Nearly the Lancia Uno? The Fiat N-numero Uno Story.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2022
- The Mini showed the world what a practical small car could be like, but it was Fiat’s 127 supermini that took the category by storm in the 1970s. The 127 was a big hit, but it would be its successor, the Fiat Uno that would go on to be the numero uno selling Fiat. Yet the Uno wasn’t originally intended to be a Fiat at all. Just why was the Uno so popular, and why was it still in production 21 years after it was supposedly replaced?
Video from YT channel "MuseodiArtePovera" showing the Uno brochure with a record: • Cartolina Musicale. La...
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Sources:
wheels.iconmagazine.it/auto-c...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobia...
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobia...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Uno
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Uno
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Un...
www.passioneautoitaliane.com/...
www.noticiasautomotivas.com.b...
Fiat documentaries on the 1983 and 1989 Fiat Uno.
Fiat Uno brochures.
www.italiaspeed.com/2007/cars/...
pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Uno
www.motorionline.com/nuova-fi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
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Just a correction: here in Brazil, the Duna was called 'Prêmio' and its SW was called 'Elba'. The Duna was their name for export versions.
👍👍👍
Came here to say this. Also I don't think Uno diesel was sold here in Brazil, since only utilitarian vehicles are allowed to be diesel powered. I Imagine they were sold in Argentina.
@@ssenssel In Argentina it was sold as "UNO CL" which equipped a 1.7-liter 60HP diesel engine. The "Duna SD" ("Super Diesel") and "Duna Weekend SD" were also sold with identical engines. All models had basic equipment... very basic, even for the time.
@@ssenssel Diesel engines were made in Brazil for exportation only.
krl esse video foi bom mas me deixou mal saber que a te o uno brasileiro e versão piorada de carro gringo
I owned a 1991 Uno Turbo, 33 years ago when I was 32 years old. Fantastic little car, ran with a Metcedes E300 and BMW 735i through our semi desert region in the Cape province in South Africa on my way to Cape Town at between 190 an 220 km/h indicated for two hours, at ambient Temps of 38 Celsius. I had aircon installed and it was throwing tiny ice crystals at me from time to time. FANTASTIC little car, I absolutely loved it. Was perfectly reliable, even while being driven hard for 100 000 km. Side fact, the single cam 1400cc engine was a direct descendant of the 1100cc engine in the 128 of 1970, designed by ex Ferrari designer Aurelio Lampredi. Viva Italiana!
i also had a uno turbo in SA from 1991-1996. I remember driving down to Cape Town from Jo'burg in it, and a Golf GTI struggled to keep up with me over the Franschoek pass - fantastic little car
One fun fact about the Fiat Uno is that its key were "interchangeable", at least in the version of the '80s: if you had Fiat Uno key, you could open others Fiat Uno with that. It happened to a relative of mine, she opened his Uno in a car parking with her key, sit inside, and then realized it wasn't her car...
You could open one with a tea spoon handle
Most Vauxhalls of the early 90s were the same. My mates nova key used to open and start my other mates mk3 Astra and vice versa.
I suspect it was a FIAT issue - my father once mistook his brother 1100D for his own, and he realized that it wasn't his car only because the clutch did not feel the same... After some km.
The good old days !!!
If everyone had the Uno ... who cared :)
Here in Brazil, this cars are like a legend on countryside it's like the substitute of the old VW Beetle from 70's. Well known due it's sigh durability, ease of maintenance and it's "off road" capabilities, perfect for non paved Brazilian roads.
Being Italian and being a Lancia Fulvia owner I can never say enough Grazie (thanks) to you being the first English speaking youtuber and/or motoring journalist that pronounces the brand Lancia correctly 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.
These cars where actually very reliable. I worked as a service engineer in Italy in the late 80's and the Uno was the default company car. We where driving up and down the entire country, reaching 150000 km in three years with very little problems. And those cars got a lot of punishment being mainly driven by guys in their 20's.
Which was the best engine ?
Too bad they could not carry the Reliability over to the rest of their line.
We shall see what happens now, as the New owners begin to do their thing.
🚗🙂
I had a fiat tipo, a sporty one with digital dash, I ragged the crap out of it and never had a problem with it 🤷♂️
Fiats are reliable, full stop. Amazing how many people are stuck with clichés up to this day. VWs break down more often, for far worst reasons.
@@gorkab8461 y'know I don't know a single old school golf polo or beetle owner who didn't get stuck at least once by their stupid automatic choke solenoid failing. Meanwhile my Honda Civic with manual choke never failed in 20 years and 200k miles, until timing belt went due to deferred maintenance.
The Uno is such a big part of Brazil's automotive history. We had so many Unos in the family and i have many fond memories of them. Great video as always.
Still got two Uno's to this day! A 1991 model 1.4 turbo and a 1999 model 1.1 Mia. The star of the two is the 1.1 with the FIRE engine. It's got over 560 000km on the clock. We got a full service history on it since new. Still a very reliable car compare to the much newer other cars in our family.
One of the greatest cars sold in brazil. A classic here
Specially when it was with the ladder in the roof
Don't forget about the LEGENDARY "Uno with a Stair/Ladder on top of it" (Uno com escada no teto). It can break the space-time if he wanted to! It's the FASTEST Car if it has a stair on it, and it can run one year without filling the tank and it will remain at 3/4 of fuel. In Brazil the UNO is a LEGENDARY Car! He can even outrun Pickup Trucks in Mud tracks!!!
The truth to the "ladder Unos" myth comes from the fact that its driver is usually someone that doesn't actually own the car
Oh, the legendary Uno "bengador de 6 caneco e AP", the quintessential Brazilian car after the VW beetle! The only thing you failed to mention are the "Aluminum Stairs" edition, one of the fastest cars of Brazilian history, usually at the hands of the "firmas"! Nice video as always!
