Sensible Secondhand Classics: 1990 Fiat Tempra 1.8 i.e. SX - Lloyd Vehicle Consulting
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Welcome to Sensible Secondhand Classics, the series where we take a sensible classic car worth between £1000 and £5000 and put it through its paces in a very straightforward manner! This time, as we drive a 1990 Fiat Tempra 1.8 i.e. SX, we get confused about parking lights (again), discover the wonders of a digital dashboard, become outraged about climate control which does not feature air conditioning and generally experience little of any consequence at all. Nothing untoward then!
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As an independent vehicle consultant, I take potential buyers through the whole car buying process from choosing a make and model to a vehicle handover and road tax. In addition to information on this service, I also have a selection of written and video reviews of cars that I have owned, hired, borrowed or have somehow come into my possession. Please use the Contact Me page on my website to get in touch, visit my Facebook page for latest updates and share this video if you like it! Thank you for watching.
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Thanks Joseph. Glad you enjoyed it.
The check control panel works, but only tells you when something is wrong or a door is open etc. The front windows do work without the key, but only when the door is open. The wipers have at least 8 settings, and can cope with everything the British weather can throw at you - they do take some understanding though!
As well as climate with no aircon, it has an automatic heated driver’s seat - no button, just comes on with the cabin heat settings. Now THAT is weird….
The button on the ignition barrel is to turn on the parking lights. That’s why the parking lights were on every time you took the key out. 👍
Thank you, sir! A very rare car which is quite pleasant to drive, actually. Once informed by an expert in 1990s (looks like we have more than such person who has seen this review), everything does seem to make a lot more sense, but is no less interesting...
Absolutely on a roll with the classic Fiats MR Lloyd, very good indeed. I do love the digital dash on these.
Sir, it's still not over yet, either! The digital dashboard was indeed very interesting.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting
It's fantastic, a very comfortable, well equipped car. Why would anyone buy the equivalent Ford Orion, even in Ghia spec, still wasn't aswell appointed as the Fiat.
@@paulie-Gualtieri. , sir, I have no answer to that question other than the Ford marketing machine and Fiat's own terrible reputation at the time.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting
Yes I would agree there, I do think the Fiat is the better car all round to be honest.
@@paulie-Gualtieri. , I think that if we are talking about the 1990 Mark III Orion, then most definitely.
I had a SW version, but no digital dash......but my Tipo did have the digital dash.
If you withdraw the key from ignition without pressing the little black button then lights do not stay elumininated.
My later Lancia Dedra 1800, based on the same floor pan( I believe )had the very cool rear blinds...lovely.
Great review as always...thanks.
Thank you, Ian! Yes, I think I have now been educated about the parking lights, having made the same mistake in the Mark I Punto review. The Dedra was indeed based on the same floorpan. Yet more to come from this collection soon!
Another cracking Fiat . I’d love this one myself
It's an absolutely amazing car. Out of the five cars in Mr Bushby's collection I filmed on the day, this was probably my favourite.
A very attractive looking car
I remember when the Tempra first came out and I thought then it was an attractive looking car and all these years later haven't changed my opinion.
Great review Joseph
I was very blessed to be able to have a go in this one, sir, as they are just so unbelievably rare! I do think that it was quite a successful design.
So much better looking than a Vauxhall Belmont or a Ford Orion.
@@chrislockey7706 , I think it is a bigger car than both of them too!
Glad to see such rare and well kept Tempra. I've got one with almost same age and mileage, which interior and exterior looks identical. The "parking lights" function is activated when the key is rotated to switch off and the black button is simultaneously pressed. The electronic check only has lights on if anything is inoperative or below the limit levels (oil/radiator fluid/windshield washer) or even if doors are opened. If the buttons of tot/trip and trip are simultaneously pressed, all the lights appear. There is also the button to regulate the dashboard luminosity. Compliments from Portugal.
Well, the owner has made exactly the same comments you just did, so I pinned his comment at the top! Typically Italian weirdness, you just have to know about this stuff, don't you? I quite liked this car, however. Thank you ever so much indeed for watching all the way from Portugal, more from this collection coming soon.
Had the TDSX some years ago. Was a brilliant motor, and the Digi dash was always a talking point!
