500 New 500S C TA 105hp

Ulpian treat yourself. You won't regret it!!!!

Speaking as someone who had a 2.5 V6 Omega, and then a ford puma (with the worlds smallest fuel tank) Even if I rag my TA+ I am still going to be saving money on fuel.

If I wanted economy I'd have bought the 1.2, I want fun. Maybe I'll pay less in fuel than I did before, but I am not bothered if I don't (and looking at some of the threads about that say Shell VPower is worth the extra £ or so to fill it, then I may not)

Ulpian said:

Fun! Driving for fun. The 105 looks like it's real fun to drive, and the slight, if any, fuel consumption increase over the basic TA is more than compensated for by the, FUN!

If I was to get a 500 it would be the 105: why not!

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yep if i was buying my TA now I'd go for the 105 for sure, but I dont think I'd trade my 85 for one until they have revised the overall package, I think 105bhp in the existing 500 setup is probably pushing the envelope in terms of suspension and handling if you were to exploit it. IMO there is room for a real 'sport' version 105 TA or perhaps an Abarth variant. The TA is an intoxicating engine when you own one so I can well understand the appeal of the 105. A recent review in Auto Italia remarked that it was perhaps the engine that the TA should have been all along. None available yet in Ireland (thankfully!!)

Mercky said:

You do realise that the economy will drop off when the roof is down? Have you factored that in to your cost of ownership over a 1.2 with a hard top?

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Sorry but I will disagree with you here. My TA convertible is more economical with the roof down as the Air con is off and I tend to drive slower

As babyfarrari says not everything can be clinically calculated.

Buying cars for some is not just how cheap can they make the package.

I am glad the discussion has taken a turn for the positive! I totally agree with the references to FUN. And that can't be measured mpg or even £.
I could make a strong argument that the 105TA is much more fun than many supposedly sporting cars that are much more expensive. I started with a long list of new cars but once I had driven a TA (and that was a 85TA) the list suddenly became one car long. But the Abarth was not far behind!

I think it should also be noted that people who buy the TA are paying way over average for the size of car they are buying. So they will not be looking to the fuel consumption as the be all and end all of things. Like some other buyers I had a big engined car (2.7 V6) and was looking for a cheaper way of getting the same grin factor, my TA is returning three times the MPG and giving me bigger grins, as far as I'm concerned that's a win win situation however you calculate it

Ulpian treat yourself. You won't regret it!!!!

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Well four months ago I bought a new Suzuki S Cross Diesel. I needed the space, and also a bit of fun. As a matter of fact the car can be a real hoot, all it requires is to be in the right gear and it goes like stink, overtaking can be, FUN!

Because it isn't built too high it handles very well; the rear end even tucks in when powering out of a bend for example, very un-fwd.

As for economy, well, I too find that being in a lower gear and keeping the motor on the boil, say between 1650 and 2200 RPM ( the torque peak is at 1750 by the way) gives better economy that slogging along at 1200 RPM and then dropping down to overtake. Today I drove from Norwich to Cromer and back, with slow traffic both ways in Norwich, and I got 66 mpg. A total of just over 60 miles. Given that I did overtake a couple of times, hard, I was pleased.
I'm planning to change this car, which I'm very happy with for any number of reasons, in three years. I'll certainly see what Fiat is doing then. I just hope they have improved the quality of their components, but that's a moan, and it's a lovely day and so moaning is verboten.
Back to the tennis!

babyferrari said:

But the Abarth was not far behind!

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With 135hp, I'd have thought it'd be in front .

jrkitching said:

With 135hp, I'd have thought it'd be in front .

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Having owned the abarth 500 I would agree. I think the 500S is a nice car and the leather seats I think put the abarth ones to shame. I do however think the abarth looks better, I always achieved around 42-44mpg on totally mixed runs and I always loved driving it fast or slow.

My TA 4x4 panda is a totally different car but not for a second would I buy a 500S over a 500A if I was thinking of getting one again as it doesn't have the initial cost/running cost/performance benefit it needs compared to the abarth in my opinion.

The 105TA is interesting but the 1.4 turbo was a lovely smooth engine I found.

Now there's an intro worthy of a whole new thread on its own. As mpg is not the be all and end all nor is hp. See the auto express video of the Abarth against the twinair (85hp). The twinair (mine is an S so gets a mild body kit as well as the 16 inch alloys and disc brakes all round) is a very good all round package and suits my needs. If I was after a weekend warrior I would be tempted by the 595 but then again if I was after a weekend warrior it probably wouldn't be a 500 at all! But I do like the look of the biposto!!!!!! Another whole new thread!

Mpg certainly isn't everything, I simply took issue with it being said that it was not a major consideration when buying a car that was all

If I was buying a car for speed then an Abarth would be nowhere near my list

I do like the fact that the 500 is different things to different people. That is why they sell so many.

babyferrari said:

I do like the fact that the 500 is different things to different people. That is why they sell so many.

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Yup, there is a perfect 500 for most people

Maybe someone deciding between a 1.2 pop and a twinair pop might think about mpg and maybe get the decision wrong ! But anyone whose primary criteria is mpg is kidding themselves. How many people have bought diesels without realising that the price differential to a petrol engine is greater than any saving they will make in fuel costs unless they do big miles or keep the car for a long time!

Besides, i'm done with talking about mpg. Shall we get backtrack to the talk of fun?!

With the distances I was doing in the wife's Legacy turbo, I could cover the payments on the 509 with the difference in fuel costs, not as much fun though!

babyferrari said:

Now there's an intro worthy of a whole new thread on its own. As mpg is not the be all and end all nor is hp. See the auto express video of the Abarth against the twinair (85hp). The twinair (mine is an S so gets a mild body kit as well as the 16 inch alloys and disc brakes all round) is a very good all round package and suits my needs. If I was after a weekend warrior I would be tempted by the 595 but then again if I was after a weekend warrior it probably wouldn't be a 500 at all! But I do like the look of the biposto!!!!!! Another whole new thread!

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Who mentioned weekend warrior ? I used it daily and drove 18-22k miles a year, it was great.

I certainly didn't buy the abarth for performance or mpg. I just loved the looks inside and out. It was a nice drive and it was amazing how it always had so many compliments even though it's not really that fast (compared to hot hatches). Doing 40+ mpg was a bonus.

I like both the 500S and non S model having pre ordered my first 500 before they launched. They always look great from pop through to lounge models and they always make me smile. I just wish fiat hadn't pushed the prices up so far.

I think all variants of the 500 have the fun factor. My 1.4 100 hp certainly provides a good dollop of fun, provided you rev it plenty. I even have a bit of fun sometimes with the jittery, skippy, unsorted back end.

I'm in the same boat as BF, I really wanted a perky 500 and the TA 500S was (and is) perfect for me, I love it as much now as when I picked it up.

I even get compliments and people taking pics of it randomly in the street (its black with gloss black alloys, a bit different).

I'm well aware that I was paying a good 2-3k more than I should be for a car of its spec, but it was exactly what I wanted and I wouldn't have been happy with anything else. My only regret was if I'd waited an extra 6 months I could have got the 105 version instead!

I still love our TA+, 2 years on.

As I've said before, a third of the cylinders & BHP of two of our other cars but 100% of the fun . Major grin factor every time