Rubbish Cars We Love: Fiat Uno Mark 1– Just Try Opening the Door

It has to be the Mark 1. The second generation Fiat Uno had a nose like a sniffing bunny rabbit. But we just love the good old Mark 1, it made us think of Transformers.

Autobot or Decepticon?:

Autobot. The Fiat Uno was a force for the good guys. White-collar folk with briefcases and no inclination to gloat. Single people. Try as we might, making the Uno convince as a family shopping cart just brings shame and the desire to have an affair.

The Fiat Uno arrived to a flurry of good press in 1983 looking way ahead of its time. It came with cool concealed door handles, sturdy cloth seats and a nippy 903cc engine - perfect as the dabbler’s starter option.

However one factor you can’t escape when eyeing-up a used Uno is its mid-80’s wire coat-hanger build quality. Cars these days are too chunky and over-padded for their own good, but the Uno – similar to the Citroen AX and the Mark 1 Golf – just seemed to be banged together out of discarded sheet metal. This makes for an exciting drive because you live on your wits, but a lingering doubt always hangs in the back of your mind… "what if I ever collide with something bigger than a Raleigh Chopper?" Lost limbs? Reconstructive face surgery? Curtains?

That said, this hecklerspray boy admits that he has not only walked away from an Uno/tree headbutt, he even managed to take off a couple of the branches. Safe and brutal, this Fiat. We like it.

Great Lines:

Italy’s sleekly veneered Uno still manages to turn heads. Parked alongside a twentieth generation Fiesta it somehow gives the impression of being more modern and stylish than it ever was. That’s the real trick with the Uno, it was loved on arrival and then despised a few years later when they all started breaking down. New drivers soon found out that insurance, petrol costs and hill starts were not the only things they should be worried about. Take a neglected Fiat Uno in for it’s MOT during the mid nineties and you’d be selling your blood on street corners just to pay for a handbrake tightening. Nowadays most of these tormented rustbuckets have been given their Certificate of Destruction, so buying an Uno is not such an impossible gamble. You only need about £600.00 and your reading glasses to actually make it quite good fun.

You Still Aren’t Sealing the Deal:

Give one a test drive then, ‘appy, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. All engine variations are jumpy enough to inspire (especially the 1.3), there is lots of room to stretch your legs and none of the local petrol station attendants will ever get to know your name. Even tired old Uno engines can still pull in a respectable level of fuel economy. If you are still not impressed let us sway you back to the Uno’s undeniably unique appearance - as designed by Giugiaro. It’s silhouette is similar to a small postal van’s, but that is a good thing. No, really it is. Vans are cool when you are not actually using them for van-type stuff. The same principle applies to pick-ups, MPV’s and out of commission ambulances.

Hunting High and Low:

You are not facing the uphill challenge of a lifetime finding a good used Fiat Uno, providing you examine every inch of the bodywork for the brown stuff and actually bother to read through the history file. We have all done it, stood there scanning the paperwork pretending to read as the dealer rabbits away in the background, while all the time you’re really just mustering up enough courage to put in an offer below the asking price. Plus it’s all very well being thick with bills but you want lots of things recently replaced - like a clutch or something else that takes a lot of man-hours. Don’t concern yourself with the fussy Turbo option either. It is not worth the potential grief. Save your pennies for fine art and collectible keyrings instead.

We could not find a quality Fiat Uno on eBay.co.uk, but our standards are exceptionally high so you will have to forgive us.

The Uno was a crazy thing. It came with class and left with concerns about Fiat’s future (the awful Tipo replaced it). So long as you do not mind looking like an in-the-know student, the Uno is as sensible a buy as Robert Redford memorabilia. He hasn’t got long left and - if the British weather keeps battering cars the same way as it does patio furniture - neither has the Uno.

[story by Chris Laverty]