swmbo's Abarth 500! our new baby ;)

[sharkrider]

well, she has always wanted one, and after much searching has finally found one she likes! (in bloody Plymouth! bearing in mind we live near Scotland!)

 

in black, 2009, service history, a nice small mileage of 26,000, they did the cambelt and water pump for us as part of the deal, and put us up in a hotel the night before we picked it up

 

options are , big wheels, red leather, sunroof, heated front screen and climate control, upgraded stereo, and stupidly loud exhaust (thats quiet!!) Ragazzon apparently, why its quiet I don't know, they do a switchable one with a remote, but we dont have a remote! its as quiet as normal, so we must be missing something here from the vids we watched on youtube!

 

 

big outlets! much check every morning for small animals....

 

 

wheels are nice (kerbed, need a refurb!) (a choice of ash!) proper arch gap brakes are good, and contrary to what journo's say, the ride is good! better than the citigo with eibachs on! its on the recomended pirreli p zero neros, we get bad winters, it will be going to maxxis allseason tyres

 

 

fat front!

 

 

nice big sunroof (ash like sunroofs!)

 

 

love the interior, leather covered instrument binnacle, fat , flat bottomed steering wheel (tramlines in sport though!) nice gearchange, powered by the scorpion!

 

 

the nice red leather seats were polished too much, I nearly slid out! and in typical mad Abarth fasion you cannot see the nearside blindspot for them!

 

 

power is supposed to be 135 bhp..... but it seems faster than that ... they couldn't say if it had been remapped , but with that exhaust......

 

 

I like the decals, in the sunlight, the shine really bright!

 

 

big spoiler!

 

 

there is not a lot of room under the bonnet, we were looking for the intercooler ect ... there is an intake at each side at the front, one appears to hold the intercooler, one appears to hold the oil cooler...

 

air comes in here ...

 

 

and out here!

 

 

not a lot of room under the bonnet!

 

 

also contrary to reports, it has plenty of boot space!

 

 

800 ish miles since we picked it up, all faultlessly, everything works as it should... did a paltry 33 mpg on the way home though! the vRS did 44mpg on track tyres! lol.... maybe it is mapped... hhhmmmm think a RR day is in order!

 

 

all three cars on the driveway

 

 

I havent driven it much, Ash drove it mostly, but its very nice, like a little roller skate! and very pokey for an alleged 135bhp....

 

I will put a further review up when I have driven it more...

 

and of course Ash may come in to post mods

[Defenderben]

Looks very nice, shame the wheels have taken a few knocks/scratches, was it private or dealer?

33mpg!

What size engine/bhp does it have for that sort of fuel return?

[sharkrider]

Looks very nice, shame the wheels have taken a few knocks/scratches, was it private or dealer?

33mpg!

What size engine/bhp does it have for that sort of fuel return?

yeah, the wheels will be refurbished, Ash wont stand for the curbing long, she wanted to put a note on saying "it wasn't me!" a few scratches, ring/keys by door handles ect , they will come out easy with a "proper" polish, just the laquer, nothing deep

 

its a 1.4 turbo petrol, allegedly 135bhp, possibly 165bhp lol.....super unleaded.

 

it was an Abarth dealer, she spent a long time looking for the car she wanted, the dealer has a really good rep, and the process was easy and pleasant

 

6 month warranty included, there is a bit of plastic trim missing from the wiper cover, they can start by supplying that for us! lol...

[BossFox]

They don't need big power as they weight half of a family car.

Do like these, look fun.

Real busy little pocket rocket.

So fun at normal speeds unlike all the super capable big power cars.

Congrats on the new car Ash, I'm sure you'll love it!

Maybe not the fuel economy though, that's a bit different from the Citigo.

[mdk1]

Lovely car Ash,

They do handle very well, had one as a px last year, also driven the twinair which isn't as slow as what people say, but you do have to have your foot to the floor.

[Titanium_Man]

Nice motor, Ash

[RobClubley]

That's really nice!

[devonutopia]

 they will come out easy with a "proper" polish, just the laquer, nothing deep

 

 

 

Hello!    Nice motor!  Perfect colour IMO.

[James I]

Like it Ash, I assume you will be attending How Fast to beat Dave's phantom?   

