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General 500 abarth in autoexpress

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General 500 abarth in autoexpress

S

salvo's yellow punto

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this weeks issue. 500 abarth oh my god i want one!

they like the car but say they thought it would have more power and be more chuckable like a go kart.but they stil love it.stick them in the 160bhp 500.see if thats enough power. i hate when a car has too much power and they say "its too much for the car to handle" and now the 500 gets "not enough power".they have to pick on something dont they! grrr

anyway loooks great, the more i look the more i want one. i wonder what insurance group they will be?
 
I like it lots, just hope its not going to be a case of style over substance.

I also read that they thought it rolled a bit too much and wasn't a sharp a drive as they expected.

For an Abarth I would expect it to be a sharp involving drive. If it isn't its just a marketing ploy. Hopefully its more than that.
 
This worries me:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/224976/500-abarth.html

Admittedly, the car does slip into understeer once its limits are breached. But given that this 500 is targeted at young buyers with minimal experience behind the wheel, that’s no bad thing.
Click to expand...

Also bought autocar today as they had a big feature on the the Abarth:

The Abarth is very usable and a lot of fun, even if its not a car that you can easily steer with the throttle. Its trajectory tightens slightly if you ease the accelerator- more so if you've experimentally switched off the TTC- but the speedier way ahead is 'slow in, fast out', rather than lifting off slightly mid-corner to adjust your line before crushing the throttle
Click to expand...

The latter part of that last sentence is what makes the Teg so much fun, you carry way too much speed in, lift off the rear end comes round, when at the required angle you nail the throttle as you can see through the apex and bang your out.

And then:
You can fling the 500 at bends with relative abandon, knowing that the electronics, within reason will sort things out.
Click to expand...

So i'm a little dissapointed that it doesn't look its going to be as much of a fun chassis as i hoped, or really that it could be lots of fun but the nannying ESP won't let you enjoy it.

Its a pity Renault aren't allowing any test drives/reviews of the Twingo RS as of yet. I'm expecting it to have a sharper more driver focused chassis than the Abarth, which will probably do it for me.
 
there is also a feature of the marangoni 500 (supercharged 1.4 )in max power, 2 page spread.
this does worry me as max power is the choice of the essex boy racer.
i may test drive an abarth but to be honest i think it looks a bit tacky compared to the standard car, and from watching the vids on the italian abarth website it sounds like it has a bit of turbo lag? its using the 1.4 turbo "fire" engines are these the same as found in the punto gt
 
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trackdayqueen said:
This worries me:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/224976/500-abarth.html



Also bought autocar today as they had a big feature on the the Abarth:



The latter part of that last sentence is what makes the Teg so much fun, you carry way too much speed in, lift off the rear end comes round, when at the required angle you nail the throttle as you can see through the apex and bang your out.

And then:


So i'm a little dissapointed that it doesn't look its going to be as much of a fun chassis as i hoped, or really that it could be lots of fun but the nannying ESP won't let you enjoy it.

Its a pity Renault aren't allowing any test drives/reviews of the Twingo RS as of yet. I'm expecting it to have a sharper more driver focused chassis than the Abarth, which will probably do it for me.
Click to expand...


What you forget though is the majority of people are going to be using it for everyday driving on normal roads and are not going to be doing 70 into a corner.

Like Autoexpress say, its a great '1st step' car on the performance ladder and for only £14k, so I don't expect it to be the same as a car in the £18k region.

My current 100HP 500 has ESP and to be honest the car is A LOT of fun when you fling it about and drive it hard, so I'm not worried about it on the Abarth, although I agree you should be able to turn it off if you fancied killing yourself........and your car!!!

Si
 
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i do like this photo before and after (y)
car_photo_271299_25.jpg
 
sikersh said:
What you forget though is the majority of people are going to be using it for everyday driving on normal roads and are not going to be doing 70 into a corner.

Like Autoexpress say, its a great '1st step' car on the performance ladder and for only £14k, so I don't expect it to be the same as a car in the £18k region.

My current 100HP 500 has ESP and to be honest the car is A LOT of fun when you fling it about and drive it hard, so I'm not worried about it on the Abarth, although I agree you should be able to turn it off if you fancied killing yourself........and your car!!!

Si
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. Shame though that the majority spoil it for the minority. :p

I guess with 20 years driving and racing and track experience i'm a bit beyond the 1st step on the performance ladder as a fair few of my cars both previous and present are quicker cars than the Abarth. You don't have to spend 18k though to get handling you can exploit though. It will be interesting to review the Twingo RS once i've had a test drive as you can switch off the ESP and there is a vid on the renaultsport site of it going sideways quite nicely on track.

I don't think i'd be killing myself or the car by going sideways into a corner, i've done it for years.

I think though to be fair, you are quite right not many people are going to be interested or put off by not being able to turn off the ESP or go sideways when the fancy takes them and I guess in that respect I feel that it is unlikely to be able to deliver the kind of drive that I want from a car. Thats a real shame because i really like it for so many other reasons but i feel that its so close, but ultimately i think a car that doesn't allow a decent helping of lift-off oversteer is going to frustrate me.
 
trackdayqueen said:
I know what you mean. Shame though that the majority spoil it for the minority. :p.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I'm no 'boring' driver, I do like to throw my cars around a lot and push them hard (sometimes too hard), I just think on normal roads you can't be sliding into corners etc, no doubt the Abarth SS will be more for the track.

trackdayqueen said:
I guess with 20 years driving and racing and track experience i'm a bit beyond the 1st step on the performance ladder as a fair few of my cars both previous and present are quicker cars than the Abarth.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't think the Abarth is all about going really fast, thats why its only 135HP, I think its just meant to be fun, but not stupid fun, if you get me?

trackdayqueen said:
I don't think i'd be killing myself or the car by going sideways into a corner, i've done it for years.
Click to expand...

Maybe not, but plenty of other people would be!!

It is a shame though they don't let you turn the ESP off, but I think the 500 will make it up in a lot of different ways. Me, I love Fiats, if the Twingo was 180HP and was the same price I'd still go for the Abarth, just because I know it'll be a better 'car' overall.

Si
 
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