Fiat Ritmo purchase advice
The Italo Golf
Fiat Ritmo
© press-inform – the press office
What the German his VW Golf was to the Italian his Fiat Ritmo – at least and the automotive-intensive 1980s. The northern Italian with the mighty plastic planks has completely disappeared from our streets – an interesting vehicle as an eccentric classic.
It takes a long search to find a Fiat Ritmo in German traffic. The successor to the Fiat 128, presented in 1978, has had too much rust and electrical problems over the past few decades. It doesn’t look any different in his home country Italy, because here, too, the Ritmo in faded colors and with a shattered plastic interior can only be seen in southern Italy. Since its premiere, the Ritmo has been a compact class car that is as distinctive as it is full of character. Its angular, boxy design with the friendly round headlights and the plastic aprons pulled far upwards made it an eye-catcher in traffic not only in Italy.
It was only with its facelift in 1982/1983 that the Fiat Ritmo became a bit more pleasing throughout Europe, because according to the specifications of the sporty GTI models of the Golf with its double headlights, the Fiat Ritmo shone from now on from four eyes and lost the all too quickly fading plastic aprons at the front and stern. Most of the Ritmo models in Italy were with entry-level engines between 55 and 68 hp. The Ritmo was significantly better and faster with its larger 1.5-liter engine, which developed 75 to 82 hp and was later also available with a regulated US catalytic converter, which, however, made the Golf competitor much more sluggish as the 75 ie variant .
But the 3.94 meter Fiat Ritmo was not only a cheap mass-produced car, because sun worshipers were delighted with the Ritmo convertible produced by Bertone, which, however, was of manageable quality. The roll bar, also known at the time from VW Golf, Opel Kadett or Ford Escort, was no ornament for the convertible fan and the PVC roof was just as vulnerable as it was poorly processed. The Fiat Ritmo was not only offered as such, but was also called Fiat Strada in some markets. In addition to the three- and five-door variant, the Fiat Ritmo was also available as a notchback limousine under the name Regata and as a technical twin Seat Ritmo, which was later renamed Seat Ronda and the sedan in Seat Malaga. On the Spanish streets you can still see the Seat versions much more often than the Fiat Ritmos in Italy. You can therefore often use the spare parts market in Spain as well.
The sports versions of the Fiat Ritmo, all of which were decorated with the Abarth logo, were able to convince significantly more than the polarizing convertible. The Fiat Ritmo 105 TC with its 77 kW / 105 PS was already a real sports cannon, which also hit the Golf GTI and Ford Escort XR3 / XR3i. Even sharper was the top model of the Fiat Ritmo Abarth 125/130, which offered excellent driving pleasure with a front axle that pulled at the limit and sporty equipment. The two-liter four-cylinder fit perfectly into the compact front-wheel drive, while the sporty extras inside and out with sports seats, aluminum rims, electric windows, colored glass or central locking crowned the normal mass-produced model in style. Anyone interested in a Fiat Ritmo today should look out for these sports versions with the stinging Abarth scorpion. The 100/105 hp Ritmo TC is a good choice, but the 125/130 versions have the best chance of increasing value. The engines are less technically susceptible than the on-board electrics / electronics or the unequal length of the drive shafts.
Anyone looking for a Fiat Ritmo on the used car market today has to research for a good specimen longer, because the range is thin and the quality is manageable. Well-preserved Fiat Ritmo 75 S from the mid-1980s costs around 4,000 to 6,000 euros. You should keep your hands off the mediocre Ritmo convertible, because the quality was not right during production. It looks better with the sports versions of Bruno Abarth. A 130 hp three-door car now easily costs 12,000 to 17,000 euros and, with a few exceptions, is best to buy in Italy. The 105 hp TC variants before the facelift with only two round headlights and the lush plastic format are not much cheaper. There is hardly any demand for the mostly sluggish diesel versions, especially before the first facelift – they are more unsaleable exotic than upcoming classics. In terms of increased value and driving pleasure, only the models 105, 125 and 130 TC remain.