Berlina
� Coupe � HPE � Montecarlo/Scorpion/037 � Spider/Zagato � TreviNotes: All production figures given are only approximate, so don't worry if they don't exactly add up !
The 'Measured Fuel Consumption' figures are the measurements for cars that I've owned, and should only be taken as a rough guide to compare with the claimed figures in the engines section (in particular, most were measured on a mixture of roads, not just highway cruising, and all were measured with engines that had covered over 60,000 miles). They do appear to substantiate the official figures in showing that the Volumex engined cars are indeed more economical when cruising at legal speeds than the smaller egines, probably due to the increased low-down torque (allowing use of higher gears) and higher gear ratios. Of course economy in towns, or at highly illegal speeds, is another matter entirely...!
All Betas are pretty well equipped as standard, with five speed manual gearbox or three-speed automatic, alloy wheels on most models, instruments including speedometer, tachometer, water and oil temperature gauges, oil pressure gauge and an oil level gauge for use when the engine is cold and stopped. Generally the instruments are fairly accurate, though the rev-counter can read up to 30 % low in some cases, and 250 rpm low is quite common.
The various models of Beta all have approximately the same mass, so that the performance is very similar. Typical top speeds and accelerations for the different engine sizes (in European non-catalyst form) are :
1300
cc : 100 mph, 13 seconds 0-60The Coupe and Montecarlo are slightly lighter, giving typically 10 % better acceleration. In addition, unlike some of their contemparies, the Beta gear ratios are designed for drivability rather than 0-60 acceleration, so the relatively long times are largely due to the low second gear (even the Volumex cars, measured at about 6 seconds 0-50, require a change from second to third gear at 55 mph). The figures for in-gear/overtaking acceleration are rather better.
In addition, the top speeds are mostly measured at the redline of the engine, and higher speeds are possible if you are willing to ignore it (e.g. one magazine measured 128.5 mph for the Volumex Coupe at about 6500 rpm).
In the UK at least, most of the two liter cars came with sunroofs and electric windows (though the latter were sometimes optional due to their justifiably bad reputation on reliability), power steering was fitted to most European LHD two-liter cars, and all of these were optional, though rarely fitted, on the smaller-engined models. Lancia claimed for many years that power steering could not be fitted to the RHD cars, but a suitable system was finally developed in 1982, and fitted as standard to the two liter models (and to some of the 1600 cc cars in the last year or two of production). All Volumex cars are fitted with power steering.
A three-speed automatic gearbox developed by Automotive Products was available as an option, however due to the resulting loss of performance and the reputation for unreliability relatively few were sold.
Finally, in typical Italian fashion many Betas seem to have been fitted with whatever was left over in the parts bin (for example my Beta Spider is a Series Two car, but has a Series One interior). This makes clear distinctions between the various Beta series impossible.