abarth 500 motorway rpm

[cirian75]

Still looking what car to replace my old swift with

Spotted a 2014 abarth 500 135 near me.

Wondering what rpm they are pulling at 70/75

I don't motorway regular, but I do go from Manchester to Liverpool and back every other Saturday like clockwork.

[OldSkoolRS]

I've been reading up about Abarth 500s of around 2014-2015 and the best I can find is a post on the Abarth forum that mentions ratios and for 3000rpm they reckon just over 71.8mph using 205/40/17 tyres. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link, but if you Google 'Fiat 500 Abarth gear ratios' it should come up in the first page results.

Quite fancy one of these myself, either an Abart 500 or perhaps a 65 plate 595 depending on what prices do next year as I'd be looking maybe in the summer of 2023 (that doesn't sound like a cue for a song though ). I wouldn't be planning much motorway driving in it, but would be good if it can handle it occasionally.

[ecsrobin]

OldSkoolRS said:

I wouldn't be planning much motorway driving in it, but would be good if it can handle it occasionally.

I had a 595 Competizione and used to commute 15 miles on the motorway with no issues, went thousands of miles round Europe a couple of times a year and no issues at all only thing is lack of cruise control (can get aftermarket systems) and if you have larger feet there’s nowhere to rest your foot (there’s a tiny rest) but I got used to it. On LHD models the foot rest is larger.

[OldSkoolRS]

ecsrobin said:

I had a 595 Competizione and used to commute 15 miles on the motorway with no issues, went thousands of miles round Europe a couple of times a year and no issues at all only thing is lack of cruise control (can get aftermarket systems) and if you have larger feet there’s nowhere to rest your foot (there’s a tiny rest) but I got used to it. On LHD models the foot rest is larger.

Cool...I have tiny feet, so I'm fine: I currently drive an old Mk2 Ka which is related to the 500 if not quite as powerful as an Abarth version though. Just suffering a little budget creep as I think about what I might replace it with next year (should really be another shed, but we mostly drive the Ka so our 'nice' car barely gets used).

[Auslander]

I did 15k miles in a year in a 595 Competizione. I fitted it with aftermarket cruise (only took an hour or so).

They're fine on the motorway, most of my travel was along the M4 to London and back, 3.5 hours each way.

I couldn't do it long term, so gave it to the wife and bought my 330i for work runs, but we've also been on holiday in it a couple of times and not found it to be an issue.

[shayne66]

We live on the east coast and do a lot of trips to Anfield for Liverpool games. When we go our Rivale, am always wondering why they never added cruise control. As the car itself handles the motorway pretty nicely and you get some decent mpg return as well, despite it not been the comfiest car for a long trip. But you understand that when buying an Abarth.

[BGB autosport]

ecsrobin said:

I had a 595 Competizione and used to commute 15 miles on the motorway with no issues, went thousands of miles round Europe a couple of times a year and no issues at all only thing is lack of cruise control (can get aftermarket systems) and if you have larger feet there’s nowhere to rest your foot (there’s a tiny rest) but I got used to it. On LHD models the foot rest is larger.

My wife had a 2019 595 competizione (manual), tbe only car I've loved yet hated in equal measure. Back twisty B roads it was an absolute blast, around town awesome fun. Motorway for more than about 3 minutes and it immediately switched to hatred. The road noise, exhaust noise, twitchiness was awful, plus you become very aware how little and fragile you actually are