I had a 1982 Strada and loved it to death. Handled beautifully, stopped on a dime, never had to go into the engine or transmission or even take the valve cover off. The 35mpg wasn't too shabby, either. Guess you either love them or hate them, mine was loved.
My first car was an eleven year old ritmo. It was built like a tank. I loved it and spent alot of time fixing it up and had to push start it most mornings. But in those days we were skint and we didn't have youtube or ebay for knowledge or parts or tools. I currently have 2 cinquecentos 97 and 98 as a hobby and love working on them. They don't rust.
I think Noel was prejudiced for sure, and I don't personally give a crap what he thinks of the design. However, I believe that in the rest of this report (we're only seeing a tiny clip here) Noel showed viewers shoddy unfinished electrics, and some other pretty awful cosmetic faults from the factory. It really was unforgiveable that Fiat UK gave Top Gear an unsorted car to review.
Well.. I had one , FIAT strada , 65CL..! for more than 20years..! ( 1990-2013 )..! Amazing , BEAUTIFUL car..! I had it till the island run out of spare parts ..!l ..Cypriot..!
The irony is that a few years after this review, Edmonds was praising the AustinRover lineup in a series of tv ads. Funny how one can have a different opinion when there is some cash lining the pocket! Half of this video is spend lamenting the size of the clock, for goodness sake.
+Bailey&Stella Productions I also remember the most basic version of the MK3 golf had the same clock, if you got a version without the tach, then they would substitute it with the big clock and would also delete the digital clock.. I had one of those and never, ever distracted me at all, I actually kind of liked it.
All the way to the Mk3 Golf? I know for sure the Mk1 and Mk2 Golfs had a clock when the tacho should be...it seems to be a funny criticism to me. Clearly Edmonds is testing a bare bones vehicle, even in 1979, so to rip on the equipment level seems odd especially when it was fairly common in small cars back then. This review definitely caused a stir at Fiat though, can't say I blame them.
Though Edmonds's odiousness is beyond doubt, BL's cars have demonstrably outlasted those of Fiat UK from the same period. A quick search of the number of Metros or even Itals still around in the UK vs Fiat Stradas is a clear example. (and that's dispite the Metro once being Britain's most scrapped vehicle [then again we did build over 2 million of 'em]) The Strada had good points, but rust protection certainly was its biggest weakness.
My wife had 1979 Strada in blue. (Azure on the label.) He dad bought it for $50 in 1990 or so, put a few hours into getting it running, and gave it to her for her first car. The passenger seat was permanently slightly reclined. Over a few years we replaced a some parts here and there. some of the switches got replaced with toggle stitches when the plastic ones broke. Heater blower, etc. The door handles were notorious for breaking and finding parts was challenging pre-internet. The window handles broke off, too. Actually one of those might have been missing when she got it. We kept a pair of 6 inch vice grips clamped on the passenger side to roll the window up and down. The driver side window stopped working all together at some point. Freaked out a cop once when she opened the door instead of rolling the window down. Replaced the clutch after a trip into the mountains -- it literally gave out pulling into our driveway. The service manual covered the Strada and X-1/9. It developed a short that caused the battery to drain overnight unless you unhooked the battery when you parked it. Never did find it. Then we sold it for $500. We included the vice grips and repair manual.
Having driven them all, yes it was certainly comparable. In the bigger-engine versions it was probably more fun as they did base it on 128 running gear. Edmonds still owned a GT40 around this time, didn't he? So stepping out of that into a budget-market Fiat was going to be hard to impress!
Für die Zeit damals zu modern und weit voraus, die wie es man damala noch nannte Stoßstange, war wie heute weit hochgezogen um besser zu schützen und Aerodynamisch auch besser. Das fehlt heute, Design das sich abhebt...
It stands out that those britts, put in neon light the small downfalls of a design, mostly those are even subjective to the person in question here noel edmonds. But the strong points, he didn't talked about: economy, ergonomy easy to drive, SAFETY it had a reinforced frame and door bars !! already in 1979 pedestrian safety due to the PVC bumper who doesn't stick out< futuristic design If it was that bad, why all car bulders use the same tecnology nowadays?
The speedometer being on the left makes perfect sense if you're sitting on the left side of the car and driving on the right side of the road. Presumably the clock was subbed out for a tach or a blank gauge depending on trim level which makes you wonder why the cluster wasn't made just a bit more modular to put the speedo on the right on right-hand-drive cars.
I think this review showed Noel Edmonds' immaturity. Sure it did not appeal to him. That is not the point. The point is whether it appealed to its target market. How well did it do what is set out to do? Given the number they sold, I think it did.
