Following the lack of 'go' which the Panda had in abundance something with a bit of sparkle was called for, this was found in the form of a Lancia Y10 Turbo. Having experienced my previous Y10 this car was very familiar to me and being the Turbo version it certainly had what the previous car had lacked.... power. Not only did this car go well, it handled well, it stopped well, it was quiet, the Fiat/Lancia engineers had excelled the car was as near perfect as any Italian car could be. One of the cars the Y10 Turbo was compared to many times over was the Metro Turbo and having experienced both, I think I can safely say that the Lancia was head and shoulders above the Metro in virtually all departments. Technically speaking the Y10 Turbo was an 85bhp version of the 1050cc engine used in the Fiat 127 and many other Fiats of the day, it had such delights as an intercooler, mapped electronic ignition, intelligent boost control, oil cooler, oil level alarm float, most of these items of course being absent on the Metro sadly. This may all sound like a technological nightmare when all combined in one place but it all worked fine for me.

Probably one of the best and most underrated small cars in its day, the Y10 always seemed to suffer from a lack of character which often lead to ot being the butt of many jokes, I've never quite worked out why this was as really the car was a design just a bit too far ahead of its time, just take a look at the strange automotive creations on the road today which make the Y10 look a bit staid.

The usual I.C.E. installation was performed which finished off the car very nicely, my usual Pioneer head unit and spectrum analyzer being easily concealed in the dashboard's cavernous recesses, the rear shelf from the previous Y10 came into play again housing the same 6x9's which had been capable of delivering deafening sound with virtually no distortion in the previous Lancia.

I can't quite remember why I decided to move on to another vehicle but eventually after about 6 months that was what happened. The Y10 being adopted by my father as his Uno Turbo was written off in accident on the way back from picking up my next car.

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