RE: Driven: Abarth 500C
Discussion
Garlick said:
jimbro1000 said:
it doesn't say 'sport' - it says 'shift'
The Abarth we tested definitely said 'Sport' here, not shift. It was positioned on the boost gauge and wasn't illuminated when the sport button wasn't pressed. Honest. Im guessing it says sport due to the fact that its an automatic and doesnt need a shift light
eightseventhree said:
Garlick said:
jimbro1000 said:
it doesn't say 'sport' - it says 'shift'
The Abarth we tested definitely said 'Sport' here, not shift. It was positioned on the boost gauge and wasn't illuminated when the sport button wasn't pressed. Honest. Im guessing it says sport due to the fact that its an automatic and doesnt need a shift light
They've changed it then - my one says 'SHIFT' in big orange letters with a huge arrow pointing upwards. The sport indicator is in the main dash.
All of that said the shift light was actually one of the big complaints of the early buyers - very rarely was it seen operating unless you are in Nanny (non-sport) mode in which case it just became an annoyance as it was on pretty much continuously as it nagged you to shift up at 2k rpm or if you backed off the throttle even just a tiny bit. The end result is no-one in their right mind uses the car with sport mode switched off. The steering is too light, the throttle too long and the nanny monitor nag light too annoying. I gave it a fair chance too and managed about 3000 miles of trying to save fuel before deciding it really wasn't worth it.
All of that said the shift light was actually one of the big complaints of the early buyers - very rarely was it seen operating unless you are in Nanny (non-sport) mode in which case it just became an annoyance as it was on pretty much continuously as it nagged you to shift up at 2k rpm or if you backed off the throttle even just a tiny bit. The end result is no-one in their right mind uses the car with sport mode switched off. The steering is too light, the throttle too long and the nanny monitor nag light too annoying. I gave it a fair chance too and managed about 3000 miles of trying to save fuel before deciding it really wasn't worth it.
Garlick said:
eightseventhree said:
Garlick said:
jimbro1000 said:
it doesn't say 'sport' - it says 'shift'
The Abarth we tested definitely said 'Sport' here, not shift. It was positioned on the boost gauge and wasn't illuminated when the sport button wasn't pressed. Honest. Im guessing it says sport due to the fact that its an automatic and doesnt need a shift light
jimbro1000 said:
Garlick said:
eightseventhree said:
Garlick said:
jimbro1000 said:
it doesn't say 'sport' - it says 'shift'
The Abarth we tested definitely said 'Sport' here, not shift. It was positioned on the boost gauge and wasn't illuminated when the sport button wasn't pressed. Honest. Im guessing it says sport due to the fact that its an automatic and doesnt need a shift light
Garlick said:
jimbro1000 said:
Garlick said:
eightseventhree said:
Garlick said:
jimbro1000 said:
it doesn't say 'sport' - it says 'shift'
The Abarth we tested definitely said 'Sport' here, not shift. It was positioned on the boost gauge and wasn't illuminated when the sport button wasn't pressed. Honest. Im guessing it says sport due to the fact that its an automatic and doesnt need a shift light
I think even the brutal shifts of the V10 M5 in full on M-mode with race launch enabled struggles to compare with how vicious the fully automated up-shift of the Fiat semi-auto if the driver fails to back off at the appropriate moment. How such a thing ever made it onto the market is quite beyond me and why the 500 with the throttle-by-wire system can't do it all for you is equally bewildering. I guess they had to leave *something* for the poor driver to do...
Edited by jimbro1000 on Tuesday 4th January 11:52
Pah, Hammann have got the 500 running 265bhp...
http://www.carthrottle.com/hamann-tunings-fiat-500...
ETA:
http://www.carthrottle.com/hamann-tunings-fiat-500...
ETA:
Edited by SuperBaaaad on Tuesday 4th January 13:05
I don't understand how people can read the article and then say, its too girly i'd have a mini, or 'I'd have a Clio because its less girly'
What?? the Mini is the only not very Mini mini with no space inside, whilst shouting 'Estate agent' and the Clio is expensive in anything other than base spec and is hardly butch is it? come on.......
