It's nice to have the last laugh I think - baby Ferrai looks & performace for not much money. OK, it has it's little foibles - but I wear my Fiat badge (colour coded in red of couse!) proudly! I do make sure that I tell people I drive the Fiat COUPE TURBO; you know the really fast one; with 5 cylinders etc etc - just in case!

Having had an Audi/VW/Mercedes/Porsche I know how dropping the right name works too - even though the Fiat is the most expensive car I've bought!

But dont you think the value would rise if it was badged as an Alfa? Personally I do! That badge on that car were made for each other!No?

i drive what i want, when i want...most of the fiat reliability stories are overexageratted for sure...iv owned, and loved many fiats, inc. original panda, uno, 127, 132 and vrarious cinq sportings...when im looking for a cheap, fun, characterful runaround, its always fiat i turn to....id have anotehr mk1 panda tomorrow if i could find one,....(where have they all gone!!).....

i have owned lots of differnet types of cars over the years and i just drive what i want, regardless of image. i have enjoyed lots of great cars with this attitude and intend to keep doing so....

I've owned more Vauxhalls than any other brand - doesn't bother me. Especially as I get all parts at trade club prices.

I totally agree with biggbn. I've had to endure endless derision over the years for driving a Ford Capri (I've had 4)especially after Delboy bought his Capri Ghia so owning a Fiat is a step up the snobbery ladder for me. I've also owned a Porsche, an Audi and strangely they were the 2 cars I liked least.

When the Fiat first came out and the motoring press started raving about it,I promised myself that one day I would get one as it instantly became my dream car. As far as I'm concerned the fact that it's Italian, handbuilt and owned by the same company that make Ferraris is a bonus.

Sorry for being a bit slow but are coops really handmade, and to what extent. have I been missing a really obvious reason to feel slightly superior in a snobbish sort of way each time I pull up in my car?

I rather liked Del's Capri. It was a fetching shade of green, as I recall..

I have a corgi toy model of that, complete with pink wipers, large spotlamps and mud up the sides.

I also have the 3 wheeled van.

Just one other (albeit late) point regarding the removal of badges from cars.

I've owned (in order of earliest to now):

Fiat 127 1050cl
Fiat 127 1300 GT (mk3)
Fiat Strada 130 TC Abarth
Fiat Uno Turbo ie (mk1)
Fiat Punto GT
Fiat Bravo HGT

currently:

Fiat Coupe 20vt & Fiat Bravo 1.2 80sx

Can you see the pattern, (ie: Fiat, Fiat, Fiat).

Some of those cars, I de-badged. Not because I'm ashamed to drive a Fiat, but purely because of styling tastes. I think for the majority of people on here who have removed badges, it's either because (a) They're looking to clean up the styling of the car they own or (b) The original badge is faded.

Regarding the Coupe, I personally don't think the back or front suit any badge. (There just doesn't seem to be the right space/place for them, and the original badges look like they've just been slapped on, in my opinion).

And y'know what. Going back to the list of cars I've had. I've only had one "problem child" in that lot: The Uno Turbo. But the car was modified, and I think this had a lot to do with it's, ahem, reliability issues.

I agree with points a and b

Mine had a turbo badge stuck on the boot when I first bought it, so took that off, along with the Fiat badge.

I then crashed the car (not my fault) and needed a new bonnet, so took the opportunity to debadge the front.

I do have a 'FastFiat' sticker, Fiat badge style, in the rear window though

It's good to let people guess what car it is and watch the look on their face when you tell them it's a Fiat

I don't care what kind of car I have, if I like it, I like it and if I like it, I'll buy it.

I've also taken the rear badge off as it was faded. I had it resprayed by a mate for nothing, but decided it looked better without it.

I've never spent as much money maintaining a car before, but then I've never loved any of my other cars as much either.

My other cars have been:

Ford Fiesta Popular Plus 1.1 (YES! Good memories)
Rover Metro 1.4 GTa (Even better memories - loved that car)
Rover 200Vi (Cool car while it lasted, with passive rear steering, spent a fortune on it and then wrote it off!)
Ford Mondeo TD (Got fed up of spending money on cars - probably the cheapest most reliable car I've had)
Fiat Coupe 20VT (Bit the bullet and bought my dream - loving it!)

When I need something done to the Coupe, my mates will take the p1ss and say "Ergghh, it's cos it's a FIAT - fix it again tony". Funny really, my girlfriend's dad's name is Tony and runs a garage! My response is, "It's just at that time of age where a few things need replacing and anyway, I look 10x cooler than you - driving around in your Rover 400 or Saab 9-3 or Merc A Class!"

I haven't driven her since Saturday because of a snapped suspension spring and I'm really missing her. Although I do get to stare at her a for few minutes every morning from the window

You do know that you can get into a lot of trouble doing that?

Ha ha!

Do you know what Stan? I often think I may get accused of something, because as I'm looking at the Coupe, normally drinking a cuppa tea and smoking a fag, there tends to be a lot of school children making their way to the secondary school down the road.

