RE: Driven: Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari

RE: Driven: Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari

Author
Discussion

court

1,486 posts

216 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
tomv1to said:
Oooh, stealth black. I like it. You must have surprised quite a few people at the lights.
Had to be stealth.. she wouldn't entertain decals! The chrome mirrors really bring out the chrome detailing in the centre caps, fog lamps etc.

A question to anyone who's driven a Tributo. Does it feel any faster than the esseesse or TMC remap? I had a go in a Punto esseesse and that didn't really seem any faster than the 155.

jason s4

16,810 posts

170 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
When we picked up ours, they had a Ferrari 500 in the showroom.

I asked the salesman if they sold many and he said 'loads'.

Mainly for export to China.

dukebox9reg

1,570 posts

148 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
Haven't driven the Fiats semi-auto but the other half has a corsa with the 'easytronic' gearbox. The description is very similar and it is useless with horribly jerky, unpredictive and slow changes and thats with a 1.2 with 75bhp. Hate to think what it would be with 180+.Ill stick with my DSG.

tomv1to

144 posts

167 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
court said:
A question to anyone who's driven a Tributo. Does it feel any faster than the esseesse or TMC remap? I had a go in a Punto esseesse and that didn't really seem any faster than the 155.
I would have thought that was because the Punto is a lot heavier than the 500, and I think the Punto SS only gets to 60 in 7.7 seconds as opposed to the standards 7.9. The Abarth 500 gets to 62mph in just 7.4 seconds, so its actually the much faster car.

I did look at Punto Evo Abarth's recently because second hand they are reasonably priced, but they don't seem to have the charm or the ability of the 500's.

TallTom

208 posts

159 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
tomv1to said:
I would have thought that was because the Punto is a lot heavier than the 500, and I think the Punto SS only gets to 60 in 7.7 seconds as opposed to the standards 7.9. The Abarth 500 gets to 62mph in just 7.4 seconds, so its actually the much faster car.

I did look at Punto Evo Abarth's recently because second hand they are reasonably priced, but they don't seem to have the charm or the ability of the 500's.
SS AGP is 7.4 to 62mph, the standard AGP can do 7.8 - 62 in sports mode

Kaizer

91 posts

228 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
Well I have a normal 500 Abarth since new for over 3 years now, and I still love it.

For £16k it's very good value for money, but for £30k it needs to be very special. For that amount of money, they should of made a huge improvement on ride and handling, and an even posher interior (ie full leather on dash/door). So the 695 as it is, I think it's a bit hard to swallow the £30k price tag.

jason s4

16,810 posts

170 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
Dont forget, included in that price, you also get some exclusive Ferrari hand luggage!

thumbup


Daniel1

2,931 posts

198 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
I have to admit I think I'm in love with the abarth 500.

Twincam16

27,646 posts

258 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
I think it sounds and looks like a great car.

Also, it's not a million miles away from Enzo Ferrari's ethos. For years he talked of wanting to introduce the 'Ferrarina', which was going to be a kind of Ferrari sub-brand 1-litre MG-style sports car. Adjusting for time and the notion that hot hatches are the 'new' sports cars, you could say this is a 'Ferrarina' in spirit.

Also, a wakeup call to Aston Martin - this is how you do it. The Cygnet isn't an Aston, stop pretending it is.

Actually, ETA - How about Aston Martin scrap the Cygnet and 'do up' one of these:



It's got the right grille (would be great to give it a proper stainless-steel egg-crate one, which would look like an Aston Martin without actually directly cribbing it), it could be fitted with a really poky engine, it looks like a sort-of squished AMV8 as it is, and it's generally considered to be the best-handling car in its class.

Edited by Twincam16 on Friday 18th May 09:25

Paul Dishman

4,697 posts

237 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
£30,000 for a rebadged Ka, er Fiat 500? yikes

I'd sooner have a Golf GTI Edition 35...... laugh

RevOne

49 posts

152 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
Saw one of these in Monaco last year parked up beside the port and it really did not look out of place, actually looked pretty great, which is basically the aim of this Fiat/Ferrari marketing ploy no?

RichyBoy

3,739 posts

217 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
Cost a fortune to service these with short intervals, even the lesser ones.

jason s4

16,810 posts

170 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
Yep, just had our A500 done and it was mind blowing at £130.



If you can afford to buy one of these then you should be able to afford the upkeep.

Mouse1903

839 posts

153 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
When I was down in London I saw a yellow one at one of the dealers. Looks totally fantastic. Shame it has the crap automatic, the bigger let down is the ridiculous price. Makes the 18.2k I paid new for my Abarth 500 Esseesse seem like a bargain :-) I'd love to nick the carbon fibre dash, white dials and the Sabelts for mine though

tommy vercetti

11,488 posts

163 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
Arun_D said:
Had an automated manual Abarth as a courtesy car a while back when my Exige was in for work, didn't find the transmission nearly as much of a pain (granted it wasn't a Tributo, so don't know if it is calibrated differently). You quickly realise you have to lift on an upshift, and by the time you've let off the throttle and pulled the paddle (simultaneously), you can immediately re-apply the throttle and find it's already engaged in the next gear. No jolting, no fuss. It turns into a quick rocking of your right foot to effect a perfectly fluid change in no time at all.

