Talk:Fiat X1/9

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Contents 1 Story 2 Young Owner 3 Porsche 914 was mid engined, may lay claim to being first affordable one. 4 Images

[edit] Story

I had a 1974 X1/9, the first year it was in production. It was a great car, handled very well, but only had 66.5 bhp. The mid-engine layout promoted oversteer, if it was driven hard. Cost $4,500 at about 10k miles old. Sold it in 1986/7 for $1,600, but wish I have keep it as a restoration project when I retire.

[edit] Young Owner

My dad's just bought me a 1982 one as a 1st car, hoping for cheap classic insurance (its ridiculous for a 19yr old male new driver!). Most places don't want to know until you're 21, and the others want £3-4k- i.e. about the same as a modern car. So annoyed.

On the one hand I sympathize, as a former X1/9 owner - it's not that powerful but it's a great driver's car, and really the insurance shouldn't be that steep. However, on the other hand, I have to say that young male drivers have created this situation for themselves. I'm not saying YOU are irresponsible or a bad driver, no doubt you're one of the exceptions that prove the rule - but statistically, well, you know the score. If you see a ricer scorching up a high-street at a completely inappropriate speed, driven by an 18 yr-old chav with his stereo knocking out windows as he goes; if you see a group of teenagers staggering around in a daze because their "ride" has just been wrapped around a tree; if you get hit by an uninsured 15yo joyrider; the next time your mate shows of this cool new move he saw on "The Fast and the Furious", or spins his wheels to impress the girls outside a nightclub (hint: it doesn't) - well, perhaps you can begin to see the way the insurance companies of this world view the culture. Until this changes and the statistics improve, your premiums will be exorbitant, and rightly so. But probably by the time you see it their way, you will be old enough to get much cheaper insurance! Graham 01:26, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Porsche 914 was mid engined, may lay claim to being first affordable one.

"The Porsche 914 of 1969 had a similar design-brief but was considerably more expensive than the X1/9 and was of rear-engined layout rather than the mid-engined layout of the X1/9." Footnote 4 claims that the 914 was rear-engined. It was most definitely mid engined. I don't know if this effects the claim to being "Intended to be the first affordable mid-engined sports car". I intend to revise the footnote, but would like to know if others feel that the claim is effected.

I must admit I have problems with the claim too, which was added recently. I think Fiat were not actually out to create an affordable sports car, but just had the idea to make a cool concept car using the 128 parts bin. Production followed (hastily) after more interest than expected was shown. The fact that it was cheap was because, well, it was a Fiat. In fact if they'd spent a few more months productionising it properly, it might have been a bit less troublesome in its early days. Having said that, this is all my own view - so perhaps if there are documents stating Fiat's aims that are contrary to this, I might be proved wrong. Graham 11:31, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Re' "affordable" tag; Bertone were commissioned to create the 128 Spider, the bottom of the rage convertible car (equivalent to the Punto Cabrio'), the fact that Nuccio Bertone convinced FIAT to adopt the radical mid-engined Runabout concept over a more conventional version of the 128 doesn’t detract from it's position in the model range (ie "budget"). The X1/9 never realised its low-cost nature in the UK due to import taxes and a high premium aimed at the RHD variant which diverted production resources from the much more profitable (LHD) US market. This put the X1/9 (in the UK) up in the same price range as the MGB and TR7 whereas it was intended to compete in the Midget/Spitfire price-bracket.Mjdk 17:39, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, sorry, 914 is blatantly mid-engined. Even though it used the same engine used in VW and Porsche cars in rear-engined layout, the 914 used them in a mid-engined layout.Mjdk 17:39, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Images

I found some high-res scans of some photos I took of my old X1/9 back in '95 for the web site I ran at the time, and uploaded some. Unfortunately it was very much a 'daily driver' and was getting a bit rough around the edges, so I added the two which look decent and left out the others. If anyone has better shots, feel free to replace the ones I put in: I'm X1/9-less right now after the 'new' one expired last year so I can't shoot any more. MarkGrant 21:30, 10 July 2006 (UTC)