Fiat Coupe Test
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
GROUP TEST Photography: Philip Lee Harvey Most coupes are well versed in the language of speed and the grammar of fun. But has the new Fiat Coupe FLUENT rewritten the book? The Honda Prelude, Nissan 200SX and VW Corrado will have a few words to say ITALIAN ontest Coupes give car that. Senior management see the especially a yellow one – is a bit like makers a chance to sketches, shake their heads, suck their turning on the radio in 1976 and hear- let their hair down. teeth and sling the lot into the bin, ing the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK. Forget boot space leaving the frustrated designer to tear Suddenly everything around it looks and rear headroom – his pony-tail out, accept the art of very dull and dated. go for style, performance and fun. compromise and design something his The dramatic body styling was Consequently, you get some pretty aunt Maud might find a little bit racy carried out by Fiat’s own in-house good cars. Like the high-tech Honda to collect her pension in. styling team, while the equally exciting Prelude VTEC, VW’s cleverly pack- Nissan’s 200SX is a fine example. interior is the work of Pininfarina, aged Corrado VR6 and our favourite, From the side, the 200SX is low and which also builds the car. The icing on the exciting, rear-drive Nissan 200SX. sleek but the nose is so bland it could the styling cake is the brilliant detailing Now there’s the Fiat Coupe, a car belong to just about any modern car. – like the headlamp clusters, the whose reputation precedes it after a Honda has tried harder with its racing-style flip-off fuel filler lid, the launch in Europe a year ago which saw Prelude 2.2i VTEC. The nose in par- side slashes and those rear lights. journalists rushing for their dictionaries ticular is wide, low and dramatic. The to find new adjectives to describe its rear end, though, is a bit of a cop-out. PERFORMANCE dramatically different styling. But is it Volkswagen’s Corrado VR6 might Being a pretty boy is all very well but The Fiat Coupe really is a really as good as it looks? Well it’s here only have another six months to live the new Fiat has got to be able to go as design bore’s dream car. Oh, in the UK at last, we’ve lined up those and its shape might be more hatchback well as pose – and the opposition the purity of its lines. Oh, the rivals, and we’re about to find out. than true coupe, but it still looks good doesn’t come much tougher than delightful definition of its despite its age. It has a chunky, tough Nissan’s turbocharged 200SX. detailing. Oh, its swages, STYLING Tonka-toy look to it that gives it char- The Nissan’s four-cylinder, 16-valve chines, valance undersweep, In theory, a coupe should give design- acter, if not elegance. engine is the most powerful of all the ellipsoidals and tumblehome. ers the chance to have a bit of fun. In And then there is the Fiat. Catching cars here, kicking out 197bhp at Oh, I think I’ve wet myself practice it doesn’t always work out like your first glimpse of a Fiat Coupe – 6,400rpm, and it has the second 70 August 1995 Top Gear ontest highest torque figure too, with 195lbft turbocharged engine. The Italian unit lazy and lacks that instant pick-up. For at 4,800rpm. is two horsepower down on the Nissan, that reason, it’s the least easy engine to The VTEC in Honda’s 2.2-litre but produces its power at a much lower live with in traffic – if you let revs fall 16-valve engine stands for variable 5,500rpm. The Fiat’s torque is not off too much you need to change down valve timing; at low revs the valves are only the best at 218lb ft, but it also a gear. Likewise, it picks up weakly in opened with economy in mind, but comes in nice and low down the rev fourth and fifth gears. above 5,000rpm the emphasis changes range at 3,400rpm. The Fiat’s engine has the outright to performance. Not surprisingly, the turbo cars flying speed of the Nissan but is much It’s clever stuff but, even so, the dominated our performance testing easier to live with. It starts its work 183bhp Honda engine is the least session. From rest to 60mph the Fiat lower down the rev range and pulls powerful here, while pulling power is and the Nissan were neck and neck, solidly up to 7,000rpm. You can still fairly puny with just 156lb ft of torque. each posting identical 6.8 second feel the