John R Smith
Member
Good Morning All
I picked up the 500 on Monday afternoon, and got it home OK despite the worst weather so far this year (80 mph gales, driving rain, etc). Of course it immediately got covered in mud and junk from our Cornish lanes, which was very disheartening, because the dealership had done a great job of polishing it all up. Yesterday it was used for work as usual, involving more trips down muddy lanes in the pouring rain, so the poor little thing has had a wintry start to life. The car is a 1.4 Sport in Pasadoble red, absolutely standard with 15” alloys and the white stripe (by choosing a stock car I got it just 4 weeks from putting down the deposit). Some first impressions (at 90 miles on the clock!) –
Best regards
John
I picked up the 500 on Monday afternoon, and got it home OK despite the worst weather so far this year (80 mph gales, driving rain, etc). Of course it immediately got covered in mud and junk from our Cornish lanes, which was very disheartening, because the dealership had done a great job of polishing it all up. Yesterday it was used for work as usual, involving more trips down muddy lanes in the pouring rain, so the poor little thing has had a wintry start to life. The car is a 1.4 Sport in Pasadoble red, absolutely standard with 15” alloys and the white stripe (by choosing a stock car I got it just 4 weeks from putting down the deposit). Some first impressions (at 90 miles on the clock!) –
- It is well worth reading the documentation that comes with the car very carefully. There are so many features which are really useful but not terribly obvious, like the A and B trip computers.
- The ride on the 15” wheels is far less edgy over road imperfections than the 16” ones on the dealer’s demonstrator. I definitely prefer the 15” (and replacement tyres will be cheaper).
- The boot and the rear load-space with the seat back down is actually a lot better than it looks at first sight.
- Mine came with the standard space-saver spare wheel provided, thank goodness.
- I am driving to a self-imposed rev-limit of 4,000 rpm for the first few hundred miles, although the salesman assured me that no running-in was required. Even so, there is plenty of performance available.
- Driving into work this morning, which is 8 miles of mixed country roads and 2 miles of city traffic, I got 35 mpg according to the trip computer. This is about what I expected for my daily commute, so on a decent run we should do better than 40 mpg.
- The car is much more fun with the Sport button ON. Give it a twisty uphill road and the 500 is guaranteed to put a big smile on your face – it reminds me of my little Italian motorcycles.
- Everyone who sees it loves it, whether they know anything about cars or not.
Best regards
John
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