Thursday 26th May 2011

Video: Rear-Drive Fiat 500 In Action

Why mid-engined and rear-wheel drive is the best way to create a 500 Abarth

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Fans of rear-wheel-drive mid-engined city cars (and we know you're out there) may remember that a few weeks back we featured a Fiat 500 Abarth whose motor had been transplanted into the rear seats by Italian aftermarket tuner Aznom.

And this is the video to prove that the mad little 230bhp turbocharged 1.4 middie does exist - and has its driven wheels in the correct place.

So here's the Motore Centrale R230 doing its thing on gravel and in a car park. And destroying its rear tyres in the most spectacular of fashions. Lovely.

 

 

[mocca]

Ooo this got me thinking, a clio v6 style production 500 would be lovely.

[boldek1]

looks like its struggling to break traction on tarmac....still a nice lil inner city rally rocket

[Oddball RS]

Hhhmmmmmm not the maturest of video's i've seen, but hey each to his own.

[Rawwr]

I bet with that wheelbase it has the potential to be interesting in the wet.

[Garlick]

Oddball RS said:

Hhhmmmmmm not the maturest of video's i've seen, but hey each to his own.

looks like a fun car, but looked like a lad larking about more than a useful promotion.

[evenflow]

Want it. Badly.

[Liquid Knight]

Pity.

Such a lot of wasted potential in the ham fisted drivers hands.

[otolith]

boldek1 said:

looks like its struggling to break traction on tarmac....still a nice lil inner city rally rocket

Looks like it's spinning up one wheel - no LSD?

[RossP]

Brilliant! We need more RWD cars instead of all this nasty FWD stuff.

[MarJay]

evenflow said:

Want it. Badly.

This.

[300bhp/ton]

Rawwr said:

I bet with that wheelbase it has the potential to be interesting in the wet.

I'm not so sure it'll be that bad, looking at the stats it's not really all that different to a smart Roadster, Lotus Elise or even a Caterham.

	smart Roadster	Z-Cars Mini (RWD)	Caterham Roadsport 1.6 (2001)	Peugeot 106 Rallye	Toyota Aygo	Fiat 500	Elise S1
Width	63.3	61	62	63.2	63.6	64.1	67
Length	134.9	120	133.1	140.3	134	139.6	146.7
Wheelbase	92.9	80.1	87	93.9	92.1	90.6	90.6
Weight	790kg	615-640kg	550kg	810kg	790kg	930kg	755kg
Height	47.5	53	43.9	52.4	57.5	58.6	45.2
Track (Front)	53.4	48.5	50	54.3	55.9	55.6	56.7
Track (Rear)	54.8	46	52.6	51.2	55.5	55.4	57..2

[Marf]

evenflow said:

Want it. Badly.

Ditto !!!

[jet_noise]

Dear All,

given the 500 is a style over substance version of the Panda (calm down dear, bear with me, exaggerate to make a point etc) I can't help wondering what a Panda would be like with the same makeover. Q-car or what

regards,
Jet

[Shoestringracer]

Either the driver isn't very good or the short wheel base / highly tuned turbo motor combination and not especially good (from the look of it) steering lock mean this car is difficult to control.

[vdubbin]

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

given the 500 is a style over substance version of the Panda (calm down dear, bear with me, exaggerate to make a point etc) I can't help wondering what a Panda would be like with the same makeover. Q-car or what

regards,
Jet

[Arklight]

Looks good, but might have been a bit more appealing if it wasn't being driven by Kevin the asbo teen in an Asda car park

[jimbro1000]

Shoestringracer said:

Either the driver isn't very good or the short wheel base / highly tuned turbo motor combination and not especially good (from the look of it) steering lock mean this car is difficult to control.

The steering lock isn't brilliant but more than enough to keep control, the electric (artificially weighted) power steering is more likely the fault as it is difficult to race from lock-to-lock as the system tries to resist you and steering is naturally very, very heavy. The nancy button (sorry sport button) when switched off makes it very, very light though so potentially no excuses as I am willing to bet they have bypassed the throttle limitations of non-sport mode.

Still looks like a lot of fun and I want one - or at least the kit to convert mine... think I might have to have a little chat with my pet engineer and see if he feels up to it.

Edited by jimbro1000 on Thursday 26th May 11:31

[RossP]

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

given the 500 is a style over substance version of the Panda (calm down dear, bear with me, exaggerate to make a point etc) I can't help wondering what a Panda would be like with the same makeover. Q-car or what

regards,
Jet

Or even better, a Mito!

[louismchuge]

Looked like the driver had to work hard with his hands

Shame it was in a public wood with cyclists rather than on a track

[RudeDog]

This is one of those "We've done it because we can" type of projects. Can't see any point to this other than that. Why would my grandmother want that to do her shopping in?