I traded my tired old Honda CRX straight across for a Fiat 2000 Spider. I
figured what the heck, I've never had a Fiat, and I can always sell the Fiat
for what I was trying to sell the CRX for. Little did I know just how nice a
car that Fiat is. Wow, what a road machine! That thing just purrs and sings
going down the road. It's one of the most delightfull driving machines I've
ever been behind the wheel of. I mean, *DAMN*, that car is a nice driver!
The Fiat has got the best gearbox I've ever had the pleasure of stirring. The
ratios are perfect, the throws short, and it all falls to hand like nothing
I've ever driven, riden, floated or flown. It makes the Spitfire in comparison
feel like your shifting a 1950's pickup truck. The Spitfire throws are about
three times as long, far more sloppy, and notchy.
Where the Spitfire rattles bangs and shakes it way gloriously down the
backroads, the Fiat glides. Not that the Fiat is better, just that it is so
much more refined. Driving the Spitfire for a couple of hundred miles is
tireing. Doing it the Fiat Spider is refreshing. The Fiat Spider is the
violen, the Spitfire is the glockenspiel.
There's no comparison between engines. The Fiat Spider has a twin overhead cam
fuel injected engine. The Spitfire...doesn't. The Fiat starts so quickly it's
almost spooky, and runs flawlessly - always. No warming up, no fiddling. Just
smooth power (though not a lot) at all times.
The Fiat has four wheel discs, while the Spitfire suffers along with drums on
the back.
For top down, the Fiat again wins. All you do to put it down is flip it back.
No undoing snaps, no folding things up, no removing top sticks (a truly
pathetic design by Triumph). I could put the Fiat top up and down 20 times
before any Spitfire owner got their top down once. Ok, maybe not 20 times, but
several.
Truly I expected to dispare the Fiat Spider when I got it. I figured I'd keep
it for a little while, laugh at it, and palm it off onto someone else.
Instead, I find myself enjoying the car more and more as I have it. So much
so, that I'll probably be puting regular car insurance on it so I can drive it
every day. I could get real used to commuting to work in the Fiat. Something
I never seriously considered with the Spitfire.
I still love my Spitfire. Although if I were forced to sell one of them, I'd
probably sell the Spitfire first.
This all causes great confusion when driving. Do ascots go with tweed coats?
Where can one find a CD of italian opera's accompanied by bagpipes? Does
Yorkshire pudding go with tortellini? :-)
>>> Laura Gharazeddine <Laura.G@141.com> 01/25 10:49 AM >>>
What is all the ill will people have towards Fiats?
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