Fiat 500 TwinAir Plus

[DLovett]

My first brand new car.

Got this on a 3-year lease. Burnt my hands badly on a 106 Rallye, which costed me tons of money; ended up selling it with a major loss.

So far... I'm loving it!

More than enough poke for city as well as motorway driving, great soundtrack and nice spec. 140NM from 1900RPM through to 4500RPM means good poke and lots of city hooning. Revs to 6000RPM, dies out at about 4500-5000 RPM, rev band is a little short for my liking, but the power delivery is old school shove in the back, meaning a lot of fun.

It would say the handling is 'good' for a modern car. The facelifted 500 has the same underpinnings as the Ford Ka and I would rate it quite highly. Turn is good, a little too much roll for my liking and lots of grip from the wide 16" Continental Premium Contact 2's (195-45-16).

Ride is a little jittery, but not as bad as the pre-facelift 500. Certaintly miles better than my old Rallye.

Spec is very good, enjoying the part-leather seats, dark interior and Blue and Me handsfree system. Voice recognisition is not the best, but what do you expect?

Love the colour, as far as I know it's limited to the TwinAir spec.

Enough talking, here are some pictures:









Excuse the photos, I tried and failed.

[CatJ]

Love the colour.

[M5 Russ]

Great car but you should try the Abarth 500. Its more fun to drive than my M5 especially now I have upped the boost to around 170bhp !

[DLovett]

M5 Russ said:

Great car but you should try the Abarth 500. Its more fun to drive than my M5 especially now I have upped the boost to around 170bhp !

Thanks, but we don't get them in Denmark(the Abarth models), plus this is 95g/km and cheap insurance. In 3 years time I'll get something sligtly more exotic

[P K Wright]

One of the nicest 500s i've ever seen!

[Otispunkmeyer]

Really love the 500, its almost certainly on the to buy list (long lis that). Probably as a second car because of the amount of "road trip" style driving we do... Interested in hearing the 2 pot.... isn't it a bit rough? or would you say more characterful?

[PumpkinSteve]

I was going to buy a TwinAir but I watched the review on Fifth Gear and they said they could only get 35mpg out of it, which sort of goes against the point in buying it IMO.

[CatJ]

Quite a few people over on fiatforum are getting some good results on fuel, depends I believe if you drive it in eco mode or not.

[DLovett]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Really love the 500, its almost certainly on the to buy list (long lis that). Probably as a second car because of the amount of "road trip" style driving we do... Interested in hearing the 2 pot.... isn't it a bit rough? or would you say more characterful?

Not rough at all, tons of character. There is a bit of vibration at low RPM, it seems to get better and smoother as I'm running it in.

You should go for a test drive, I had a completely different idea about the engine before I test drove one(After seeing the Alonso commercial :P).

[M5 Russ]

PumpkinSteve said:

I was going to buy a TwinAir but I watched the review on Fifth Gear and they said they could only get 35mpg out of it, which sort of goes against the point in buying it IMO.

I get 35 mpg out of my Abarth ! I did not realise the new twin air was a 2 pot - wow

Edited by M5 Russ on Friday 23 September 14:56

[DLovett]

M5 Russ said:

I get 35 mpg out of my Abarth ! I did not realise the new twin air was a 2 pot - wow

Edited by M5 Russ on Friday 23 September 14:56

I have gotten a steady 36 MPG out of the car so far - and I have a pretty heavy foot. It seems to be improving though, not that I'm particularly bothered about MPG. I do dodge the upcoming Copenhagen congestion charge with the 95g/KM.

It is a 2 pot, which is quite weird and special at the same time. The power delivery is sort of reminiscent of a diesel, just with a broader power band. At low revs it sound more like a moped of some sort, at higher revs more like a sporty bike engine at lower revs - hard to explain

[McMacro]

M5 Russ said:

I get 35 mpg out of my Abarth ! I did not realise the new twin air was a 2 pot - wow

How? Tell me how? I'm getting in the high 20's at best in mine. What sort of journeys are you doing? Do you keep the sport button on all the time? (I find it difficult to switch off )

Nice choice though OP, great fun little cars!

[M5 Russ]

McMacro said:

How? Tell me how? I'm getting in the high 20's at best in mine. What sort of journeys are you doing? Do you keep the sport button on all the time? (I find it difficult to switch off )

Nice choice though OP, great fun little cars!

If I keep it off boost then yes it's around 35mpg but of course it drops when it gets driven properly ! Sport button has never been off but it does have a TMC kit it.

[craikeybaby]

When did the facelift come in?

They are great little cars, my girlfriend has got a 1.2, but would love a twin air in that colour.

[slomax]

DLovett said:

It is a 2 pot, which is quite weird and special at the same time. The power delivery is sort of reminiscent of a diesel, just with a broader power band. At low revs it sound more like a moped of some sort, at higher revs more like a sporty bike engine at lower revs - hard to explain

Now if i recall the twinair runs in a similar formation to the 2cv engine, where both cylinders go up and down together with an engine breather valve to release the pressure as both pistons go down in the block together. This means that you get one fire per revolution on a 4 stroke cycle. Of course, the 2cv was oposed boxer where the twin air is a vertical in line, but the principle is the same

sorry to bore you folks


found a vid to explain what i mean!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhDkNhhVbfk

[LukeSi]

I think the run in period on these is supposedly quite long and that mpg steadily improves through out.

[sawman]

I had a drive of one of these last week, they are a complete giggle, I love the colour of this one

[Mouse1903]

Really want a shot of one. Have heard owners getting poor economy though, but that's the case with any car. My Abarth Esseesee averages 38MPG, thats around 2/3rd's town driving, and 1/3rd dual carriageway doing 55-60mph (doing 70 then average consumption would drop to 34MPG)

[jamiebae]

Looks great!

We have a 1.2 and get 44mpg from that and it gets driven at outside lane motorway speeds a lot so I'm sure a twin air will better that if it's not being thrashed.

Currently tempted by a Chrysler Epsilon twin air as a replacement actually...

[DLovett]

LukeSi said:

I think the run in period on these is supposedly quite long and that mpg steadily improves through out.

I can confirm this. Now getting around 42MPG without changing my driving style; about 1850 miles on the clock now.