I had one of these as my first car and being a student was stuck with it for six years. I think the only thing that did not brake or rust was the steering wheel. That said i had the 1500 model and it got thrashed to within an inch of its tollerance and the engine, when it started never let go. I was not sad to see it go, i remember taking a trip to Cornwall with my girlfriend and having to stop every so many miles to undo the petrol cap to let air into the tank.
It's a Bertone!! When changing from lefthand steered to righthand steerded apparently somebody missed that you natuarlly also have to switch speedometer and clock. Design is assuming driver is sitting on the left side. The design is trying to combine what is good about the Golf with what is good about the Renault 5. The way the grille was designed is not that different from the end 70s MG (where for the first time in car history black plastic replaced all the stuff you had to keep polishing to avoid it getting a rust colour instead of chrome look)
The original Strada was a rust bucket, but the later facelifted model from about 1982 was a better car, there was a 130TC from 84/85 which was a very quick machine and very rare now.
My parents next door neighbour had one of these Fiat Strada's - what a pile of shite!! It regularly failed to start in the morning, sounded very, very rough when it did start. More and more rust appeared weekly, in the the end I think the car fell to bits We had a Datsun, ok it rusted (not as bad as the FIAT though), but it was 100% reliable.
Then Fiat threatened to sue the BBC unless they denounced the review, and I'm sure Noel Edmonds was escorted by security from the Fiat stand at an upcoming motor show
@carbiify He likely did, from what I understand, in the "21 years" episode, which can be found here on TH-cam, Edmonds himself said that when he went to a motor show once, and got to the Fiat Pavilion, they "physically escorted him out."
@9atalanta I live in Europe but I saw the US version on a comercial. Funny how Fiat reinforced it with 2 volvo bumbers (metal bumpers) LOL The best version was the abarth 16 Valve 130 HP (Italian version) I drove a diesel myself it was very economic and brought me and my work comapnions everywere the name was Carey,
I drove a facelift Ritmo when I lived in Venezuela. Second facelift model with the Regata door handles and number plate in the rear bumper. Splendid little car... performed well in the high-altitude regions. 1600cc DOHC engine from the Regata. Local Ritmos were trimmed more like Regatas and were marketed as more of a "Junior Executive" car than a family car. In those days, model choices were very limited in Venezuela and the Renault 11 was the Ritmo's only rival. The only other similar-sized cars were the ancient (but cheap) Chevette - a best-seller, and the somewhat pricey Toyota Corolla. The Ford Escort arrived as the Ritmo left the market, replaced by the Fiat Premio, a Brazilian booted version of the Uno. Fiats were loved and respected cars in South America.
My mate had the 105 tc version and later the 130 and both were rocket ships. Ok they were not pretty and both rusted a bit but WHAT great twin cam motors.
i can remember a local rally in stoke on trent at the supreme salt factory in the 80s, all the other cars like the mini escort and capri were dancing around in circles happily, however the starda didint have enough power to even do a doughnut.
Ok... that's fun... but not for a FIAT owner like me! I have a Fiat Uno since 1987 and never, NEVER, broke the engine or needed a deep repair... only the regular maintenance. Rover WAS a Crap!!!
@spu77 Yes I saw it in the USA commercial. But bumpers that sticked out didn't increase safety, only some protection against parking or manouvre damage. ( Making it less safe for pedestrians and also less aerodynamic Let us not forget: Fiat and renault were Pioneers at pedestrian safety in the late 70's due to modern earodynamic bumpers
Yes, those American bumpers were, uh, to die for, especially if you were a pedestrian unfortunate enough to walk in the middle of the motorway (better known as a road, here in North America) precisely when a Fiat Strada was covering that tiny bit of global real estate. While the US government's National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA to the cool kids) study on pedestrian fatalities for the period 1970-1980 does not specifically cite the Fiat Strada in its data, it does recognize the significant issue that only 2% of all vehicle accidents involved pedestrians while 16% of fatalities involved pedestrians. Unfortunately, the report does not indicate what percentage of those fatal pedestrian-inclusive accidents were caused by the pedestrian, either intentionally or unintentionally. So, we must blame the evil machine for 100% of these fatalities. Further, it should be noted that the Carter administration worked tirelessly during this era to see to it that US automobiles had those "5 mph bumpers" which allowed drivers to knee cap pedestrians or gently strike other cars' bumpers without causing damage to the automobile bumper. Kudos to Fiat and Renault for their pioneering effort to make driving on sidewalks safer for pedestrians! See the NHTSA report here: rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/1291/dot_1291_DS1.pdf?
