Hi, I'm new to the Coupe fourms, but a couple of friends of mine have been on here for a while and it just so happens that one of them is about to sell his coupe to help fund his new 'project' motor. I'm only 22, but I've got a nice secure job as a maintenance engineer so I can aford to splah out on a new car this year. for a while now I've been driving in very 'disposable cars and I'm going to embrace this opertunity to get something rather special.

I was wondering if you guys had any advice for me whether you think that it's worth it for me, if I don't get the coupe I'm going to be looking as sensible and reliable cars such as a mitsubishi Galant (same price range and same cost of insurance).

Recently I've become somewhat of a mechanic, I'm unafraid to tackle the most dificult of tasks, like an engine swap, cam belt change or full engine rebuild, so I'm confident that if anything does go wrong I can fix it. In addition I've been looking out for a car with great tuning potential, I'm not the sort of person who goes around wearing a fake burbery cap dreamin' about Saxos and Novas, if I'm going to fettle about with a car I would like to start with something that's pretty damn good to begin with.

you guys have a passion for the coupe, do you think it's the car for me?

Solouko

Yes. You need to be fearless to own a coupe and if you can do a lot of the repairs yourself then it will be a cheaper experience!!

Ross

im only 22 also and maintenance /service engineer!great car!hoot to drive,obviously cars are getting older so things will need doing which is half the fun anyway.

If I were you you, I would save money for some spelling lessons

But after that, then yes maybe the coupe is for you, but beware to get to 250/260 bhp is easy and cheap, you start looking at 290/300+ bhp then you need to budget a fair bit more money and more skills in the engine bay

But if you think you can do it, you will not be able to go quicker for less money

I fully agree, this time last year I wouldn't even entertain getting an italian car, simply because of the suposed substandard build quality, but now i have 3 engines in my guarage in pieces, one set for ebay, one set for the 131N file and one about to be droped in a vauxhall ashtray, for a friend. It's all good, and i'm getting this coupe cheep because it needs a new exhaust manerfold (yes i do know the work involved in changing this)

And I apologise right now for my really bad spelling, it's never been my strong point.

In that case, I apologise as well, mind you I had to copy you for the spelling of apologise so you can't be that bad at spelling

Bloody hell, not another one from North Wales! At this rate it'll only be Coupes on the roads up there.

Like to see what Brunstrom would think of that!

im only 22 and im after one :-) im also useless with a toolkit aswell so you have one up on me ha ha. the way i see it i might aswell have one now whilst im still living at home and got a few pennys because i know for a fact when i buy my first house i wont be able to drive a performance coupe :-( more like a jalopy 1000cc

Well I am 21 and have an LE.

Its not been too expensive to run so far but I do have a 2.0 16v Tipo which the same mechanically as the Coupe 16v so maybe my idea of not much money on the car is slightly off well the mrs Sedici thinks so

If you can afford it I would say do it. There are not many cars like the Coupe in existance and less chance of more like it being built.


Take the opportunity while you can!

Im 22 with a heavily modded coupe and i would say go for it if you have the money to maintain plus patience to keep going.

Ross

Well it's nice to hear such positive feedback, I actualy took a test drive of the coupe i'm planing on buying today and I was very nervious. it is very fast but i found it relaxing as i didnt have to wory about pushing it to it's limits to join from a slipway or to overtake quickly.

however... the one thing that HAS got me worried is the closeness of the pedals i was driving very slowly to begine with while finding my feet and in addition i also had to find the break. every time i went to press the break i managed to hit the accelerator too with my oversized size nine cats! i dont think the coupe is work boot friendly.

but i'm hoping this is something i'll get used to, no two cars are the same and the coupe is quite different from anything else it's age or class.

I am also concerned about rust... it's 9 years old now and should i expect things to need welding soon? if so i'll start changing all the nuts and bolts to stainless steel ones and remove any bits of undercarage (like the wishbones) and have them galvanised!


IMPORTANT:
I've checked the car once and i've just been reading the buyers guides on the forum and i know that the car does NOT have a blue key, i know the red key for most cars is imprtant for the engine imobiliser but what does the blue key do and if it's important how much is it to replace?

Thank you

just forget the blue key if you got the red then your home and dry,well wellcome to the club mate,and from n.wales seems theres a hell of a lot of use now,so were in n.wales,.....ps just looked and your a carl as well

Yeah, there's alot of us carls about and because of this fact most people just call me jackal at work, it saves alot of confusion, but on hear I'm happy with solouko. you know, i think i've seen you about, on my travles up and down the A55 I've seen a green coupe a couple of times.

glad i dont need the blue key, but what's it actualy for?