In fact, they had a 695 Tributo at the dealership in a gorgeous blue, I was mightily suprised by the two-piece brake discs, like the one in the article!











Edited by Arun_D on Thursday 17th May 15:15
That looks really nice.

Lagerlout

1,810 posts

236 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
I'm biased I own an Abarth 500. But honestly, they are fantastic fun. Go and try one. They are light, quick and handle well. They have BAGS more character than a Golf of any description and they are put together very, very well too.

I had a Mito today as a courtesy car and sorry but that is put together very poorly by comparison which was a big shock to me. Feels a very cheap, poorly fitted place to hang out compared to an Abarth.

They're also a complete hoot on the track. Mine is pretty modified. I have c. 280 bhp out of mine and my lap times are equivalent to a C63 AMG around Goodwood. I own a few interesting cars let say and I would never sell my Abarth, they really are brilliant.

I would say that I agree that £30k is way to much for what essentially is a very pretty Abarth. You are much better off just modifying your own car for a huge amount less. That said, these are wonderful eye candy in the flesh.

Spike:



Owlwood

252 posts

156 months

Saturday 19th May 2012
quotequote all
Lagerlout said:
I'm biased I own an Abarth 500. But honestly, they are fantastic fun. Go and try one. They are light, quick and handle well. They have BAGS more character than a Golf of any description and they are put together very, very well too.

I had a Mito today as a courtesy car and sorry but that is put together very poorly by comparison which was a big shock to me. Feels a very cheap, poorly fitted place to hang out compared to an Abarth.

They're also a complete hoot on the track. Mine is pretty modified. I have c. 280 bhp out of mine and my lap times are equivalent to a C63 AMG around Goodwood. I own a few interesting cars let say and I would never sell my Abarth, they really are brilliant.

I would say that I agree that £30k is way to much for what essentially is a very pretty Abarth. You are much better off just modifying your own car for a huge amount less. That said, these are wonderful eye candy in the flesh.

Spike:


Great pics. Looks awesome in white.

Kaizer

91 posts

228 months

Saturday 19th May 2012
quotequote all
Lagerlout said:
I'm biased I own an Abarth 500. But honestly, they are fantastic fun. Go and try one. They are light, quick and handle well. They have BAGS more character than a Golf of any description and they are put together very, very well too.

I had a Mito today as a courtesy car and sorry but that is put together very poorly by comparison which was a big shock to me. Feels a very cheap, poorly fitted place to hang out compared to an Abarth.

They're also a complete hoot on the track. Mine is pretty modified. I have c. 280 bhp out of mine and my lap times are equivalent to a C63 AMG around Goodwood. I own a few interesting cars let say and I would never sell my Abarth, they really are brilliant.

I would say that I agree that £30k is way to much for what essentially is a very pretty Abarth. You are much better off just modifying your own car for a huge amount less. That said, these are wonderful eye candy in the flesh.

Spike:


Wow.. looks like you've turn your car into a trophy racer! Good work!

preciousmetal

3,372 posts

176 months

Saturday 19th May 2012
quotequote all
I like the looks, but £30k is alot of money for a pocket rocket but their target buyers probably have £1,000,000 worth of cars in their collections to whom the car is aimed at, not me then !!

i have just sold this Abarth 500 SS with 190 bhp upgrade and was std manual, was a great car, sadly missed, dont really need to spend £30k on one unless you just have to have the ultimate of everything, or rephrase they just have the most expensive of everything as its not necessarily the ultimate one to normal people


melvster

6,841 posts

185 months

Saturday 19th May 2012
quotequote all
Lagerlout said:
I'm biased I own an Abarth 500. But honestly, they are fantastic fun. Go and try one. They are light, quick and handle well. They have BAGS more character than a Golf of any description and they are put together very, very well too.

I had a Mito today as a courtesy car and sorry but that is put together very poorly by comparison which was a big shock to me. Feels a very cheap, poorly fitted place to hang out compared to an Abarth.

They're also a complete hoot on the track. Mine is pretty modified. I have c. 280 bhp out of mine and my lap times are equivalent to a C63 AMG around Goodwood. I own a few interesting cars let say and I would never sell my Abarth, they really are brilliant.

I would say that I agree that £30k is way to much for what essentially is a very pretty Abarth. You are much better off just modifying your own car for a huge amount less. That said, these are wonderful eye candy in the flesh.

Spike:


280 BHP ? fookin hell that will shift. Very smart, 996 GT2 seats ?