1983 Fiat 850 750 LE 0.77

Summary:

Little gem, now classic

Faults:

Rust at sills and wings.

Battery.

HT leads and coil.

Oil is leaking, but not seriously.

Water pump is reconditioned.

Fuel pump is reconditioned.

Nasty problem with sudden engine stop, no way to start again until cold. Not sure if I resolve it yet, by changing HT leads and coil.

General Comments:

My mother-in-law car, in almost perfect state. Timeless mid-50 design. Very comfortable to sit in front. I am 187 cm tall and enough head and leg room at the helm. Rear is altogether different story, though, but it is a small car, isn't it?

Perfect for city, gear ratio is fantastic. It is designed to run on now obsolete 86 RON gas grade, so running on more expensive 95 RON doesn't improve performance.

Floor-mounted choke lever is briliant idea. After a while, it goes down anyway, so no need for choke warning light!

Gearbox is imperfect, 1st and reverse are hard to be pushed into sometimes.

I am being asked to sell it all the time!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 9th July, 2002