Local Abarth 500 owners opinions wanted

[BIRMA]

After running a 2 litre automatic Beetle for over 5 years my wife is looking to change her car. Yesterday we tried an Abarth 500 and preffered it to the Mini and a couple of other cars we have recently been trying. Being a manual was a bit of a problem for her but one she may come to terms with in the long run as the car was fun to drive. Last night I went on to the owners forum and read a very long 'report' on the 3 year ownership of one and it filled me with dread and reminded me that in the early days of my business I bought a Fiat Fiorino van which self destructed in 18 months despite my careful ownership and I vowed to never buy another Fiat as long as I live. So has anyone locally run one for over a year? and has it proved to be o.k. plus if you could pm me your opinion of the local service agents as this was one of the real bug bears of the guy who posted his 3 year ownership

[350Wedge]

Give STEFVXR8 a shout, I believe he (his wife) has one that they've had for a little while.

[StefanVXR8]

PM sent David.

As per the message, we've had a fault free 12 months with the Abarth, and 2 1/2 years fault free with the previous 500.

It's a great little car, has amazing current residuals and is extremely well specc'd inside.

My only criticism is that the ride can be harsh, we test drove an Essesse and that was bloody hard!! Apparently a set of Koni FSD shocks and Essesse springs makes it a perfect car, something on the cards for the future.

Stef

[jamesparrett]

Hello!

I have run a 500 Abarth since Feb 2011 with no problems... I bought the car from Meridien Milano (before people pick me up for it, I wasn't employed by their sister branch then) as a 2009 car with 7,000 miles on. It has just clocked 36,000 miles this evening and is running better than ever. I have had a set of tyres and a service in that time and that's it! I have had a fair few cars and this is without a doubt the most fun I have had!

I had a back operation 2 years ago so was concerned about the 'hard ride' but in all honesty, its fairly firm but fine - and fun at the same time! It isn't an Essesse but i have had it tinkered with slightly so running about the same power as one but with a better ride (in my humble opinion!). If you want any questions answered, fire them across in a private message and i'll get them answered by the Abarth boys!

JP

[BIRMA]

Thanks for the replies, it has proved very helpful. We have decided to wait for the new auto saloon to come out and try one of those but I think I will opt for one of the new ones and specify the Koni package as the only extra

[richie slow]

Hey BIRMA, sorry for the thread hijack. I followed you the other day (blue Monaro) in Horndean and you had quite a bit of blue smoke coming from the right hand exhaust when you lifted off. Hope it's nothing serious. Looks like valve seals letting a little bit of oil past.

[BIRMA]

richie slow said:

Hey BIRMA, sorry for the thread hijack. I followed you the other day (blue Monaro) in Horndean and you had quite a bit of blue smoke coming from the right hand exhaust when you lifted off. Hope it's nothing serious. Looks like valve seals letting a little bit of oil past.

Thanks I'll check it out, was it from the exhaust or right hand engine side because I spilt some oil topping it up which may have got trapped.

[richie slow]

Looked like the exhaust but I can't be sure if it was from the pipes or burning of from the outside of the exhaust. It was when you lifted to turn into Lovedean Lane the other afternoon, so I don't know how long you'd be driving for that day but it did look more like "lift off" oil if you know what I mean.

Nice car BTW

[BIRMA]

Thanks again I'll investigate fully