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Rallycinq has the advantage in coming from a mutlijet so he would be used to changing gears early. Petrolheads seem to get around 38mpg.
General Test drove a twin air today.
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General Test drove a twin air today.
Rallycinq has the advantage in coming from a mutlijet so he would be used to changing gears early. Petrolheads seem to get around 38mpg.
I've got a day off tomorrow and i'm going past a Fiat garage. Might just go and kill my curiosity! Might thrash it though, just to see how it compares to the Abarth when thrashed (in economy terms i mean) the Abarth always seems to return no less than 30 MPG these days, even on a spirited drive.
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Please do! I'm test driving the Abarth next week and would be interested to hear what you think,
Same with you about the Abarth. Try and get one with plenty of miles on, makes all the difference
Had a day off today to take the A500 back up to Cheshire, and on the way back through Wrexham thought i'd drop by and see the Twin air. Went there a few weeks back and they had tens of the things lined up. Today they had sold all of them and only had 1 unregistered in stock.
After a brief chat with a salesman, he was more than happy to let me drive one even though i explained i own an Abarth with double the power, and that the chances of me buying one are slim! I think he was bored.
Anyway, he drove it off site. He pulled away and floored it, the funky little engine burst into life with a comical classical buzz! I was just getting prepared for the whoosh of power when it went "bud bud bud" he hit the limiter!?
So a mile or two down the road, he pulled over and we swapped seats. I reset the Trip meter to test the MPG's although the results are probably 10% or more inaccurate, the car had 9 miles on the clock and i only drove it for 3 or 4. So off i went, as the car was pre-warmed up I bought the clutch up and floored it in true Fiat style! Again i was bombarded with the funky little sound. I must admit, even with such low mileage, it still pulled well, in fact it pulls better than the Alfa MiTO i have for a week with an asthmatic 1.4 95 BHP engine The steering felt a little over light and the suspension was a bit rolly, but it held the road ok.
The gearing seems quite strange, it gets through the gears really quickly, and yet the revs always seem to be low. I was doing around 50 and in 3rd but the engine wasn't revving very high at all. It seems to be geared quite long, strange as it's really a city car. It's similar to my 126, which only has a 4 speed, but even at 30 MPH the 126 doesn't really like being in 4th gear.
But i was surprised at how soon the rev limiter comes in, it feels like you've just pulled away and started to accelerate and then it starts "blipping", it reminds me of a pull back and go car i had as a child, pull it pack and off it shoots, a modest lump of power but it last around 3 seconds. The turbo is the best part of this engine, I've always enjoyed driving turbocharged cars and even the tiny Twin air has characteristics associated with bigger engines. You can feel and hear it doing it's job. It never feels like it's being over worked, and feels quite happy to rev. It was a million percent more refined than i thought it would be too, smooth and slick power delivery, not something you associate with a small engined car.
The trip MPG read 38.9 MPG, take that with a pinch of salt. As i said before, the car had only 9 miles and i literally drove it 3 or 4 after resetting it. You may be interested to know that before i reset it, it read 19.1 MPG!
Most fun cars are fun because they are fast. Those that are not can sometimes be fun in other ways. The twin air is by no means fast, but it has acres of character crammed into it's 2 tiny cylinders. I think this engine is best suited to this car, it's how the original Fiat 500 started life so it seems natural that the new 500 should have a characterful 2 cylinder! I also think that if you drive it slow, you are missing out. It's a Fiat after all, they thrive on being thrashed (that's why i bought an Abarth!) Economy shouldn't be it's selling point, i think Fiat should market the twin air as a "Fun" car not to be taken too seriously. I certainly wouldn't swap the Abarth for it, but i would definitely consider one as a run around, it's all about smiles per gallon, go on, open her up
After a brief chat with a salesman, he was more than happy to let me drive one even though i explained i own an Abarth with double the power, and that the chances of me buying one are slim! I think he was bored.
Anyway, he drove it off site. He pulled away and floored it, the funky little engine burst into life with a comical classical buzz! I was just getting prepared for the whoosh of power when it went "bud bud bud" he hit the limiter!?
So a mile or two down the road, he pulled over and we swapped seats. I reset the Trip meter to test the MPG's although the results are probably 10% or more inaccurate, the car had 9 miles on the clock and i only drove it for 3 or 4. So off i went, as the car was pre-warmed up I bought the clutch up and floored it in true Fiat style! Again i was bombarded with the funky little sound. I must admit, even with such low mileage, it still pulled well, in fact it pulls better than the Alfa MiTO i have for a week with an asthmatic 1.4 95 BHP engine
The steering felt a little over light and the suspension was a bit rolly, but it held the road ok.The gearing seems quite strange, it gets through the gears really quickly, and yet the revs always seem to be low. I was doing around 50 and in 3rd but the engine wasn't revving very high at all. It seems to be geared quite long, strange as it's really a city car. It's similar to my 126, which only has a 4 speed, but even at 30 MPH the 126 doesn't really like being in 4th gear.