turbocharger coming in above The Honda engine also looks like it times; even by 110mph there was still 3,000rpm but with a good strong will need most revs, for its maximum only 0.1secs between them. surge, rather than the Nissan’s sudden power doesn’t come in until 6,400rpm Oddly, the Corrado and Prelude bang. It can also crack 50-70mph in and peak torque not until 5,300rpm. also clocked identical 0-60mph times, fifth gear in 8.4 seconds, which makes VW’s VR6 engine relies on good though at 7.3secs they were half a it the best for quick, safe overtaking. old-fashioned cubic capacity to get the second slower than the turbo cars, but At first there doesn’t seem to be any- The Nissan’s chief area of job done. The compact, narrow-angle beyond 90mph the Honda started to thing special about the Honda VTEC delight is the bit that lies under V6 is the largest engine here at pull away. engine. At low revs it’s all fairly boring the bonnet, and what it does 2,861cc, but with 190bhp at 5,800rpm On the road the Nissan does feel as lethargic stuff, but when the revs build with its products. In other and 180lb ft of torque at 4,200rpm it quick as its figures – but only if it’s something magical starts to happen. words, the fab turbo engine and is only the third most powerful. revved. You can really feel the turbo- Just above 5,000rpm the engine note the rear-wheel drive. The body Like Nissan, Fiat has gone for a charger coming in at around hardens and flattens as the valve timing is, sadly, a bit dull but a beefy two-litre four-cylinder, 16-valve 3,500rpm; below that, the engine feels changes and with a high-tech war cry facelift is promised soonish Top Gear August 1995 71 things really let rip. Although the which the turbocharger feeds in the control but it doesn’t work that well. engine needs revving, it pulls power, but mostly due to its viscous- Gun the VW hard and you’ll have brilliantly in fourth gear and the coupled limited-slip differential. wheelspin aplenty in first and second Honda is pretty useful for overtaking. Basically, it means you can nail the gears with the front of the car squirm- Of all the engines, it feels the most Coupe as hard as you like out of a tight ing around the road. bulletproof and the most refined, no damp corner while the front wheels get The Fiat’s brakes are the best of the matter how much abuse it is given. on with the job of putting the power bunch; not only does the pedal feel The VW VR6 engine sounds even down on the road. The five-speed gear- good, but from 70mph the Fiat better than the Honda, with a beauti- box can feel a bit notchy, but never stopped in almost ten feet less than its ful, warbling, banshee wail that grows enough to prevent smooth changes. rivals. The Nissan’s pedal feels a bit in intensity the further up the rev range Changing gear in the Nissan is never stodgy, but with a stopping distance of you push it. It stumbles a little bit a problem thanks to the short, direct 165ft from 70mph, the brakes never away from traffic lights at very low action of the five-speed gearbox, but feel weak on the road. revs, but once it’s rolling the engine there’s no traction control and it isn’t The Honda’s brakes also feel good pulls strongly; provided it’s revved. It that difficult to set the rear wheels on the road, though they were the least does lack flexibility, though, and its spinning, especially in the wet. effective at the test-track. Likewise, the overtaking performance in the higher Honda’s five-speed gearbox is also VW’s brakes seem fine but fell into the Some people love the Prelude’s gears is really not that strong. hard to fault; it has a neat, direct action second division at the track, with a pointy-nosed, chop-tailed Not so long ago front-wheel-drive plus a pleasant meaty feel that’s miss- stopping distance of 173.7ft. looks, others think it’s not that turbocharged cars had a nasty reputa- ing from many Japanese cars. There’s great. But everyone goes ‘oooh’ tion for wild, wheel-spinning, torque- no traction control system but even so, HANDLING the first time they turn the steering antics out of tight corners. there’s rarely any scrabble out of tight Drive the Nissan hard on your ignition key and watch the Some still deserve that reputation but corners, unless you let the clutch out favourite stretch of deserted twisty road Blake’s Seven-style dashboard fortunately the Fiat doesn’t.