It was pretty exciting, wasn't it? Thank you ever so much indeed for watching and subscribing.
I had a 1991 1.6 SX manual in same colour and interior as a company car. I clocked up 60k plus miles in it in 2 years without any issues. Fond memories
Thank you, Richard! Yes, these are surprisingly wonderful cars, although they are very rare now.
I really like this Joseph!
It looks modern, with many conveniences that many modern vehicles do not come standard, like the rear blind, full electric windows, rear armrest, to name a few.
It's a very interesting car, sir, with all sorts of weird features which are most endearing. Thank you for watching!
I own a 1.6 carburettor 1999 fiat tempra in egypt, it's kinda common here in egypt, it just came with almost no features and you have to add them yourself (like aircon, rear electric windows, etc), but generally i love it and i like it's fuel economy is not the worst, but most commonly in Turkey it's everywhere there because they assembled it widely in the 90s, thanks for the video.
Yes, from what I understand, these were sold in Egypt for far, far longer than in Western Europe. I would imagine that you would definitely need air conditioning over there! Thank you ever so much indeed for watching.
A lovely example of a Tempra, neighbours over the road from my parents had one in the mid nineties after a couple of Tipos. A excellent Review as always Sir.
We aim to please, sir! Glad you enjoyed the video, this is indeed a very lovely car.
The styling on these are amazing my best friend's parents had one in the mid 90's, they loved it. It felt massive in the back, compared to my Dad's 3 door Suzuki Vitara. Another excellent review.
It's a car that has aged surprisingly well, actually. Rarity seems to have made them much more interesting too. Thank you ever so much indeed for watching again, sir!
Very nice sir! Can’t beat a bit of 90s FIAT content!
There is still more from this collection to come, sir!
Thankyou for your video Mr Lloyd, I hadn’t seen a Tempra in a few years, I think the last time was around 2001! That was a white 1.6 on an L reg plate.
They are a rare sight on uk roads as you said.
I used to own a 1.4 Tipo from 1991, it was a J reg poverty spec with a carburettor with an auto choke I think, it had keep fit windows all around as well, it drove very well and was a very practical car and roomy.
Sadly it met its end in a head on collision down a country lane.
Sir, that is a shame your Tipo met its end like that. I do hope to drive a Tipo as well soon, as I think I know where one of these is. The 1.4 would have had a Lampredi engine, I believe, rather like the Yugo Sana Mr Pink has...
@@lloydvehicleconsulting Good engines, great on fuel as well.
Yes I was gutted, it happened in late 2004 and I hadn’t had her long , Ironically the Car that hit us was also a Fiat, a late 80’s Panda, although that came off worse than my Tipo but both cars were write offs, luckily nobody was seriously injured, just cuts and bruises.
@@willswheels283 , sir, I am surprised the Panda was so crash resistant, they weren't know for it back in the day, were they?
@@lloydvehicleconsulting The Panda hit me and literally bounced backwards into a hedge, the whole front end caved in and the steering wheel pinned the driver into her seat, fortunately like I said she didn’t have any serious injuries externally or internally.
The Tipo was written off as the mid to left hand side was smashed in, the roof was creased but oddly the windscreen had no cracks.
I remember feeling really sad seeing the state of both cars and seeing coolant spewing out of my car.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting No the early Pandas were quite tinny, but there was a 4x4 Sisley version so they had to be reasonably tough.
The parking lights and * on the dash have already been answered but I think that the windows can only be operated without the key for a small amount of time before closing the door after removing key from ignition barrel. It saves you having to put key back in again and turning ignition back on again.
Thank you, John! That all makes sense, it is a very highly specified car from the time, and both Mr Bushby and I think it is absolutely brilliant.
I had an H-reg 1.6 version of this between August 1998 and January 2000. One of the best cars I have ever owned, and had it not been for the temptations of cheap finance I would have kept it longer, instead of swapping it for a year -old Marea.
The 'star' button next to the front foglight switch was to adjust the instrument panel brightness.
Fiats at the time had an odd parking light arrangement that consisted of an additional key position beyond the STOP position, that could be accessed by pressing the small button next to the barrel. That is what you've been doing, which is why the lights appear to always be on. In normal stopping you should be able to remove the key without turning it back to this position, so maybe there's a fault with this particular ignition barrel.
