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General New one ordered!

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General New one ordered!

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rdejones

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Nov 29, 2008
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I've been the proud owner of a 1.2 crossover black lounge in West London since 2008 and have had great fun with her. Sadly she was not without a fair ammount of what teh dealer refered to as 'city damage'! Neverthless her trade in was enough to consider an upgrade! My wife fell in love with the bi-colour one in the Marylebourne show room but was a bit upset to discover how poor the pop spec was on them and that leather seats were just not availlable. I test the drove the T/A and loved it. I know it costs more and the fuel economy is questionable, but to be honest I have never got great fuel economy on the 1.2, mostly down to london driving; yesterday it was about 44mpg, and that is with some long journeys mixed in. I will miss the 1.2 block - it has loosened up wonderfully and is a joy to drive - not least dropping gears to push teh acceleration.
In the end so we are ordering a bnw T/A lounge with red leather seats and black ambience, front fogs, climate, leather gear knob, reversing sensors (to avoid the 'city damage'), and the 15" two tone sport alloys, as I don't really like the lounge ones. I would have liked the opening sunroof but £500 seemed a lot, and ESP I really could not justify as I can only think of once in three years on ice and snow when it would have really helped.
I'm loooking foward to the new toys; stop and start, the ipod actually working on the blue and me, the shift advisor, and of course the extra bhp! I suspect for the first month I will drive it like an idiot and then begin to ponder the eco mode!
 
I was tempted to get one just for work, but I realised that at most I spend £2-300 a year on the congestion charge.
 
rdejones said:
I've been the proud owner of a 1.2 crossover black lounge in West London since 2008 and have had great fun with her. Sadly she was not without a fair ammount of what teh dealer refered to as 'city damage'! Neverthless her trade in was enough to consider an upgrade! My wife fell in love with the bi-colour one in the Marylebourne show room but was a bit upset to discover how poor the pop spec was on them and that leather seats were just not availlable. I test the drove the T/A and loved it. I know it costs more and the fuel economy is questionable, but to be honest I have never got great fuel economy on the 1.2, mostly down to london driving; yesterday it was about 44mpg, and that is with some long journeys mixed in. I will miss the 1.2 block - it has loosened up wonderfully and is a joy to drive - not least dropping gears to push teh acceleration.
In the end so we are ordering a bnw T/A lounge with red leather seats and black ambience, front fogs, climate, leather gear knob, reversing sensors (to avoid the 'city damage'), and the 15" two tone sport alloys, as I don't really like the lounge ones. I would have liked the opening sunroof but £500 seemed a lot, and ESP I really could not justify as I can only think of once in three years on ice and snow when it would have really helped.
I'm loooking foward to the new toys; stop and start, the ipod actually working on the blue and me, the shift advisor, and of course the extra bhp! I suspect for the first month I will drive it like an idiot and then begin to ponder the eco mode!
Click to expand...

Given the sport wheels (costs extra), the black ambiance (can only be got the Sport), the leather upgrade (it has the splits for free) and a preference for a proper sunroof (it's better value on the Sport since you have no glass roof) the no longer available Sport model seems the best model choice.
Has anyone got any 'word' on the availability of the Twin Air + ?
 
I realise the sport may have been better but as they are no longer available! Plus I hate the blacked out windows and the spoiler!
 
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rdejones said:
I realise the sport may have been better but as they are no longer available! Plus I hate the blacked out windows and the spoiler!
Click to expand...

I re-read you opening post again and I noticed the fog lights in their as well ! If you're not into the blacked out windows (they would be hard to reverse) but you would get plenty of buyers for the spoiler :).
You seem to be a Sport wheel fan - at least they're not as girly as the 15inch multispokes. The spec on your 500 is great (it oftens takes having one to get it right). The very best of luck on your TA - I hope you both have great fun with it. (y)
 
I was in London today and by Hyde Park near the Fiat dealer, there was a scuplture with I think a original 500 being picked up by a large hand.

What is it about ?

Edit: found it http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9373000/9373297.stm
 
Last edited:
arorat said:
Oh yes you will love it. All London driving ?
Click to expand...

Mostly London. The last one went down to the south of France once, as west as Penzance twice, and to Yorkshire about four times. A few Norfolk trips and the rest of the 18 k milage was London.
I've had a couple of wobbles since the order about the TA. A fifteen min test drive possibly wasn't long enough. A little part of me worries I'm paying quite a lot more for an unproven engine that makes a nice noise! On the other hand it was lots of fun when I put my foot down on the motorway - there may be lots of driving in second and third coming up!
Of course had I gone with the 1.2 I could have had the sunroof, interscope, and ESP as well!
Mind you three years ago I ready every post on here saying the 1.2 was rubbish and the only real choice was the 1.4 so I guess you can never be completely right!
 
rdejones said:
Mostly London. The last one went down to the south of France once, as west as Penzance twice, and to Yorkshire about four times. A few Norfolk trips and the rest of the 18 k milage was London.
I've had a couple of wobbles since the order about the TA. A fifteen min test drive possibly wasn't long enough. A little part of me worries I'm paying quite a lot more for an unproven engine that makes a nice noise! On the other hand it was lots of fun when I put my foot down on the motorway - there may be lots of driving in second and third coming up!
Of course had I gone with the 1.2 I could have had the sunroof, interscope, and ESP as well!
Mind you three years ago I ready every post on here saying the 1.2 was rubbish and the only real choice was the 1.4 so I guess you can never be completely right!
Click to expand...

Venters posted the youtube below - I enjoyed it and I thought it summarised it well.
On a back to back test that I did with a 1.2 & a TA - the latter won hands down. I contemplated a Pop TA in place of a bumped up 1.2 but then settled on a secondhand 1.4 with a few bells and whistles. The engine would be important to me - enjoy the 'spark' from the TA & to hell with the mpg and how long the engine is going to last. You're getting away with the congestion charge - so that has to be a bargain (y)
 
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