Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo | Spotted

We desperately need an affordable two-door Italian sports car. Well, it’s not for lack of trying: Alfa Romeo came so close to the 4C, with its stunning looks (beetle-eye headlights aside), carbon fiber tub and powerful four-cylinder turbo engine. Frustratingly, a questionable suspension setup meant that the ride was subjected to severe stress on Britain’s roads, meaning the car wasn’t nearly as good to drive as it looked. Then there was the Fiat 124 Spider, a car that should have been a slam dunk considering it’s essentially a rebadged MX-5 with an in-house turbocharged engine. And yet neither it nor the Abarth version seemed as responsive as the Mazda.

But that doesn’t mean the affordable Italian sports car hasn’t been a benchmark for driver engagement. The Alfa Romeo Brera was very pretty (at least from the front) and had a throaty bark when paired with a 3.2 liter V6. Only the chassis was so disappointing that it required an overhaul by Prodrive to fix the whole thing. But that doesn’t make the standard cars any less desirable, because while they’re far from an enthusiast’s dream, they’re stylish and exotic enough that the pros arguably outweigh the cons. When was the last time Italy released a properly sorted sports car? Well, it could have been this: the Fiat Coupé.

When the coupe arrived in the UK in 1995, it emerged into a busy sports car market led by the MX-5, MGF and Alfa Romeo GTV, to name just a few. It was an instant success, with a razor-sharp design created by Chris Breif (then at Pininfarina) that broke through the conservative efforts of rivals and provided excellent support for the technically related GTV as a cheaper, yet more aggressive alternative. The interior was equally stylish, with body-colored trim wrapping around the dashboard and a Pininfarina logo above the central air vents. From every angle, both inside and out, the coupe exuded coolness.

It drove well too. Although the coupe directed its power to the front axle (most competitors were rear-wheel drive), the fully independent suspension – with MacPherson struts at the front and rear trailing arms mounted on a separate subframe – gave the platform an innate agility that carried through You a treat with reviewers and enthusiasts. Brembo brakes added to its performance characteristics, while all British cars were fitted with a limited-slip differential to curb power without losing track.

Then there are the engines themselves. At launch, the car was offered with a range of four-cylinder petrol engines, including the 2.0-litre 16V engine from the Lancia Delta HF Integrale – but it’s the 20V In-line five-cylinder that everyone associates with the coupe. Five-cylinder engines were as rare in the ’90s as they are today (even more so), so the coupe not only looked distinctive but also sounded different than anything else on the market. Naturally aspirated versions made a decent 147 horsepower, but turbo cars like the one shown here made up to 220 horsepower. Performance was quick: it reached 62 mph in 6.3 seconds, which put it ahead of the V6-engined GTV until Alfa renewed it in 2000. Even then, the performance was almost identical.

Fiat sold thousands of them, with the 20V Turbo by far the most popular in the UK. Because they were so affordable and extremely desirable, there are many shabby examples available for just over £5,000. This isn’t one of those, however, as this 1998 car is the tidiest coupe we’ve seen in a long time. With 32,000 miles driven, it’s a low-miler vehicle, although the seller says it’s only driven 900 of them in the last two years. They also claim it doesn’t have an MOT and isn’t sold with one, but a look at recent history shows it was fault free in ’21 and ’22. It’s currently available for £9,000, which seems chunky considering you rarely find them as clean and original as this one. Alternatively, there are rarer LE versions (Recaro seats, body-coloured trim etc) for just under £4,000 more, including a fresh MOT. Decisions Decisions…

Engine: 1,998 cc five-cylinder turbocharged engine
Transmission: Six-speed manual transmission, front-wheel drive
Horsepower): 220 at 5,750 rpm
Torque (lb ft): 229 at 2,500 rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Year registered: 1998
Mileage recorded: 52,000
Price new: N/A
Kind regards for: £9,000