What do you hate most about the fiat coupe?

I thought I would ask a reasonable question, what do you, if anything dislike about the fiat coupe?

Having had an extended break from them for a fair amount of time I'm going to go ahead and say, wing mirrors. Some one clearly misread the do not scale from drawing note, then installed them upside.

Things I wish fiat did do however, make an automatic, no good reason a gt shouldn't have this, cruse control should have been an option as well as heated seats. All were options on other cars when the fiat couple was in production

The ease of which the door handles and locks freeze!

I don't care about the frozen handbrake, I just learnt not to bother using it

Boot lid hinges!

After 14 years of owning one though, I can't really think of many things that I dislike

A nuisance design feature - when sliding the front seats back they catch on the grab handles sometimes causing them to break over time

When the (mostly) passenger seat doesn't lock on the runner and you have to slide it right back to engage it again.

The turning circle can be a pain at times.

I suppose the window wipers could be better along with the headlights. The wheels are too small on the NA's too.

But compared to our Alfa Giulietta, the Coupe was very well designed. The ergonomics are great.

Certainly not a hate but I believe the Coupe should have been a bit bigger to give it a slightly more of Grand Tourer car.

A hatchback as well maybe ?

For me technically and styling wise it’s strange to think that the Audi Quattro came 13 years before the Coupe , rather than the other way round.

Boot hinges . Look almost home made. You used to see on BMWs etc beautifully engineered boot hinges, most of them just use tubes now to cut costs .

Nit-picking really, but I wish it had 17" wheels rather than 16". I don't like the cheap looking and feeling handbrake/gear lever gaiters. I don't like the font used on the 20v badges. Also agree about the mirrors - they're the least successful styling feature.

Has to be the frozen door locks every winter and the joke turning circle. Everything else is fine, I even like the door mirrors apart from when I need to use them to see something.

The absence of a 6th gear in a VIS.

A bit more room in the engine bay might have been nice e.g. to change the cam belt. And some less weight at the front of the car.

What i remember from my first coupe: it rained heavily and I had to open the door. Then the rain dripped into the car from the roof on the seat.

Two sponges in the engine bay which soak up water

The only thing I really hated was the local Fiat dealer.

As for things that I'd have liked to be different...

Front seats and roofline could both be 1" or 2" lower
Brakes in general (and rear brakes/handbrake in particular) were never great so could have been improved
Turning circle maybe, then again that's a limitation of the 20v engine being squeezed into the Tipo chassis really
Frozen locks/handbrake as others have mentioned, also headlights
Rear wiper should have been left off, but is easily removed at least
Maybe a slightly bigger turbo as standard

Oh god I'd forgot.about the frozen stuff..... I now recall having to limp home as I was low on fuel and the fuel cap lock froze..

When my coupe was the daily driver, I used to store lock spray at the office and at home. A silicone stick helped against doors being jammed.
No more froozen handbrake after I drippled oil into the handbrake cable.

1) the lights were rubbish from day one
2) the rain down the neck I can live with; I just swoosh the roof before I get in
3) single flick wipe position on the wipers
4) what's all this about a turning circle? Not a problem on the 16NA
5) mirrors are a bit small, but at least they're flat
6) dunno about frozen bits; in 25 years I've never had a brake cable freeze, and only once a lock freeze - the fuel filler. Despite the car living outside for the first 20 years.

Would have loved the coop to have had frameless windows and be pillarless - however, it would be even less rigid then

...also:

One-shot lift for the passenger window

Tilt-lever on both sides of the passenger seat so it can be done from the driver's seat

+1 to that....

The poor visibility/blindspot from the a-pilar/rear window/rear drivers grab handle for the driver doing my bike blind spot check..

DS

Lights and turning circle are frustrating but manageable. The illogical way the wiper stalk works - even after 15 years I still end up with the rear wiper on rather than the front. Actually, it is probably worse now I don't use the car as much, I probably mastered it when it was my daily but they operate in the opposite way to just about any other car I've owned. If after 15 years and 170k miles that is all I can think of it can't be too bad. I love the mirrors, or at least the view through them over the rear haunches.

I don't find anything illogical about the wiper stalk. But then my other drive is an Alfa and I think they're probably the same. Anyway, I've never thought about it...

I hate that the steering wheel is bigger than the actual wheels.