Thank you very much indeed for watching and commenting! Made the same mistake as well on the Mark I Punto I reviewed the same day (link in the description below). I really enjoyed this car, even more than I was expecting. Fiats from the early 1990s were indeed still very quirky, weren't they?
@@lloydvehicleconsulting Yes, I suppose they were - although as I grew up with them, my dad having bought a string of them right back to 1970, several years before I was born, I didn't really think of them that way!
@@royale4318 , we have another car from this collection coming up on the channel in a few days' time, which I think you may also find most intriguing....
@@lloydvehicleconsulting I will look forward to it with interest! Keep up the good work. 👍
@@royale4318 , no problem at all, coming up on Saturday.
Yes. You look like the cat that got the cream when behind the wheel of this, and with that dashboard, I would be too
Yes, sir! We did very much enjoy ourselves with this very much. That dashboard is far too exciting, isn't it?
I owned a Dedra many years ago and I imagine it has the same wipers - 1 fast speed and several intermittent. It also had climate control with no aircon which was a real luxury back then and my one was possibly unique in that the controls were upside down in that the demister blew air to the footwells and vice versa.
That's very interesting. The Dedras weren't exactly common over here, were they? Climate control on a car like this seems ridiculously luxurious for 1990, I must say, even without the air conditioning component.
I had a 2.0 Stationwagen back in the day. Great car.
I was really blessed to have been able to have a go in this. A truly superb example of a very rare car. Thank you ever so much indeed for watching and commenting!
Does look a little bit like the early 1990s Passat too. Love the digital dash!
We do like a nice digital dashboard, sir!
1990s Fiats came with an ignition switch which turned off the lights when the engine was switched off. This feature was to guard against leaving on lights overnight and draining the battery. There was, however, a position just beyond the off position on the ignition switch that allowed the driver to intentionally leave the sidelights on while parking at night yet still remove the keys and lock the vehicle. I think that you simply turned the keys one position too far before removing them.
I remember very good seats in the Tempra, lovely gearchange and a lovely cosseting ride.
That special crazy supersonic wiper action was very funny. It was alleged to keep the windscreen clearer than conventional wiper settings. I'm not sure if it actually was successful or merely a gimmick but it was very strange.
With the high bootlid rear visibility was hopeless.
A very interesting alternative though to Sierras, Montegos, Cavaliers and Peugeot 405s.
I wonder do the Tipo and Tempra share doors like the Landcrab, the Maxi and the Austin 3 litre or Peugeot 205 and 309 ?
Yes sir, I have had an awful lot of comments about the parking lights now, even from Mr Bushby himself. I wish I had asked him about it before I started filming...
The ride and handling are pretty good, we also liked the strange wiper action (although not as much as Ian Seabrook would). Will have to ask Mr Bushby if the doors are the same as the Tipo, I wouldn't know that myself....
Thanks for this video! I have read about this car, but I don't think any came to New Zealand. Odd, given that the Tipo was regarded highly by the Kiwi motoring press and the later Bravas were sold here. I thought it looked like a Lancia...
They weren't big sellers over here, really. The Tipo was far more likely to appeal to buyers in New Zealand, I would have thought.
Great review again. I really liked these, particularly in burgundy with the alloys. I wish my dad had got one of these instead of a dreadful J plate Orion. The Tempra would, I’m sure, have been a much better all-rounder. I particularly like the quirks and it seems incredibly well equipped and thought out (provided the owner took the time to work out all the features). I feel as though these were probably overlooked by many people,but would have made a much better and more interesting alternative to a lot of the more mundane, mainstream contemporaneous models which hugely outsold it. Growing up near King’s Lynn there was a very nice Fiat / Proton / Lada franchise called Premier garage, and I can remember there occasionally being a shiny new Tempra lined up ready for collection. Lucky new owner!
Thank you, sir! We do like these with the alloy wheels. The early Mark III Orions were not great cars, the ones after 1992 were better. This one seems more spacious and much more advanced than an Orion.