Some details about the brazilian Uno/Mille: The rear suspension still used the old transversal leaf spring design.That gave the car better handling and a more reliable suspension,but that suspension took the space needed for the spare tire tub. So fiat moved the spare tire to the engine bay,but the spare was too tall so they redesingned the front fenders and hood(pause at 10:38) you can see how the hood is taller and goes donwards to meet a lower fender line.
Fiat used the name Duna in argentina. In brazil the sedan was called Premio and the wagon was sold as Elba,and you could order both with 2 doors as well.
The Mille was devoleped in brazil to meet a new goverment regulation that lowered taxes from vehicles with engines below 1000 CC. Fiat already had the 1.050 cc engine so it was easy for them to meet said regulations,but some people say that fiat was able to get information from inside the goverment before the approval of the tax reductions(unfair advantage),but no proof of that ever appeared....
My first car was a 1995 Mille ELX. fun and very reliable little car but a bit small for me,my right knee was always hitting the dashboard..and one day i decided to see how fast it can go,i reached 130KM/H downhill.... that poor engine was screaming lol
I'm guessing your Mille was our Fire (999)
@@god_ynwa Not really, the 994cc engine was homegrown model: the Fiasa engine, the Fire engine would eventually come to the Uno in 2002 and stayed until 2014 when production of its first generation ended.
I had 1993 Uno 60S as my first car. The three door one with this weird thingy for opening doors. Tons of memories. It was a really good car for a rookie driver. Love it.
So you had a car when you were 12?? WTF???
@@dommidavros2211 How do you know they were 12?
@@dommidavros2211 i did had my first car when i was 12 ,a fiat 850 sport abarth, also had a ford capri (mkI) but had dificulties in driving it
the uno turbo was an icon here in Greece. They were considered death traps and they dont handle well at all but people still modified them a lot. I think it was the first hot hatch that the common folk could buy
Same story in South Africa...they used an Uno Turbo that was wrapped around a pole as a billboard to warn about drink driving...I had an Uno Turbo and at full speed the body used to move so much that you could see gaps appearing between the windscreen and the body...it was the only air conditioning available in an Uno at the time...🤣🤣🤣
In Portugal they were called confins with 4wheels
Very rare here in the UK, we had two mk1's and still miss them. Very quick and very much a head turner.
Yes, in Italy "Fiat Uno Turbo" was commonly called "la bara volante", meaning "the Flying Coffin".
@@ca9968 You're lucky to be still in one piece 😂
The rear seat’s party trick wasn’t that it could recline for extra comfort, it was that it could be put into a more upright position to increase the boot space
I guess to remove comfort from the back seat.
My dad owns a 2006 Uno, nearly 500k km on it, it's the only car i've ever known my whole life
lol, there are legendary videos here in brazil where the uno is seen going through a muddy dirt road when a toyota hilux 4x4 was stuck. My old cab driver used to have one of those. Very unconfortable but reliable!
I always found the Uno a very good looking car - and, unusually, better looking with five doors than with three.
Great video! Many thanks once again for an entertaining and nostalgic 20 minutes. During the late 1980s, I was the lead guitarist of a rock band that played live gigs along the M4 corridor - from West Wales to London. All the band's gear consisting of numerous guitars, a PA system, amplifiers and a full drum kit would go into Rob the Roadie's Uno. Myself and the other band members would follow in my Yugo 45A! Happy days! Neither car ever let us down.
I still remember the hype that the Uno had generated when it went on sale here in India back in 1995. In fact, as many as 2,94,000 people had booked the car within a month of its launch and market experts were predicting Fiat to topple then market leader Maruti Suzuki as the go-to mass market brand here. But what followed was nothing short of a nightmare for Fiat as its partner Premier Auto had ran out of cash which led to worker protests and production delays. This eventually resulted in the cancellation of a large scale of bookings. Various criminal cases were also lodged against Fiat India and Premier Auto from which both companies never quite recovered. Hence, the Uno with an intention of moving forward the country in four wheels, turned out to be a reckless disaster in a span of only a few months.
Is a Shame that we're so many problem there in India, I honestly can see why people were thinking they coul topple Suzuki there (heck, here in Brazil she became the market leader for years and still is to this day and it was one of the so called "the big four" that was the best selling and more popular brands in Brazil before ford got out of here, and fiat was the last one to come) it was a shame they had so many problem with production and that the brand had a bad start there, I think if the Indian Fiat entered alone and had the same lineup as our Brazilian Fiat, maybe the history could be different, they were even considering making the Argo there (so much that the car has less than four meters), but i guess it was too late for them and FCA decided to pull the plug on Fiat in India.
@@Luka9S9 The Indian arm of Fiat was in partnership with then local manufacturer Premier, who were themselves deprived of cash and not staying ahead of the times. Fiat were off to a disastrous start with the Uno and had tried to resurrect themselves on more than one occasion, but the damage had already been done with the brand gaining so much negative publicity from the Uno fiasco from which they never really recovered. One positive about Fiat was their diesel engines which went on to do their job in cars from Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Chevrolet in addition to the Italian marquee. In fact, the Multijet is hailed by many here as the National Diesel Engine of India.
