Aw shit it’s that time again where I have a billion things to release. Hmpf.
1985: Taking back the shitbox market - The FAAL Plebia Mk3 Dima
It has been expected.
It has been hoped for.
It has been postponed. Many times. Because FAAL had other priorities, and wanted to up their prestige, mainly. Which is why the idea of creating an entry level car was not really welcome in the design office.
…
However, the idea of finally retiring the prehistoric Mk2 Plebia from the market was definetly welcomed. So, the 1981 FAAL Dima concept has been, four years later, industrialized.
How you see her during date night:
How she looks the morning after:
Now of course, to be production ready, the concept had to be made a little simpler.
Round headlights have been kept as a design cue reminiscing the old Mk2 Plebia. Because, after all, the car had a special place in FAAL’s history, being produced for thirty years, non stop. The upper engine airflow knife has been removed, and so has the bubble shaped hood in the process. Bigger blinkers have been fitted inside the bumper, and only one of the windshield air vents remained, as a HVAC air intake. And despite everything, despite the reminiscing design cues, despite the four years debate between the FAAL executives, the car did not retain the Plebia name. At the last minute, it was renamed Dima, just like the concept it came from.
Not much changed on the rear. The hatch got a little flatter, the taillight bar is now plastic, there’s a keyhole trunk latch, and one of the reverse lights had been turned into a foglight. As for the rest, there’s now only one blinker repeater per side and it’s way smaller. There’s also a bumper bar going from wheel to wheel. The fuel cap is taken from the still selling FAAL Ochlosia, and so are the door handles, to save costs.
Now. It is bigger than the Plebia. Definetly. at 3.41m, almost 40cm longer, not to mention more of that space is allocated to the actual cabin. But, safety rules have changed, and so have the people’s standards. Which is why the standard Dima (three door) is a 4 seater. Four passengers sharing 2.58m³ as compared to five passengers in the mk2 Plebia’s 2.17m³.
… That, of course, turned out to be a bad decision and for the 1986 model year, a 5 seater version was made available, with 5 doors.
The “regular” Dima was available with a three engine range, all from the 133S inline 3 series that moved the base model Mesaia, as well as the outgoing Plebia Mk2. To save costs, gearboxes were reduced to three: A 4 speed manual, a 5 speed manual and a 3 speed automatic.
- 133S9Spi, 900cc, single point injection, 45hp. Only 4 speed. 8l/100, 0-100 in 17.2sec, 125km/h
- 133S11Spi, 1100cc, single point injection, 54hp. 4 speed: 9l/100, 14s, 137km/h. 5 speed: 8.9l/100, 14.3s, 140km/h
- 133S13Mpi, 1300cc, multipoint injection, 65hp. 5 speed: 8.3l/100, 12.9s, 153km/h. 3 speed auto: 9.1l/100, 15.5s, 144km/h
Depending on trim, options and engines, the weight ranged from 715kg to 930kg. Oh yeah, speaking of trims:
- Dima BL. Plastic bumpers. Steel wheels. Three door, four basic seats only. Four speed only, 45hp engine standard, optional 54hp. Optional power steering. Nothing else. Available from 40.800 francs, “full” options 43.500 francs. Was available, but not advertised.
- Dima CL. Plastic bumpers. Hubcaps. 3 door 4 basic seats, optional 5 door 5 basic seats, and/or standard seats. Standard two speaker 8 track radio. Standard power steering. Optional ABS. Optional front foglights. Standard 54hp 4 speed, optional 5 speed, optional 65hp. Available from 45.630 francs. (shown press car 46.590 francs, full option 51.850 francs)
- Dima GL. Painted bumpers with plastic bar. Standard alloy three spoke wheels. 3 door 4 standard seats, optional 5 door 5 standard seats. Standard two speaker 8 track, optional 4 speaker 8 track 4*20w. Optional extra safety features my lack of knowledge on 80s premium shitboxes prevent me to tell you. Clad undertray. Standard 65hp engine, standard 5 speed optional 3 speed automatic. Available from 55.400 francs, Full options 64.000 francs.
But of course, the lineup wouldn’t be complete without not one, but TWO sporty variants.
Now, for the sport offering, the Dima keeps on the “today’s sport engine is tomorrow’s efficient engine” motto started by the Mk2 Mesaia and Foreia. Cue the 133R engine range, which is basicaly a SOHC-4 head slammed onto a 133S block, only available in multipoint injection, and with different internals.
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Dima 1.3S. Sport suspensions. Painted bumpers without front foglights but with functioning lip. Hatch with spoiler and third brake light standard. 14" alloy wheels. Trademark central exhaust. 4 basic seats, two speaker radio. The only option was power steering.
As for the engine, here comes the brand new 133R13MpiS. 1300cc, 93hp, mated to a Dima-sports-trims specific 5 gear short spaced gearbox. The whole thing allowed the featherweight 1.3S (765kg) a 8.9s 0-100km/h, 159km/h top speed and a 16.75s quarter mile, and also lots and lots of fun, for a contained price of 50.150 francs. (optional power steering 1.020 francs)
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Dima Turbo. Yep. If you expected a Plebia GTI with the 1.6L from the Mesaia, you’d be wrong. Anyway. Widened fenders. bigger grille. FAAL Logo moved to the side, just like all the high end FAAL Sport models.15" alloy wheels. Same aero package as the 1.3S. Three door 4 basic seats only. Standard 2 speaker radio, optional 4 speaker. Standard power steering, optional ABS.
The engine, though, wasn’t a turbo’d version of the 1.3S engine. It has been de-stroked to 1176cc and turned into the 133R12MpiT, putting out 105hp stock. Key word, stock. The Dima turbo also had a standard geared diff to put down all of the engine’s torque and potential torque, and the resultant perfs were 7.86s from 0 to 100km/h, a quarter mile of 16 seconds and a top speed of 170km/h, with the same gearbox as the 1.3S. Prices started at 60.280 francs and ended at 64.050 francs with all the options, barely a good restaurant meal over the 1.3GL full op.
Now why downgrading the engine size? Well… for once, because FAAL didn’t want to cast a shadow on their own Mesaia GTI 1.6, which base price was around 69.660 francs without options. But also, that engine size made it fit the Group N3 rallye category, allowing amateur drivers to go after BMW 320is and other 2000cc N/A engines in the mountain passes in a car that barely weighed 777kg when stripped down, and that had factory approved aftermarket kits that could make the power go up to 184hp!
That, though, is for a whole other topic.