Lancia Delta

...in Uk. Fiat has aquired Lancia but still the parts are very difficult to find mostly because of the car's popularity and age. As a result, BMW parts can cost the same as Delta's ...

Servicing costs ridiculously high. Every time you go to a garage , be mentally prepared. It's not only that parts are expensive, the car itself is very difficult to service and takes time ..and money.
The engine compartement is so crowded that most ...
...parts in order to have access to the desired one.

Insurance costs are sky high. Group 14 and up ..

Summing up let's just say my BMW is easier to my pocket than this car.







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 ... more

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 for a toy 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 finally bought a 90' car with 86k on the clock , 4 owners, 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.

Reliability

Bills of £400 to get it to Mot standards. 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 calipers seized.
Towed back to the garage.
Bills of £390 just to get the brake system fixed.

After a while, i got used to the car and started to drove it more and more aggressively noticing alot of chassis flex. Went to check it out and my mechanic tells me there is an amount of welding underneath (due to rust). No cause for alarm though, by his sayings . Ok you drive it then...
Gearbox started to do some grinding noises and needed reconditioning. On the first month i have spent about £1600 on buying and fixing the car so i said it can wait for now; my pocket needed to get over the initial shock .

But after a while, 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.

Eventually i realized that this couldn't go on.
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 could 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 ..

Lancias are well known for their quality problems. Only now Lacia has sorted out that matter on its cars. So, imagine having a 13 years old italian car, which by the way , is also a performance car ...

Driving and comfort

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 would stall every time i stopped the car.

Brakes are good but 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. Only rake adjustment available.

Steering strictly not PA and heavy like you were driving a tank. Very difficult to drive in traffic or park in tight spaces.
Also , because the nature of the car (hot hatch) , driving in traffic can be a test. The engine overheats and acts weird under constant slow driving.Plus you have to be careful with your right foot ; before you can blink you could be kissing the front car's bumper.

Comfort was ok for a sports car except that it squeaks and rattles continuously and got on my nerves. Seats are soft , supportive and comforting , plenty of room for the front passengers but on the rear is cramped. Suspension on the hard side, adequate for absorbing small imperfections of the road but anything bigger would go straight to your ... back side.
Road noise, engine noise and tyre noise present at noticeable levels.

Sefety and security

Safety ... let's say if i wanted to die i couldn't choose a better car.
Chassis rigidity minimal (due to rust), brakes underpowered from the factory and none of the current safety features available. Oh, it had seatbelts (driver's did not work though).
Hehe..
The heavy chassis provides a minimum protection though.

Security is minimal, could nick it easily. I had to fit an aftermarket alarm since these cars are quite high on the thieves' list (for parts).

Interior, exterior and quality.

Inside, the car looks ... old. Ancient, minimalistic design and awfull steering wheel (4spokes).
The only impressive thing about it is the numerous readings (oil pressure/temp, overboost sensor, turbo pressure etc) that make the dashboard look like a airplane cocpit!
The parts used, even though of average quality, look cheap and put together poorly. Squeaks and rattles continiously and the whole of the dashboard feels (and is) very flimbsy. Whenever i saw a girl on the road, and wanted to let my mate know about it, i was just giving a knock on the stereo/astray column with my leg and it was trasferred to his!
Tapestry is usually very worn on these cars.

Going on the outside , looks is what this car has. If you especially buy and fit some extra parts it can be very good looking. The paintjob though is cheap. It doesn't fade that easy but it could chip and be scrathed without any difficulty. I bet mine must had a respray ... or two ... or three.
Rust is a problem , even thought Lancia, at that time, stated that their cars were galvanized. IF you decide to buy one, give a thorough look underneath for patches.

Value, costs and servicing

Well, what can i say?
Delta is a very sweet car. Performance is awesome , the car is cheap, is fast and fun. A true performance car for under £800.

Delta is also a .. nightmare .
You may pay a small initial amount, but the sum goes up rapidly when is time for maintanance or service.
And don't think you can skip it. You may end up paying for another 5 Deltas before you know it.

There are no parts available, since there is no official dealership in Uk. Fiat has aquired Lancia but still the parts are very difficult to find mostly because of the car's popularity and age. As a result, BMW parts can cost the same as Delta's ...

Servicing costs ridiculously high. Every time you go to a garage , be mentally prepared. It's not only that parts are expensive, the car itself is very difficult to service and takes time ..and money.
The engine compartement is so crowded that most of the times you have to take out alot of parts in order to have access to the desired one.

Insurance costs are sky high. Group 14 and up ..

Summing up let's just say my BMW is easier to my pocket than this car.

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 do get better.
 

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