@@mohammedziyan2000 oof, yeah, that's seems kinda hard to overturn a wrong start like that, they had some similar stuff here, but not as damaging as that on the start, when fiat came out here, VW bought some 147 and left it on the road like they were broken trying to make bad publicity about the cars, but that didn't work so much, but that's not to say that Fiat didn't have any issues here, they had some problems with the Tipo that had the issue of catching fire here, and then there was the marea wich had a engine too advanced for the average Brazilian mechanic or client, even fiat mechanics didn't knew how to work on the engine of that car thanks to the lack of training by Fiat that the car became know as a "Bomb" that people should avoid, but even with that, they actually managed to get their foot here thanks to the Uno and Palio and believe it or not, most people consider buying a Fiat for their reliability, easy access to components as well as being cheap to maintain, we also had some interesting stuff here with them in case of engine, the Fire engine is like a workhorse here (similar to the VW AP engine) that you can get pieces anywhere and is super easy to maintain and fix it, and thanks to the engineering team here, we managed to get Chevy Family 1 engines on some Fiats around the 2000, and on the 2010 they updated and the Chrysler/BMW Tritec engine on the cars around here as the E-Torq, going even in some cars as the Renegade, and them there was the Firefly/GSE engine that was co-developed by both the Italian Fiat Engineering team and the Brazilian Engineering one, they even managed to adapt the 1.0 Firefly engine to the CMP based Peugeot 208 and the New Citroen C3. I something find incredible that Fiat had so much hard time growing outside of Europe, or maybe the right thing is how they managed to be successful here. Maybe if there's was more synergies between the Brazilian Fiat and the Italian one, as well as the Brazilian Fiat having more relevance and helping more outside of Latin America, maybe Fiat could have a better chance in the Rest of the world including India and the U.S, they have a great team here with great ideas, but almost anything done here never goes to other markets, maybe if they launched the Argo and the entire lineup in India and the Fiat Toro in the U.S, things could be quite different for the Italian brand right now.
Interesting, I did not know this story. This must be the reason, why Fiat did not do well with the Grande Punto in India. I have seen several road test of the Grande Punto in India and overall, the press praised the car has a very good car, however sales flopped.
@@roby72s Yes the Punto had garnered praises from both the media and automotive journalists for its performance and European characteristics, but it simply did not cut it with the Indian audience owing to a variety of reasons. It was more suited to Europe rather than India which was underlined by factors such as low ground clearance, less rear seat space and most importantly being expensive than most of its competition.
First car I ever drove, as a petrol head it was an odd start. Flew into New Zealand late at night, woke up early in the morning and my uncle John said let's go get the bread from the bakery. He got into the passenger's seat and told me to drive...I was 14, no licence, jet lag and super excited! Fortunately was an auto (5dr face lift in green) and there were loads of speed bumps so I couldn't go fast. Parents were stunned when I pulled up in the driveway, got out with the smuggest grin!
Here in Portugal, they were extremely common in the late 80's and early 90's. At one point it was just impossible to go outside without seeing at least four or five. And some of them are still around, which is amazing for such a stealed and abused model.
We bought a used 3 door Uno 900cc in a bright green colour in 1990 when our son was born.
The interior space was massive and we managed to get everything you needed when going away with a baby.
It was way better in every respect than my dad's Fiesta diesel.
One time we were heading across Ranoch Moor in the middle of winter, the road was like a polished ski slope and the wind was howling in from the right hand side.
The car kept trying to slide off into the ditch on the left, so I was constantly steering right just to go in a straight line!!
It really was one of the best cars we ever owned.
The next best Fiat we had was a 1.9 diesel Multipla.
That thing was a perfect family car.
It was so unique that when another one was coming the other way we'd be waving at each other as we passed.
My first car ❤. 1991 (Mk2) 999cc 45 Fire. Lots of fun to drive. Had her from 1996 to 1999. I miss her!
Very popular in Brazil. My uncle has one which he uses to go the farm. Hardy, reliable car which has enough space for people and tools or materials
In Brazil the saloon version was called “Prêmio” and the SW version was called “Elba Weekend”. The name “Duna” was adopted in Argentina.
Fun Fact.
The long Uno switches appear in the pod racer in The Phantom Menace.
Once seen can never be unseen.
VERY Accurate! I'm from brazil and we still had the Uno's first version or just "Mille" with facelift for a long long time. I even had one myself as my first car. It was a 1992 Fiat Uno 1.0 liter engine. It was very cheap to maintain and made good mileage for a carburate engine. The "FIRE" engine is very well-known in brazil due to it's robustness and good mileage as well. Thanks for the good memories :)
Currently on vacation in Greece, driving an A class mercedes. Wish I was driving an uno
The Fiat Uno was one of the most popular cars here in South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s. Sold by Nissan we had the basic models in various trim levels throughout the model run and then we also had the Turbo. The Turbo is still a legendary car today and pristine examples are highly sought after. Most of the basic models have rusted away though now. They were also abused and used well as they were cheap budget cars so they are a rare sight on our roads now.
Back in the day it was all out battle between the Uno, 205 and Supercinque. The Uno I remember was a big hit. My friend’s mum had a Uno Turbo. It was a little pocket rocket.
127, Uno, Punto and Panda, to me some of the best "little" cars ever produced by their years... A video on the Panda/Punto would also be great to see, great work as usual 😉
They where such nice cars. And being polish I love how my country loved to keep making cars we liked way past the expiration date lol. Would love to see you make a video about FSO and FSM of Poland
I've been waiting for this for a long time and I'm very pleased with what you've provided. It is hands down the most comprehensive Uno history video yet. Thanks! :)
There precious little info out there, surprising for such a popular car.
There's a great channel in TH-cam called Roadster Life, mainly Italian stuff and superb historical production data, if you want to check it out!
same here. Finally!
@@BigCar2 Once you said you wanted to make a video about FSO. I did what I could to discourage you, and I still insist that sources (or lack of them) is a complete mess even in Polish.
There is one story related to Fiat UNO I could tell you though and it is certain, as it has been many times spoken by FSO ceo Edward Pietrzak, and there are photos confirming that FSO worked with this car.
In short, when strikes hit FSO around martial law in 1981, Edward Pietrzak was appointed FSO's general director. Under this man, FSO launched a whole misinformation campaign that took years and led FSO to acquiring license for Fiat Uno on get and pay later terms.