What?? the Mini is the only not very Mini mini with no space inside, whilst shouting 'Estate agent' and the Clio is expensive in anything other than base spec and is hardly butch is it? come on.......
Oddball RS said:
I don't understand how people can read the article and then say, its too girly i'd have a mini, or 'I'd have a Clio because its less girly'
What?? the Mini is the only not very Mini mini with no space inside, whilst shouting 'Estate agent' and the Clio is expensive in anything other than base spec and is hardly butch is it? come on.......
I know I'm shooting myself in the foot somewhat by saying this but pretty much without exception every woman that has commented on my A500 has said how much they love it - from my 90 year old grandmother to 12 year old niece it has been the same. My boys all love it too as does pretty much everyone else but it is the "cute" factor that is worrying. The Clio isn't cute, the new Mini is marginally (unconventionally?) cute except in clubman form when the ugly stick got dropped on it from a significant height but the 500 in all its forms *is* cute. The bodykit, big wheels, aggressive stance and bold interior (fantastic in bright red and black leather) of the Abarth version goes some way to mitigate the issue (ironically it is the interior that the girls really seem to love).What?? the Mini is the only not very Mini mini with no space inside, whilst shouting 'Estate agent' and the Clio is expensive in anything other than base spec and is hardly butch is it? come on.......
However - using the TG cool wall approach to things - all of the above makes it a cool car. The girls would gladly take up an offer of a lift because it isn't so obviously an over sized phallic extension, meets with the italian chic, fashion requirements and isn't a mini (apologies to mini owners but having estate agents use them as fleet cars was a status symbol disaster for you).
Where the A500C fits in all of this I still don't know - the semi-soft-top is in my opinion an uglification of the 500. The skydome version of the car offers almost as good upward visibility but without the wind in your hair business and doesn't mess with the looks. Of course if it is wind in your hair, bugs in your mouth and rain in your lap that you're looking for then the skydome doesn't really help any!
jimbro1000 said:
Alfa 145 cloverleaf manages to pull 62mph in 8.3s - that is a full 0.5s slower than the Abarth, the 2007 Cooper S is over a second quicker again
I agree on paper the 0-60 of the 145 looks uninspiring. But in reality that matters not. The 40-100 feels rather impressive indeed. Possibly due to the fatter torque and the rev happy 2.0 just getting into it's stride into the higher numbers. The plain reality is the cloverleaf simply leaves the newer cooper s behind. I was suprised, but there it is. All took place on private land, of course.
k-ink said:
All took place on private land, of course.
Of course 
I know how good the old 2.0TS is and like I said the 145 is definitely the best of the Alfa hatch backs, at least from the last twenty years.
Comparing it to the Cooper S (which definitely benefits from an extra cog in the box against the A500SS) is a tough game. I can drive my old (original spec) seicento around Brands faster than most people can do in much more powerful cars with much better acceleration, not because the Sei is particularly better in any way, it is just a matter of experience and understanding the circuit especially in comparison with generally less experienced drivers. It was something of a hobby on track days (not just at Brands) - hell I probably could have piloted my old Explorer better than most of the drivers on the day despite weighing nearly 3 ton and wearing completely inappropriate rubber.
It certainly doesn't make either car better than any of the other cars out on track that particular day - it just means that one driver is significantly better than the other in that particular environment.
Thanks for the review, Garlick. What's the steering like? I find the steering to be crucial for the feel of a car such as this. Af for the flex, I had hoped it would be stiff enough as it has less roof cut off than normally for a convertible. You wrote it's got softer springs than the hard top. I've seen using soft springs as a way to cover up chassis flex in convertibles. Didn't seem to help with this one. Too bad.
Oddball RS said:
What?? the Mini is the only not very Mini mini with no space inside, whilst shouting 'Estate agent'
Since he set up his own estate agency, I often see the chap who sold my old house driving round in his 500 Abarth. He's started buying lesser 500s for his staff now too.
hahahaha otolith said:
Oddball RS said:
What?? the Mini is the only not very Mini mini with no space inside, whilst shouting 'Estate agent'
Since he set up his own estate agency, I often see the chap who sold my old house driving round in his 500 Abarth. He's started buying lesser 500s for his staff now too.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff