This has of course turned out to be a good thing, making the Coupe all the more special and rare now.

But whilst it was in production, it ticked all the right boxes - great looks, great engines, powerful, practical and a reasonable price tag meaning good value for money. On top of that it got largely positive reviews from motoring magazines.

If you look at its competitors at the time, these cars don't even seem to be in the same class as the Coupe.

And even now it seems to be a 'forgotten car.' Its as if it never really left a mark in the world of motoring. People go on about Toyota Supras and Nissan Skylines but the Coupe is largely unknown!

Surely the Coupe's success can't be attributed solely to ///// being on the bonnet?

It probably was down to the fact that it's a Fiat

The Italian cars didn't have a good reputation for reliability or build quality and those, along with future resale value probably put a lot of people off buying one.

There are now many more people who will buy an Italian car, but it's surprising how many people still think of them as expensive, unreliable rust buckets.

Suits me though, as it's more unique and special to me than any car will ever be (except the 3 Astra GTE's I had)

Didn't they sell 70,000 of the things ? that's not too shabby, especially as the top-of-the range LE's were £27,000 new IIRC.

And 'T' I didn't know you had Astra love - I ran a GTE 16V 156bhp model for 4 years - fantastic car.

I'm afraid Theresa is right here, combined with a high price tag for the time, this indeed, put some off.

I think it did pretty well actually. Over 70.000 sold isn't at all bad for a car like this. From what I remember the Corrado sold about the same. I don't think the GTV did much better either (despite being for sale much longer!).

Did the 350Z and the RX8 really sell any more?

The market for the coupe was pretty small as well, mainly Europe and Asia. The best markets were Germany, Italy and the UK. It sold very poorly in Holland (about 700!) though and most were early cars (16v and 16vt's and later on the 1.8 version). Hardly any 20vt's over here.

I think the attraction of Japanese cars with their bullet proof reputation for reliability was a big thing in the 90's and early noughties and the celica, prelude, silvia etc would have seemed like a better investment to many given they were about the same price.

I think a lot of people who buy coupes also do it for the image and to get one up on the neighbours rather than because they are real petrolheads and therefore their reserach was probably limited to Auto Express and Car Magazine where they were likely spoon fed the usual Fix It Again Toni propogana about FIAT.

All the better for us I think though as a good Coop now has a certain exclusivity about it. I have to say mind those people that I know who have knowledge about cars have all commented on how nice, and rare, the Coop is so they certainly have the right reputation amongst those in the know.

I can think of a few more reasons.

It came from a more austere time, so there were less people buying performance coupes, or spending that much on a car. (By comparison today I'll see about 30 Audi A5s on my way to work each day)

There were some other contenders that got a lot more room in the press, like the MX-5, MR2, Subaru Impreza and MGF, and convertibles were the flavour of the day.

It was also a bit snubbed in the press. I have a Performance Car magazine which lined up a lot of different cars, and chose the Lotus Elise first, and the Coupe last.
They commented that it could stay close to an M3 of the day for half the money but then moaned about front wheel drive.

It would win any test with the Calibra, Cougar, Rover Coupe, Honda Prelude etc.

Then there were the love it or hate it looks.

But really the main thing is people didn't know about it. The 20VT's performance figures eluded me until the car's lifecycle had ended.

Not a well publicised car either. I never saw a coupe in a fiat dealership. I think quite a few were imported because the cost abroad was much cheaper (nearer 20k) than the UK price.

75000 cars or what it was.. That's a success right?

How many Z3 Coupes were made? More like 5000 I think.

Military personnel serving in Germany could buy a top spec 20VT for £12.5k. They were very popular for a while, especially as they could be legally driven to their full potential!

At the time the coupe was launched I was still buying new Alfa's (young family = 4 doors)...IIRC it was Italian+fwd+expensive = run away!!

I can recall looking at one at the joint Alfa/Fiat dealership where I bought my new 155 and thinking the Fiat was really exotic and therefore too expensive for me to run...

I reckon, for the UK anyway, it had a disadvantage due to the dearth of dealerships around. Every town has a Ford/Vauxhall dealership whereas you are priviledged to get more than two or three Fiat dealerships in a whole County !. Who in their right mind would want to buy a car knowing that the simplest of services could entail 100 mile round trip ?.
It was a Fiat failing then, and its still a failing now. Plus, the PR/advertising was utter rubbish.

Still, 70,000 units is a good enough number if you consider Fiats 1960's Coupe, the 2300S Ghia body , only managed a measly 7,194 with just 220 RHD.

Um, when it was originally sold, it was sold with a stated intention to make only *700* for the UK. Fiat changed their mind when they saw how much demand there was for it.

There was never any possibility of getting anything of the list price for the first couple of years - no deals at all. It was sought after.