But i was surprised at how soon the rev limiter comes in, it feels like you've just pulled away and started to accelerate and then it starts "blipping", it reminds me of a pull back and go car i had as a child, pull it pack and off it shoots, a modest lump of power but it last around 3 seconds. The turbo is the best part of this engine, I've always enjoyed driving turbocharged cars and even the tiny Twin air has characteristics associated with bigger engines. You can feel and hear it doing it's job. It never feels like it's being over worked, and feels quite happy to rev. It was a million percent more refined than i thought it would be too, smooth and slick power delivery, not something you associate with a small engined car.
The trip MPG read 38.9 MPG, take that with a pinch of salt. As i said before, the car had only 9 miles and i literally drove it 3 or 4 after resetting it. You may be interested to know that before i reset it, it read 19.1 MPG!
Most fun cars are fun because they are fast. Those that are not can sometimes be fun in other ways. The twin air is by no means fast, but it has acres of character crammed into it's 2 tiny cylinders. I think this engine is best suited to this car, it's how the original Fiat 500 started life so it seems natural that the new 500 should have a characterful 2 cylinder! I also think that if you drive it slow, you are missing out. It's a Fiat after all, they thrive on being thrashed (that's why i bought an Abarth!) Economy shouldn't be it's selling point, i think Fiat should market the twin air as a "Fun" car not to be taken too seriously. I certainly wouldn't swap the Abarth for it, but i would definitely consider one as a run around, it's all about smiles per gallon, go on, open her up
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Enjoyed the review DraigFlag87.
When you were swopping seats did you not think about driving off without him - 14 stone can make a hell of a difference to your 0-60 the difference in weight between your Abarth and a 500.
It is interesting that you would consider it as a replacement for your bambino.
When you were swopping seats did you not think about driving off without him - 14 stone can make a hell of a difference to your 0-60
the difference in weight between your Abarth and a 500.It is interesting that you would consider it as a replacement for your bambino
.
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I drive mine quite hard, and don't use ECO.......
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Great write up
That's my explanation of the sound when the revs bounce off the limiter! (sorry, i'm no engine tech)
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And that was with the dealer sitting beside you !
I know if it was my car I would ask you to swop seats and then drive off without you
. Only kidding of course.Sounds like a good test
.
When I had my test drive the dealer was very anxious for me to use all the revs and I did hit the rev limiter very quickly in first and second gears. The TA is awesome in that respect.
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When I had my test drive the dealer was very anxious for me to use all the revs and I did hit the rev limiter very quickly in first and second gears. The TA is awesome in that respect.
Well the dealer didn't really own the car and it was covered by Fiat warranty. I wonder how you would be if someone drove your A500 knowing that everytime it was red lined the ECU was recording it
. It's unlikely that someone will be looking to eessee a TA anyway but then you never know.Anyway Draigflag87 did the right thing
.
AFAIK, hitting the rev limiter would not preclude an A500 being refused an esseesse upgrade. The tech would be looking at the data to ensure that the car had not spent a long duration on the limiter or indeed that the engine had not exceeded the rev limit under duress, such as selecting the wrong gear.
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I was surprised to read that to qualify for an esseesse upgrade on an Abarth it cannot stay in the red line for more than 60 seconds in total. It will probably come done to the discretion of the garage as to been granted an upgrade. Not too sure if the thread below applies to the A500.
http://www.abarthforum.co.uk/grande-punto-abarth/esse-esse-kit-info/msg8966/#msg8966
Quote from: john501 on February 20, 2009, 08:04:04 PM
The kit is £4000 fitted and can be done up to 12 months or 12,000 miles from registration.
The car cannot of hit the rev limiter for more than 60,000 micro seconds (1 minute) in total or the kit will not be authorised by Turin.
Hope that helps
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Yes but the rev limiter comes after the redline, and after the "shift up" light has been flashing for a few secs! I've never hit the limiter on mine, max torque is all mid range so revving it that hard does no good to anyone.
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It would interesting to see a Power graph on the TA. When I saw you RR printout I was amazing to see that most of the power came on early on. On the test drive on the TA that I had the power curve delivery seemed the same as the Abarth.
