Dyckes, DarrenX <darrenx.dyckes@intel.com>

I too have become the proud owner of a Fiat Uno 45 Fire, Fire being the one
thing that would give me great pleasure...to watch the car burn in front of
me on a cold winters night would fill me with extreme amounts of pleasure.
It is by no means a bad car, it is reliable, I have used mine for over a
year now and I have to admit abused it somewhat but its a car that begs to
be abused.
If you like cars like me then you'll soon learn to hate the Uno, if you want
to overtake anything that can move quicker than a small child you have to
write a letter and post it to the engine telling it what to do...it does
enhance your driving skills as you have to be incredibly skilled to
overtake, a good gale behind you helps no end.
A stereo is a must as the engine whines and whines at anything above 20 mph,
acceleration in the lower gears isn't too bad until you get out of second
gear and discover that someone has just poured treacle in your engine, in
third you count the days it takes to get to 60 and in fourth you may as well
take a short break somewhere nice before you reach adequate cruising speed.
I found also that if you replace the break pads with non-fiat pads two
things happen:

1. Your brakes turn into a gaggle of mice and squeak annoyingly all the time, especially when its hot 
2. Your wheels catch fire

I found this out after a trip to my local automotive part dealer where I
purchased the correct Pads for the make, model and year of car, once fitted
I took the Uno out for a test run to bed them in.
After about 2 miles of driving I smelt something, I had that horrible
sinking feeling when you know you shouldn't be smelling what your smelling
and as I braked to turn off the main road to check my front wheels locked
hard, I pulled over and was horrified as I stood watching smoke and small
flames pour out of my wheels, frantically I chucked gravel and anything else
that could stop the fire at the wheels.
The pads were just too thick so I had to shave them on a grindstone in the
end, not what you should have to, and these were checked and the part number
was correct for my car.

In terms of handling its extremely amusing to watch the horror on your
passengers face as you take a corner or roundabout at the normal speed you
would do in any other car.
The Uno rolls over like a those children's play area things..the ones that
are fixed into concrete on a single thick spring and you can rock them to
extremes forwards and backwards or side to side, that's what it feels like
to corner in an Uno, the whole care tips to one side until you can almost
taste the asphalt that's looking at you.

But the best enjoyment is undoubtedly Winter, those tiny little pram wheels
and jelly like suspension allow for fun and heart attacks for all the
family.

On ice the Uno quickly loses grip, even in the wet you'd better have a
degree in judging distances as those wheels may as well be coated in oil.
Try to corner on an road with ice on it and you'll soon end up heading for whatever lies directly ahead of you as your Uno trundles straight on regardless, no matter how much you tell it to turn it doesn't hear you.

And one last note, the clever lack of dashboard around the stereo area
allows for the whole stereo to be quickly and conveniently pulled / pushed
out, ideal for any would-be thief such as the one / ones that recently
pinched my Kenwood cd unit from my Uno.
The designers thoughtfully made it so easy to get the whole stereo out in a
quick and efficient manner.

So if you buy one, you'd best have the patience of a saint and the kahoonas
of a gunfighter cos those little cars are sure hard to handle.

Greg Fearon <gfearon1@hotmail.com>

I owned a fiat Uno 45 for 2 years, it was a superb car, never let me down
and went like stink, and I loved it.  A set of alloys, and loving care to
the paint meant it looked superb, and I missed it madly when I sold it. 
However I made up for that when a week later, I went out and bought a 1993
Uno Turbo, the best decision I ever made - it is a stunning car all round!

Greg
_________________________________________________________________________

Alex Shepherd <alexGS@xtra.co.nz>

I liked the review of the 45S - which at the start was not clear on its direction - I like that!   I drove a 1986 45 (the really, really basic model with no head restraints, the one speed heater fan etc.) right around the south island of New Zealand (Mum and I live in Hamilton, in the north island - it was her car.) I wore through the brake pads which should have been replaced ages before anyway... Apart from that, the 3000km was very good... definitely a case of 'winding the sewing machine up' however! It averaged 41mpg over the whole trip.   

Re: the comments on the wiring; my experience has been the direct opposite. I gather the car in question was a 903cc as opposed to the brilliant FIRE engine. All models 1986 or later seem to have electronic ignition, and I have never encountered a problem with wiring or connectors; they look top-quality to me. Take the beautiful ribbed seal where the plug enters the cooling fan, for example, or the standard flexible conduit that keeps all the wires tidy and protected around the engine bay.   

