I've owned my coupe now for 3 years and have learnt so much about my car , I first brought it on an impulse buy.
I was looking on Auto trader and saw a car I've never seen before and it stood out wow I thought I must have it , so off to rossendale I went and traded my mondeo in after a 5 minute drive not even looking at it properly
I drove it home slowly no tax paranoia set in before I even new about fccuk .
Did a search and found this site, with so much info available I quickly learnt about these cars and what to look out for.
Soon after I developed a leak from the oil cooler and pipes
My first low. Managed to have some made from a hydraulic company and my high
was back
Next on the list of jobs were the cam belt , water pump and aux belts , my obsession was starting to grow as well as my paranoia with the chod so ordered a silicone one and fitted that with the guide on here.
What keeps me going is the looks from people that point out in the street and kids in passing in cars admiring it .
My mechanical skills has gone from strength to strength from wheel bearings to full tubo rebuilds and it's all down to this site well worth the money.
For the first year my car was a money pit and now it's nearly the best it can be , ive fitted a zender body kit colour coded the lights and centre console all highs and now not many lows.
I think what I'm trying to say is any one thinking of giving up on your coupe is dont.
I do need help with my obbsetion though it's not a daily driver any more and if it's wet weather it stays in my lock up.
I now want to buy another but a non turbo for my daily driver.
What are your highs and lows in coupe ownership.

My high was a Coupe weekend at Chambord where I met Pete P!
Low forgetting to put a clip back on one of the turbo pipes and it blowing off a mile down the road!

That was a good meeting wasn't it Ned. Remember the 27 car convoy to the chocolate factory?

Funnily enough Mill and I were talking about it only this morning with a friend who said she was off to Blois in her car tomorrow.

Super weekend Pete!

Highs ... when people race up to you to try and figure out what it is and then the look of disbelief when they realise its a Fiat! followed by the look of complete shock when you put your foot down and leave them for dust!

Lows... putting your foot down to show off and your air intake pops off leaving you stranded on a dual carriageway in rush hour traffic (its at this point they do believe it really is a fiat)

Highs:-

Collecting my 24,000 mile Moon Grey Plus after getting my Sprinty to 246,000 and realising what they should have felt like fresh from the factory

Hitting 300bhp after a Unichip and map

Hitting 400bhp after a bigger turbo and several remaps

Hitting 500bhp (very briefly) after an even bigger turbo and lots more mapping

Winning the Ten of the Best handling discipline and subsequently reading on the Vauxhall forum - "what are we going to do about the old boy in the mighty Fiat Coupe?"


Lows:

Engine expiry due to not getting round to replacing the leaky expansion cap (expensive lesson....)

Engine expiry due to running 2.1 bar on race fuel (another expensive lesson)

Gearbox expiry at Santa Pod

Multiple CHOD failures (thankfully all catastrophic, so I noticed instantly)

Dodgy chip, which meant the car would cut out completely at any time - usually waited for heavy traffic or the outside lane of the motorway.....

Hailstorm in Coventry in 2006 that effectively wrote off my Sprinty (cost £2,000 to put right)


All forgiven when I plant the throttle...

Highs: People always want to have a chat about it, mainly men 40-60 who complain they always wanted one but her indoors didn't approve lol. One Grandturismo owner who had to get a pic of it to 'show the lads at the golf club'

Lows: Fiat's propensity for making the tiniest job almost impossibly difficult, and last for 2 days +!!!!!!!

Highs: Star City meet



Lows: Waving goodbye to my gorgeous last coupe....

I'm amazed I'd never seen that around Rugby

How long ago did you sell?

I couldnt wave goodbye to that..wish my red 16v looked like that !!

Lows:

Wife reversing into a car in a petrol station smashing rear bumper
Wife side swiping a parked car
in a BMW sliding into the rear quarter in the snow
Cambelt jumping 3 teeth

Highs:
Collecting the car from jbt after cambelt fixed
One off down pipe that just throbs
All the admiration from the public!!

This forum / community is also spot on.

