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General 500 1.2 Pop brief review.

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General 500 1.2 Pop brief review.

306maxi said:
The 1.2 can certainly spin its wheels in the dry :)
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I've only managed it with a lot of lock on, but I'm not really in the habit of dumping the clutch with a lot of rev's. ( I had a period in my Afla 155 of about 2 weeks where you had to dump the clutch a bit or it would stall ( a split in the air intake pipe which opened when you set off due to the engine moving as the wheels began to turn), I was then out in My GT Junior in front of a crowded pub in summer, letting some young ladies cross in front of me, I was a little distracted and forgot which car I was in, so dumped the clutch at about 4,000, one wheel spun with a loud screech, then the LSD locked and both wheels spun then gripped and I flew down the Road sideways leaving two black Marks, which is not cool and :eek:)
 
alfatastic said:
I've only managed it with a lot of lock on, but I'm not really in the habit of dumping the clutch with a lot of rev's. ( I had a period in my Afla 155 of about 2 weeks where you had to dump the clutch a bit or it would stall ( a split in the air intake pipe which opened when you set off due to the engine moving as the wheels began to turn), I was then out in My GT Junior in front of a crowded pub in summer, letting some young ladies cross in front of me, I was a little distracted and forgot which car I was in, so dumped the clutch at about 4,000, one wheel spun with a loud screech, then the LSD locked and both wheels spun then gripped and I flew down the Road sideways leaving two black Marks, which is not cool and :eek:)
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Yeah you do have to give it a bit of revs and let the clutch in very suddenly to get a bit of wheelspin but not so much that I'd say you're abusing the car incredibly :) I'm certainly not the sort who would ever rev a car to 6k and just drop the clutch that's for sure :)
 
around town the 1.2 is great off the lights, through 1st gear to the redline its amazing for a little motor IMO, if you get it right it just hooks up and goes. Ours has done 16k now and after a couple of oil changes the engine is so smooth and responsive, the 0-60 time Fiat quote is pessimistic I reckon, it also cruises at 85 on the clock with ease, no need for a bigger engine unless its an Abarth (runs away lol)

As a further treat, ours averages 51mpg which a 1.4 has no hope of getting in normal use and normal speeds.
 
eki said:
I can get 50mpg, quite easily if i tried too.
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But what do you *actually* get?? No point saying you can get 50mpg if you have to drive like Miss Daisy and would never do it.

Number of people with 1.4 are reporting around 35-40 mpg. Which is 20% worse than with 1.2
 
YouKnowWho said:
But what do you *actually* get?? No point saying you can get 50mpg if you have to drive like Miss Daisy and would never do it.

Number of people with 1.4 are reporting around 35-40 mpg. Which is 20% worse than with 1.2
Click to expand...

in all seriousness i average about 5.5l/100 km = 51mpg. Don't care what you believe cause why would i have any purpose to lie on such an issue?

and 306maxi, as trphil says if it were US, it would be ~4.5l/100 km which is more economical, and even then this is achievable. Sure it wouldn't be as easy but its still achievable. I don't know if many of you have been to Australia, but it is flat. So these figures are not hard to attain. Tbh if speed wasnt an issue i could get about 3.0-3.5l/100km (going 40km/h in 6th gear). Or for you British ~80-90mpg at 24 mph in 6th gear.
 
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eki said:
in all seriousness i average about 5.5l/100 km = 51mpg. Don't care what you believe cause why would i have any purpose to lie on such an issue?

and 306maxi, as trphil says if it were US, it would be ~4.5l/100 km which is more economical, and even then this is achievable. Sure it wouldn't be as easy but its still achievable. I don't know if many of you have been to Australia, but it is flat. So these figures are not hard to attain. Tbh if speed wasnt an issue i could get about 3.0-3.5l/100km (going 40km/h in 6th gear). Or for you British ~80-90mpg at 24 mph in 6th gear.
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Come on....really??:mad: The best i can do is 7,5l/100 and that is when i try a lot. Of course i only do city driving with an average speed of 25km/h or so the computer says.
 
For your information, the Abarth may be more economical than you think, this is my average so far for this tank (almost 200 miles in!) Must be the cold weather! :) Why buy the 1.4 when you can have a 1.4 Turbo with more power and better economy? (y) And as some of you know, i'm not the slowest driver in the World. I guess with 10k on the clock now, she's nicely run in and performing well.
 

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FireballXL5man said:
Am I alone here, or have other people followed old-fashioned "running-in" procedures with their 500's?
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I don't see the point in following old fashioned procedures on something that clearly isn't old fashioned. It's not 1975 anymore after all.