I get so much more out of not having the same car as all those BMW, Audi, Merc, VW owners (ie boring) if i see someone in his new 3 series coupe i laugh and think;

"you spent £30k plus to have the exact same car as everyone else around here.... owning a BMW doesn't mean you've done well, just means you haven't got an imagination, and as much individuality as a battery hen!"

My Fiat has so much more character and charisma and is actually very reliable and cheaper to run than other cars with similar performance...
we are now the new badge snobs!!

Fiat actually manufactured the parts for the car which where then assembled by Pininfarina at the rate of 80 cars per day. (By comparison, Nissans Sunderland plant produces 1000 cars per day)

This was not a robot assembled car, it was bult by hand and this included a lot of individual finishing and "tweaking" of panel fits, gaps etc. This is why, if you look very closely at 2 coupes side by side, there will be slight differences in panel gaps and panel alignment.

I wish they'd tweaked my dash a bit more. I have a 1 inch gap between the left 'end' and the passneger door, but the right side is nearly tight. I guess that's better than a gap between each individual piece in the middle though...

I'm currently restoring one from the ground up and it'll be for sale next year. The photo build is here. http://www.maranellohouse.com/panda45.html

Oh how I love the snobbery thing. I'm really lucky enough to have owned over 60 Fiat's, Lancia's, Alfa's etc and generally don't want to drive anything else.
The reaction to the different makes is fantastic.

I use a 21 year old Fiat Panda 4x4 as my everyday car which does 350 miles a week, on a motorway, and it copes the best. It gets the reaction of "what the hells that tin box doing passing me" and people speed up if I go to pass them. And boy do B**/A*** drivers look down their nose at it.

The 500 (original). Well everyone just goes "AAAHHH" and want to take it home and cuddle it.

The Alfa gets the "Nice car, has it not broke the timing belt yet" reaction

The 308 gets the worst reaction. I should point out that I have followed Ferrari for around 40 years and am a Tifosi all my life. The 308 was always my dream car and took 18 years to save for. But although amusing at times peoples reactions can get annoying at times. They usually range from "rich Bast***", to "W***er" and anything you can think of in between! Even the local Ferrari dealer looks down his nose at it because it's not a modern Ferrari.

The Lancia gets the best reaction by far. Older people who remember them rallying's comments are usually "now there's the Daddy of all rally cars", younger people wave a lot with thumbs up and seem to generally make the comment "respect" (combined with a funny type of wave) and kids come out with, "there's one of those cars I race on the playstation". I've never had one negative comment about it.

Like most of you have said, I drive them because I love Italian cars (and bikes). I saved long and hard for my toys, I'm proud of them and I couldn't give a stuff what people think. My best mate is a major snob who drives a Merc and a Range Rover Sport. I just can't help a smile every time I pull up at his house and park the Panda beside the RR.

It'll be good to get back into a Coupe again to see the reactions.

I have a bigger gap on that side too, I think it's normal

Whilst I love my coupe, I've always wanted a Vauxhall Senator.

It is snobbery and I've always wanted the strange and weird and that's why I see myself in something like a custom v8 twin turbo project rather than say a Ferrari F430.

This is also why I'm not in a jap car with the rest around here. I still get the odd stick for buying this car when I meet friend's as they all hold the title "once you go jap you never go back" I then get the typical "has it fell apart yet?" "any rust creeping in" with the typical "not long now for the garage". It's only friendly banter but I do say "rolling road from 20mph vs your's?" if they think it's slow


Anyway badge's doesn't bother me as it can be any car if I like it. I also think it gives you more credit that, like what I've done, you take someone out in it and prove to them what it can do in some aspects they come back with a smile on there face and normally say "I can't believe that's a FIAT" or "that is a wolf in sheeps clothing". I've been tempted to actully buy 16v badge's to give the wrong impression. and mainly to make my friends laugh.

I have managed to convert only the few..........

Said the Italian to the Jap: "tomorrow, my car will be fixed, but yours will still be ugly."

I don't mind some of them and I like RX7's but it's like Subaru/MR2/Skyline town here! All I can say about badge's is be the shepherd not the flock of sheep.

I like Skylines actually, but only when they have more than 500bhp.

"I don't mind some of them and I like RX7's but it's like Subaru/MR2/Skyline town here! All I can say about badge's is be the shepherd not the flock of sheep."

Not entirely fair - I got my original 1988 MR2 because it's genuinely something different. Most have rusted away, and I'd say there are more Coupes knocking around my town than Mk1 MR2s. Granted, I'm talking two rather than one, so it's all relative..

Although I admit there are loads of Mk2 MR2s everywhere

iv had 2x mk1 mr2s, fantastic fun...great wee twink, 35mpg and superb handling..i love em..

Fiat own FERRARI. End of story.

VAG own Bugatti yet I don't hear many Skoda Fabia owners shouting about a tenuous link to the Veyron...

Ooooh, I've got a Bugatti Octavia!

Octavia was the ostrich in Pipkins!! Just thought id mention that,