Lows:

The year from hell when everything broke and I picked up more door marks than I knew possible. All topped by the cam belt eating the P/S belt.

Highs:

Passing the MOT after a fairly long and costly motor rebuild.
The 5 pot rumble every time I pass anything the sound can bounce off.

Story?

Highs:

Owning a Coupe.
This forum/Club.
The friends I've made due to owning a Coupe/this forum.


Lows:

Never having spare money to keep the Coupe in the condition it deserves.

Highs? Too many... but only yesterday, in the 20vt kit, no cat, straight through stainless steel exhaust: Hatfield Tunnel, third gear.

lows: in the 2 months i've owned it i've spend every minute working on it in my garage... wait you misunderstood me, this is a low for the wife haha

Highs: one week ago on a sunny sunday afternoon i was driving back from a day at the zoo together with my 4 year old son on the highway. i was driving 120km/u on the middle lane when i spotted a yellow ferrari comming in fast in my rearview mirror. At my surprice the ferrari slowed down big time when it passed me to let me come back side by side with him. He looked at my coupe with a face of.... what the hell is that, is that a ferrari???... put up his thumb and floored it to dissapear in the distance again.

Had a Sprinty, a Banana and finally the Red one.

They were around Rugby from 2001 to 2006. Unfortunately the red coop was written off by it's new owner (not his fault) not long after he bought it from me.

Highs: Far too many to list really. Driving through a little village and loads of kids were walking along (obviously a school trip). One kid pointed at my car as I drove past and I heard a few kids shout 'wow'

Lows: Hurting my knee, then breaking my foot. Then the MOT and tax ran out so before I knew it I'd started taking it appart to sell. The last time I drove her was with my broken foot (left, not easy with a helix clutch!) which wasn't pleasant.

Seeing the paintwork deteriorate within a few cold months was heartbraking. All the cleaning, polishing and waxing was for nothing.

Highs - driving to Austria and back (1860 miles) without missing a beat, chasing a C63 merc upto 155mph through Germany than passing him at 165mph (I think off clock) and look on his face people not knowing what it is. the noise going through 5km tunnel in Salzburg.

Low - insurance cost living in Manchester, radiator breaking sat in traffic, getting ready to sell it

the highs out way the lows massively super car.

Another HUGE low for me...

Scrapping my beloved Sprinty after 246,000 miles - felt like I had somehow betrayed its long and (mostly) faithful service

Unceremoniously hauled away to the scrapyard on the back of a pickup....

I assume/ hope you have another one to play with Nige?

For me:

1) my first Portofino blue, the engine sound was awesome, the drives though the Brecon Beacons etc.
Lows. Realising it had been in a serious crash before I bought it. There was broken glass under the rear seats, half the panels didn't match, and the front wing never fitted properly. Lost confidence in it, even though it had a genuine 40k miles ! Sold it back in 2006ish.

2. My latest Rosso VIS. The lows, buying it, then immediately having to replace the clutch... then spending rather a lot having it fettled for the Italy trip. Two air-con "services" and still it doesn't work properly.

The highs - having the most powerful 2.0L VIS on Flea's wall of fame
Driving to Turin for the 20th anniversary event - the Lingotto, Mirafiori and the streets of the city. Then the St Bernard Pass with 2 other Coupes..... Photos in the snow. The whole round trip, the coupe was faultless..... other than the aircon.

The high: the first year of owning my scotty 20vt.

The low: the years since.

that needs to be explained JimBob...

THE LOWS

Multiple CHOD failures (Now got a Pro Alloy pipe).

The Scots Green disease (Lacquer failure).

Trusting people who turned out not to be who you thought they were

THE HIGHS

Turin 2014 (I've been to some great meets and events over the years but Turin topped the lot. Great event and fantastic people, even Nick!)