[blackandwhite]

Hi everyone , it's a lot different than the citigo - the turning circle is quite comedic   I dont mind the fuel use so much as i drive about 10 miles a day (when not attending briskoda events ) .

 

Doesn't feel like mine yet , it needs a good clean ! some mats and other bits . I really like the black and red combo , originally wanted a pearlescent white with the red interior - no-one seems to spec the sunroof and i have to have a sunroof !

 

I won't be going to show up Dave - he'll end up wanting to drive/track my car even more 

[sharkrider]

I forgot about the turning circle! lol.... again you have to have mad things with an abarth.... I think an mitsubishi evo X 400 could turn tighter!

[bonelorry]

Quite like these little "HOT" 500's!

 

I have heard/read that they are a lot of fun, Bet they go quite well too.

 

Hope it serves you well.

[samuir1974]

Very nice indeed.... I like it... ALOT!!!!

[Tim1631]

I like a lot. It's a nice Ford KA

[sharkrider]

slight change to my review after driving it on my local roads today! lol.... the ride IS rock solid! lol..... still, it makes it feel more like a little go-kart! still haven't been able to get any more info on the exhaust, ash took a pic of the plate on the silencer and is going to contact ragazzon to find out if they do a quiet version! lol...

 

I dont know if 2nd gear is really short, but from putting your foot down to red line takes about 1 second!

 

much fun to drive

[ChrisRs]

That's ace Dave and Ash

[Dark_Hero]

Awesome little car. Love these

[Fester1698]

awesome little pocket rocket

[sharkrider]

The citigo went away yesterday! reclaimed by skoda... just the Abarth now

 

[vrskeith]

This looks nice as well :http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/abarth/500/92366/abarth-695-biposto-first-uk-review

[sharkrider]

indeed, thats the mad one, she was looking at 595's!

[sharkrider]

been out for a nice long drive in the Abarth today , just getting to know it

 

some more Abarth madness, there is a switch on the dash, what you would assume is the traction control.... errr, no. you cannot turn off the traction control or the ESP... this switch is for the electronic diff (Abarths version of XDS) and just to add to that madness... its OFF by default! I have no idea of the reasoning behind this, needless to say I turn it on...

 

the diff is quite aggressive (maybe this is a reason why its off by default?) much more so than my vRS on medium settings, morelike the vRS on max. It does the job though! you get not power understeer off corners/roundabouts ect ! it just turns and goes!

 

I have pushed it a bit more today, handles very well, no roll, bouncy ride, brakes are good, good feel and stopping power, the car is suprisingly stable at higher speeds and when being flung around than you might think! feels like a bigger car!

steering is very precise, short rack for sure, but its SO electronic... there's no real "feel"  you can tell its "simulated" weight... again after living with a mark I MX5, I doubt any other steering is going to feel any good at all!

it was tramlining less than I remember before, but I did adjust the front tyre pressures on Ash's request, this may have helped.

really enjoyed zooming around in it (at 30 mpg! ) read up on what boost its suposed to get, as I saw 1.3 bar on the dial, and apparently this is normal, so no clue there as to whether its mapped, its definatly quicker than the MX5, not sure if it would keep up with the vRS, but it feels strong.... it growls as well! very deep throated howl from it when reving..

 

really nice touch is the dial with the boost gauge on top of the dash has a flashing icon in it, in sport it flashes as you approach the rev limiter, and you can see it like a head up display, so you dont need to look at the revs for a change up point to avoid the limiter it tells you in your peripheral vision, just like a F1 car! lol... brilliant

 

although the seats look good, there is not enough support, you slide off.

 

steering wheel is awesome. even more makes me want the nice one out of the octy 3 vRS in my car :(

 

blue & me works well. unlike the media system in my vRS which takes an hour to load up the hard drive before it will play anything!

 

very quick point to point car!

 

some pics

 

we stopped it the top of this (honister pass) before we cam down, to give room to fly

 

 

and the continuation, generally ruined by slow tourists who have no idea how wide their cars are...

 

 

 

may have to be going out in this more (provided we can afford fuel!!!!)

[ChrisRs]

Great stuff Dave..I know that road well

Remember the Meet?

[sharkrider]

yes, I blew a brake pad! lol...

[ChrisRs]

Trying to keep up with me on that section from Ullswater!  LOL