I got a brand new one in 1979...It was a total Epic Failure! The final straw came when is blew a head gasket with only 03650 miles on the odometer. I should have kept my 1975 FIAT 128 Sport L which is now worth a lot of money since it is such a rare car
The mk1's front-end is something one expects from a cash-flushed Soviet Bloc carmaker attempting to be futuristic, yet even the Strada-based 1981 FSO 1.2 prototype's front-end is an improvement. Would be interesting to see what other front-end styling proposals were considered for the mk1 Fiat Strada, surely they must have been better then what ended up being approved for production (aside from one sketch featuring an AMC Pacer-inspired front).
All of them rusted to nothing decades ago. You only got a big clock in the cheap models. Fancy ones had a smaller clock with a tach where the clock is.
@gentil79 Hmm...you didn't see too much Fiats from the 80s than. :) What about Fiat 128 (Eu car of the year), 128 Sport Coupe, Croma ? All nice cars for that time.
@gentil79 Well i don't know about Portugal but Tipo for example have a very good reputation and it is far from rubbish. It was car of the year. Nice looking, good performance in better versions (GranTurismo), reliable and fantastic handling. Uno was good but Tipo not ? Tipo was much better car and it keep price longer than Uno. Croma was very popular too but not so much like Tipo. Lancia Thema and Alfa 164 haved much higher price than Croma so it is not for comparison.
@215alessio The US version had different bumpers (like the ones that you mention) in order to comply with the american regulations. I think that it was compulsory for a car's bumpers to protrude at least 5cm or something like that.
@chris99140 the mark 2 was a bit of an ugly duck but I had it to, the ritmo 1.9 Diesel of 1987 The mark 1 was beautiful and far ahaid of it's time back then in 1979
how where british cars built and designed in those times... not better and often with a old-fashioned appearance.. this car was modern economical and just up-to-date.
you are right that i am not from the uk.. i am german.. but i like your country.. thats not the thing! in my mind german cars of those times were more old-fashioned than cars from italy ore france too.. cardevelopment fom southeurope was..and often still is.. leading in reference to design and new economical technology. i drive since 1989.. and only had italian ore french cars.. and i never had any bigger problems with them.
Yet another biased BBC review. They never tested the Strada 130TC, guess FIAT weren't paying. I had 1986 130tc from new for 4 yrs and thrashed it to fuk near every day of its life. 100% reliable without any electric issues or rust. Never garaged and mostly London drives. Always abused and never cosseted, I was 20 yrs old FFS! Loved it. Epic motor.
it was the first car with plastic parts, now ALL cars have plastic parts. It was very cool for the time. And brought innovation that has been used by other cars...later...
I actually owned a Strada from new and It was'nt a bad car. I liked it because it was radical and did'nt look like your normal family hatch back. Far better value for money than the british equivilant of the time. As for the car in the clip only lasting 9 years, well maybe it got written off in a crash or something?
Design critique is a matter of personal opinion, but he had way less trouble with it than Bob Mayer had with his Strada test car. Maybe because this one came from the Fiat press pool but Mayer usually seems to have borrowed cars from local (Miami) dealers?
I like the Fiat Strada especiallly the Abarth 130 TC which went like shit off a shovel.It really annoys me when celebrities test drive a car and all they do is knock it and make negative comments about it as though the car is too beneath them.It's not as if a millionaire like Noel Edmunds was ever going to own one.In my opinion it was a better car than alot of hatchbacks like the Chevette, Metro and Fiesta despite their reputation for rust.
@DdlyHeadshot I found it a fine car with her own personality and easy to drive, only the steering wheel of hard plastic bothered me (alot) and changed it with an abarth steering wheel of leather but for the rest, I want one back just for the nostalgy Did you had one? if not you don't know
Noel is a right grump , the strada is a great car , head down to your local fiat dealership and decide for yourself.... but beware ..... you will want one !
@novamad65 hihi same for me, great car she was easy to drive and I had fun making rally on dirt roads, a thing I can't do without any other car because the suspension would break
Even if the Strada was appalling, which it wasn't, then that view would lack credibility by being promoted by possibly the most complete and utter knob Britain has ever produced
they rotted, i know. the gaps between the doors were unprecise, you had to re instal, adjust the doors because they were assembled by some Mxron. But meccanically my oh my UNBREACKABLE. 4 independent triangles holding the wheels, With mono leafspring behind and 2 independend arms held by a massive torsion bar in front. you could run it trough the woods as a rallye car due to it's higher clearance , and it glued to the hardroad even in fast corners, no german can match that still today
It was a weird looking car, but it was quite well equipped, reasonably priced, drove OK and easy on petrol, important during an energy crisis. However, the Strada was a rustbucket, very badly made and had awful resale.
