Dez' 'fleet' thread. Another bl00dy transit!

I had a 1.2 version was great fun to drive, the challenge was keeping momentum, I'm sure a 100Hp is even more fun.

just looked at the price of leather abarth seats on ebay as they look amazing....don't they are the price of a reasonable e39

I keep looking at these and like you say for the price nothing touches them. When I was looking in summer though there were quite a few fetching quite a high price so they are definitely on the rise. Like you say way cheaper than the like of a 182 or a lupo GTi though.

Let me know when you sell the cube. I may be interested.

I didnt know what they fetched before I bought the car, just they were an obvious upgrade and a plus point on the list for this particular car. A set of cloth ones (like these) is 400ish, double that for leather. Good job I’m not really a fan of leather interiors!
Even the steering wheel and airbag is best part of £200 which was a bit of a shock!

Yeah price was important. There was no reason we/she couldn’t drop 5-6k on something, but what extra are you actually getting by doing so? Personally I can’t see any more value in a Lupo gti (and I have experience of all their bad points) or a 182 whatever. I think buying this sort of car is all about bang for buck, and the fiat definitely delivers that.

Cube is almost ready for sale. I’ve put two new tyres on it, new front brakes and a backbox. I need to give it a good clean and re-mot it, then it’ll be advertised.

I fully understand about the quick little car thing. I’ve been seriously tempted by an Up! Gti since they came out.

hudson66 and lewdeak, yeah I still have a lupo (tdi sport) on the fleet and still have a thing for them.
The chassis in them isn’t much cop out the box though, I’d never consider owning one without aftermarket coilovers, as they’re wet and wallowy, but you both know that already. That’s what surprises me about the Fiat, the suspension is so right from factory, I was actually shocked on the test drive.

Interesting you say the 5spd is meant to be weak and the 6spd better though, I’ve always known it as the other way round. I think every gti ive known had has box issues.

I didn't realise Lupo GTi's had got such a following. A rich kid at school got one for his first car, he thought it was the dogs curse word till he spent the next 12 months watching the rear lights of my Clio disappearing into the distance lol.

Where was I?
Oh yeah, fixing all the bodges on a cr4ppy old Skoda pickup.

So I mounted the seats. This was simple and also complicated. I didn’t want to mod the mounts on the car, or the seats incase I change my mind on em.

I used the runners that came with the seats, but they were spaced 20mm closer together than the original Skoda ones, which complicated matters. Offsetting the seats outwards so one rear bolt hole was reused made it easier.

Rear mounts are just flat bar bridging the rear mount with some holes to bolt the new runners to.


Front mounts had to extend forward to pick up on the originals. They’re just more flat plate bent, shaped and drilled. Notice the holes for the rails are offset.


They bolt up here to the original mounting holes on the rails.


They fill the original cutouts in the carpet which keeps things tidy.


And offsetting them keeps this gap between seat plastics and sill trim nice and tight, which looks better than being able to see down it.


This was then copied over to the other side, and everything bolted down. The Skoda seat belt stalks even bolted straight to the side of the citroen seats like they were meant to be there, which was nice. I forgot to take a pic though.

So that’s one more thing off the list.

1.-dislocating front chopped springs.
2. balljoint.
3. Rear tyres shagged out.
4. wheel flat spot.
5. Rear exhaust.
6. Fan wiring/switch.
7. Front crossmember.
8. Stereo on permanently.
9. Drivers speaker grille missing.
10. seats.
11. No v5.
12. No rear springs.
13. Bit of grot on rear shock turrets.
14. Drivers window falls off the runners.
15. Gear linkage very sloppy.
16. Damaged rear brake pipe.
17. Intermittent misfire.