General Jay Leno's Garage - Fiat 500 Piece

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General Jay Leno's Garage - Fiat 500 Piece

chicaneuk

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If anyone is interested... US chatshow host Jay Leno is well known as being a bit petrolhead. He has a website where he does a weekly video article about either one of his own cars, or one that a guest brings in. This week he's doing one on his latest acquisition, his Fiat 500 :)

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/extras/test-drives/2012-fiat-500-prima-edizione/

Funny timing given that I've been following this site for two years and the week I put down a deposit on my own 500, this happens ;)

Looks like a good watch... his car has a 1.4 TwinAir engine (US market specific?).

If you're into cars, I can't reccommend enough that you set aside a few hours and watch some of the videos. All kinds of cars are there from supercars (McLaren F1) right down to cars like the Baker Electric. It's absolutely brilliant and it's fantastic to see someone who owns all these great cars, so keen to show them and use them and talk about them.
 
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I am guessing he will get that when it comes out over there.
 
It will be a multiair not a twinair, Twinair is for the 2 cylinder version. will watch this vid when i get home though cos I like Leno anyway.

Me too, he's a genuine car nut, not just some tosspot who just buys the latest Ferrari to look kool.
 
Great video. It's crazy how they change so many more little things just for the american market.

Leno's looks really smart, and the red one was the first heavily modified one I have really seen.

Find it funny how in England everyone makes a big deal about how their car isn't doing 50+mpg, and that for a small car that just isn't enough. Leno was very happy with his 35mpg, and thought that was good. Mind you he has enough money for it.
 
Great video. It's crazy how they change so many more little things just for the american market.

Leno's looks really smart, and the red one was the first heavily modified one I have really seen.

Find it funny how in England everyone makes a big deal about how their car isn't doing 50+mpg, and that for a small car that just isn't enough. Leno was very happy with his 35mpg, and thought that was good. Mind you he has enough money for it.

US MPG and UK MPG aren't the same..... His is also a 1.4 and the ones people are talking about are 1.2's and Twinairs which you'd expect to be doing 50 uk mpg.
 
US MPG and UK MPG aren't the same..... His is also a 1.4 and the ones people are talking about are 1.2's and Twinairs which you'd expect to be doing 50 uk mpg.

What is the difference in amounts?

I was more surprised how people over there just don't really care in comparison to here. I know their fuel is cheaper but not by that much these days.
 
What is the difference in amounts?

I was more surprised how people over there just don't really care in comparison to here. I know their fuel is cheaper but not by that much these days.

40 us mpg equates to roughly 50mpg. Very roughly.....
 
Well here's my take on the video...

The 'Prima Edizione' edition that was referred to - my own car has that 'badge' :D but I would be down the pecking order at 469 out of 500 a long way down from Sergio at 1 and Jay Leno at 2 ;) (ok - it's the US). I was very impressed with how Jo Grace - the Chief Engineer handled JL and it was a little comical seeing the 2 of them heading down a typical US Freeway since a 500 1.4 which really only gets the most of its meagre performance one up (and that's with a lightweight). JL mentioned the 'slow car' fast and I could see how JG was being humble in not correcting JL on the Sport button affecting the suspension. The US model is around 100kg heavier than the European model and on the manual it's only a 5 speed.(n) The real world US 38mpg refers to a European 45mpg which is gives more than the quoted 10% improvement over a Euro 4 1.4 model of 37mpg - so that's good news. Tank being bigger by a gallon - that's a good move since I would struggle to get 300 miles out of my car.
I didn't like the look of the modded 500 but it did sound nice and throaty. The claim of 10% performance improvement with it been most noticeable at mid range - I might believe them. I did take note of the brake upgrade :p and the springs sounded fine given the extra travel in the US suspension. I did check out the web site mentioned and their CIA for the MA - it looks a better design than the US one I have seen before but still a bit awkward looking.
 
They probably went for a 5 speed box because the multiair engine is more torquey. The more gears in a box the less efficient the car is.

You could clearly see the engineer didn't really feel a great sense of ownership tbh.
 
I'm afraid that I was rather disappointed with this piece, especially given Jay Leno's reputation.

For me it came across as an "advertorial" - like one of those awful reviews you see in a free newspaper where the producer of the product in question has clearly paid to have his produict reviewed.

I also agree with Maxi about the engineer. He looked like a stooge to me: "Hey, find me an American who I can say designed this car - we don't wanna say some Eytalian made it!"

Frankly I gave up after a few minutes.
 
I'm afraid that I was rather disappointed with this piece, especially given Jay Leno's reputation.

For me it came across as an "advertorial" - like one of those awful reviews you see in a free newspaper where the producer of the product in question has clearly paid to have his produict reviewed.

I also agree with Maxi about the engineer. He looked like a stooge to me: "Hey, find me an American who I can say designed this car - we don't wanna say some Eytalian made it!"

Frankly I gave up after a few minutes.

Jay isn't the sort of person who comes across as excited though and perhaps that's why it seems a bit of an advertorial.

He constantly mentioned how he was driving the car a lot and IMHO it was a good piece :)
 
They probably went for a 5 speed box because the multiair engine is more torquey. The more gears in a box the less efficient the car is.

You could clearly see the engineer didn't really feel a great sense of ownership tbh.

I reckon they went for the 5 speed manual to keep it less complicated for the US Market. There is more torque in the Multi-air than the 'standard' 1.4 but it isn't that much and the statistics speak for themselves. The 97lbs quoted for the European model is at 4,250rpm whilst the US 500 web site quotes 98lbs giving 101HP (attached a graph). This same Multi-air engine in the Mito is quotes at 105PS @ 6,500rpm with 96lbs @ 4000rpm so the US have 'tuned' the engine for more torque and less bhp.
Judging by the threads from the US on the A500 and will it or will it not have a 6 speed it probably explains why their automatic is a 6 speed which is getting the odd report of vibration at the front and the 3mpg penalty of the torque converter for an economy car isn't doing it any favours hence the recent discounting.
Re efficiency the only way you can drop the current CO2 emission figures on a manual gearbox is to go MTA (dualogic) or DCT (DSG) as opposed to changing a 6 speed into a 5 speed.
One of the best things about my current 1.4 is the 6 speed gearbox and if a MA engine was dropped in - this box would have to remain in situ.;)

 

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I'm afraid that I was rather disappointed with this piece, especially given Jay Leno's reputation.

For me it came across as an "advertorial" - like one of those awful reviews you see in a free newspaper where the producer of the product in question has clearly paid to have his produict reviewed.

I also agree with Maxi about the engineer. He looked like a stooge to me: "Hey, find me an American who I can say designed this car - we don't wanna say some Eytalian made it!"

Frankly I gave up after a few minutes.

The chief Engineer that I had seen before was Fabio DiMuro and on the clip that I saw of him before where he explained the modifications made for the US 500 was very technical - you can get a feel for him from this web site.
Given the reputation and 'presence' of Jay Leno I thought Joe Grace as a Fiat rep did a good job. I always remember how the MD of a US Company that I worked for had to 'kiss ass' when the head poncho arrived over on a 'visit'. For me having come from a techie field this was one 'area' that I struggled on.:) It is also ironic how they had 'Road & Track' on where they had shown a bias towards the MINI in preference to the 500 (I posted a youtube of this review). Fiat need to 'pull out all stops' to ensure that the 500 will be a success in the over critical US Market.
 
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