They couldn't get financing from the state, or a loan abroad (especially after 1981 sanctions) so they were looking for someone who could give them a license and finance putting the car into production. One of candidates was Daihatsu, which was promising since Daihatsu had experience with turbocharging small engines, and FSO finding itself unable to launch new engines they had in blueprints, tried turborcharging old push-rod engines.
Fiat was an obvious candidate and wanted to offer Ritmo, which FSO didn't want. To convince Fiat, FSO first built fake prototype based on Peugeot, and later an actual prototype 'FSO Wars' that was a totally new car, in all departments. Bodyshell, platform, engine and transmission. To motivate engineers, they were lied to that there were actual prospects of producing this car.
Seeing all this, Fiat 'sold' FSO license for Uno, and FSO's engineers were already working on updating Polonez with parts from Fiat Uno. There are photos of actual mockups showing bodywork modification using Uno's parts.
Fiat also agreed that FSO would acquire the license for free, and pay when FSO earns enough money from producing it.
Unfortunately, just day after signing the contract, Polish minister Mieczysław Wilczek broke the contract with Fiat, arguing that Uno is old, and it would cost too much steel to meet domestic demand for cars, so it's better to increase production volumes of Maluch. Hearing that, FSO's general director resigned immediately.
Eventually everything fell through and FSO gave its last stand in 1994, with several prototypes of cars and a motorcycle, but none of them ever entered production.
Thanks a lot for this video! I’m Argentinian and my father still has his 1994 Uno Trend as the first brand new car he ever bought. He literally build his house and family driving it, using it to even transport bricks! It really is a very reliable and legendary car for some here…
Living in Argentina, I bought my first car in 2005: I could only afford to get a 1971 Fiat 128. After that, I got a brand new Fiat Uno FIRE (the one shown at 18:15, but with a 1.3 l. engine). It shared the same chassis configuration as my old 128: McPherson struts, rear transversal leaf suspension, and the location and cap of the fuel tank.
I got the "full" version which came with air conditioning, radio... and that's it! Very spartan, and the suspension was a bit on the pudding side, but it was a fantastic car and insanely reliable. I even ventured to the sand dunes near my home town and it behaved amazingly. I wish all car manufacturers offered a no-tech car such as the Uno at that time.
Amazing work as always, keep it up!!
Air conditioning? In an Uno? We never got air con in UK spec Uno`s! That isn't spartan!
@@MrPabsUk maybe because with the steering wheel on the *wrong side*, the Italian engineers couldn't figure out where to place the button.
Love the Uno, I'm from South America and my uncle had it, while my grampa had the Fiorino. You can still see the old ones on the roads. I'm kinda shocked to learn that the Brazilian made ones are actually based on the 147.
(Edit: got corrected in the replies, thanks for clarifying)
They weren't based on the 147. They just had its suspension (the rear was the same, the front a rework)
Similarly, the Brazilian Punto had a Palio/Idea mashup suspension, while still retaining the euro platform.
The tempra was another one, it had the Regata's front suspension while the estate, imported from europe, had the original design.
@@heitorbernardes7977 A Fiat sempre foi uma bagunça com suas plataformas.
Nosso punto é um palio, nosso stilo nao é um stilo, nosso bravo é um stilo que nao é um stilo, nosso tempra é um regata……. Enfim, artificio pra manter o custo baixo e o produto atraente. Renault tambem faz isso vendendo um duster vendido de captur
I'm so glad that you made a video of the Uno, here in my country it is practically as iconic as a 500, maybe even more since Some Uno with stair bought by some telephone companies would make Ford Mustangs and Chevy Camaros eat dust (something that Even Fiat of Brazil would make a joke about the Uno being so fast), or go over mud Hills were even a VW Amarok could not, I was genuinely surprised that you've searched about our Uno and that it used a different platform than the Italian Uno, you definitely searched a lot and didn't leave any detail behind, and even though I thought i knew about the Uno, your video made me discover things that i had no idea like that it was supposed to be a Autobianchi. I really love the video and I'm glad that more people now can get to know the history of this car thanks to your amazing video, and with that, the only things that I can say for you doing this video of the Uno is Obrigado/Thank You/Grazie Mille ❤️
A plataforma do Uno brasileiro é uma evolução do 147. Obviamente tem as suas diferenças como os suportes de motor, reservatórios e etc.
Já o do Uno europeu é praticamente a do Palio.
E o Palio Weekend é praticamente um Punto Mk1 de suspensão.
Uno with stairs on the roof was banned from turismo categories. Not even an F1 is faster than this.
My Mum had a Mk I 127 903cc. Great little car although the gearing was low … making it almost an automatic in top gear … and the screen wash was via a rubber bulb in the dashboard 😳 (I fitted and electric wash for her). But it was enough for me to get a 127 1050CL in late 1977 and drive it for 100,000 miles. Then in 1983 I changed it to a 5-door UNO 70CL which was a great little car. I loved the instruments with all the warning lights so nicely grouped together, and the binnacle mounted lights and wipes worked well as the paddles allowed an easy flick with your hands still on the wheel. We even went on to have a Strada 105TC
I still have mine! 2001 Uno Mille Fire. :)
Here in Brazil it was RIDICULOUSLY popular, it was kept in production until 2013!
They only stopped making it, because of new regulations demanding 2 front airbags and ABS on all cars from 2014 onward.
The "Grazie Mille" was the last edition, true, but it's name meaning is not what you described.
"Grazie Mille" in italian means "A Thousand Thanks" or "Thank you very much!"
But, as Fiat Brazil had dropped the "Uno" name and kept naming old unos as only "Mille" (which means one thousand in italian, an analogy to the cars 1.0L engine, 1000cc), the "Grazie Mille" could also be interpreted as "Grazie Uno Mille", or "Thank you! Uno!"
Brazil never had the Panda, instead, we made our own version of the new Panda, and the New Uno was just that, a modified Panda. It was bigger on the outside, but (as a Panda was smaller than a Uno back in the 80s) the New Uno is much smaller on the interior than the old style Uno.