Strada Mk1 was a bit ugly - like an Italian Allegro, although it looks vaguely kitschy today. The looks were smoothed out in the Mk2 version with a much improved quad headlamp design. 130TC version was horrifically fast, a true driver's car.
The click was in the right because it was usedom the same tachometer than in the Ritmos which used LHD. And there werw netter equipped versions with à rpm-Meter at that Place. and all that persons that want to tell that Regata was àn other Car: Regata is just the Sedan and Ritmo the hatchback of the Same genetics
By the time I sold my 79 Strada in 84, it was in an advance state of decomposition from rust. All of the cleaning and preventative maintenance in the world can't fix poor metallurgy.
No bang on 1989 or 90 and 30 cos hes just turned 60 now. Which begs the question how old is now edmonds really as hes here looking the same as he does now in 1979. Odd character another cliff richard. And def a nonce. Survived the era of the shady bbc.
these top gear guys are from the UK and they keep theyr tradition high bashing and stereotyping everything that is italian. They don't know that they are feeding a mass hatred towards them and theyr country by doing that continiously even today. Once I watched theyr shows but they kept on nagging about italian cars and i got tired of those clowns. I think these guys aren't so welcome in italy eather, there could always be an alfa or fiat fanatic who steps towards them to manhandle them.
Alessio S Relax! You! They're just opinions. In my country, they always like to bash Chrysler. I like Chrysler, and, have had very good luck with them. You know what? FIAT NOW OWNS CHRYSLER! I like the little Fiat 500! That little fucker is so much fun to drive! Italian cars are the most fun to drive! Fuck what these assholes say! Just love and enjoy these cars! Italians do something nobody else can. They make the most fun cars on the planet!
Alessio S Nonsense. Other episodes of Top Gear are very complimentary about cars such as the Uno, Tipo, Punto, Alfa 164 etc. Smaller Fiats have always sold well in the U.K.
I had a 1982 Strada and loved it to death. Handled beautifully, stopped on a dime, never had to go into the engine or transmission or even take the valve cover off. The 35mpg wasn't too shabby, either. Guess you either love them or hate them, mine was loved.
Always have and always will love the Fiat Strada, Noel you are talking out of your arse!
My first car was an eleven year old ritmo. It was built like a tank. I loved it and spent alot of time fixing it up and had to push start it most mornings. But in those days we were skint and we didn't have youtube or ebay for knowledge or parts or tools. I currently have 2 cinquecentos 97 and 98 as a hobby and love working on them. They don't rust.
Horrid looking car, couldn't agree with him more. Fiat was and always will be shite.
Flibbertigibbet yeah ok gobshite, keep off the glue!
What that man does best
@@Kingdonnerkebab you must be blind
I think Noel was prejudiced for sure, and I don't personally give a crap what he thinks of the design. However, I believe that in the rest of this report (we're only seeing a tiny clip here) Noel showed viewers shoddy unfinished electrics, and some other pretty awful cosmetic faults from the factory. It really was unforgiveable that Fiat UK gave Top Gear an unsorted car to review.
Well..
I had one , FIAT strada , 65CL..! for more than 20years..! ( 1990-2013 )..!
Amazing , BEAUTIFUL car..!
I had it till the island run out of spare parts ..!l
..Cypriot..!
The irony is that a few years after this review, Edmonds was praising the AustinRover lineup in a series of tv ads. Funny how one can have a different opinion when there is some cash lining the pocket! Half of this video is spend lamenting the size of the clock, for goodness sake.
+Bailey&Stella Productions I also remember the most basic version of the MK3 golf had the same clock, if you got a version without the tach, then they would substitute it with the big clock and would also delete the digital clock.. I had one of those and never, ever distracted me at all, I actually kind of liked it.
All the way to the Mk3 Golf? I know for sure the Mk1 and Mk2 Golfs had a clock when the tacho should be...it seems to be a funny criticism to me. Clearly Edmonds is testing a bare bones vehicle, even in 1979, so to rip on the equipment level seems odd especially when it was fairly common in small cars back then. This review definitely caused a stir at Fiat though, can't say I blame them.
'I don't wanna know the time that much' wtf??
Though Edmonds's odiousness is beyond doubt, BL's cars have demonstrably outlasted those of Fiat UK from the same period.
A quick search of the number of Metros or even Itals still around in the UK vs Fiat Stradas is a clear example.
(and that's dispite the Metro once being Britain's most scrapped vehicle [then again we did build over 2 million of 'em])
The Strada had good points, but rust protection certainly was its biggest weakness.