You should try a Giulietta for weird controls. You can't see see the speedo through the wheel half the time. The wiper controls are not like any other car and you can't see them in the dark either. Oh and the handbrake is a complete afterthought which doesn't go all the way down.....

The Coupe is better designed IMO.

+1 for a 6th gear for the VIS
-1 for turning circle. The VIS 20v is fine. Its just the 20vt presumably due to Alfa steering rack?
+1 for water coming through the window when you go round a corner. Have to remember to wind it up before the corner.

The daily drive is a Giulietta! No problem with seeing the speedo and the wiper controls are fine IMO. Not that I use them much 'cos you can leave the wipers set to automatic. Handbrake works too. No point comparing it with the Coupe - the Giulietta is a typical modern car with engine mapped for torque rather than revs. It has all the things you want e.g. parking sensors, automatic wipers, cruise control etc. and it's a nice drive. In contrast the Coupe feels like the 30 year old design that it is. But it still has the greatest engine, that lovely surge of turbo torque from 3000 - 5000 revs, and it's a delight to look at and to own. I couldn't agree that it's better designed than the Giulietta - the latter is a much more practical everyday car, but the Coupe is more special for sure.

Does the Giulietta steering wheel not have an up/down adjustment?

Also, the standard ride height is too high.

I don't think I've ever seen any other sports car with a ride height as tall as the Coop's ride height.

The Coop ride height is more like what you would see on a 4x4!

And then of course the small wheels make things look worse.

The floppy chassis
The lack of decent reach adjustment on the steering wheel
The standard seats that offer no support what-so-ever

Nothing that can't be fixed

Sam what have you done, nobody really likes the coupé deep down

I also don't like the fact that the Coop looks like a sad fish that has come back from the dentist after having all its teeth taken out and now has cotton balls hanging out the sides of its mouth.

You haven't driven a fiat 500 abarth, it feels like an off roader!

I drove mine for the first time in 2 weeks i think this morning to go to the shop, I forget how much I like it, something does have to go though...

Talk about back pedal after starting a 'hate' thread..........

Should I start one about What do you hate about christmas? perhaps, what do you hate about having to attend charitable events? or go more generic, what do you hate?

Trying to get the Christmas tree in the back of the coop.
Wait a minute that's another hate for the coop!

Maybe we should sell our Coupés as we hate them so much and all buy say Subaru Foresters

Foresters/trees I can see where your going with this, personally it 'wooden' work for me!

Yep ours is a daily too. I think what I mean by design is ergonomics and room. The Giulietta is a nice drive, absolutely no dispute... And it looks better than most of the competition. But for a car of a "Golf" sized class, the cabin is cramped particularly for the front passenger (the dash sticks into your legs if your very tall) and rear leg room is poor. Boot isn't bad but not class leading. Ultimately it's the looks and the drive that sold it.

Ps.. The auto wipers are OK but either too fast or 2 slow. We have tinkered with the settings. The VAG equivalent were more reliable. WRT the handbrake, it works well, but it bugs me that it doesn't sit flat when off. Apparently I'm told the Italian's don't do handbrakes...

By comparison, the Coupe seems to fit me well, and the cab is airy. The boot size and rear legroom is good for a coupe. (compared to the likes of TT). There are no gizmos to talk about.... Except the aircon doesn't work. That did certainly bug me in Turin when I was melting in 35degrees with nowt but hot air blowing in my face.

So obviously the driving dynamics and solidity won't match modern stuff, but as an overall package it's great.

A sad yellow fish......

This is plain surreal JKD

turning circle, handbrake, occasional unidentifiable rattles, engine access, wiring/fusebox is a bit messy, wipers don't quite return unless raining. All else good!

Aarggh, after all these years, finally found something I hate straight away - head lining!

Usually, any jobs just get left or dealt with eventually, but overnight, my head lining has dropped down - not the surrounding bits that I could clip back in place, but the material.

It's sitting on my head as I drive and it's so fccking annoying! So much so, that I have ordered spray glue to pick up tomorrow and will try and get it sorted tomorrow.
Also,as I drive with my window open, I can see it rippling in the wind in my rear view mirror.

I never fix things this quick, so it shows my instant annoyance, irritation and hatred at this

You only need a sunroof!

Or a towbar!