Then Fiat saw how popular it was and brought out the common-as-muck 20vt...

Also - it was Fiat's most expensive car by a long way for a long time. It was three or four times the cost of a Punto.

Is the 20VT common as muck like? Can't say I have seen many about. Or is that to be read with tounge in cheek?

Banter between the 20vt guys and the rest of the peeps with lesser models

Car magazine actually raved about the Coupe and thrashed everything else ina few 'Giant Tests' as they called them

thought it might be

Yep, I bought one through a relative who was stationed in Germany at the time and we brought over five of them - all for around £13-14k depending on the exchange rate at the time - could sell them in the uk for £18+ and usually to dealers - we sold three to dealers, one private and I kept the other one.

The reason it wasn't popular was a) the power and being front wheeel drive - the view was 200bhp was the max for any front wheeel driver car, b)the looks (some people don't like it), c)the price - it was £26k at the time and all the comparable cars were perceived to be more reliable, better built and had a better badge - most of you must have still come across people who go - A fiat? Why? - still - makes it all the better when you take them from a ride and give them a bit of third gear to wipe the smile on or off their faces and go - that is why!

I thought it was a sales success. Thinking about it, I'm glad there wasn't more sold. Can you imagine if they sold in as many numbers as the BMW mini? about as exclusive as having a sphincter, over familiarity would make it boring and you'd be sick of the sight ot it.

Fiat 500 is getting a little like that now as well.

When i bought mine 3 years back the sales guy said

These are one of the best performance cars around if they had stuck on a Maserati badge it would be up for 10k+

I think 2 words Subaru and Impreza were the reason. Can remember at the time people were going mad for 4 door rally reps and not stuff like the Coupe.

The scoobs didn't have their current image then and you'd have to pay over list for one if you couldn't wait the 8 months plus the average dealer quoted.

Loved the Coupe then and our local long gone dealer (Cannon Fiat) always had one in but when it came to sign on the dotted line I bottled it and bought a Subaru. The whole Fiat range at the time was pretty mediocre which also didn't help.

Think it has aged much better than the Subaru though in hindsight IMO.

When I tell people that the car is 13 years old they cannot believe it; the design is still so fresh and exciting! BUT it is a Fiat and they are not exactly renowned historically over here for relaibility, bodywork and performance.

Maserati or the Alfa badge stuck on it and it would of sold more IMO.

Also the fact the motoring press did and still do quote silly servicing costs and unrelaibility problems did and does not help matters.

'Common as muck' in that there were ten or more times as many 20v and 20vt models as the 16s.

Car magazine - back when they actually considered a car as a whole and not simply how fast it went - had it as the best coupe *every* month from its release to final build in the GBU section.

I remember that too!
Autocar praised it all along aswell.

Clarkson raved about them. Not that's a big deal, but never the less he was impressed with them. I think that there are some valid points here, but looking at this again, the price tag did put some off, for a Fiat & to be perfectly honest, I do remember when they first came out,& that doesn't seem that long ago to me, but there wasnt a blaze of publicity as some others have pointed out. The car mags are, at an educated guess/observation bought by the young team of the day & feast their eyes on machines that they can only dream about. OK that's maybe a bit generalised, but there's truth in that.


I'm not exactly saying some serious buyers dont read car mags, its just that an expensive car like this is usually purchased by someone in the know who has already made up his mind. Hope that makes sense

I think all of your comments are accurate. It was a bloody expensive car (my purchase invoice from the first owner for the LE was £26K!). I guess people considered and bought other Coupes, like a proper RWD 328i Sport for around the same money (cracking car).

The build isn't the best either, and to be honest it's a Fiat! As mentioned, if Alfa had made it I think it would have sold more, but then they had the glorious GTV.

I think they are stunning cars, especially in Plus and LE form (I have both and I think the Plus looks better due to different tyre profile and nicer wheels). But one of my friends at work thinks it's the ugliest car he has ever seen (this guy is so bland that he thinks ST150 is pretty...).

I congratulate all of us Coupe drivers for standing out from the norm. These cars are expensive to run, and can be annoying as hell! But, they are simply amazing to drive. Sitting in my lovely Recaros on the way to work puts a huge smile on my face. What a lovely place to be, and what an incredible engine. My LE is still quicker than a pals Mountune tuned Focus ST with 265bhp.

These cars were well ahead of the pack, as is the story with most italian cars. I mean 5 cylinders, Garrett turbo, variable intake cam timing, all aluminium construction, boost control, balancer shafts and 220bhp from 2.0 litres. Even the base ST Focus doesn't beat these specs with 2.5 litres, and there is probably 12 years in between them.

Enjoy your Coupe. It is special.

I think "speshul" would describe mine better at the moment

Eh

Apart from the cast iron block.