All boxy styled Unos (and derivatives Elba/Duna) made in Brazil had independent suspension on all 4 wheels, that made it even more stable, and an extra reason why the Uno Turbo was never, ever, considered a "death trap" or "coffin with wheels" here in Brazil.
In fact, despite the engine (which was the same of the euro spec), the brazilian Uno Turbo was considerably better than the European ones, it had chassis bracing all over the car, wider tires, more concave seats, and used the SAME gearbox and brakes of the Tempra Turbo, a much larger, heavier and powerful Sedan! It was a monster, the fastest production car in Brazil until the Marea Turbo came along.
The independent suspension, which used a leaf spring in the back, also meant the spare tire was moved to the front, under the engine bonnet, a weird decision at first, but one that made the car even more practical and have even more internal space!
CAN't foRGET the LEGENDARY Uno com Escada no Teto!
We had one of those when I was 11 years old and my dad went for silver. Was quite a thing in the 80’s back in Brazil. It was an alcohol model. Very tricky to get it working during winter. The next one we had was a Premio 4 doors in metallic blue. Very simple machines. Did the job, from A to B, not much else really. 😬
Ja andou de grazzie mille? Temos um e é surpeendente! Nostalgico, mas é uma delicia! Somzinho com bluetooth, subwoofer original, bancos de veludo. É um show.
In the UK the sting was called the formula. The choke in the brochure was a cold start on the diesel. I had a 1988 Uno 45s owned it twice, the switch gear in the pods was fantastic. My Dad bought a 1990 45 5door.
A 1993 Fiat Uno 5 door with 1.0 l was my first new car. I loved it. It just had so much space.
i just can't explain how much this car is a part of Brazil culture, every time you go out, you see 10 of these, reliable, cheap, easy to find parts, everything. it is a meme, a legend, everyone loves it. i still dream of owning a 1.6r version.
I remember seeing a lot of these on the road as a child along with the Panda.
Fiat seem to have changed their badge a lot over the years.
They change their badge every five years or so...
It was a pleasant surprise when I sat down for the first time in an Uno. Small cars are a problem if you are a big Swede, but not this time. Hardly the most comfortable ride but good power in the engine. The rust was unfortunately the Achilles heel...
Small cheap cars often suffer with rust in wet, cold countries, especially countries that use salt of the road to melt ice. The 70`s & 80`s were very bad, you really had to do secondary rustproofing from new if you wanted them to last more than 8 years.
My mom had one growing up (3 door model), and I remember loving those door handles! So different from the standard ones. And the car was bloody simple and easy to repair!
In Argentina it kept being manufactured until 2011 if I'm not mistaken, was even sold at the same time as the new Uno, using the name "Uno Fire" for the older model. The Duna was the de facto Taxi car for ober a decade as well!
I took my completely standard '88 Uno Mk 1 1L 'Fire' road rallying on the 1992 Noreaster. They laughed at scrutineering: "how far did you expect to get?" was one comment from an official. Well, long story short they ate their words after a first in class, and 9th overall placing, beating much, much more powerful and fully prepared cars. The fact was that the skinny tyres and lack of power was a total advantage on the very slippery and muddy course, that and the fact that I didn't cherish the car that much, so I pushed it as hard as it would go all night. Total giant-killer!
Just a touch: the Duna was actually called Premio in Brazil. And the SW version was called the Elba. Fun fact: an Elba had a decisive part in the 1994's impeachment of the then-president, Fernando Collor.
And Mille started out as a version of the Uno exclusively with the 1.0L engine, so we used to call it Uno Mille. When it became the only engine available, it started being called only Mille, with a second gen for the Uno with the "round-box design" inspired by the european Panda.
Yes!
Just a little correction. Collor impeachment was in 1992. The Collor's Elba could make a good subject for an Optional Extra video.
Some years later, in 2013, Collor's cars were taken by Federal Police in Brazil. One of these cars? A Gallardo Lambo! This man has a fall about italian cars.
@@edinardofreitas7073 great taste for cars from FCM, i think to this day he have that silver aventador. About 5 years ago my dad bougt a Z4M that was a former FCM car, prestine condidition low miles red car, i wish we never sold it.
@@Nioooke no one can’t says he isn’t a “bon vivant”!
@@edinardofreitas7073 Yes, I miswrote the year! Sorry for that!
My mother's first car was a white Uno. What a lovely little car it was.
Wow, nostalgia all the way. I'm from South Africa. My first car I bought in 2009 was a 2nd hand Fiat Uno,1.1, 95 model. That car was perfect in every aspect, it was a workhorse during my student budget life and had it for 6 years before it started showing its age, lol. Best memory was when the engine stalled at a traffic light, all I needed to do to jump-start that engine was open the drivers door, put my one leg out and kick, rolling it backwards fast enough to start it up. 😁
It is widely believed among FIAT service techs that the original 1.3 Turbo block was overbuilt, using the same tooling and casting alloys as the -then- Ferrari F1 1.5 turbo engines, in order to withstand excessive boost pressure, with hardened pistons and Nikasil coated liners, which in part is justified by the unit's remarkable robustness to tuning and higher boosts. Extremely popular in Greece, with typical '80s turbo lag and terminal understeer. Many Turbo engines were swapped to pretty much every Italian-esque FWD chassis available at the time, from 127/128 to Yugo, capable of being tuned (with new internals) up to 280-300hp.
Very informative video, as always!
Fanstic video. Brought me so much joy and memories. While my father could only afford the Uno Sting as a child I dreamt of the SX and Turbo. If possible could you please do more on regular Italian cars of the same generation. Lancia Dedra or Thesis. Fiat Croma, Tipo, Ritmo etc.
