I've been looking at Coupes for a few weeks (Sorry John, I will call you when I have some spare time) and their are quite a few on sale with mileages in the 100-150k range. In a way this is a good sign for someone who wants the car as a daily drive.

However I'd value opinions on the engine longevity. Normal servicing and cambelts aside do they happily go 150k+ without heavy duty engine / gearbox work (heads, pistons, bearings etc.).

Thanks.

They can do. Mine had an engine rebuild at 168,000 miles. Crank, pistons, bores & camshafts were all still to original spec. I had a new head put on because the valve guides had some wear and the exhaust manifold had a few badly helicoiled snapped studs, which is fairly common. Probably it only needed the new head in fact. Turbos are likely to fail after about 100,000. I think it's had 3 clutches in total, and at least 4 exhaust manifolds. It's a tough engine & I wouldn't be put off at all by that mileage so long as it had been regularly serviced, especially regular oil changes.

My 16vt lasted until 157k with an engine rebuild at about 70k and new head, but at the end it wasn't really worth salvaging; clutch possible gearbox worn cams etc. However I think we'd see it rather differently nowadays as they are very rare and we're all waiting for the price to go up! I think a n/a or VIS may make a better daily driver and likely to be cheaper to buy and maintain, there's one on Ebay with over 200k at the moment. There are plenty of examples of turbos witn similar mileage, provided it's been cared for and has history. You need to be realistic if it's your only car, with the best will in the world a 20+ yr old car with those sort of miles isn't going to be the most reliable car and the cost of maintaining them is very high, parts are becoming a problem also.

Best advice you'll get. No problem as a daily IMO, but you do need to have a plan B if you're dependant on a car.

Thanks folks, we have the family hack (Saab 9-5 Estate, lovely car) and I can always fall back on my '63 AH Sprite. One day maybe my Dino Coupe will be contingency too but that's way off.

Plan B, C, D all covered

Get buying!

You do have to remember that Fiats are, of course, well known for their unreliability. Obviously my three most recent with a total of 620+k miles between them (with 260k on the one that got written off after being pushed into a ditch) are statistical outliers...

McMike's coupe is still on its original engine at 270k miles the last count.

Mine got to 198600 miles on its first engine. It failed on a competitive hillclimb run so I think they are pretty good, it was working hard at the time!

Dino Coupe - my dream car. So jealous.

I have 172k miles on my 99 20vt, and the car has had a full service every January, and a interim service every July for the last 17 years now. I am on the 2nd clutch, the first one did 114k, and i am on the 4th turbo now!

I had the engine compression tested in January this year and it scored 160psi across 4 cylinders, and 150psi on the 5th cylinder, so i firmly believe that as long as you service them, and maintain them properly, then you are not too much trouble. Mine has only left me at the side of the road twice...one for the oil cooler pipes bursting, and the other was the CHOD leaving me in a cloud of steam! Other than that, it's the rust that has caused me the most issues!

However, i only have had rust issues since i stopped using it as a daily driver!!