The Lancia Beta 1600 Coupe was a true Italian driver's car with the prowess to impress - read why it's one of our greatest roadtests ever
Like the Beta saloon on which it was based, the Beta coupé’s twin-cam Fiat 1600 engine was mounted on a separate subframe. Suspension was by MacPherson struts front and rear, and all-round disc brakes used floating calipers.
Rapid starts produced a fair amount of wheelspin, but acceleration to 60mph mixed the Beta with rivals such as the Fiat 124 coupé andScirocco TS. The five-speed manual gearbox had a positive action and used well-spaced ratios, while the brakes were both strong and fade free of fade. The steering was accurate enough but suffered torque steer and was heavy when cornering hard or parking. Despite the relatively soft suspension set-up, roll was well contained and impressive front-end grip allowed swift progress on twisty roads, with less understeer than expected.
The cloth seats were squashy and comfortable, and the steering wheel’s rake adjustment helped create a good driving position, albeit one that suited shorter legs best, in the true Italian way. Rear legroom and headroom was tight but the boot was surprisingly capacious.
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