Thanks and keep up the great work
First new car I ever had! Put a gazillion km on it, super reliable and did 0.45 l/10 km if you were careful:-)
It all depended on the driving style and sometimes the differences were hard to explain. We had a 1993 Uno 45 FIRE, one of the last examples with carburetor instead of fuel injection, between 1993 and 2019. My dad managed to go down to 4.05 l/100 km during a 2000 km summer trip but at the same time couldn't go below 7.5 l/100 km driving around the city. On the other hand I couldn't match my dad's record and usually got 4.3-4.6 l/100 km during such trips, but conversely, I easily went down to 6,5 l/100 km in my daily commuting around the city even though I wasn't nearly as experienced driver as him.
MANY years back I had a chocolate/turd brown Uno (turd brown interior lol), it was a basic 1 Litre 'Fire' 4 Speed, and though VERY BASIC, I loved thrashing that little thing up and down the A46 between Lincoln and Binbrook in the wee hours of the night. NO MATTER what I did with that thing she always started first try of the key, and, being light it was so 'Chuckable' around those wide and tight country lane bends.. Some fond memories there that just shows, you don't need out and out power and speed to have a wild old laugh! 🤔😏😉👍
I then moved onto a white 1988 1.3 VW Polo Classic (2 door saloon shape with black bumpers/trim and a black rubber spoiler) - LOVED IT... MISS IT!
😎🇬🇧
My father bought in 1995 a Fiat Uno 1.6 SCR 5 door (SOHC 1.6 8 valves carburated petrol engine with atound 90 HP) in Prusia Blue. It was a very good car.
Greetings from Argentina.
This was an extremely popular car in Brazil. Great video as always!
My dad had a green one, loved that car. still see some driving around here in Brazil
I mean: A BUNCH of them!
Till last year in my street an eldery woman had an early Fiat Uno 45 as here "daily" driver.
She often had notes beneath here window wippers is she didn;t want to sell that car.
The car was still in good condition and was sold back to the local Fiat dealer (showroom/historic meetings use only) who sold and maintainted that car from new!
That elderly woman traded in here Uno for a Panda mark III with automatic transmission!
Like other runabouts (f.e. Opel corsa, Ford fiesta ) Uno's where everywere and were so commen and reliable that they were ran into the ground.
We often admire the high end sportscars but those simpel types of runabouts are the sort of cars we most remember and love.
Its good to hear the dealer is looking after it, many dealers would have probably scraped it! What country are you in? I get people putting notes under my Uno`s wipers as well, when I check my CCTV after, I see most are driving newer Fiats! I see people stopping & taking pictures of them quite a lot as well.
The Uno is a LEGEND in Brazil. Our 2005 "second gen" Uno that was actually just a restyled first gen (18:15) was still being sold until 2013 as the Uno Mille Way (18:29). The "Mille" name comes from the 1,0L engine that had lower sales tariffs. It even got a farewell model called the Grazie Mille (thank you, Mille). Right around the same time, the VW Type 2 also had a farewell model trim called the Kombi Last Edition. Fun fact: the 1976-1996 "second-gen" Brazilian Kombi was an exclusive model built here, with the first-gen body but using the second-gen frond and rear fascia. In 96, long after the world had moved on, we got the actual second-gen, which would then still be produced until 2013, non-stop since that was introduced in 1976. This Edition commemorated 56 years of the VW Bus in Brazil (first and second-gen). Hey, at least in 2003 it got an upgrade and moved on from the boxer to a water-cooled engine, even if that meant having an ugly rad stuck to the front. This was all due to new legislation requiring vehicles manufactured after that to have ABS and SRS Air Bag. There was no way ever they could've fit the airbags in either of those, which comes to say that if it wasn't for that, both our Kombi and the Mille would still be in production well into the 2010s. We really love our utilitarian beat-it-to-death cars. I guess it proves their design, versatility and reliability. I miss them
We had the 1995 UNO 1.7 diesel.
Truly a bulletproof car. Although it had no servo so the wheel was a real workout 🤣
Well, with such a bigger engine on the front... i guess it must have been. The smaller gasoline engines were manageable even without power steering.
@@DeerKoden I didnt mind really. Less tech in the car. Less for it to break and fix haha
@@F.S92 yep. Had the steering rack and pinion replaced once in the Uno, didn't take much money, time and effort. Also, a brand new steering on a Uno has a great feeling in comparison to modern cars, direct and overall more fun to drive.
@@DeerKoden much more direct
Great video, really insightful. My P.E teacher had a brand new Uno45 in 1984! On slight observation, the CV in CVT doesn't stand for 'continuous velocity' but rather 'continuously variable'.
Got an Uno Fire -87 in 2005 as my first car. Fixed all the problems and had it for 4 years and 60000 km. What a fantastic car it was, as simple as it could get and reliable. Did frequent trips to summer cottage on a highway, pedal to the metal it would exceed 140 km/h, slowly but it got there. No overheating, no burned head gasket, nothing. Just reliable service day after day, all year round.
Brazilian here, had one Uno in early 90's, just loved the car. Remember clearly when first saw it in 1985.
Another brilliant video,never knew the back seats had a slight recline function.
Also, seems over the last 3-4 decades, Fiat where quite innovative with their engines and fuel consumption.
Nice little Italian supermini with plenty of interior space, good rear passenger room in 5 door guise, and a useful boot with split fold seat facility to increase the load carrying capacity giving a colossal load space fully folded down.
I like the Mk1's better than the later ones which were plagued with unreliability issues and not very reliable electrics. The remarkable 65.7 mpg economy on 5 speed petrol models (not the automatic Selecta version which got far less mpg than the manual models) was quite astonishingly good for a supermini.
The diesel and turbo diesel versions were even more frugal with 67.3 mpg and 68.9 mpg economy figures respectively.
