Discussion
Thought I'd get up some pictures of the wife's new car (although I think I've spent more time driving it 
)
She had a standard (base model) 500 for the last 4 years and it was starting to show signs of its 'Fiatness' in that it had a stonking great hole in the exhaust that was made from the thinnest tin foil steel you've ever seen. The two back suspension rubber mounts were perished giving it a nice creaking when cornering, and one of the shocks was leaking.
Not great for only 24k miles in those 4 years really, I was pretty certain it would fail its up coming MOT.
So with this in mind, we did what all rational people do... go out and buy another one!
The wife was convinced she didnt want anything bigger (I was thinking Focus ST or Megane R26 as an nice step up).
So we found our nearest Abarth dealer (Platts of Stafford, exceptional service so far), and went for a test drive. By God it was fun! We drove straight back and ordered, the only extra being the leather seats (I prefered the cloth, but they would have had to special order and take 8 weeks!). It turns out they had the exact spec sat unregistered in their compound, so we could get it only a week later after sticking the stripes on and prepping it.
They did us an excellent deal on the old car as well. We bought it in March 2008 for £8200 brand new, they offered us £5125 trade in! I almost fell off my chair, it made the deal a no brainer considering the state of it (it also had a scuff on the rear bumper), a quick bit of man maths makes that depreciation of only £65 a month. I dread too think what a Ka of same vintage would be.
It arrived a week before Christmas and its been a barrel of laughs ever since!
Piccys:
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo (1) by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo (2) by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
I was sorely tempted for fork out the extra £2k for the Esse Esse pack, but having read the thoughts on here and elsewhere about the ride (rock hard bone shaker) I thought it not fair on the wife who's car it actually is (not a petrol head)
The seats are designed for little Italian bottoms rather than chubby West Midlanders, so I sort of sit 'on' the seats rather than 'in' them, they look great though, just gotta look after them. I must say I do like all of the Abarth details, they've even added it to the stereo start up screen!
The torque steer is knowhere near as bad as I was expecting, it pulls very well in a straight line and is great fun when on boost. Off boost its pretty much like any 1.4 petrol, so 'nippy' I would describe it, but stick your boot in and its off like a rocket!
The best thing however and I still giggle like a girl when I start it up (I have to have the window down every time) is the noise... simply brilliant for the size of engine. I prefer it to the V8 mustang I drove in the states recently for noise factor!
Anyway, hope you've enjoyed my little ramble.
)She had a standard (base model) 500 for the last 4 years and it was starting to show signs of its 'Fiatness' in that it had a stonking great hole in the exhaust that was made from the thinnest tin foil steel you've ever seen. The two back suspension rubber mounts were perished giving it a nice creaking when cornering, and one of the shocks was leaking.
Not great for only 24k miles in those 4 years really, I was pretty certain it would fail its up coming MOT.
So with this in mind, we did what all rational people do... go out and buy another one!
The wife was convinced she didnt want anything bigger (I was thinking Focus ST or Megane R26 as an nice step up).
So we found our nearest Abarth dealer (Platts of Stafford, exceptional service so far), and went for a test drive. By God it was fun! We drove straight back and ordered, the only extra being the leather seats (I prefered the cloth, but they would have had to special order and take 8 weeks!). It turns out they had the exact spec sat unregistered in their compound, so we could get it only a week later after sticking the stripes on and prepping it.
They did us an excellent deal on the old car as well. We bought it in March 2008 for £8200 brand new, they offered us £5125 trade in! I almost fell off my chair, it made the deal a no brainer considering the state of it (it also had a scuff on the rear bumper), a quick bit of man maths makes that depreciation of only £65 a month. I dread too think what a Ka of same vintage would be.
It arrived a week before Christmas and its been a barrel of laughs ever since!
Piccys:
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo (1) by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo (2) by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
photo by notkenblock1, on Flickr
I was sorely tempted for fork out the extra £2k for the Esse Esse pack, but having read the thoughts on here and elsewhere about the ride (rock hard bone shaker) I thought it not fair on the wife who's car it actually is (not a petrol head)
The seats are designed for little Italian bottoms rather than chubby West Midlanders, so I sort of sit 'on' the seats rather than 'in' them
, they look great though, just gotta look after them. I must say I do like all of the Abarth details, they've even added it to the stereo start up screen! The torque steer is knowhere near as bad as I was expecting, it pulls very well in a straight line and is great fun when on boost. Off boost its pretty much like any 1.4 petrol, so 'nippy' I would describe it, but stick your boot in and its off like a rocket!
The best thing however and I still giggle like a girl when I start it up (I have to have the window down every time) is the noise... simply brilliant for the size of engine. I prefer it to the V8 mustang I drove in the states recently for noise factor!