I took my running in a bit easy for the first 50 miles by which point I'd reached 5000rpm. Then I'd just drive it normally. By around 400miles I had redlined it. Then each day thereafter till a 1000 miles I redlined it pretty much everyday. Loosened it up nicely. You simply do not need to follow a strict running in procedure like you used to and there is the argument of ensuring good sealing between the ring and the bores.

End of the day your car do what you wish etc.(y)
 
auto_blanco said:
around town the 1.2 is great off the lights, through 1st gear to the redline its amazing for a little motor IMO, if you get it right it just hooks up and goes. Ours has done 16k now and after a couple of oil changes the engine is so smooth and responsive, the 0-60 time Fiat quote is pessimistic I reckon, it also cruises at 85 on the clock with ease, no need for a bigger engine unless its an Abarth (runs away lol)

As a further treat, ours averages 51mpg which a 1.4 has no hope of getting in normal use and normal speeds.
Click to expand...

Amazing is not a word I'd use to describe the performance off the lights. It just seems sluggish to me and that's comparing with a 1.4 with only 100bhp. In comparison to my other car it's dog slow. It's smooth, sure, but this seems to be down to a bit of a heavy feeling flywheel, it feels like there is a fair bit of inertia to overcome before it actually goes anywhere.

After all there's a limit to what a 1.2 8v can achieve really.
 
trackdayqueen said:
I don't see the point in following old fashioned procedures on something that clearly isn't old fashioned. It's not 1975 anymore after all.

I took my running in a bit easy for the first 50 miles by which point I'd reached 5000rpm. Then I'd just drive it normally. By around 400miles I had redlined it. Then each day thereafter till a 1000 miles I redlined it pretty much everyday. Loosened it up nicely. You simply do not need to follow a strict running in procedure like you used to and there is the argument of ensuring good sealing between the ring and the bores.

End of the day your car do what you wish etc.(y)
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Thanks for that reply trackdayqueen. I really didn't know if it is still necessary to treat a new engine with some restraint for the first 1,000 miles anymore. That's why I asked the question. It just seemed logical to me to let the mechanical parts "bed in" by not opening the engine out for a while.

I am sure that the engine is loosening up well. I've now covered over 700 miles and it feels much stronger than it did when I picked it up.
 
trackdayqueen said:
Amazing is not a word I'd use to describe the performance off the lights. It just seems sluggish to me and that's comparing with a 1.4 with only 100bhp. In comparison to my other car it's dog slow. It's smooth, sure, but this seems to be down to a bit of a heavy feeling flywheel, it feels like there is a fair bit of inertia to overcome before it actually goes anywhere.

After all there's a limit to what a 1.2 8v can achieve really.
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I know, thats why I said 'for a 1.2'. Im not saying it feels like its got tonnes of power, it clearly hasnt but it is very driveable, in my opinion more so than the 16v engine around town, where 500s tend to live. It makes 69bhp which is still a fair amount for an engine that small, and the max torque is reached lower than the 1.4 16v, the 1.2 is also lighter and with the weight of the smaller 14 inch wheels compared to the 16s I drove on in the 1.4 1st gear is just right, I dont feel it has a particularly heavy flywheel feeling at all really, especially compared to 6cyl BMWs for example which definately do! It spins to the redline very quickly from idle in 1st if you dont let it bog.
 
it does describe the running in period in the RTFM- bedding in new mechanicals makes good sense for total life span- i was advised of this also on the day of collection...
 
auto_blanco said:
I know, thats why I said 'for a 1.2'. Im not saying it feels like its got tonnes of power, it clearly hasnt but it is very driveable, in my opinion more so than the 16v engine around town, where 500s tend to live. It makes 69bhp which is still a fair amount for an engine that small, and the max torque is reached lower than the 1.4 16v, the 1.2 is also lighter and with the weight of the smaller 14 inch wheels compared to the 16s I drove on in the 1.4 1st gear is just right, I dont feel it has a particularly heavy flywheel feeling at all really, especially compared to 6cyl BMWs for example which definately do! It spins to the redline very quickly from idle in 1st if you dont let it bog.
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Fair comment. I have a 100hp and I find that far more drivable and nippy around town than the 1.2 I had for 2.5 days. It's just quicker everywhere. Though a 1.2 produces it's maximum torque lower down the rev range than a 1.4 there is inevitably less of it, so it's not really an advantage as such.

I must admit (maybe I'm a snob) but I just wouldn't buy a car with an 8v (or 2valve per cylinder) engine. I just think it's outdated. I think the last 8v engined car I owned was a MK1 Astra GTE back in 1994!

But all said and done nothing wrong with a 1.2 500 if you're happy with it.
 
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