General Are Euro 6 1.2's Any Good

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General Are Euro 6 1.2's Any Good

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Oh yea......

I've been commuting between SY10 and LL53 or in other words between Trefonen - Llangynog - Bala - Trawsfynedd - Porthmadog - Nefyn - Tudwieliog, around 85 miles each way this summer.

Some seriously fun roads, quite demanding I guess, mostly B roads. To be honest it's taken me a while to warm to the 500 (as a driver's car) but each journey has increased my enjoyment.

OK I think it's maybe under damped, especially the rear but the enjoyment of a small engined car, keeping the momentum up, keeping it smooth is, well fun.

I've driven the same roads in an Accord Type R loads of times which, well is seriously fast, but actually not as much fun. The Honda just takes too much effort.

Nothing much has overtaken me apart from a Porsche Cayenne and a complete loon in a Suzuki Swift.

So ignore all the negative crp about Euro 6 1.2's. They are fun on A and B roads and are typical Italian:)
 
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Fiats FIRE engines are little crackers! Their outputs may not be spectacularly high, but they're powerful enough, and full of character. I used to have a 1.2 8v 2004 Punto, and now own a 2008 Grande Punto 1.4 8v. Both are great little engines. :)
 
It is very easy to reach the edge of handling in the Fiat 500, and its then when you realize how slow the car is.
 
It is very easy to reach the edge of handling in the Fiat 500, and its then when you realize how slow the car is.

You've missed the point completely.

I mentioned the Accord Type R, on the face of it a pretty stupid comparison. But to enjoy the Accord you need to drive it at 80% plus of it's and more importantly your capability. It's seriously hard work and when not driven like that it's, well a pretty tedious experience.

Issue being that's waaay too fast for public roads, both from a life and limb perspective and a license retention one.

Small, low powered cars on the other hand can be fun. Your bias against fwd I suspect is an opinion based on ego and motoring journalism. My opinions are based on using rwd and fwd on tracks where you get to know more than moaning about under steer on a wet / slippery roundabout.

In real life rwd sucks, weight bias is a factor but try telling that to the Porsche engineers responsible for all the 911 derivatives.

So yes, dynamically the 500 can be out classed by it's rivals but you can still enjoy the experience, be safe, be smooth, use anticipation, keep the momentum going and be pretty economical. In other words have fun rather than risking your life and others and not trashing your car.
 
You've missed the point completely.



I mentioned the Accord Type R, on the face of it a pretty stupid comparison. But to enjoy the Accord you need to drive it at 80% plus of it's and more importantly your capability. It's seriously hard work and when not driven like that it's, well a pretty tedious experience.



Issue being that's waaay too fast for public roads, both from a life and limb perspective and a license retention one.



Small, low powered cars on the other hand can be fun. Your bias against fwd I suspect is an opinion based on ego and motoring journalism. My opinions are based on using rwd and fwd on tracks where you get to know more than moaning about under steer on a wet / slippery roundabout.



In real life rwd sucks, weight bias is a factor but try telling that to the Porsche engineers responsible for all the 911 derivatives.



So yes, dynamically the 500 can be out classed by it's rivals but you can still enjoy the experience, be safe, be smooth, use anticipation, keep the momentum going and be pretty economical. In other words have fun rather than risking your life and others and not trashing your car.


Are you serious ? Rwd is so much faster than fwd and much more rewarding. I can drive a rwd car at 70% faster than a ff car at 100%.

When you drive the fiat at the limit you have a much lower margin of error than faster cars, which as you say you don't need to drive at the limit to drive considerably faster than the fiat ever goes.

It helps knowing that you have a lot in reserve with a car when driving fast, unlike the fiat which is so easy to reach the handling limit.

I am not interested in reaching the limit on the car on a fast drive on public roads, my main priority is to feel save and comfortable.

With the fiat, unless I am driving very slow, I do not feel safe
 
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Are you serious ? Rwd is so much faster than fwd and much more rewarding. I can drive a rwd car at 70% faster than a ff car at 100%.

When you drive the fiat at the limit you have a much lower margin of error than faster cars, which as you say you don't need to drive at the limit to drive considerably faster than the fiat ever goes.

It helps knowing that you have a lot in reserve with a car when driving fast, unlike the fiat which is so easy to reach the handling limit.

I am not interested in reaching the limit on the car on a fast drive on public roads, my main priority is to feel save and comfortable.

With the fiat, unless I am driving very slow, I do not feel safe

Most of us aren't sad enough to care about the alleged advantages of rwd over fwd. As RussH says, a small car is huge fun on the roads.

With regards to feeling safe, personally, I feel very safe in my Grande Punto because I find it handles well, and I know that the passive safety is good on the Grande.

Personally, I wouldn't feel anywhere near as safe in a rwd car as I do in a fwd 1. A modern car should be fwd, and even bmw are starting to build fwd cars: in fact, I believe the next 1-Series may send its power to the correct wheels rather than the rears.
 
Oh yea......

I've been commuting between SY10 and LL53 or in other words between Trefonen - Llangynog - Bala - Trawsfynedd - Porthmadog - Nefyn - Tudwieliog, around 85 miles each way this summer.

Some seriously fun roads, quite demanding I guess, mostly B roads. To be honest it's taken me a while to warm to the 500 (as a driver's car) but each journey has increased my enjoyment.

