Fiat Marea

First thing I can think of is the cam belt. It'll be expensive on that engine, but certainly cheaper than a new engine.

Yep, get cambelt done IMMEDIATELY - best price is around £399 at powerfiat, which includes a change of waterpump, cambelt and all tensioners. It is essential that this is done, otherwise your nice shiny little Fiat will almost certainly go bang. Other than that the Marea is essentially a Brava with a boot, galvanised body so rust is no longer an issue, on the whole they're a good solid motor which was never really that popular. The engine in yours is the exact same one as is in the Bravo HGT and the Fiat Coupe, so it should have plenty of get up and go :)

Oh, and pay a visit to the Fiat Bravo forum -

Hellraiser.........>

I have taken the Marea to my local independant garage and he as quoted £313 for the cambelt, with all labour and belts included. He says that he has done both the Marea and the Coup without taking the engine out. Concidering that I bought the Marea for £400 on Ebay and it has Air-Con, and Auto-Mart have the same car and spec as this one but with a value of £2k, I think I have a good deal even with a cam belt change at plus £300. I asked which car to keep as I have Peugeot 406 1.8 LX 1997 with 85k and he says the Fiat Marea 20v as it is a rare car and with a better chance of becoming a 'classic' in the future.

Brian

Thanks for the info, I have logged

To be fair, an overweight 1.8 French piece of muck versus a high-powered piece of Italian engineering - there would be no contest in my book :)

Hope you enjoy the Marea, that 20v engine sounds so good when pushed! One thing, does that 313 quid include a new waterpump as well? Best to get that done at the same time as they are driven off the cambelt, saves potential future expense should the pump seize.

Hellraiser..........>

Not even that. It is a quick car.

Make sure you do this free mod: :-)