POCKET ROCKET: Fiat Uno Turbo

It is the oft-forgotten compact performance hatch from the early Nineties, but nearly 40 years later the Fiat Uno Turbo certainly deserves a revisit.

Words and pictures: Wilhelm Lutjeharms

At a time when there was relatively little activity in the hot hatch segment, the Fiat Uno Turbo came as a surprise. The company decided to equip its 1.4-litre engine with a turbocharger, and the result was 85 kW of power and 161 N.m of torque, increasing the car's performance substantially above the rest of the models in the range. Remember, Fiat Uno's typically had somewhere between 33 and 52kW at the time, so 85kW truly grabbed the headlines!

The first thing you notice when you walk up to the car is the boxy design. The front is typically period Fiat, and at the back, the rear slopes straight downwards towards the angular bumper. There iconic alloy wheels are fitted with 175/60 R13 sized tyres, which are tiny by modern standards.

At a glance the Uno doesn't appear to have doorhandles. You have to put a finger into the panel gap between the front door and the rear panel, to flip the small handle upwards. 

The cabin

Once seated, I was surprised to find that my head didn't touch the car's ceiling - I am 1.87m tall. You do sit close to the door though. It is a simplistic interior, and the chequered cloth seats with vinyl inserts don’t hide the era they originate from.

While the headrests are a little further back, the seats are still comfortable and fairly supportive. Overall, the facia has a very square design in terms of the centre console, and in front of you, you have multiple analogue dials. This car even has the period-correct Pioneer tape deck to play your tapes from the early 90s.

It is, however, quite exciting to look at the dials behind the three-spoke Momo steering wheel, which is slightly offset to the left. They are quite clear and easy to read, and the yellow line begins at 6 000 rpm while the red line is only a few hundred rpm later. 

Behind the wheel

When you start driving, you notice the squishy gear knob of the five-speed transmission. There is a bit of rattling in the centre console, but it is immediately evident that this is an exciting little car to drive with a very small footprint on the road. Lower down in the rev range, it feels almost like a naturally-aspirated engine, but when you keep your foot down, you immediately sense how the boost starts to build.

There is also a little boost indicator in the middle amongst the analogue dials. Again, in the lower part of the rev range, it barely moves. Keep your foot down, and as the revs climb, the gauge starts to indicate how the boost changes, and then, at around 3 500 rpm, the fun starts, and that small little 1.4-litre engine performs at its best. Then you've got another 2 500 rpm to play with before you need to change gears.

Don't rush the gears though, as the throws are fairly long. Keep it in 2nd or 3rd and as low as 2 000 rpm, press the throttle, and the torque starts to build steadily, indicating how tractable the engine is.

It's fun through the corners, and at all times, it feels like a large dinky toy. Often you think you are going quite fast, and when you look down at the speedometer, you are only doing 120 km/h. There is not a lot of traction, but the handling for its time is relatively impressive. With a car weighing only 925 kg, it offers a light and nimble driving experience.

Also noteworthy about this specific example, is the fact that it only has 113 000 km on the odo. Not only is this visible when you climb in, in terms of the condition of the cabin and the seats, but also when you open the bonnet.

The engine bay is very clean, and even the heat-resistant material at the back of the engine bay is still in place, and when you look underneath the wheel arches, it does not look like a 35-year old car, but more like a 15-year old car. This specific example was supplied on behalf of a collector to MotoVillage in Cape Town.

Summary

It was fun driving an Uno again for the first time in more than a decade-and-a-half, and now, after my first spin in a Turbo, I understand why it does have a following among enthusiasts. It has a fun character, and looking at CAR magazine's original road test in 1990, it achieved a 0-100 acceleration time of 9.1 seconds, and a not insubstantial top speed of 200 km/h. I can confirm that at times it feels even slightly faster than that claimed acceleration figure. The Uno Turbo is a car that should be listed among the memorable and affordable Italian hot hatches from the 1990s.

Specifications:

Model: Fiat Uno Turbo

Engine: 1.4-litre, four-cylinder, turbopetrol

Power: 88 kW at 6 000 rpm 

Torque: 161 N.m at 3 500 rpm 

Transmission: 5-speed manual, FWD

Weight: 925 kg

0-100 km/h: 9.1 seconds (tested by CAR magazine)

Top Speed: 200 km/h