Buying Guide: Fiat Coupé values are on the rise – time to grab one
Coupés are all about making a statement, and Fiat’s did that like no other. It’s about to celebrate its 25th birthday, so rising values mean now is the time to grab one
You were spoilt for choice if you were lucky enough to be in the market for a sleek two-door coupé back in the Nineties, with all manner of affordable mass-market and more premium offerings. So it’s no surprise that Fiat chose to throw its own rather stylish hat into the ring – the Coupé was something of a personal mission for then-boss, Paolo Cantarella, who invested tens of millions of pounds in the project. The result was eyecatching, if not opinion-polarising.
Launched at the 1993 Brussels Car Show, the exterior came from the pen of Chris Bangle ( yes, he of those slightly divisive BMWs) and emerged as a riot of curves, bulges, and slashes. It looked like nothing else on the road back then, and the same holds true today – it might not have its original shock value, but there’s no doubt that it’s aged remarkably well.
It’s no less appealing inside, where Pininfarina got the job of styling the cabin; a body-coloured strip of metal that bisects the dashboard was the standout feature.
Underneath all this shock and awe was a stiffened Fiat Tipo platform, while the four-pot engines at launch were borrowed from the Lancia Delta Integrale and came in normally-aspirated and turbocharged 16-valve flavours. Warbling, five-cylinder 20-valve units would also be offered, with the turbocharged variant the one grabbing all the headlines. With 220bhp delivered to the front wheels via a Viscodrive limited-slip differential it sprinted to 60mph in 6.5 seconds on its way to 155mph. And although power arrives in a suitably urgent fashion once the engine’s on-boost, it wasn’t the wild child you might expect. Coupled to a ride that didn’t damage internal organs, it could deliver refined long-distance cruising as well as heavyweight punch.
Crave the 20v Turbo, then? Around £4000 bags one to use and improve, and that’s a proper performance bargain by anyone’s standards.
‘The 20-valve sprinted to 60mph in 6.5 seconds on its way to 155mph’