Hi
We test drove an R reg Barchetta today and really liked it, but what's it like to own one?
This one had a nice pool of water in the bottom - it had just been raining heavily. Do they all leak?
And HJ says in his review to make sure that it has its "Red Key" - what's that?
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The Red key is the master car key. You need this to program spare car keys. IF you have no red master key, and you loose or break your other key it will cost you in excess of £1000 for a new ECU.
Great cars, lots of fun but a heap of trouble waiting for a mug - try publishing your credit card number on the web instead, in the long term it would cost you less money.
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Great cars, lots of fun but a heap of trouble waiting for a mug - try publishing your credit card number on the web instead, in the long term it would cost you less money.
That's a pretty strong condemnation! Do you have any personal experience with this car or are you generalising from what you have heard about this or other Fiats?
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Red key sould be kept in a safe place at home - it's the the "master" key, if you like - contains the code for the car's immobiliser IIRC. Means that if you lose the blue key, it's relatively inexpensive to reprogramme a replacement from the red key. However, if you lose the blue key and don't have the red key, mucho lira to get sorted out - could be a couple of hundred quid. When you come to resell, a knowledgeable punter will either walk away or use lack of red key to beat your price down by this amount.
As for the water in the bottom, it's probably because Barchetta is Italian for "little boat". ;-P
(No, really!)
andymc
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Wow, didn't realise it would be as much as a grand.
Re-thinking my previous post - a knowledgeable punter wouldn't necessarily want to buy it in the first place! Like some other sporty numbers, it seems to be plenty of fun, but only when it works.
andymc
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Yes its a grand from Fiat dealers. If you can get one, Hard to find at a breakers yard as well.
Experience?
Friend had one, Cost him £4k in repairs in two years. Engine, suspension, brakes, etc etc.
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"Friend had one, Cost him £4k in repairs in two years. Engine, suspension, brakes, etc etc."
Sounds like a good advertisement for the MX5......
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"Sounds like a good advertisement for the MX5......"
Yes, but we drove one of those and it was so cramped inside and the driving experience just wasn't as ... spirited, for want of a better word.
BTW, do all MX5s have the indicator stick on the RHS of the steering column? That's so irritating if you have another car with the stick on the left and you swap from one car to the other on a daily basis.
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A friend has one and is very happy. Not sure Id like to buy one that I know for sure leaks however!
Dont know where you are but these have a good reputation for them www.dtrsports.com/
BTW running costs should be ok as it is based on a Punto
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Not just MX-5's. All Japanese cars have the indicator stalk on the right.
BTW, while I agree that buying a bad barchetta will cost you a bundle, I think it's like any car to a large extent, make sure what you buy in the first place is a good example (as far as you can, try getting it inspected by a specialist garage rather than just the AA), then you'll give yourself a good chance of trouble free motoring.
My opinion would tend to be 'go for it', if motoring was just about practicality we'd all be driving exactly the same boring but reliable car (and a lot of us are). Dare to be different, have fun, life's too short, and other applicable cliches.
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"All Japanese cars have the indicator stalk on the right."
Err ... not the Mazda 626 we drove later the same day (which may well end up being the other car we drive). And both cars were UK spec.
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All RHD cars used to, and should, have the indicator stalk on the right so you can change gear and indication at the same time. European manufacturers got cheap and stopped developing both LHD & RHD steering columns and started fitted LHD columns to RHD cars in the late 70's.
The Japanese continued to fit correct stalks until the mid 1990's but market pressure forced most to change. Toyota changed around 1995 but some (Subaru?) continued much longer.
If you get used to a "proper" RHD column, indicator stalks on the left in a manual car seem incredibly awkward and dumb. Unfortunately, that's just the way it is.
Another common point is LHD car radios. Very few fit RHD radios (Lexus is the only one which springs to mind).
Regarding the barchetta I owned one for about 2 years. Mechanical problems are about the same as the Punto on which it is based. Look out for jammed variators (engine sounds like a diesel), abuse, leaks etc. If they leak its usually through the hood cover at the back of the car. The seals come apart. The air con is also a weak point.
Check the left sided traffic conversion has been done properly on a grey import (most are) for the lights, speedo etc.
I'd strongly recommend going to somebody like DTR Sports for advice - they know the car inside out.
Another good point is that on the barchetta the indicators are on the left - the correct place for a LHD car. ;)
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Thanks for your comprehensive answer and the useful advice, PD. Unfortunately DTR is a fair way from me - 100 miles or so.
How much of the Barchetta is the same as a Punto? I'm wondering if parts will be easy to get, and I guess pattern parts are out of the question?
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There used to be a very active UK owners community for the barchetta and I suspect it's still going. Have a look at autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/barchetta_owners_uk/
The barchetta is based on the Punto platform so some mechanical bits are similar. Be aware that FIAT dealers don't see all that much of them which is why people tend to prefer the specialists.
Good luck!
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