I`m sorry, but having owned dozens of them (& still own 3, including a Mk1), I can conclusively say the Mk2`s were much more reliable than the Mk1`s electronically & generally, & they rusted less, plus the dashboards didn't creak as much! And those "official" fuel consumption figures aren't reflective of real world conditions (& still aren't now), although they were still very good in the real world.
Another fine history in the can. As an American I can only look on with envy at the vast selection of fun, sporty and economical cars that Europeans and our British cousins were able to choose from. Fiat's reputation here in the 'states during the 70's and 80's was far from good with countless jokes of 'fix it again tony' and other less than savory nicknames, all of them undeserved. I would have loved to drive an Uno during my uni days when I had a 30 mile commute everyday. Instead I drove a clapped out Escort that spent more time at the menders than providing reliable transportation.
First car I ever drove was an '87 Uno 45! It was a beige 5-door which I enhanced with Ferrari Scuderia stickers bought during a school trip to Italy. Happy, happy memories - thanks for posting yet another great Big Car video.
I really, really, really wanted an Uno for my first car - I simply loved the rational styling. Now I know it was meant to be a Lancia, I love it even more! Probably for the best that it did end up as a FIAT - Lancias never sold in enough volume, and the car may have ended up as another ‘could have been’……the Y10 was fantastic - another Italian small car I lusted after as a youth. I ended up with a Renault SuperCinq - a Gandini design, but feeling decidedly low rent in comparison to the Uno…….however……my second car was a mk1 Punto - which was utterly fantastic, and managed to make the Uno look and feel decidedly old fashioned!
the Y10 started to be sold as an autobianchi and all had luxurious seats and everything else inside with a 1.0L engine
Aha! My dad had an Uno turbo when I was a kid! He loved tearing up and down the A470 in the 90s in that thing! :D
A shame it rusted so badly, though...
EDIT
It was a mk 2 Uno turbo, but bizzarely it was a 5 door model. I've never seen mention of it anywhere!
If you think it was bad explaining all the engine types on the Uno, just spare a thought for the later Punto Evo! They had 6 or 7 different 1.4 litre engines at one point! I think that was 2010/2011 or so? They ranged from a dreadful 69hp thing up to a lovely 150hp model, as I recall.
I'd love him to make a Punto video
They never made a 5-Door Turbo, although numerous people have fitted turbo lumps into 5 door ones, as its pretty much a straight swap (there was a Turbo converted 5-Door on ebay a couple of years ago, pretty tatty yet it still made £5k!)
All of those 1.4 litre engines are the same in base. It just depends whether they are NA or turbo. For example you have 1.4 NA with 70hp, 1.4 NA with 90hp (later 95), 1.4 NA multiair 105hp, 1.4 turbo 120hp, 1.4 turbo 155hp and some other similar versions. Basically all of them have them same engine block. Differences are in head and injection type.
@@Predic94 No, sorry, the Uno Turbo (1299, 1301 & later 1372cc) had the same type of engine as the Punto Turbo, & was derived from the 70`s SOHC Lampredi block, it ended in the late 90`s.. The later 1368cc engines used in the Abarth 500, Punto, Mito etc are FIRE derived blocks, nothing to do with the Lampredi engine, & have no shared parts.
@@MrPabsUk That could well have been the case, but we got this directly from a Fiat dealer in Newport. I remember Bill Penn (the dealer who was a friend of my dads) saying that it was "something very special". Similar things happened with the Fiat Stilo abarth/Schumachers. They too were supposedly 3 door only, but a (VERY) limited number of them were made on the 5 door chassis.
I grew up in this car, so much memories with this car.
Greati video. A well-deserved tribute to a very important car.
Some fun facts:
- 1st gen Uno 60 DS and 75 (yes, there was also the 75 with a 1.5 liter engine from the Ritmo/Regata) were never sold in Italy but only in some Europe countries. They have been sold in Italy only with the second generation.
- 2ng gen Uno versions were initially labelled according to their power (45,60, 70, 75 )but from 92 onwards Fiat switched to 1.0i.e., 1.1i.e., 1.4 i.e. and 1.5 i.e. -fuel injection and catalyst were also introduced.
- During phase 1 of 2nd gen Uno (89-92), the Uno 45 could actually have been motorised by three different engines: 45 Fire (999cc) for base version, S and SX, 45 Trend and 45 Sting with the old 903cc engine (127's engine) and 45 Trend with a 994cc engine from brazilian production. Sting and Trend versions were way cheaper than the Fire versions.
-Also during 89-92, next to the newly introduced 2nd gen of the European Uno, the brazilian Uno was introduced in Europe as a low cost alternative. In Italy it was called Uno CS, where CS stands for "Costruzione Straniera" [Foreign built, literally]. The Uno CS then became the 1st gen Innocenti Mille which was later replaced by the Innocenti Mille Clip mentioned in the video.
Legendary car here in Brazil
Oh man, love your videos! Uno was indeed here , Brazil, iconic.... But one detail for you from Brazil: The fastest Unos here are with a ladder on the roof and they where from the telephone and electric company! Some times faster than a Ferrari! 🤣🤣🤣 This is an old and very famous Uno-meme 😉😅
Yes!!!!
Bloody good cars. With the 999cc FIRE engine and 5 speed box, the Mk1 45S was an amazing all-round car: Lots of room considering the external size, and would cruise all day at 90 MPH with astonishing refinement. I once did 580 miles in a day at an average speed of 64 MPH and it did 48 MPG overall.
I owned a UNO 1.6 R , according to the FIAT manual its max speed was 175 km\h , but during a trip a traffic cop caught me on radar at 190 km\h !
On hilly and curved roads it was unbeatable , larger cars were no match , very agile on the traffic as well. On my hands that car was anything but economic . Definetely Uno's Achiles' heel was the synchro belt , I used to check it at every 500 kms and carry the spare part just in case.
