Built vs Bought
Discussion
Right. The Punto is off to a new home as soon as possible. The passenger side floor had been repaired in the past by someone who failed to cut the rust out first. Basically the whole floor needs to come out to do the repair and as it was supposed to be a profit exercise to a degree that margin is all but gone. Letting the car go to someone who wants to do the repairs and keep the car makes a lot more sense to me.
I have an Alfa Mito 155 in my fleet now and as lovely as the car is there's something that rally annoys me.
None. NONE! Of the tyres match.
Okay I have always maintained a car on a budget but even I have never, ever; EVER replaced one tyre at a time.
1/ It's cheap.
2/ It's dangerous.
It effects the way the car performs on the road, how the brakes function and the handling characteristics.
The driver side front is an original Pirelli, passenger side front a Continental Ecoconti (Pre-arse looking tyre), drivers side rear BCT S800 (looks the newest but already cracking) and passenger side rear a Constancy ditch finder.
I was looking at sets of 215/45/17's to go on the car and aiming around the £500-600 fitted and balanced mark when I spotted a set of Fiat 500 Abarth 4x98mm Team Dynamics wheels with nearly new Avon tyres for £460
Sold.
The rears went straight on...
...the 205-40-17's make the car look tall but the springs are looking a little rusts so some shorter ones might find their way on the car.
The front wheels need 10mm spacers to clear the calipers.
The original wheel and bolt have 20mm clearance...
...the Bravo bolts and 10mm spacers I have are too short...
...and the super long fitting Coupe' Turbo wheels to my old Punto GT (and before that Uno turbo wheels to my Panda) bolts are too long...
Now I could cut the longer bolts shorter but they have a 19mm head. My 19mm socket is too big to fit in the recess of the wheels so they can't be done up without ruining the powder coat.
Grrrrrr!
So that was a day wasted and new bolts on their way.
In Uno related news. While I was gallivanting around oooop north yesterday I bought a 500 Abarth back box.
That looks pretty straight forward to fit.
(he says now but is more than prepared for a world of faff)
I have an Alfa Mito 155 in my fleet now and as lovely as the car is there's something that rally annoys me.
None. NONE! Of the tyres match.
Okay I have always maintained a car on a budget but even I have never, ever; EVER replaced one tyre at a time.
1/ It's cheap.
2/ It's dangerous.
It effects the way the car performs on the road, how the brakes function and the handling characteristics.
The driver side front is an original Pirelli, passenger side front a Continental Ecoconti (Pre-arse looking tyre), drivers side rear BCT S800 (looks the newest but already cracking) and passenger side rear a Constancy ditch finder.
I was looking at sets of 215/45/17's to go on the car and aiming around the £500-600 fitted and balanced mark when I spotted a set of Fiat 500 Abarth 4x98mm Team Dynamics wheels with nearly new Avon tyres for £460
Sold.
The rears went straight on...
...the 205-40-17's make the car look tall but the springs are looking a little rusts so some shorter ones might find their way on the car.
The front wheels need 10mm spacers to clear the calipers.
The original wheel and bolt have 20mm clearance...
...the Bravo bolts and 10mm spacers I have are too short...
...and the super long fitting Coupe' Turbo wheels to my old Punto GT (and before that Uno turbo wheels to my Panda) bolts are too long...
Now I could cut the longer bolts shorter but they have a 19mm head. My 19mm socket is too big to fit in the recess of the wheels so they can't be done up without ruining the powder coat.
Grrrrrr!
So that was a day wasted and new bolts on their way.
In Uno related news. While I was gallivanting around oooop north yesterday I bought a 500 Abarth back box.
That looks pretty straight forward to fit.
(he says now but is more than prepared for a world of faff)
I'd like to think that someone in the Fiat R&D department thought to themselves.
"Right new 500 Abarth exhaust. Let's make it so it fits an old Uno without much effort".
Whoops. Over trimmed the bumper a tad there I think.
Clears the fuel tank and rear beam...
...and filler pipe nicely. Just need to fabricate a new set of hangers, weld the box to the rear section and give it lick of VHT paint so it looks like new.
"Right new 500 Abarth exhaust. Let's make it so it fits an old Uno without much effort".
Whoops. Over trimmed the bumper a tad there I think.
Clears the fuel tank and rear beam...
...and filler pipe nicely. Just need to fabricate a new set of hangers, weld the box to the rear section and give it lick of VHT paint so it looks like new.
MJK 24 said:
What do you think of the Mito?
In general they are a highly under rated car. The base 1.4 has the same SuperFIRE engine I have in my Uno. Economical, spacious but like most modern small cars they're the size of a house. My Mito is bigger than my 145 Cloverleaf. The 155 is in my opinion the best of the bunch. That's why I chose mine over the 170 multiair Mito Cloverleaf. The other factor being comfort. I have an elderly Mother who I take care of when I'm not at work and Lusso springs offer a little more refinement than the Cloverleaf ones with eighteen inch instead of seventeen inch wheels as well.
Compared to the lineage...
Fiat 500 are a bit of a fad and for the money you can barely get an under-powered 1.2 the Abarth and 595/695 models are more desirable but cost a load more and the later has the multiair engine that I'm less convinced of.
The Grande Punto Abarth is similar money but the seats are horrid and they don't feel as sharp or have the sense of occasion to them the Mito has.
Vauxhall Corsa not my cup of tea at all.
Bravo 150 t-jet. I'm including this because they share the same engine. Bigger car, a bit "rounded Focus" looking to me. Not bad at all and was well in the running.
Panda 100hp, more doors, less room. Same N/A SuperFIRE as the Uno so should be petty bombproof. Quirky kind of reminds me of the old Cinquecento Sporting. You're not going to set the world on fire but "B" roads will be brilliant.
Before buying my Mito I had a good look and drove all of those. So opinions vary but I feel I have the best of the bunch.
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