David Hurst

I’ve clocked up another 4,000 miles in my coupe since my last post and it has been on the whole great fun. The clutch finally gave up and Roy at Auto Italiana in Exeter put in a new one for me. This did mean driving his yellow Cinquecento loan car for a couple of days, which had some good comedy value. The performance now without the slipping clutch is blinding.

A couple of weeks ago I started to smell burning oil, and got a bit panicky. After a few days I noticed that it had a very small leak which was dripping oil onto the exhaust overnight hence the burning smell. I took it down to Auto Italiana again and it turned out that the sump washer hadn’t been changed at the last service, and also the oil filter wasn’t on tight enough. I got them to do a complete oil and filter change for good measure - something I intend doing every 4,000 miles now. The coupe burns about a litre of oil every 1,000 miles or so, which is a lot, so constant dipsticking is a must.

Whilst the car was at the specialist, I asked them to diagnose the clunking noise I get when turning the steering wheel. Turns out to be the suspension top mount bearings rather than the steering rack as I was advised elsewhere. So, it’s going back to the garage next week to have that done. I’m really pleased to have found Auto Italiana. Roy is great and the work they’ve done so far is excellent. Thoroughly recommended to any South West based Coupe owner.

I have been systematically working through all the mechanicals and am just about done now after a spend of about £1,250. I still have to pay for the top mount job at £140 and the radiator will need doing in about 6 months at £220, but for now I’m done and I have a mechanically (very) sound Coupe.

Next job is to sort out all the dinks and the scratch on the nearside. It’s not going to be cheap, but I’m hoping I can find a bodyshop that will do it in two phases for me. I reckon on about £800 to return it to showroom condition body-wise and another £200 to refurbish the alloys. When I get the wheels done, I’m going to have them a darker colour - more graphite. I did think about buying new wheels, but I want to keep this car as original as possible.

After all that is done, I have some very minor bits to do on the interior. Overall, it will cost more than it will eventually be worth, but I’m not bothered about that. I’ve gotten to know the car very well and understand all the major issues. I’ll keep this one until I hit 100,000 miles or so, then I will sell and go hunting for a sub-50k mile minter, possibly in a less lairy colour.

If you are thinking of buying one of these cars on a budget, forget it. A 20VT cost around £25,000 and that was 9 years ago. This puts the car in the same bracket as Porsche Boxster, Honda S2000 etc. without the rock solid German or Japanese reliability. It is a turbocharged Italian sports car, not a GTi, and it has repair and maintenance bills to match.

If you can afford to budget £500 - £1000 per year in maintenance, then you too can own an achingly beautiful, butt-clenchingly fast sports coupe. It’s still a head turner today. Destined to be a classic. Fairly rare, and absolutely amazing to drive. A good example can be yours for £3,000, a mint example for £4,500 - £5,000. What other car can you buy in that price range that compares on looks and can hit 60 in 6 seconds?

Worth every penny I say. 5,000 miles on and I still grin like an idiot when I put my foot to the floor.

If you want to buy one, have a look on the FCC UK forums. Plenty of advice to be had, and members selling well looked after motors. The Parkers review is also worth a read.