New Abarth 500 Owner
Discussion
Well, 18 months after my Mrs got rid of her 182, she decided to swap her 500 Twinair for an Abarth.
She's put the dealer through hell (
Hi Rob ), but he's come up with a minter by all accounts.
A quick video of the exhaust!
I couldn't believe that it sounds like that as standard!
http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http...
She picks it up next week!
She's put the dealer through hell (
Hi Rob ), but he's come up with a minter by all accounts.A quick video of the exhaust!
I couldn't believe that it sounds like that as standard!
http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http...
She picks it up next week!
Edited by Glade on Thursday 25th April 07:03
SimianWonder said:
Great little cars, great choice. The exhaust note always surprises me; there's no way a 1400cc four cylinder should sound that good!
Listen to a Abarth 1300OT...They do sound sublime, really do, I wish Abarth made aftermarket exhausts so I could put one on my MR2...
I drove it last night, great improvement over the twinair.
Looks great on the outside, the red is really nice. Exhausts & diffuser look nice. Has a nice burble, but it's not horrendously loud - inside you don't really hear the exhaust as much as I expected. Probably going to get someone to detail it & clay / machine polish to get the swirls out and give it a really deep gloss.
With the leather, boost gauge, dimming mirror and black headlining the cabin is a nice place to be. I don't quite fit though, and gearknob is massive, change isn't as precise as I expected it to be - the 182 was better in this respect. Mrs is much smaller than me so probably suits her very well.
Plenty quick enough on boost/ on cam. No point in taking it out of sport mode... very sluggish when it's not engaged. Like they tried to really eccentuate sport mode by making normal completely lifeless!
Steering has much more feel... wonder if this is hydraulic - you didn't get any feedback through the electric rack on the twinair, which felt light and "notchy"... (which was wierd because it did have plenty of grip and did hang on quite well!)
Suspension is firm but reasonably well damped. A bit crashy over some of the roads around leeds, but very good on A-roads and motorway. I wonder if this is partly to do with the 17's, and whether 16's would be a little better in this respect. Felt well controlled coming quickly off a sweeping roundabout. I imagine the back might be a bit bouncy once the suspension is loaded up, if the surface wasn't great.
Looks great on the outside, the red is really nice. Exhausts & diffuser look nice. Has a nice burble, but it's not horrendously loud - inside you don't really hear the exhaust as much as I expected. Probably going to get someone to detail it & clay / machine polish to get the swirls out and give it a really deep gloss.
With the leather, boost gauge, dimming mirror and black headlining the cabin is a nice place to be. I don't quite fit though, and gearknob is massive, change isn't as precise as I expected it to be - the 182 was better in this respect. Mrs is much smaller than me so probably suits her very well.
Plenty quick enough on boost/ on cam. No point in taking it out of sport mode... very sluggish when it's not engaged. Like they tried to really eccentuate sport mode by making normal completely lifeless!
Steering has much more feel... wonder if this is hydraulic - you didn't get any feedback through the electric rack on the twinair, which felt light and "notchy"... (which was wierd because it did have plenty of grip and did hang on quite well!)
Suspension is firm but reasonably well damped. A bit crashy over some of the roads around leeds, but very good on A-roads and motorway. I wonder if this is partly to do with the 17's, and whether 16's would be a little better in this respect. Felt well controlled coming quickly off a sweeping roundabout. I imagine the back might be a bit bouncy once the suspension is loaded up, if the surface wasn't great.
Glade said:
I drove it last night, great improvement over the twinair.
Looks great on the outside, the red is really nice. Exhausts & diffuser look nice. Has a nice burble, but it's not horrendously loud - inside you don't really hear the exhaust as much as I expected. Probably going to get someone to detail it & clay / machine polish to get the swirls out and give it a really deep gloss.
With the leather, boost gauge, dimming mirror and black headlining the cabin is a nice place to be. I don't quite fit though, and gearknob is massive, change isn't as precise as I expected it to be - the 182 was better in this respect. Mrs is much smaller than me so probably suits her very well.
Plenty quick enough on boost/ on cam. No point in taking it out of sport mode... very sluggish when it's not engaged. Like they tried to really eccentuate sport mode by making normal completely lifeless!
Steering has much more feel... wonder if this is hydraulic - you didn't get any feedback through the electric rack on the twinair, which felt light and "notchy"... (which was wierd because it did have plenty of grip and did hang on quite well!)
Suspension is firm but reasonably well damped. A bit crashy over some of the roads around leeds, but very good on A-roads and motorway. I wonder if this is partly to do with the 17's, and whether 16's would be a little better in this respect. Felt well controlled coming quickly off a sweeping roundabout. I imagine the back might be a bit bouncy once the suspension is loaded up, if the surface wasn't great.
They are more of a fun car than a pure car like say a (old) 200clio Rs.Looks great on the outside, the red is really nice. Exhausts & diffuser look nice. Has a nice burble, but it's not horrendously loud - inside you don't really hear the exhaust as much as I expected. Probably going to get someone to detail it & clay / machine polish to get the swirls out and give it a really deep gloss.
With the leather, boost gauge, dimming mirror and black headlining the cabin is a nice place to be. I don't quite fit though, and gearknob is massive, change isn't as precise as I expected it to be - the 182 was better in this respect. Mrs is much smaller than me so probably suits her very well.
Plenty quick enough on boost/ on cam. No point in taking it out of sport mode... very sluggish when it's not engaged. Like they tried to really eccentuate sport mode by making normal completely lifeless!
Steering has much more feel... wonder if this is hydraulic - you didn't get any feedback through the electric rack on the twinair, which felt light and "notchy"... (which was wierd because it did have plenty of grip and did hang on quite well!)
Suspension is firm but reasonably well damped. A bit crashy over some of the roads around leeds, but very good on A-roads and motorway. I wonder if this is partly to do with the 17's, and whether 16's would be a little better in this respect. Felt well controlled coming quickly off a sweeping roundabout. I imagine the back might be a bit bouncy once the suspension is loaded up, if the surface wasn't great.
The steering is still electric but in sports mode it weights up more.
Drove a 1.2 500, christ the steering was light made parking the worlds easiest thing.
Gassing Station | Alfa Romeo, Fiat & Lancia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff