Fiat Marea

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brian.denwood - 22 Jul 2005 16:10 GMT

Hi.
I have just bought a Fiat Marea 1998 R reg 2 liter 20v on Ebay with 76k on
the clock. There is no service history, but on a drive back home of 130
miles it was great, with plenty of power. I will be the 4th owner and the
last was a lady who had it for 2 years. My question is what do I look out
for? My last Fiat was a 132 a long time ago and that was a rust bucket.

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T. - 22 Jul 2005 23:26 GMT

> Hi.
> I have just bought a Fiat Marea 1998 R reg 2 liter 20v on Ebay with 76k on
> the clock. There is no service history, but on a drive back home of 130
> miles it was great, with plenty of power. I will be the 4th owner and the
> last was a lady who had it for 2 years. My question is what do I look out
> for? My last Fiat was a 132 a long time ago and that was a rust bucket.

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

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Hellraiser - 23 Jul 2005 09:34 GMT

>> Hi.
>> I have just bought a Fiat Marea 1998 R reg 2 liter 20v on Ebay with 76k
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> 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 -
http://www.network54.com/Forum/15639 - they can answer most of your
questions!

Hellraiser.........>

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brian.denwood - 24 Jul 2005 00:31 GMT

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 http://www.network54.com/Forum/15639 into
my favs.

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Hellraiser - 24 Jul 2005 10:40 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> he says the Fiat Marea 20v as it is a rare car and with a better chance of
> becoming a 'classic' in the future.

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..........>

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T. - 24 Jul 2005 14:19 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Marea 20v as it is a rare car and with a better chance of becoming a
> 'classic' in the future.

Not even that. It is a quick car.

Make sure you do this free mod: :-)
http://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=7540

£400 you paid for it sounds like a bargain.

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