1991 Fiat Tempra ie from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Nothing so far - everything appears to work well.

I bought this car as I've been curious to try a new Fiat model, and it was at a ridiculously low price, so felt there wasn’t much to lose.

Impressions so far:

Well the car is smooth and comfortable with the great Fiat twin cam, now with balance shafts, quietly humming along. Gone is the nice rorty exhaust note that these motors have possessed in the past, but you get a level of refinement that even my company 2006 Mondeo can’t live up to. I will change the cambelt before I take it for a proper thrash to see how the top end performance goes.

The cockpit is a nice enough place to be with some quirky touches al la digital dash, although cheap looking plastics abound. The seats lack any real support, and you feel like you sit on them rather than in them, which is a shame as you can hustle the car through corners where it tracks predictable and faithfully with little or no tyre squeal, as well as soaking up the bumps rather well.

Mine is a peach with relatively low ks, but it has a few creaks and rattles which belie its poorish build quality, as well the paint looks pretty thin, but so what. It would have to be at least as good as any of its contemporaries, and has that little bit of character which is the best thing about Fiats.

The design itself is still pretty sharp not being of the 90s worn bar of soap look, so that it doesn’t look too bad out in the carpark. I'd have to say as well that the upright sedan with the large boot must have been a groundbreaking design back then, as it is emulated by most manufacturers today. Look at Corollas, Elantras and the like and you will witness the continuation of that shape. So all in all happy, though early days with me and my Tempra.

An update - I've taken it for a good thrash over one of my favourite back country roads. The motor isn't up to much - as I recall twin cammers pulling hard from 3500-6500rpms and beyond - though its great through the twisties, tenaciously holding its line with little tyre squeal whereas I've had the work mondy fully drifting. Everything feels pretty well screwed together vis a vis steering feedback and the like, so this wasn't a heart in mouth experience. Theres a bit of body roll, which could be attributed to tired dampers, but I look forward to doing a trip with some passengers so that I can make them feel sick.

This car has quite impressive underpinnings which it shares with the coupe fiat, and alas I'm growing quite fond of it.

We like our japanese cars here in NZ, and for their reliability why not? Though this sort of car has never been a big seller it makes sense in a lot of ways being at least as good reliability wise as a VW or GM product. It seems people just don't 'get' fiats.