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“The Coupe whilst being visually totally unique is not...”

Written on: 21/10/2008 by studiorat (2 reviews written)

Good Points
Galvanised body, partly Hand built by Pininfarina, has one of the best 16V Twin-cam engines ever built, Viscous coupling, NO DRIVER AIDS, marvellous.

Bad Points
Wishbones, top mounts, oil consumption, tyre wear, 65/35 makes it a bit too nose heavy and prone to understeer, lift off oversteer gets your attention some times.

General Comments
The Coupe whilst being visually totally unique is not deserved of the accolade of being the best, most dynamic, most reliable, fastest or prettiest car on the road.
But when I drive mine it does something far more that few other modern cars are able to do.
The Coupe makes me feel connected to it and I become a part of the driving experience.
Simply put, I smile hugely EVERY time I drive it.
So far that puts it well out on top when compared to 99% of the bland and sanitized cars out there.
Why?
The Coupe is simply great fun to chuck around.
There is a real sense of ' I am doing that" and that is a VERY rare find nowadays. Most folks can only anally mutter stats about "that will be my driver assist helping me out of that slide there, isn ' t it impressive how I don ' t really need to do that much ' in the actual hope no-one will hear them.
I ' ve driven cars with these aids.
Mind numbingly BORING and very dull is how Id sum them up. I want to slide the car, it wants to correct the slide, and IT can ' t be switched off completely. Or physically removed.
Learn how to drive instead of having the car sort it out for you is best, I feel!
The Coupes complete lack of driver aids (it only has ABS) means the driver is totally connected and the good bit about this is the Coupes steering response, chassis dynamics and the subsequent feedback are informative enough when leaned upon.
To be completely fair about this the Coupe is "just" able to cope as it is, and the chassis really needs a bit help by stiffening it up a bit with strut braces etc. As well as this the 65/35 weight doesn ' t help stability or steering on the mid-slow stuff.
As a real life comparison the 16vt Coupe on a track is just as fast as an Impreza. That ' s without all the computer aids of the Impreza which numb the driving sensation of the Impreza. That ' s with no 4wd either.
Before all the comments about Impreza this and Impreza that I want to ask the Impreza drivers one question.
Dead steering anyone?
Not in my Coupe.
Don ' t buy a Coupe if you ' re a lazy car owner though.
The Coupe does need to have constant attention to keep it running well and to help owners avoid the usual problems associated with Coupe ownership. The Twin cam is a bit time/attention demanding but it runs lovely. Most of the Coupes problems stem from lazy owners neglecting some very simple engine checks.
As a simple example of this you should really check the engine oil once or twice weekly for instance! If you ' re bothered by this kind of "hard work" get another car as your Coupe definitely will break from your neglect!
Although the Coupe chassis with no fettling, just copes with the power, the unfiltered driving sensation is hard to beat.
If the Fiat Coupe is good enough for Schumacher to own then Ill not be the one to argue with the mans opinion on what is a good "driving" car.
Anyway.
The Coupe is looking better every year in this world of bland samey looking boxes we are now calling cars.
What I mean is how boring are modern hatchbacks?
Fine for doing the shopping, but when being showcased as a unique sports vehicle they are simply the same car with a different badge nailed to the front. All miserable clones that look the same as all the other clones following "The Hot Hatch Formula".
My Coupe looks wonderfully different to all the other "boy racer wagons", and I love that about it the most.
Oh, make that I love that second most, what I love the most is my cars faster than nearly everything new too!