country folk...

Perhaps this is the difference between the Boxster owners who would want to punch you if you said it was a poor man's 911 or the scooby a poor man's evo, etc...

In the case of the Boxster, the 911 is the next step up which they failed to reach, so youre calling them a failure. In the case of the Impreza, youre implying their car is inferior compared to it's more expensive rival, but with the Coupe youre elevating a front engined, front wheel drive, 2 litre, 4 seater car based on a Tipo to impossibly dizzy heights of comparison that actually makes the owner more proud of their car.

That's why I think the implication is different for the Coupe than any other car I can think of.

i would like to say that its fiats best car "ever"
pininfarina design almost always hits the spot
my last 20vt ruspers old porto looked to the less enthusiastic as a "supercar" ! if only they new!!
i always like to think of it as the best looking car for the money!! which also in 20vt guise has still plenty to offer too..having owned nearly 60 cars since 91 i can honestly say the 20vt has been best value!! and offers so much for so little!! amen!

I'd agree, it is a poor man's ferrari. A very poor man

a young boy rang my door to ask could he get his ball under my ferrari yesterday!! I had to laugh.

..Before saying NO! and chasing him away with a broom. Ruddy kids.

As much as i like the rear of the coupe, the db9 is achingly beautiful from every angle and has a much nicer rear, in my opinion

"Poor man's xxx" carries a double implication; first that you can't afford an xxx (and would have bought one if you could) and second that you didn't choose what you have; rather that you accepted it as an inferior substitute.

It's always and without exception an insult. It denies the possibility that you purchased that vehicle by design, as your first choice, in and of and for itself.

Best post so far

Great post.

My uncle owns a Porsche Boxster, and he bought it because he likes it. Believe me when I say he could afford to buy any 911 he wanted many many times over, he just chose not to.

So the whole 'poor man's xxx' argument annoys me slightly.

I think the key thing from this whole thread though is that the styling of the Coupé is beautiful, and in that respect can be compared favourably with it's flashier, more expensive cousins. The fact that a few people who know very little about cars occasionally mistake it for something far more expensive just adds to this.

The Coupé is what it is - a great car with beautiful styling for comparatively very little cash.