By Antti Kautonen
The second Sunday car in our Italian Used Car Weekend is a 1994 Lancia Dedra 2000 HF Turbo. The car here is a performance model, and even if it’s not as madcap as the Delta HF Integrale, it still packs a punch with 162 hp out of the two-litre turbo engine.
The Dedra is a rather humdrum family saloon, based on the same Fiat Tipo platform as anything mid-’90s FWD and Italian, but this one is specified as high as they come.
Despite being front-wheel drive and reasonably non-crazy, the Dedra still comes with the elephant badge.
The seats look a bit flat for sports seats, and the colour of the alcantara doesn’t really evoke any emotions. The Lancia has only 70,000 km on the clock and appears very well preserved, as you can see the transmission tunnel still has protective plastic on it.
The asking price for the Lancia is a very high 13,000 eur. You could practically get anything else for that money, or three Maserati Biturbos. “Ordinary” Dedras command one tenth of the price in good condition, even if this one is pretty much as-new.
Jeff Glucker
Agree on the ridiculous price. With the same money you could get a mint Lancia Thema 8.32.
In case you wonder, the i.e. in the badge (that was common in many italian cars back then) stand for "iniezione elettronica", italian for electronic injection.
Test drove one of those back in the day. I recall it as being very smooth and very rapid compared to a Citroen BX GTi – very rapid as turbos are in the mid range. Even then though Lancias were about luxury rather than all out sportiness despite their 60/70s rallying heritage and the Integrale.
According to the DVLA in England, there are only 2 left in the UK, one registered the other off the road. Nice
Lancia had pretty comprehensively destroyed its own reputation in the UK by the time these cars were introduced. They threw in the towel in 1994, finally giving up any hope of shaking off the rusting Beta and valve crashing Gamma's stigmas. There probably weren't too many Dedras on the road even in 1995.
I like the Integrale wheels this car wears, but they could have been designed to collect brake dust and torture detailers.
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Intriguing, but no sale. It's making me reconsider Oldsmobiles..
I always see the Dedra as the beginning of the end for Lancia. Nothing produced afterwards was particularly noteworthy.