Barchetta

Looking to buy one for summer motoring (if we get any) Has anyone had any experience of owning one?

Yep, I've had 2.

First one (Yellow with black leather) was written off after a few months, but was fun for that short bit!!

Second one (Black without leather) was straight after, and that was lovely for a few years. Only issues I had was a sticky back caliper, and the broken bonnet cable.

LHD not really an issue apart from toll booths and car park ticket barriers.

Chopped mine for the Coop.

Prices rising sharply. Some lovely one's at Brooklands there was a Special Edition Silver one for sale for around £5K

Spoke to a few owners at Brooklands, all made positive comments about owning one and said there wasn't any mechanical issues with them.

Interested in one at Brooklands which is currently up for sale.

It seems another car not built at Fiat.

Noticed they share many parts with a coupe.

They are built on Punto platforms so lots of commonality there too.

http://www.fiatforum.com/barchetta/

is probably worth a look.

I've had a few over the years. Biggest issue now, as with the coupe, is rot. Mechanically they're sweet little cars, great engines, cambelt and variator only things to look out for, get a hard top for all weather use as the canvas "always" finds a way to leak into the gulley behind the seats, resulting in a lovely splash as you turn!

Prices still brilliant compared to the mundane MX-5. I saw a riviera black Barchetta locally for 5.5k recently.

And the LCD clock NEVER works!

Clock worked on both of mine!

Lol

You might have bought one of my old ones after I'd fixed it!

Speaking to a couple of continental owners in Norway a couple of years back, both complained of significant floor repairs required, but both were very happy with them.

I have my eye on one myself...

More I look into this, more I like them.

Barchetta I'm interested in has colour coded hardtop, big plus. Would avoid any without unless it was mint and low milage.

I've be told hardtops are hard to find these days and if one comes up for sale it goes for big bucks.

Never owned one, but drove a couple of customers Barchettas and liked them a lot.

Very nice to drive, felt natural to be on the left and felt very good and solid on the road

I always loved the Barchetta. Like the Coupe, the design was special and more stylish than most contemporaries. The only thing that put me off was the LHD. Fiat could have made a killing in the UK if they'd done a right hooker.

Have you considered importing one? No issues with the steering wheel only the instruments that'd be different.

A Barchetta from Italy is likely to have much less issue with rot since they get less rain and don't grit the roads.

One near Turin and One near Venice

Better to wait for a continental one until I'm living on that side of the road anyway. And besides, these are silver. Red or yellow for a Barchetta, I think.

I did see a right hand drive one for sale once.

Yes I think DTR did a few RHD conversions on them.
I really wanted one a while ago but just wasn't practical at the time. Would really love an early press-type car - Orange with those steel wheels. Didn't really like the later ones with the 'Cyclops' 3rd brake light. The 1.8 unit is the same unit that went in to our old Stilo. And the same Steering wheel as the Coupe! Nice!

Trish really wanted one of these. We looked at a few but after the scare stories I heard in Norway I took a good look for rust. Most of them we saw were starting to show tin worm issues but it was the LHD that killed the idea. Trish realised it would be impossible with the barriers at work. In the end she chose a TT roadster and has just replace it with another TT roadster!

Viewed an excellent example at a reasonable price, one owner, full service history. It came with all the extras like hard top etc. While test driving the car someone who had viewed it earlier that day rang and offered £500 more than the advertised price. At that point I wasn't will to get into a bidding battle so walked away.

The easy solution is to reverse into car parks

But that reminds of a time when I gave a lift to an overseas client in my old (LHD) 124 Spider and drive into a multi-storey car park. As he pressed the button to get a ticket for me, he expressed surprise that the machine was on the wrong side. He thought LHD was normal and hadn't realised that we had been driving on the right to get to the car park

I have a LHD cars.

A Hozelock Pond Grabber is the thing to get! A long pole, with a grabby hand.

You can poke car park koisk buttons etc and then grab the ticket!

http://www.hozelock.com/our-products/aquatics/pond-grabber/

I'm struggling to work out what made me laugh the most

this
or this


Mind you, I have always been put off Barchettas by the LHD (but love them otherwise) so the latter post may have swung me.