These Tempras were not common at all the time, and far less so now, of course. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Agreed. When our J plate Orion was traded in for a brand new Carina E in 1995 the area around the petrol cap was already rusting despite it being garaged and regularly washed by me! I have a Tempra brochure from the time. I recall it making quite a feature of the Tempra being heavily galvanized. I don't remember them rusting much, as the one you drove bears testimony to!
@@robertevans8161 , that is right, the Tempra was very heavily promoted as being fully galvanised since Fiat had an appalling reputation for rust by then. Mind you, Fords and Vauxhalls were really bad at the time too!
Enjoyed this - similar to the Top Gear one tested by Chris Goffey
I think we have one of the only contemporary Tempra Saloon reviews on TH-cam, sir!
I LOVE this car ❤
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Goffey Tempra watched other day, my first 5 cars Lancia Dead Rats ( Dedra's )
Would most certainly like to try one of those Lancia Dedras, sir.
Local 1990 Tempra Joseph Keswick Motors Fiat still in business today 👌👌👌👌similar colour to my Dad's early B Reg Regata saloon he had from 1987 to 1988
Thanks Neil! Glad you enjoyed the video. Haven't been to Keswick for years. Would love to try a Regata, but they are even rarer than the Tempras!
@@lloydvehicleconsulting Yes they are Joseph my Dad had 2 a saloon and the Weekend estate version then got a 1988 Fiat Croma I.E Super lovely big car owned from 1990 to 1997 the Croma shared the platform known as the Type 4 platform with the SAAB 9000 Lancia Thema and Alfa 164 the Thema and the SAAB shared the same doors as the Croma hatch👌👌👌
My goodness me, sir, everything you mention is unbelievably rare, apart from possibly the Saab 9000. We enjoyed the 164 we drove last year...
I owned a 1990 H reg Fiat Tempra between 2000 and 2001! The Italian chap I bought it from turned out to be a work colleague of a friend of mine. 😁 Not as nice or exciting to drive as this example - it was a 1.4 base that I later discovered ran on 3 cylinders! So I doubt I was able to unleash all of that 78 bhp. 😅 It was in that solid shade of orangey red that was common on Fiat's in the early 1990s. It was a pain to drive with no power steering and the 'letter box' rear window. It didn't even have a rev counter or a sunroof. The seat upholstery was grey velour but the sides and seat backs were black vinyl. Sadly I ended up crashing it into the back of an F reg VW Polo breadvan. 😒
At that same time my soon-to-be-ex brother in law owned a much nicer 1991 J reg 1.6 carburettor SX in white. It had the digital dashboard that this 1.8 ie had and the rear blinds too. He sourced a set of Marea wheel trims for it.
I can't believe that you had two Tempras in the family at around the same time, sir! The 1.4 base model sounds absolutely miserable, and not really in a good way. Did the Polo come off worse or the Tempra in the end? Hope everyone was OK. I am sure Marea wheeltrims would fit just fine.
@@lloydvehicleconsulting The Polo I crashed into withstood the rear damage very well (living up to the classic perception of Volkswagens) but my Fiat was badly smashed in. I was OK, I felt very bad for the female driver as she had her young son in a child seat in the rear. They were OK thank heavens and I instantly accepted liability for it. During a telephone call where the insurance claim was being finalised the Polo driver told me that she was getting £800 while I was getting just £600 or thereabouts for my Fiat.
@@mattw8332 , sir, sadly back in the day Fiat saloons did depreciate much worse than Polos, didn't they? It may still be the same situation today with the Tipo Saloon and current generation Polo.
I do love a digital dash
It was a lot of fun, wasn't it?
@@lloydvehicleconsulting I have one from a Nova GTE (I think) which I'm eventually going to fit in my AW11
That's a fantastic car
Yes, sir! It is rather nice, isn't it?
I have yet to see one in Inspector Wexford...
They weren't exactly common back in the day over here, sir...
Alfa 90 = Premium luxe upmarket 75, though not. Mostly V6's ? EU only Lancia Lybria kinda follow on to 90 ?
I have actually reviewed an Alfa 90 on Tweed Jacket Reviews! Really, really rare cars. The only ones sold in the UK had the 2.5 V6.
Still available if have I will buy
I am afraid that it is not for sale...
The reason you can't turn off the lights is because it's italian 😅
There's a separate parking light switch that I missed, because I am an idiot....
4th
Well done, sir!