Almost died in my Coupe yesterday!

Traveling quite fast to overtake a lorry, there was a sudden loud BANG! and then the front of the car seemed to be floating or as if on ice and the car did some spectacular shimmying. There was a terrible smell of burning rubber but the steering came back and apart from the occasional knock on the nearside front, all seemed OK once I got back control. Meanwhile a man in a van started to come along side me waving and pointing. I wasn't keen to stop for a stranger but I eventually pulled into a layby. The rubber surround inside the edge of the wheel arch was poking out about 3 feet. The knocking was this rubber thing whacking the passenger door as I went along. The van man very kindly pulled it off and I kept it and went on my way. He had been trying to get me to stop because he thought the rubber waving around was a shredded tyre.

This morning I called out the AA just to have a look and make sure it was safe to drive. The whole of the front nearside wheel arch inner lining has come off and is on the A34 somewhere. The metal edge of the wheel arch has also buckled. The AA man has used a cable tie just to secure the edge of what is left of the the lining and prevent it from rubbing on the tyre. The tyre on that side is badly worn along the inner edge and he told me to get it replaced. He said the coil spring is not broken.

Needless to say I was pretty shaken up. Somehow I instinctively did what you should do in a skid, and just took my feet off everything and tried to get control back by steering. I dread to think what might have happened if I had braked, as the wheel arch lining must have been jammed beneath the nearside front wheel. The road was very busy, it's a dual carriageway and if I had spun around there would have been a pile up.

I was on my way back from having a new cam belt, water pump, aux belts, and rocker cover gasket fitted by Gaz at Just Right Autos. (Sorry Nigel I decided to go to the nearest expert.)

Thing is, coupes are such powerful cars, even a mere vis like mine, but they are so old that things can actually drop off and compromise safety.

I'm not sure I will ever feel safe in it again.

Been looking at Drover, where you lease a new car and one monthly payment covers everything except fuel. They have some nice little small engined turbo Fords that do 60 to the gallon.

Glad to hear you're ok Annie!

Glad you are safe. Would the garage be at fault ?

Things drop off new cars too. Glad you are OK Annie.

Sounds really scary, glad you're ok.

You can still get brand new wheel arch liners from here, just so you know:

https://www.partsworld-uk.com/products/front-wheel-arch-liner-coupe

A bet you felt alive in that moment when you were speeding towards death. What a buzz!

Just took a look at drover. Looks ridiculously expensive to me. If you really want a new car just get a loan or save up if you can. It'll be much cheaper in the long run and you'll own a car at the end of it.

I think it would be £260 a month but it includes EVERYTHING. Road tax, insurance, all maintenance and servicing, and breakdown recovery. You can change your car at anytime too. And they don't check your credit history. Also you have a card for cheaper petrol at BP garages. Most of their cars are diesels unfortunately but they have a few petrol ones too. Did you know all the new Kias have a seven year warranty?

I didn't enjoy that "buzz" very much!

Anybody else lost this bit of their Coupe on the road, and why does it come off?

I did wonder about that, but as far as I know, it wouldn't be something you would remove to do the jobs mentioned above. If someone knows better I would be interested because if this is the case, they really should fix it for me. Does seem a bit of an odd coincidence?

I'm not a professional but for a cambelt change I would say it was a good chance they removed the nearside inner arch in order to carry out the work.

Oh no! But the cam belt is on the other side of the engine bay? Where is the rocker cover?

I don't think Gaz would have made such a basic mistake. He used to be the main man at Solo Italia so he definitely knows what he is doing.

Keep the coop!

What, even if it's a death trap? Quite fancy a Kia Stonic. Seven year warranty. Not to be sneezed at.

Mmmmmm!

Sorry Annie I got myself in a fuddle. It's being all Frenched up is my problem.

How about a two year old Fiat Tipo. Would still feel new, done a load of it's depreciating. Start at about £7k. Great looking car. Probably still be worth over £5k in two years time. Cheap motoring for a car that new.

You been to French France?

Yes I live there with my rhd coupe also my wife.

Annie, sorry to read of your "close call".

Last month we did 2000km in a Hertz Hyundai Kona whilst travelling in Victoria (a southern state of Oz). It did everything it was supposed to do but lacked grunt.

I think I'm spoilt with having two factory turboed Fiats in my garage. the Coupe and our 500X.

Annie, I think that the fright you got from this experience is greater than your enthusiasm for the Coop.

And when I say 'the Coop,' I don't just mean your Coop, but the Fiat Coupe in general.

I think even if you bought another one that was a mint example, you'll probably now always be thinking, 'I wonder if something is about to fall off?'



Are you going for the Kia because of the practicality or have you just gone off sports cars altogether?

If you haven't totally gone off sports cars may I suggest the Toyota GT86? I think this is the nicest looking, reasonably affordable new sports car at the moment.

And with the Aero kit?

At the moment the car I would love is the Ford Focus ST. Because it's fast and also has a roomy hatchback for my dogs. I previously had an Alfa 156 sportwagon for the dogs but it recently failed its MOT quite spectacularly and would have cost a fortune (almost three times the price I paid for the car) to fix everything, so I scrapped it. I suspect the MOT tester was extra picky because I had turned up with a car which stank of horse poo. For reasons known only to themselves, my dogs like to roll in it. And I didn't want to clean up a car which was most likely going to the scrappy anyway.

There is a bewildering choice of cars. If only this was communist Russia and there were only three or four!

I quite like the BMW 1 series. I have yet to see one with even a speck of rust.

I had a Golf GTi as a courtesy car and it was quite fast and the build was very solid and felt safe.

It feels good at the moment only having one car, the Coop, to worry about. I think saving up a bit and then selling it privately will probably be the best way to go. If I can actually part with it!

The Fiat Coupe is like a lover who spends all your money and treats you like shit but is great in bed!

I had the left hand guard liner part company not long after I bought the car 3 years ago. Fortunately I was only travelling between traffic lights in central Hobart, could have been a different story at speed on the highway. They're held in place by a few plastic clips and screws, it doesn't take much to check all fasteners are in place, which I now do whenever I'm playing around near the front end. I've always driven old cars, my 2000 coupe is the most contemporary vehicle I've owned, no chance in hell I'd give it up to drive a soulless modern Asian car.

You are right of course. But maybe an Alfa 159 sportwagon might do me and my dogs OK ...

I love the looks of the 159. Stunning. Only problem with them is the GM engine and gearbox. Very disappointing to drive.

GM? General Motors?

Yeah. I don't know about the petrol engines, but the Bravo 1.9 diesel (and others in the range, I think) can be found in various Fiats, Alfas, Saabs, and Vauxhalls.

Yep, petrols too. All except the TBi introduced later on but that still had the GM gearbox. TBis are a lot of money for a car that age. Shame they never used the Busso in the 159.

I have been looking at the Alfa GT JTS 2.0 petrol. Why are they so cheap?

Autolusso, one of the marque specialists have been known to slate them, and claimed the diesel was the better car.

I ran a jts for 5.5 yrs and 75k miles with no issues. I actually went to buy a diesel to replace a diesel Renault Megane but having driven the GT jtd I then tried a jts and preferred the JTS.

I am having a new wheel arch lining fitted and also two new tyres on the front, and the tracking sorted. I am also thinking of having the Coop plasti dipped yellow, with black wheels. And I've got my eye on a groovy number plate. Not selling it now, even though it's totally impractical for two dogs that fight if given the opportunity.