Also, the parts prices might be cheap for England, but they're more than I'd pay! We've never actually needed those parts (like fuel and water pumps, or brake discs) although I have just replaced the thermostat so the heater works. Currently Mum has an 1988 Uno 70SL (but with a 1974 Fiat 128 Coupe rebuilt engine - feels like much more power, and runs really sweet!) and I have just purchased a 1986 Uno 60 for $20 (the equivalent of 6 quid.) I drove it back on the motorway and it ran very smoothly... has the 1116cc 128-type engine, of course. Fiat have known how to make engines for some time... I will probably spend about $500 on the car (umm, 150 quid) - that's been $200 for paint and materials, $160 for engine parts (rings, gaskets, and cambelt) and the balance on thermostat, oil, filters, and a replacement rear tailgate (REALLY badly rusted, to the point where the rear window was popping out!)    

I think if you had compared it with a Mini or the 2CV (both really old designs) it would have been a walkover... There are many other very capable hatchbacks now of course, but I think the Uno is among the cheapest, and still drives nicely, if a bit rattly and tinny. I definitely agree on that one, although the 70SL was a dramatic improvement - there are still always new dashboard noises that come and go...   

Thanks Alex

Magosányi Árpád <mag@bunuel.tii.matav.hu>

Hi!

I have a 75ie, and I am just love it. Okay, it is nearly twice
the horsepower than a 45, and it shines. It can accelerate much
faster than any other car in its category. It can go
140 km/h easily. I regularly use it at 160-180 km/h on highways,
and did reach 200 km/h with it. Usually a high category BMW or
Mercedes sweeps out the traffic from the lane in front of me.
It is a _cool_ feeling.
Of course going so fast is not good for your health, because
the car has the same brakes and tyres as a 45, so slowing down
can take too long because the brakes get too hot. In the normal
city traffic (if you call "normal" when I go twice as fast as
permitted, and 1.5 as fast as usual in our country), the bottleneck
is with the tyres. (Well, going so fast is not even healthy to your
driving licence.) I have brand name summer-winter tyres in good
condition, and they are sliding even in 2nd gear when accelerating,
and in harder brakes and bends. Fortunately the car is front-wheel
driven, which is very good to its stability. (You know when there
is 4 inches of snow on the highway, and everyone dares to drive
at 40 km/h, only the jeeps and my car goes at 120 [and the Trabants
at 80, but it is a bit uncomfortable when the snow gets into
the cabin near the pedals:)])

I have the car since a year (it is 11 years old), and its end
velocity since dropped with 20 km/h, it can hardly go with 180
now. I guess the main reason is that it was overheating three or
four times in the summer; the thermostat which controls the cooling
fan went out, and I realized it only too late. The other reason
might be that I am constantly scorching with it, however my feeling
is that this car just can stand any scorching. The third reason
would be that once I managed to freeze the cooling water (hey,
this is my first water cooled car, Trabants do not need antifreeze),
but the 200km/h was _after_ that. Well, the fourth reason might
be that the injector is not functioning optimally. I just suspect
the above, and don't know how to find out its status.
As you can see I am heavily abusing this car.

The definitive positive side of the car (other than those lot of
horses inside) is in its size, wheel and gear. Due to its size
I can park in very miniature places, which is a big win in great
cities. The wheel is very easy: it is twice as light without servo
as even a Saab wheel with one. The gear is also very easy and
responsive, it takes an easy push of one finger to change
gear, and works well with that racing-like usage which it is
subjected to by me.

The negative side is the electronics: Guilamo had really thought
he is working with spaghetti. Once it took 4 hours to figure out
that the car is dead (no voltage on roughly the half of the
electronic gadgets, plus sometimes it does yet get the voltage) because on one point it was not properly grounded (it was grounded, but the contact was not good).

--
GNU GPL: csak tiszta forrásból

Take Care.

Lucinda xx

<abitbolal@yahoo.com>

I read your article with much enjoyment and must say that you never gave that poor car a chance.  I've owned one for the last 6 years (bought used
from rental co. model1994) with 45000 km on it and now I've put on it
160000 km, and I'm still speeding down the road at a modest 160 kmh and
this "poor" car drinks 20 km per litre.  Its true that its cheap upkeep but I treat it as a perky sports car as I previously owned an Alfa-Romeo Jr. so
you can understand that I leave everyone eating my dust.

Thanks anyway for the enjoyable article.
Albert

Please send your comments or any humorous remarks to fiatuno45s@ukcar.com

It was such a Cool little run about it was Cheap to run (and to repair) and it was really Nippy for want of a better word. It definitely preferred Country lanes to Motorways, but twisty roads are more fun anyway. If you Kit it out with some alloys and decent bodywork, perhaps some seat covers then they Look fine, and because of the simplicity of the interior Wiring a stereo system simple. In general It was far more fun than the Volvo 340DL I have now (which handles like a block of flats) Jus a shame my last Little Ferrari Had a run in with a parked Sierra :(

 

Doug