@@jimtaylor294 the exact opposite has happened in europe with every single british car
My wife had 1979 Strada in blue. (Azure on the label.) He dad bought it for $50 in 1990 or so, put a few hours into getting it running, and gave it to her for her first car.
The passenger seat was permanently slightly reclined.
Over a few years we replaced a some parts here and there. some of the switches got replaced with toggle stitches when the plastic ones broke. Heater blower, etc. The door handles were notorious for breaking and finding parts was challenging pre-internet.
The window handles broke off, too. Actually one of those might have been missing when she got it. We kept a pair of 6 inch vice grips clamped on the passenger side to roll the window up and down. The driver side window stopped working all together at some point. Freaked out a cop once when she opened the door instead of rolling the window down.
Replaced the clutch after a trip into the mountains -- it literally gave out pulling into our driveway. The service manual covered the Strada and X-1/9.
It developed a short that caused the battery to drain overnight unless you unhooked the battery when you parked it. Never did find it.
Then we sold it for $500. We included the vice grips and repair manual.
Great car, would buy it again!
I remember someone i knew buying an early model and it went very very rusty very quickly. Apart from that she loved it .
I heard that the boss of Fiat went to his grave hating Edmonds over this review !.
THIS WAS MY FIRST CAR AND IT WAS GREAT...
It's not a bad looking car. I think 'quirky' is a better word for it but it's certainly not ugly.
Having driven them all, yes it was certainly comparable. In the bigger-engine versions it was probably more fun as they did base it on 128 running gear. Edmonds still owned a GT40 around this time, didn't he? So stepping out of that into a budget-market Fiat was going to be hard to impress!
Für die Zeit damals zu modern und weit voraus, die wie es man damala noch nannte Stoßstange, war wie heute weit hochgezogen um besser zu schützen und Aerodynamisch auch besser. Das fehlt heute, Design das sich abhebt...
Brilliant design in my opinion.
I think these cars were very cool looking.
I like the rare design (round door openers and headlights).Is the Twingo mk1 not based on this late 70s car?
It stands out that those britts, put in neon light the small downfalls of a design, mostly those are even subjective to the person in question here noel edmonds.
But the strong points, he didn't talked about: economy, ergonomy easy to drive, SAFETY it had a reinforced frame and door bars !! already in 1979
pedestrian safety due to the PVC bumper who doesn't stick out< futuristic design
If it was that bad, why all car bulders use the same tecnology nowadays?
The speedometer being on the left makes perfect sense if you're sitting on the left side of the car and driving on the right side of the road. Presumably the clock was subbed out for a tach or a blank gauge depending on trim level which makes you wonder why the cluster wasn't made just a bit more modular to put the speedo on the right on right-hand-drive cars.
I think this review showed Noel Edmonds' immaturity. Sure it did not appeal to him. That is not the point. The point is whether it appealed to its target market. How well did it do what is set out to do? Given the number they sold, I think it did.
There are only about 40 Fiat Stradas left in Britain, and 28 are the later facelifted Mk2!!!
Can you tell me where you got this piece of information,please? Thanks a lot.
You can look it up on a site entitled "How Many Left?"
I used to see a B reg Strada convertible in a car park quite often.
I had one of these as my first car and being a student was stuck with it for six years. I think the only thing that did not brake or rust was the steering wheel. That said i had the 1500 model and it got thrashed to within an inch of its tollerance and the engine, when it started never let go. I was not sad to see it go, i remember taking a trip to Cornwall with my girlfriend and having to stop every so many miles to undo the petrol cap to let air into the tank.
It's a Bertone!! When changing from lefthand steered to righthand steerded apparently somebody missed that you natuarlly also have to switch speedometer and clock. Design is assuming driver is sitting on the left side.
The design is trying to combine what is good about the Golf with what is good about the Renault 5. The way the grille was designed is not that different from the end 70s MG (where for the first time in car history black plastic replaced all the stuff you had to keep polishing to avoid it getting a rust colour instead of chrome look)
Still better looking than a Tesla
The original Strada was a rust bucket, but the later facelifted model from about 1982 was a better car, there was a 130TC from 84/85 which was a very quick machine and very rare now.
I got a 1984 Ritmo. It still rusted away pretty quickly, but It was a nice car.
@@hrmfa How many years did it take to rust?
@@seiph80 Sooner than your comment which was 2 years ago. Mine started rusting within the first year of ownership
I wonder if Noel has a change of heart about the car.
My parents next door neighbour had one of these Fiat Strada's - what a pile of shite!! It regularly failed to start in the morning, sounded very, very rough when it did start. More and more rust appeared weekly, in the the end I think the car fell to bits
We had a Datsun, ok it rusted (not as bad as the FIAT though), but it was 100% reliable.
