Lancia Delta HF Turbo 1.6 (Lancia in general)

Member Name: Spiros

Product:	Lancia in general
Date:	06/03/02 (3012 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast, Fun, Looks

Disadvantages: Unreliable, Unsafe, Parts difficult to find, service expencive

I needed a second car to play around. I wanted it to be fast ,relatively good looking and cheap. It is quite difficult to find a car with that kind of features and a low price tag ... except if it's old. I loved the looks of Lancias for many years now; from the time i watched Integralies swiping off the championships i wanted one. An Integrale is quite expensive to buy so i dropped one class down .. HF turbo 1.6 .
These cars becoming rare very fast so it was a bit difficult to find one.

I bought a 90' car with 86k on the clock , 4th owner, Grally bumper, quad lights and rear wing. No logbook ,some service history, no MOT or Tax (of course).
It was really good looking so i say for £750
i would have some money to through on it and get it up to MOT standards.

What happened wrong with the car :

Bill of £400 to get the Mot. Ok, my pocket feels empty but what can i do ?
Pick up the car from the garage and 10 miles after driving it to my house i smelled something burning. Rear brakes seized up.
Towed back to the garages.
Bill of £390 just to get the brake system fixed.
When i got used to the car , i drove it more and more aggressively and noticed alot of chassis flex. Went to check it out and my mechanic tells me there is quite of welding underneath (due to rust). No cause for alarm though. Ok you drive it then...
Gear also did some grinding noises and needed reconditioning. Oh well , it can wait.

But after a month the car started to smoke a lot. This couldn't wait.
The engine did some really funky noises and sometimes even the cabin smelled like exhaust fumes.
Went to the garage ,again. Turbo needed repairs of £540 , valves needed checking and possibly repair of another £300.

Sold it for £350 in two months without repairing it.

So as reliability goes ... don't even think that you would buy such a car and not run back and forth to the garages. Maybe you may find
something with less problems. But still prepare youself for troubles. Don't go too far if you suspect something's wrong.
And.. i'm not even going to mention the electrics ..

As driving goes this is a very sweet car.
Acceleration is amazing, turbo kicks in at the right moment, sweet revving engine and cool handling (under steer to over steer and very controllable ... to a point). Grip is very good and generally a well set up car.
The clutch though ,even very progressive, is very stiff like the throttle pedal.
Gear selection difficult especially with the engine cold. Time for engine to warm up at least 10 minutes or else it will stall every time i stopped the car.

Brakes are good but are underpowered for that kind of power,(140hp, 193Nm torque)as a result me to have now some grey hairs.
Driving position not the best but i could fit (i'm 6.4) without any major difficulty.
Steering strictly not PA and heavy like you were driving a tank. Very difficult to drive in traffic or park in tight spaces.

Comfort was ok for a sports car except that it squeaks and rattles continuously and got on my nerves.
Road noise, engine noise and tyre noise present at noticeable levels.
Inside it looks the 80 design that it is.
The readings though are numerous and good looking giving it a sportier look .

Safety ... let's say if i wanted to die i couldn't choose a better car.
Chassis rigidity minimal (due to rust), brakes underpowered and none of the safety features currently available. Oh, it had seatbelts (drivers did not work though).
Hehe..

Security is minimal but i had to fit an aftermarket alarm since these cars are quite high on the thieves' list (parts).

Servicing is terrible, it's like servicing my bmw. Even if you had the money, getting the parts could be a real problem.
Insurance ... group 14.


Well, what can i say? Delta is a sweet
car in terms of looks (if equipped) performance , is cheap, is fast and fun. It's also a .. nightmare . No parts available, servicing costs ridiculously high, unreliable, noisy, rusts easily, unsafe.

Who would want it ? Enthusiasts , only.
People that love Lancias and their history. People that have money to through around and don't care that in the end they would have bought a new car.
This is why servicing is very expensive.
And don't think that you can find a good example somewhere. This is very ,very difficult. Their age indicates too many problems and with that kind of maintenance and service costs their owners get fed up quickly and just sell them.

This review is for the pre 92' models.
For past 92' models things are better.

Summary: