Hey guys

Someone told me there were only 10 of my Maestro Turbo left , so I thought I'd check my Coupe :

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=fiat+coupe

You've got a Maestro turbo???

I loved them.
I had a race against one in my works van - it lasted 5 seconds and he disappeared in front of my eyes.
I had an efi and a 2.0i and loved the drive, torque and the fact that everyone else had a gte or xr3i.

BRG was my favourite colour.

What colours yours and how rusty is it ?

Or a Golf GTi!

My boss had the MG 2 litre EFi.

It went like the clappers. I seem to remember they were only about 115 bhp but cars were a lot lighter than they are today. I think 0 - 60 was about 8 seconds.

I heard they were launching a turbo version and was very interested so went along to my local British Leyland dealers in Cardiff to enquire. When none of the sales advisers could be bothered to move away from reading the newspaper at their desks to ask how they could help, I walked over to one of them and apologised for disturbing him and asked if they had an MG Maestro Turbo that I could test drive?

The salesman said "We don't make a Turbo version of them mate"

When I begged to differ and explained I had read in the motor section of the Daily Express that BL were indeed making a turbo version he just laughed and told me I was very mistaken and went back to reading his newspaper.

Hence another reason BL went out of business! Lack of communication between manufacturer and their marketing division!

Big shame, I thought they were great cars and very quick too.

Those Rover 200 turbo's were also great fun. Don't see many of those around these days either. Very tunable.

I think they were nicknamed the Bobcat!

Tomcat, not Bobcat

Pretty quick and as the chassis was based on the Hondas (double wishbone suspension all round) it handled pretty decently too

IIRC, there was a one-make race series for them - one or two ended up on the road after the series had finished

It's one of the reasons I wish I could garage mine as I know there's not loads of them left At least I keep it relatively well maintained though so it hopefully doesn't die a death anytime soon. Jinx

On the subject of Maestros...my Dad bought three Ladas in a row - Riva, Samara, Riva...it's a wonder I wasn't put off cars for life. But anyway, the middle one (a brand new G-plate) was at the dealer and when my Dad was looking at it, the salesman was honestly trying to get him into a red Maestro. Albeit a non-MG, I'm not sure if it was better or worse than what we ended up with. Might've been a better car for my Dad to have owned while I was at school though lol

A couple of charts to help you choose what to get next ...

Annual loss %
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136205902@N06/shares/581ydj

% left of 2001 registered total
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136205902@N06/shares/d2ACM8

If the 20vt continue to decline at that rate we will be in LE/Plus territory

These numbers will fluctuate due to Coupé being SORN and stored over winter.

The trends themselves are interesting even accounting for SORN totals changing throughout the year.

I discovered the other day that my paperwork must have got lost in the post when I scrapped my last Fiat as it is still showing up and tax and mot overdue on the dvla website.

I have written to them clarifying the date I scrapped it.

Yes, I would think a lot more are SORN these days and stored away to protect them. Mine is currently enjoying a long holiday under wraps in by warm barn in France!

With luck it should be out an about before the summer!

Judging by the number of spares such as manifolds, calipers, rocker covers and the like appearing on ebay these days I'd say there are an increasing number being broken.

Still amazed of the percentage of 20VT's in the UK, more than 60%. In the Netherlands the latest count gave 83 20VT's on a total of 391 Coupé.
And I have got my hands on one of them, recently

Getting back to the question of Purple Monkey: A 20V N/A is more a cruiser than a 20VT. IMO we are more inclined to spent money on a (really) fast one instead of a cruiser.

Although having owned both, a 20V N/A is a delicious car to drive

That they are Terry, can't wait to get our NA back from Joe (CC), currently undergoing full restoration

I am thinking of getting myself a Porto 20V NA as well

I deliberately opted for the N/A

And it took five months to find one with no sunroof and air conditioning

(I can't fit in the sunroof version), so yes, a rare car

It took me twice as long (almost a year) to find mine, albeit I'm a tad fussy, I was looking for the exact opposite, as I really wanted the sunroof but didn't want the air con.

I've had non turbo coupes before, the very reason I went back to one, such an enjoyable underrated car, and with a few tweaks can be equally as fun to drive as the turbos.

I've seen a few n/a's go dirt cheap lately, I don't get why, although obviously not as quick as a turbo, they are still just as much of a car and now considerably rarer...

Here's a couple pics of my newly 'ish' acquired early N/A.





I love driving it every bit as much as my 360+bhp 20vt, thinking about it I actually prefer driving it day to day, and find it just as entertaining to thrash on the right roads. I can't see myself parting with her in the near future.

Likewise, but with a/c and leather. Love it.

N/A are fantastic and rare …..I purchased a VIS with Sunroof and Aircon and no leather August this year with 160000 miles on the clock timing but belt kit done and recent service (V725ELK) the guy I purchased the car from mainly used it on the motorway journeys and had it garaged at night over the 8 years but he owned it.

I lost my head on the test drive thrilling sound of the engine and exhaust.

Getting home buyers regret set in as it was running hot. Suspension hard on slightly uneven roads and rattles to dash and rattles driving me crazy.

+ A CHOD which blew on the M4 (lucky I used to specialise in Citroen cars so patience was needed to replace the hose)
Expansion cap solved the running hot.

After reading the article about cheap coupes, I thought why did I buy this car,beacuse it sound like a real car

so I quickly purchased an engine out of a Bravo HGT 50'000 with miles. i dont think I will ever fit it but time will tell.


3 months later and:
Spark Plugs FR7LDC+
Oil Filter
Fuel filter
stp injector cleaner
Engine Oil
Gearbox Oil (Castrol 10 40)
Heater matrix (not fitted)
Wynn’s Radiator Flush
Antifreeze
Monroe Shock Absorbers front
KYB Shock Absorbers Rear
Front brake pads
Rear brake Disc
Rear brake Pads
Exhaust to manifold Gasket
Alpine Radio with telephone hand free control (have original)
FCCUK book, good tips love the humour
Bulbs centre console
Rattles fixed and it drives like a dream and only rust is on the slam panel.


Just want to say car is a credit to the previous owner for excellent servicing he did with SOLO ITALIA who he purchased the car from.

Croydon -> Leeds, Croydon -> Manchester and it returns 37+ MPG. I think it could do better MPG if my right foot was always little lighter. Burns no oil no water loss and oil pressure is very good.

Engine feels like it’s just run in to me. So I ask the question how many miles will these engine do?


enyoying the ride.. and love red

With regular oil and belt changes, well in excess of 100k miles before major servicing (i.e. strip down and replace bearings, regrind crank etc). Mine was done after twenty years and 170k miles, and even then showed only minor damage where a crank bearing had failed and a worn camshaft; it was still showing excellent cylinder pressure so I touched neither the valves nor the pistons.

ha! what lovely stories...

That's a peach, F1ANG.

I just got a leather interior in tan from a guy on here in Walsall. I even got a tan carpet from eBay, which seems to be a rare thing to be able to pick up. Passenger seat is jammed and I need to swap the covers though.

Bravo HGT engine is a good investment. I had two of those (well, the 2nd was the revised VIS '155 20V').

37mpg is interesting- I've actually never measured the consumption on mine.

Had mine out last night for a warm through. I try never to leave it more than two weeks without a run.