Then Fiat threatened to sue the BBC unless they denounced the review, and I'm sure Noel Edmonds was escorted by security from the Fiat stand at an upcoming motor show
Then Fiat did it again with the Multipla.
I loved the Strada, but the Multipla really was unforgivable!
@@davidburns5027 Well at least Fiat facelifted the Strada and Multipla to make it looks less diseased.
@carbiify He likely did, from what I understand, in the "21 years" episode, which can be found here on TH-cam, Edmonds himself said that when he went to a motor show once, and got to the Fiat Pavilion, they "physically escorted him out."
The final comment reminds me of a lot of the interesting comments Jeremy Clarkson has said over the years on vehicles etc ;)
@9atalanta I live in Europe but I saw the US version on a comercial. Funny how Fiat reinforced it with 2 volvo bumbers (metal bumpers) LOL
The best version was the abarth 16 Valve 130 HP (Italian version)
I drove a diesel myself it was very economic and brought me and my work comapnions everywere
the name was Carey,
Good looking car..
I had 2 - one of these original models and one of the facelifts - great cars. I enjoyed my R11 too - I bet Noel voted Brexit
I drove a facelift Ritmo when I lived in Venezuela. Second facelift model with the Regata door handles and number plate in the rear bumper. Splendid little car... performed well in the high-altitude regions. 1600cc DOHC engine from the Regata. Local Ritmos were trimmed more like Regatas and were marketed as more of a "Junior Executive" car than a family car. In those days, model choices were very limited in Venezuela and the Renault 11 was the Ritmo's only rival. The only other similar-sized cars were the ancient (but cheap) Chevette - a best-seller, and the somewhat pricey Toyota Corolla. The Ford Escort arrived as the Ritmo left the market, replaced by the Fiat Premio, a Brazilian booted version of the Uno.
Fiats were loved and respected cars in South America.
Prefer the mk2 Fiat Strada particularly the 130TC Abarth though a pity it never received the fuel-injected 16v 135-155 hp 2.0 Twin-Cam engines.
My mate had the 105 tc version and later the 130 and both were rocket ships. Ok they were not pretty and both rusted a bit but WHAT great twin cam motors.
i can remember a local rally in stoke on trent at the supreme salt factory in the 80s, all the other cars like the mini escort and capri were dancing around in circles happily, however the starda didint have enough power to even do a doughnut.
FWD hows he gonna doughnut?
I can imagine Jeremy Clarkson saying what Noel Edmonds said at 0:55 lmao
Ok... that's fun... but not for a FIAT owner like me! I have a Fiat Uno since 1987 and never, NEVER, broke the engine or needed a deep repair... only the regular maintenance. Rover WAS a Crap!!!
@spu77 Yes I saw it in the USA commercial. But bumpers that sticked out didn't increase safety, only some protection against parking or manouvre damage. (
Making it less safe for pedestrians and also less aerodynamic
Let us not forget: Fiat and renault were Pioneers at pedestrian safety in the late 70's due to modern earodynamic bumpers
Yes, those American bumpers were, uh, to die for, especially if you were a pedestrian unfortunate enough to walk in the middle of the motorway (better known as a road, here in North America) precisely when a Fiat Strada was covering that tiny bit of global real estate. While the US government's National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA to the cool kids) study on pedestrian fatalities for the period 1970-1980 does not specifically cite the Fiat Strada in its data, it does recognize the significant issue that only 2% of all vehicle accidents involved pedestrians while 16% of fatalities involved pedestrians. Unfortunately, the report does not indicate what percentage of those fatal pedestrian-inclusive accidents were caused by the pedestrian, either intentionally or unintentionally. So, we must blame the evil machine for 100% of these fatalities. Further, it should be noted that the Carter administration worked tirelessly during this era to see to it that US automobiles had those "5 mph bumpers" which allowed drivers to knee cap pedestrians or gently strike other cars' bumpers without causing damage to the automobile bumper.
Kudos to Fiat and Renault for their pioneering effort to make driving on sidewalks safer for pedestrians!
See the NHTSA report here: rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/1291/dot_1291_DS1.pdf?
I got a brand new one in 1979...It was a total Epic Failure! The final straw came when is blew a head gasket with only 03650 miles on the odometer. I should have kept my 1975 FIAT 128 Sport L which is now worth a lot of money since it is such a rare car
The mk1's front-end is something one expects from a cash-flushed Soviet Bloc carmaker attempting to be futuristic, yet even the Strada-based 1981 FSO 1.2 prototype's front-end is an improvement. Would be interesting to see what other front-end styling proposals were considered for the mk1 Fiat Strada, surely they must have been better then what ended up being approved for production (aside from one sketch featuring an AMC Pacer-inspired front).