Anyway, hope you've enjoyed my little ramble.
M5 Russ said:
I love my Abarth. If you want SS power then have a chat to TMC about their tuning boxes. Takes 10 mins to fit and upps power by around 25bhp making the car much more responsive. Well worth the couple of hundred quid it costs.
Very interesting...I assume this effects the warranty though?
Craikeybaby said:
It looks good! My girlfriend's 500 seems to be heading the same way as your wife's, but she doesn't like the Arbaths 
Yes it seems to be common amongst the 500 community, especially the exhaust rot issue. If I was keeping it, i'd probably be trying to pursue it with Fiat UK.Just organise a test drive, thats what won mine over, and she's not petrol head by any stretch! I dont know what spec yours is, but as we had the 1.2 pop (lowest of the low) pretty much everything was an upgrade:
Leather
Bluetooth thingy
Alloys
Chromey bits
Pro audio stereo
And of course, power!
Love these
I would have one in a heart beat if I could afford a second car. As it is, its much too small to be a DD for me as me n the gf tend to go out to places and usually have other passengers or we're transporting various crap about.
Perfect little city blaster/b-road stormer
Glad you didnt go for the upgrade pack, been in a Punto Abarth with the Esse Esse kit and while its nicely fast, the ride on anything other than glass smooth roads was abhorrent. Besides 135bhp is plenty for that thing.
I understand what you mean about the seats too! While looking at Brera's the dealership we were at had an Abarth 500 in the showroom too and when I opened the door and saw the drivers seat, my immediate impression was "bar stool"...small, round and appearing quite high off the floor, it looked like something you might perch on rather than sit in.
Not so promising on the mechanical wear and tear... those are some basic things to need attention really after such a short time.
I would have one in a heart beat if I could afford a second car. As it is, its much too small to be a DD for me as me n the gf tend to go out to places and usually have other passengers or we're transporting various crap about.
Perfect little city blaster/b-road stormer
Glad you didnt go for the upgrade pack, been in a Punto Abarth with the Esse Esse kit and while its nicely fast, the ride on anything other than glass smooth roads was abhorrent. Besides 135bhp is plenty for that thing.
I understand what you mean about the seats too! While looking at Brera's the dealership we were at had an Abarth 500 in the showroom too and when I opened the door and saw the drivers seat, my immediate impression was "bar stool"...small, round and appearing quite high off the floor, it looked like something you might perch on rather than sit in.
Not so promising on the mechanical wear and tear... those are some basic things to need attention really after such a short time.
Welcome to the club! How do you get "Abarth" to appear on the CD player?
If the car is under 3 years old keep an eye on the standard 16's corroding, mine certainly are, using them in the winter though as my Esseesse wheels are for summer only
Reason I chose the Abarth over a Clio 200 was although it cost £500 more, in 3 years it was worth £1,500 more on top of being cheaper to run, tax and insure!
If the car is under 3 years old keep an eye on the standard 16's corroding, mine certainly are, using them in the winter though as my Esseesse wheels are for summer only
Reason I chose the Abarth over a Clio 200 was although it cost £500 more, in 3 years it was worth £1,500 more on top of being cheaper to run, tax and insure!
Mouse1903 said:
Welcome to the club! How do you get "Abarth" to appear on the CD player?
If the car is under 3 years old keep an eye on the standard 16's corroding, mine certainly are, using them in the winter though as my Esseesse wheels are for summer only
Reason I chose the Abarth over a Clio 200 was although it cost £500 more, in 3 years it was worth £1,500 more on top of being cheaper to run, tax and insure!
Thanks! It's brand new (61 plate) so I'll keep an eye on the wheels as we put the miles on it. If the car is under 3 years old keep an eye on the standard 16's corroding, mine certainly are, using them in the winter though as my Esseesse wheels are for summer only
Reason I chose the Abarth over a Clio 200 was although it cost £500 more, in 3 years it was worth £1,500 more on top of being cheaper to run, tax and insure!
Abarth on the stereo was there from the start, a new feature I guess?
I seriously admire these small Fiats. I had a very soft spot for my friends 1050 127 Sport, closely followed by the 1300GT back in the day, which made 75hp and 80hp respectively. That thing was like a scalded cat. Such a shame they've nearly all died.
Can't image what this feels like with nearly twice that in a similar sized car
Can't image what this feels like with nearly twice that in a similar sized car
Another buyer of one of the first 500s here, my wife's one is 4 years old on March 1st. After 40k miles the only stuff to fail so far are breather pipes, twice. I did think the brake pads had died but having taken the wheels off they've got loads left. It is time to replace it soon though, an Abarth would be lovely but we need a bit more space so a Polo or Fabia is beckoning I think.
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