It's the everyday key for the car (three came originally with the car, alloy/blue, blue and red) - you need the red one to get a new key cut, go to local key place as you'd be stuffed if anything happened to the red one (and AFAIK, you shouldn't use it everyday)

I'm starting to feel old reading this thread
(I'm 28 and not looking to buy a coupe )

Thank's dude, that's a big weight off my mind, might have to invest in another key just to be safe, the car's got a total cloasure system on it which i envision making it a squillion times less difficult to lock your keays in the car. i've done it before and i'm pretty dman sure i'll do it again!

ah thats not me its the wife,i dont use it much only some times, so what part you from

Hiya chum Get a coupe you'll love it! 22 is just the right age to buy one (when I got my 16VT ) Where abouts in N.Wales are you?

There was what appeared to be a nice coop for sale in Flint

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...0070151221&rd=1

Don't think it sold. And it's the best colour coupe (undisputed)

it because we have the best roads

@solo. where abouts you from??

Jackal - why are you called Solouko?
I have just sent you a long e-mail BTW on the reasons why you should buy Gi's coop!
Fellow forum users beware - Jackal/Solouko is Mad as Cheese!!!

ive got to say the pedal setup is very good on the coupe. i have size 12 and i used to have a 206 those pedals where too close. the punto i had before was a bit better than the 206. but the coupe pedal layout is just right. but it varies with people i guess.:)

Thank you "the Dude" for warning the other members about me, I'm sure they'd come to realise how insane I am quite quickly and how poor my spelling is! Thanks for the e-mail too dude, had snaky in stitches too! and as for the solouko thing, it's just a name I use on forums as Jackal is almost always taken.



Thanks for that Pinin but I've commited myselfd to this one now and in answer to where i'm from I'm from Kinmel bay, and I also know where you live! my ex lived just round the corner from you and every time I went past I used to rubber neck it trying to get a good look at your coop... very smart.

kimmel,right is it a dark red one that you are getting

Does it have a silver key? Or just a red?

If it only has the red, I'd get one cut from it straight away.

If its only missing the blue and you've got a silver and red, don't worry

Go for it I say

I bought mine when I was 22, before this I had an MR2 Turbo for 2 years. I never got to exploit the Mr2 as I couldnt handle the RWD LOL.

Like has been said, things may go wrong or need refreshing. As long as you dont mind the cost or hassle for the money its hard to find a better car IMO.

Hence why I wont be changing mine any time soon.

Dont wory I have the silver and blue fiat one and the red one, but it's jsut the blue one that's missing

and it's a silver coop that i'm getting not a red one, i know it's not the most exciting of colouts but i've never been one to draw too much attension to myself.

Are you getting Gile's coupe? That's an absolute belter! Looks with the Zender kit, I used to see him about in Rhyl before I met him via the forum.

So you know where I live? Small world hey Well I hope to meet you soon at one of our North wales coupe meets! (although mine's been off the road for ages )

Yeah, that's the coop i'm getting, she is gorgious and pretty nippy to boot. Yeah going to a meet up sounds fun, hopefully you can get yours back on the road ASAP, if you dont mind me asking, why's she off at the moment, technical dificulties?

Yeah, the phase sensor went which means you have to remove the cambelt so it's a cambelt jobbie The turbo needs replacing because it smokes really badly, then the MOT lapsed and I needed brakes and discs all round, The exhaust started to corrode badly so I needed a new one, etc etc and I was just too skint for all that so I took it off road for a year or so. She'll be back in time for summer though. We'll have to have a meet then! We combined ours with the pistonhead gang last time and the coops were mixing it with TVR's, Ferrari's, porsches and a 600BHP s'charged ultima Which was nice

That's alot of stuff to go wrong, i hope nothing like that hapens to me, although i'm sure it will. I cant wait to attend a meet up, it'd be a really nice experiance meeting all the guys from the forum and their cars. i've only been her a few days and i already feel so at home (thank you).

BTW, i now have the coop! unfortunatly I cant get insurance on it untill monday... unless I want to spend another £150 and buy it online from admiral or elephant... it's sempting as then I could be driving it tomorrow. what does everyone think? even with the cliford 600 all singing all dancing super alarm that car might of the very hords of hell itself i'm still worried about it as i can't yet get it into the guarage, as there's still a rarther broken astra (not my car) in there at the moment, which i was hoping to have up and running today but something has gone bang and now it will not release the clutch. *sigh*