Let’s face facts most mass produced cars in 1979 were completely shite.
I’d rather have the clock on the left of the instrument section too. I don’t mind how big it is though. How reliable was the Strada?
The spring connecting the accelaerator to the carb snapped on my mine. A random bloke gave me a random spring and I was on my way again.
i LOVE THIS CAR I wish i could have one but ive never seen a Fiat
All of them rusted to nothing decades ago. You only got a big clock in the cheap models. Fancy ones had a smaller clock with a tach where the clock is.
0:14 why is the highway empty, oh that's right, every was on strike
But what do you really think of it Noel?
@gentil79 Hmm...you didn't see too much Fiats from the 80s than. :)
What about Fiat 128 (Eu car of the year), 128 Sport Coupe, Croma ? All nice cars for that time.
Which episode is this from? I'd love to see the full segment.
@gentil79 Well i don't know about Portugal but Tipo for example have a very good reputation and it is far from rubbish. It was car of the year.
Nice looking, good performance in better versions (GranTurismo), reliable and fantastic handling.
Uno was good but Tipo not ? Tipo was much better car and it keep price longer than Uno.
Croma was very popular too but not so much like Tipo.
Lancia Thema and Alfa 164 haved much higher price than Croma so it is not for comparison.
Where he stops the car at the end is the exact same place Richard Hammond jumped out of the pink Nissan Micra CC on new TG and walked away from it...
interestingly, fiat threatened to sue Edmunds! my how times have changed, Clarkson would be skint nowadays
Clarkson would have at least been funny in the delivery. Edmonds always was as dull as dishwater.
Have you ever seen how Clarkson virtually butchered the Vectra in 1996?
^ Yes, but said car wholly deserved it. Its successor was given due credit for being a dramatic improvement.
You mean the Insignia, or the Vectra C?
@@lucylocket4740 The Insignia.
Clarkson was quite complimentary of that one.
@novamad65, My wife's first car was also a Fiat Strada and I really liked it as well!
Do you remember the noise it made? Oh... fantastic!
@9atalanta absolutely I am searching one to drive it again, I am nostalgic
How the hell did he keep getting work in TV??
I loathe the man, but he's a hugely experienced, very capable presenter who can think on his feet.
@215alessio The US version had different bumpers (like the ones that you mention) in order to comply with the american regulations. I think that it was compulsory for a car's bumpers to protrude at least 5cm or something like that.
Heck this Strada still taxed Registered March 1979
wow you'r from the states and know about the Ritmo/Strada
The 130TC had a nice instrument panel. maybe the most beautiful fiat ever made!
@chris99140 the mark 2 was a bit of an ugly duck but I had it to, the ritmo 1.9 Diesel of 1987
The mark 1 was beautiful and far ahaid of it's time back then in 1979
how where british cars built and designed in those times... not better and often with a old-fashioned appearance.. this car was modern economical and just up-to-date.
you are right that i am not from the uk.. i am german.. but i like your country.. thats not the thing! in my mind german cars of those times were more old-fashioned than cars from italy ore france too.. cardevelopment fom southeurope was..and often still is.. leading in reference to design and new economical technology. i drive since 1989.. and only had italian ore french cars.. and i never had any bigger problems with them.
Yet another biased BBC review. They never tested the Strada 130TC, guess FIAT weren't paying. I had 1986 130tc from new for 4 yrs and thrashed it to fuk near every day of its life. 100% reliable without any electric issues or rust. Never garaged and mostly London drives. Always abused and never cosseted, I was 20 yrs old FFS! Loved it. Epic motor.
it was the first car with plastic parts, now ALL cars have plastic parts. It was very cool for the time. And brought innovation that has been used by other cars...later...
fiat ritmo is beatiful car!!!!!
I actually owned a Strada from new and It was'nt a bad car. I liked it because it was radical and did'nt look like your normal family hatch back. Far better value for money than the british equivilant of the time. As for the car in the clip only lasting 9 years, well maybe it got written off in a crash or something?
Even considering the tiny engines Fiat used at the time, is it really so underpowered that he has to do 40-45mph along what appears to be a motorway?
This was called a ritmo in mainland europe .... but was called strada because ritmo was a condom brand in the uk i think
Design critique is a matter of personal opinion, but he had way less trouble with it than Bob Mayer had with his Strada test car. Maybe because this one came from the Fiat press pool but Mayer usually seems to have borrowed cars from local (Miami) dealers?
Noel edmunds doing a Clarkson way before Jeremy came on the scene 😅
The limeys shoud rather brush their teeth than criticizing other country products
I know Noel Edmonds but who is the other guy?