Then I was promoted to a managerial position and given a company car. It was hard to get used to a larger car , I missed UNO.
I remember my uncle having an A reg Uno and it kept getting nicked and found on our estate in the early 90s....it went missing at least ten times and it would always be found a couple of miles away then returned. He eventually stopped locking it as less damage would be done when it was nicked 😂
As an Italian I can add a useful information:
In Italy the Duna (4 door-saloon version of the Uno) is claimed to be THE WORST LOOKING CAR IN THE HISTORY.
On the other hand we loved the successful Fiorino (a milestone in the Italian's commercial vehicle offert) and Weekend (and the Van version 'Penny') that would be sold also as Innocenti Elba and we never saw the Premio (2 door-saloon version).
I must correct, the first spot for worst looking car ever according to Italian people is contended between Fiat DUNA and Alfa Romeo ARNA.
@@CATinBOOTS81 Well, yes
Such a great coincidence, I just bought my first Uno!
I had a 1986 model was very reliable second fiat car I had, the good old Panda Mk1,my first Fiat.but it rusted away Uno was great (number 1)had till 1994,never a problem,even in cold wet Newcastle,everyday,never let me down,changed to another fiat Cinquecento,also reliable same engine 900cc.good informative video, thank you.
Fun fact: Fiat's Brazilian subsidiary assembled Unos that were a bit different than the Italian ones. Brazilian-built Unos were equipped with suspensions from Fiat 127 to suit road conditions in Brazil and many other South American countries. The engines were modified to suit Brazil's ethanol-blended gasoline.
Fun in what way?
@@DrLoverLover It's a cool thing to know!
Did you watch the video? He spends a good chunk of time on this 😂
I always thought that the Fiat Seicento was pronounced 'say-shento' - it means 600 I believe.
Yeah, that's closer. I didn't check the Italian pronunciation.
@@BigCar2 you had a lot to check as it was!
This guy makes interesting videos.
A friend of mine had a 1990 Uno 75. It was super fun to drive.
We had one in the late 1990s, around 1998 and absolutely loved it. It was a lot more robust and solidly built than the Suzukis and Daewoos of the time. Ride and handling too were several notches above the Japanese and the Koreans.
Can you do a history on all the cars Queen Elizabeth drove / rode in?
Sorry, I don't like jumping on bandwagons. But as a kid I did once ride in a Land Rover Defender that had been borrowed from Land Rover, and we were told was used by the Queen. That may have been just so we kept it clean!
My late grandpa had a Uno for as long as I remember. We sadly had to sell it quite some time ago as nobody was driving it and it was a shame to just let it rot since it was in, quite literally, perfect condition. I'm just sad that I never got to drive my grandpa's car.
Thanks a lot!!!! For again bringing a very consitant piece of car history!!!
Nice to watch indeed! Me and my Dad had 6 Uno's between us. One of them would make a "poong" sound coming out of bends.... Many memories! Thanks!
My Auntie Heather had a Fiat Uno as a second car in the early 90's. It was Turquoise with a classic 80's beige interior, very distinctive.
Sounds like a top of the range SX model, with electric windows, central locking & corded velour trim etc, very nice!
I had one when living in Italy in the 80s. It had a 1600cc Turbo Diesel engine. Did a total of 200,000 Km in its life. I drove it from Torino to Cape Wrath in Scotland, a 6000Km trip to Scotland in 1993. Finally the clutch gave up and I sold it. Great memories with this car. Thank you for the video
Very good video, pleasant to watch, full of details and brochures.
Thanks so much for the great review. I was eagerly waiting for someone to do a story on my favorite car, and you did it with knowledge and passion. Great job!
Glad you liked it Sergio.
Thanks for this video - I was hoping you'd cover the Uno and you didn't disappoint! Brought back some memories - especially the wheel trims, for some reason!
My first car back in 1992 as an 18 year old a 1983 Fiat Uno 45 ES Super 3 door in black had it for 6 years rust got it in the end sadly some great early driving memories in the 90's when in my early 20's
In Brazil, the Uno is one of the most beloved cars ever, many here learn how to drive on these fellas. I love it too, don't have any confort, it is unsafe, looks old, but it's cheap, cheap to repair, sturdy and very economic. I want one
Great video as always!
I bought my Uno 60DS new in June 1989 and a week later, after a premature 600 mile service took four of us to France for a week's stay in a gite. Not only clothes but also bed linen, pillows and towels. It did around 1,000 miles and returned
60 mpg.
My dad had two of these model 1 Uno's; a white 45 and a gun metal grey 55. I remember them fondly as they were fairly cool cars!.👍
Great as always - thanks!
a comment that me, as a Brazilian, expected to see in the video is that the name Mille came from the engine, 1.0l, which FIAT created for the Uno and that became so popular in Brazil that not only every other automaker made a 1 liter engine, it changed the tax law to give tax rebates for cars that have a 1l engine. it created a whole category of cars called "popular car" that came pretty much without any luxury but meant that for many low income families, they could finally buy a brand new car for the first time. today this tax rebate is still in place, but the popular car category disappeared as people now expect to have power windows, electric steering and air conditioner standard (it's nicknamed the dignity package), but automakers still take advantage of it by offering 1l turbo engines and thus, selling more expensive cars with a "competitive" price tag.
Also, the variants were created in Brazil and called the Fiat Premio for the sedan and the FIAT Elba for the station wagon, while the pickup was called the FIAT Fiorino. Duna was the name given by FIAT Argentina, which apparently is what the rest of the world called it too.
I can't think of any other car other than the VW beetle (called VW Fusca in Brazil) that made such a lasting impression on a whole generation. Everyone from my generation had one of these two cars at one point or another in their lives. The FIAT Uno was owned by rich and poor people alike (rich people having it as a second, third car) and it really proved that the fame of poor quality that FIAT has is nothing but urban legend.