Spa Italia (Thanks for convincing me to attend Petep)

The Holland event in 2005 (With Pieter, John and Sander)

Buying a car purely because it had a five cylinder engine. Thinking it looked a bit unusual, was a Fiat and that I wouldn't be keeping it that long. (But over ten years later I still own it, love it and spend more money on it than it will ever be worth )

Meeting so many dedicated and committed Fiat coupé enthusiasts from across Europe. Many of these folks have over the years become really good friends and I have the Coupé and FCCUK to thank for that

Highs: seeing off a throaty Subaru impreza at traffic lights today; the admiring gapes of schoolboys; all those "What IS that?" glances when buying petrol; one of the neighbours asking me if we'd won the lottery; a Facebook chum assuming my car was "worth thousands" when he saw a photo of it; Sunday drives when she purrs along.

Lows: not having a garage and finding long key marks on the paintwork. The coupe does not lack appeal but lacquer peel is awful, so not being able to afford a respray is a "low". I'd worry about the respray being keyed as well.

With mine it's been a journey of early lows because I missed things on purchase and now a high.

Having spent ages looking for 'the right' coupe (viewed 9) I bought it last August the day before going on holiday and put it in the garage.

Great history, excellent oil pressure, shiny paint, all the keys, loads of upgrades, no rust - great.

However, on returning from holiday it was absolutely dead when I tried to start it on getting back. Jump start needed even after just 24 hours! Then I noticed people were hanging back at the lights - exhaust end about to fall off which I repaired temporarily. Having driven it a couple of hundred miles the clutch then started to judder (didn't do that on the thorough test drive) in between stalling, so I was feeling rather low about it at this point as the list was growing continually. I also wondered what the new oil patch on the garage floor was from.

So, list complied off it went to Upton Upon Severn for the first transformation and it came back feeling fantastic, with all the jobs done and a few more that I had not even noticed (rust rattling around in the exhaust near the new silencer hole) ARB bushes gone etc.

I then became rather obsessive about details so it went back to Upton for tracking, ABS light (my fault I damaged the bearing changing the wheel) centre steering wheel, sort the stereo out, underseal it etc etc.

Anyway, I had a fantastic drive home and since. It drives perfectly now and feels like a two year old car. Starts first time every time, turbine smooth engine etc etc so I'm very glad I stuck with it and it is definitely a long term keeper - the high.

In addition the the car gets lots of positive interest and the only thing now is I've developed paranoia about someone damaging it just as it's fully sorted.

Best high was being flashed and waved at by an old bloke driving a Ferrari 360 while waiting at a mini roundabout!!!

Other highs revolve around the days it purrs and puts a massive smile on your face when easing effortlessly past that slow lorry in 3rd!!

Also the 'what is it face' on small boys and BMW drivers at the garage when I pop my petrol cap!

Lows are the endless hours spent hunting boost leaks (recent one was idle control valve gasket!) and the slow but nonstop fading of the roof lacquer and bubbly light cups. (Planned blow over should soon sort this!).

Touch wood, overall more highs than lows and that's not bad since I'm on my 3rd coup!

Highs, driving my sprinty tentatively home after buying it, then letting rip though some b roads and my wife letting off a scream.

Lows, 3 months ago and after 6 years of ownership picking the car up from a garage after a service and it catching fire on the way home. Total write off, devestated

If this was asked in the middle of winter, most of the lows would be the sodding handbrake freezing on, or the doors freezing shut

Random milestones:

Picking up my first one and laughing out loud in the car on the way home at the way it hit the ton and beyond (was the first remotely quick car I'd ever been in, much less driven)

Going on my first car club hoon ever as a wee young lad down to Cheddar Gorge. Remember being told by Nigel that my "lines were good". Played it cool, but was well chuffed.

The trackday at Castle Combe, where Leighton dropped by to hang out (in his pre coop and car-modding days - was just getting into cars and trying to decide between a coop and a Cerb) and I scared the shit out of him with my mediocre but brave driving doing a few laps of his first ever track experience.

Driving from Bristol to Essex every few months because Roger was the only one I allowed touch it.

Young boys gazing wide-eyed at the car with unabashed awe.

This community. I'm led to believe the amount of DIY development we have done on the car is somewhat unique in the enthusiast world (particularly for a single-model group).