1978 Fiat Strada was an great car Noel...
I like the Fiat Strada especiallly the Abarth 130 TC which went like shit off a shovel.It really annoys me when celebrities test drive a car and all they do is knock it and make negative comments about it as though the car is too beneath them.It's not as if a millionaire like Noel Edmunds was ever going to own one.In my opinion it was a better car than alot of hatchbacks like the Chevette, Metro and Fiesta despite their reputation for rust.
This was my first car and it was a lemon. I eventually abandoned it at a garage.
tbh that clock is mental.
Fiat Strada, Deal or no Deal?!!
@DdlyHeadshot
I found it a fine car with her own personality and easy to drive, only the steering wheel of hard plastic bothered me (alot) and changed it with an abarth steering wheel of leather but for the rest, I want one back just for the nostalgy
Did you had one? if not you don't know
I'd like to find a Mk1 Strada these days.
Noel is a right grump , the strada is a great car , head down to your local fiat dealership and decide for yourself.... but beware ..... you will want one !
@novamad65 hihi same for me, great car she was easy to drive
and I had fun making rally on dirt roads, a thing I can't do without any other car because the suspension would break
@215alessio do you remember the US version?
Wasn't the Yugo based on this?
Even if the Strada was appalling, which it wasn't, then that view would lack credibility by being promoted by possibly the most complete and utter knob Britain has ever produced
he needs to have a chat with mr blobby. what a self loving prat edmonds is !!!!
i kinda like the looks
they rotted, i know. the gaps between the doors were unprecise, you had to re instal, adjust the doors because they were assembled by some Mxron.
But meccanically my oh my UNBREACKABLE.
4 independent triangles holding the wheels, With mono leafspring behind and 2 independend arms held by a massive torsion bar in front.
you could run it trough the woods as a rallye car due to it's higher clearance , and
it glued to the hardroad even in fast corners, no german can match that still today
if you ate salty crisps near a strada it rotted,the electrics?dont go there.
@19GirlBad I think it's Steve Berry.
Good god O------O
It was a weird looking car, but it was quite well equipped, reasonably priced, drove OK and easy on petrol, important during an energy crisis. However, the Strada was a rustbucket, very badly made and had awful resale.
Strada Mk1 was a bit ugly - like an Italian Allegro, although it looks vaguely kitschy today. The looks were smoothed out in the Mk2 version with a much improved quad headlamp design. 130TC version was horrifically fast, a true driver's car.
The click was in the right because it was usedom the same tachometer than in the Ritmos which used LHD.
And there werw netter equipped versions with à rpm-Meter at that Place. and all that persons that want to tell that Regata was àn other Car: Regata is just the Sedan and Ritmo the hatchback of the Same genetics
By the time I sold my 79 Strada in 84, it was in an advance
state of decomposition from rust. All of the cleaning and preventative
maintenance in the world can't fix poor metallurgy.
theres a 1982 strada with 55k miles on ebay now for less than £2000
Believe it or not, they sold them in the USA from 1978 to 1982.
@charliegaze Ok, thanks a lot.
best car ever
And all from the man who thought Mr Blobby was comedy.
@mickeymoose76 Mark said "A CLOCK THAT BIG"... :)
@maxpowers518 yes and the beegees
Wasn't this guy in ABBA? lol
@charliegaze Was Jeremy Clarckson there already?
Not quite. His time came acfew years on from this.
No bang on 1989 or 90 and 30 cos hes just turned 60 now. Which begs the question how old is now edmonds really as hes here looking the same as he does now in 1979. Odd character another cliff richard. And def a nonce. Survived the era of the shady bbc.
these top gear guys are from the UK and they keep theyr tradition high bashing and stereotyping everything that is italian.
They don't know that they are feeding a mass hatred towards them and theyr country by doing that continiously even today.
Once I watched theyr shows but they kept on nagging about italian cars and i got tired of those clowns.
I think these guys aren't so welcome in italy eather, there could always be an alfa or fiat fanatic who steps towards them to manhandle them.
Alessio S Relax! You! They're just opinions. In my country, they always like to bash Chrysler. I like Chrysler, and, have had very good luck with them. You know what? FIAT NOW OWNS CHRYSLER! I like the little Fiat 500! That little fucker is so much fun to drive! Italian cars are the most fun to drive! Fuck what these assholes say! Just love and enjoy these cars! Italians do something nobody else can. They make the most fun cars on the planet!
Alessio S Nonsense. Other episodes of Top Gear are very complimentary about cars such as the Uno, Tipo, Punto, Alfa 164 etc. Smaller Fiats have always sold well in the U.K.