Coming in just barely under the wire on the US 25-year rule for getting a title and registering a non-US-market vehicle, this 1994 Fiat Coupe is one cool and unusual ride. The seller has it listed here on Hemmings and it’s located in Fort Worth, Texas. They’re asking $12,500 or best offer. Thanks to Kyle K (Kyle K!) for sending in this tip!
I remember seeing these Fiat Coupes in Europe in the mid-1990s and wondering A) What is this thing? B) How can I get one? C) Who stole my shoes from my youth hostel room?! Like politics in America, the design of these cars is polarizing, it’s either love or hate. I think you already know that I love the design. It may be somewhat surprising to learn that famed and also polarizing designer, Chris Bangle, designed the exterior and Pininfarina did the interior.
That’s one unusual and cool rear 3/4 view. With Cadillac’s Allante production on the way out, Pininfarina found itself with an idle plant and Chris Bangle won the design competition put forth by the Fiat Style Center for a new car based on the Strada platform. Pininfarina also submitted a design but Bangle’s design took the prize, although Pininfarina reportedly did the interior design. You may know Chris Bangle for his Audi TT or the controversial BMW “Bangle Butt” designs starting in the early-2000s.
I have to say that I’m not a fan of the interior at all in this car, and that may seem like sacrilege to those of you who are Pininfarina fans. I’m also a big Pininfarina fan so maybe it’s the blue color. I’m not a “Pabst blue” guy at all, which may also be sacrilege to those of you who like Pabst Blue Ribbon and/or Pabst blue. Yellow would be my preferred color for this car but I’m funny that way. The seats look incredibly comfortable, even in the rear, but I’m not sure what the headroom and legroom would be like back there. The trunk appears to be as nice as the interior and the rest of the car is.
This looks almost more like an EV than a gas-powered drivetrain, but it’s Fiat’s 16-valve, 2.0L inline-four, and here’s a YouTube video showing the car. That’s a sweet exhaust note, no? Yes. A half-hour of detailing of the engine compartment would have taken this already great looking car over the top, as far as presentation goes. There probably aren’t more than a half-dozen of these cars in the US, at least ones with a title. Have any of you seen a Fiat Coupe?
Imagine the bright contrasting interior parts wrapped in carbon fiber; then it would look ‘mature’, they even sell carbon fiber with a hint of blue (see pic).
BTW…isn’t it “Hamm’s” beer can blue?
Like it’s Alfa Romeo cousin I have tried to warm up to the lines of this car. Now that i know that it’s on of Chris Bangle’s offsprings I can understand why. I never cared for BMW’s design decisions to use Bangle. The cars that came before are much more beautiful.
If the Marcos wasn’t on this site today, this would be the ugliest car on here……
Wow a miss-shaped, ugly, FWD unreliable un-sporty car with 0 parts availability?
Who do I make the check out too?
@ralph, sad to hear that your ownership experience wasn’t positive. I personally find mine very reliable if properly maintained. Never had an issue with parts availability. And I will guess that you have only driven the 4 cyl. version. At a top speed of 155 mph and sub 6 sec. 0-60 I find that the performance is on par with many sports cars of the era. The looks for sure aren’t for everyone and they are very ackward to photograph.
Did I mention that the 4cyl., 16v engine in this car is sourced from the legendary Lancia Delta Integrale?
Wow it shares the engine with another ugly unreliable car…..
Nothing unsporty about these, Ralph! This is the slowest version, but they go and handle well.
Picture it… Sicily, 1927…. Poor Ralphy got stood up by an Italian mistress 🤣
I was prepared to be in the “like” camp, until I got to that photo of the rear. And then the interior shot kind of sealed the deal.
I own one of these with the 5 cylinder, 20 valve turbo. This blue car was subject to interior modifications and badged as an Abarth. The console is not normally colour coded. Only the top section with the Pininfarina script is colour coded.
The back end kind of looks like a Chevy Cobalt. These did have a claim to fame in one of the Gran Turismo games for the play station 2.
Exactly what I thought! Beat me to it. And the front looks like a Polo..altogether a rather generic envelop. But might be worth having for the oddness factor…at a somewhat lesser price.
What are the chances? 2 in one day. Just saw one these driving round the corner earlier today. Same blue sounded nice. I’m in Hungary right now. And seeing cars we can’t get on the daily. I knew it was something kinda special. Now here it is got sale. Very cool.
Chris Bangle was an auto design genius.
You either love it or hate it. That’s what real art does to people.
These are becoming more common in the states than the ad states.
Parts are available and can be delivered to your door in 3 days. Thanks DHL.
if this was a turbo I would say it is worth the 12500, but as a NA it should go a bit cheaper. You can find cars like this in Europe for 6 to 8k and shipping is going to cost another 2k or so. You can find cheap ones for 2k.
The turbo versions are popular with the tuners. Stock the I5 turbo puts out around 220 hp, with tuning this goes past 400 and 4 wheel drive can be installed. These then become wickedly quick.
I like the one shown here with the exception of the blue central console which is a little much.
Looks like a pontiac sunfire….
I´ve never actually seen these described as ugly before! It is an amazing design, full of really interesting detail and still looks great today. The car is a 4 seater, well, in Europe at least. I agree BMW never really recovered from Bangle, though….
Price of this one is high, I think you can find a good 16v non turbo in EU for around $5000. People rave about the 5 cyl engine, but my only experience with that wasn´t impressive. It was very thirsty and it would be harder to get parts for that motor as it was a bit of a dead end, not produced in big numbers.
And it´s true that the modifiers can get huge HP out of the turbo cars, but many people now prefer stock cars. Never seen one converted to 4WD personally (Integrale underpinnings?). But if that´s what you want, why not try to find an Alfa 155Q4 which came out of the factory with 4WD and the 190hp integrale motor. A friend in AZ has one for sale….
Yeah, I guess these don’t photograph well and probably; I never imagined that people would characterize them as ugly, either. I would say it hasn’t aged well, but then I stopped to think what other mid-‘90s cars looked like. (How cartoonish does a ‘94 Mustang look today?) I’ve always been generally disdainful of nose-heavy FWD cars whose only claim to sportiness is flashy bodywork and big hp, but I’ll admit I was smitten with these as a kid (and I seem to recall contemporary road tests concluding they handled just as well as their pricier Alfa sibling). Not a car I’d actually own, but one I’d love to see more of on the street. People making silly (and anachronistic) “looks like x” comparisons to much less angular shapes from the 2000s should really see one of these in the flesh.
Agreed on the photos, Joe. These are taken from all the wrong angles for this car, especially the rear wide angle low-down shot. It´s important when selling a car……
The interior changes spoil the look by overkill.
Also, in many ways the Fiat coupé is a better package than 916 Alfa GTV of the time. Also look out for Fiat Barchetta of the period, sweet Miata alternative.
BANGLE BUTT – ugly! And the interior… Pininfarina? REALLY? Looks like an Alfa was crossed with a Ford and then left out in the rain.
cool car
is this THE Kyle K we’re talking about here???
I know, that’s what I’m wondering, too!