OK I think it's maybe under damped, especially the rear but the enjoyment of a small engined car, keeping the momentum up, keeping it smooth is, well fun.

I've driven the same roads in an Accord Type R loads of times which, well is seriously fast, but actually not as much fun. The Honda just takes too much effort.

Nothing much has overtaken me apart from a Porsche Cayenne and a complete loon in a Suzuki Swift.

So ignore all the negative crp about Euro 6 1.2's. They are fun on A and B roads and are typical Italian:)

I do agree with you, I don't get to drive my wife's 1.2 500 much but when I do it's good fun on the roads in South Devon.

Compared to our 1.4 Punto, it's much more spritely working its way through the gears up to say 50mph. Of course the Punto is much heavier and bigger, so no big surprise of course, but it still surprises me how nimble it is. I can only imagine what a hoot the TA is to drive, still haven't managed to try one out after all these years:)

Re the Euro 6 issue - well yeah, there has been a fair bit of negativity on here. But to be fair, given all of the people who had posted on here coupled with the Watchdog reports, you have to at least ask questions about it to your dealer. I certainly would anyway, but we're not in the market for a new 500 any time soon:)
 
Lol what? Rear wheel drive over front wheel drive any day. AWD is even better at corners. Lol Please.
Have you driven a rwd car? Even driven one spiritually? I'm guessing your driving skills are limited. You should stick to front wheel drive.
 
Lol what? Rear wheel drive over front wheel drive any day. AWD is even better at corners. Lol Please.
Have you driven a rwd car? Even driven one spiritually? I'm guessing your driving skills are limited. You should stick to front wheel drive.

I suggest you learn to read before replying. Everyone has their preferences, on normal public roads my preference is fwd, I've also got an awd drive car yes they are safe but sanitized. Even BMW have admitted rwd doesn't necessarily equal the ultimate driving experience. Although I suspect the XDrive is more to do with marketing.

Yes I drive rwd, including single seaters and M3's.

You just hang onto your ego and whilst your driving sideways (and therefore slowly) I'll cruise on by in a fiat 500:)
 
RWD Are great fun sideways driving and epic handling. But that's not really got anything to do with this thread?

For day to day motoring (and at least from the ones I've driven) the fiat 500 is a fun little car to drive, throw it in to corner and come out smiling. You don't have to be going fast for this. However this is not really how you drive this sort of car, yes it will reward you when you do it but you'll get very tired very quickly if you try to drive everywhere at a million miles per hour.

So yes they are fun but they can be driven normally when you just want to get from A to B without the drama as well.

It's not really fair to compare a 500 to a BMW they're very different cars and built for a very different customer.
 
RWD Are great fun sideways driving and epic handling. But that's not really got anything to do with this thread?

For day to day motoring (and at least from the ones I've driven) the fiat 500 is a fun little car to drive, throw it in to corner and come out smiling. You don't have to be going fast for this. However this is not really how you drive this sort of car, yes it will reward you when you do it but you'll get very tired very quickly if you try to drive everywhere at a million miles per hour.

So yes they are fun but they can be driven normally when you just want to get from A to B without the drama as well.

It's not really fair to compare a 500 to a BMW they're very different cars and built for a very different customer.

Thank you! You (and a couple of others get it) I thought that's what I'd said(y)
 
The Fiat 500 is built for driving around the streets of Rome.
So no one can say it handles well, it really doesn't. It is good for looking stylish in a car that you are driving to go for a quick coffee of a distance no more than 10 km from your house.
The only thing it does well is handling potholes, of which there are plenty in Rome = ) Much bigger than the UK potholes, trust me!

While you cannot compare a Fiat 500 with a BMW, you can with a Mini and the Mini handles much, much better. Its worth the extra money by a long shot, and besides the Fiat keeps on getting more expensive, so much so that the price difference between the 500 and the Mini doesn't even look that big anymore!

And all Mini's handle well, I am not talking about the Mini Cooper S specifically.
 
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I suggest you learn to read before replying. Everyone has their preferences, on normal public roads my preference is fwd, I've also got an awd drive car yes they are safe but sanitized. Even BMW have admitted rwd doesn't necessarily equal the ultimate driving experience. Although I suspect the XDrive is more to do with marketing.

Yes I drive rwd, including single seaters and M3's.

You just hang onto your ego and whilst your driving sideways (and therefore slowly) I'll cruise on by in a fiat 500:)
You cannot pass an Rear Wheel Drive Car in an FWD under any circumstances except snow. Besides, with ESP on all models, you don't even go sideways unless you specifically turn off the electronics.
 
The Fiat 500 is built for driving around the streets of Rome.
So no one can say it handles well, it really doesn't. It is good for looking stylish in a car that you are driving to go for a quick coffee of a distance no more than 10 km from your house.
The only thing it does well is handling potholes, of which there are plenty in Rome = ) Much bigger than the UK potholes, trust me!

While you cannot compare a Fiat 500 with a BMW, you can with a Mini and the Mini handles much, much better. Its worth the extra money by a long shot, and besides the Fiat keeps on getting more expensive, so much so that the price difference between the 500 and the Mini doesn't even look that big anymore!

And all Mini's handle well, I am not talking about the Mini Cooper S specifically.

Lol, what are you on about ahmett?!:):D

Who said the 500 handled well? No-one! I don't think anyone on here would say that it handles particularly well, but what Fiat have managed to do is create a car that you ENJOY driving.

As for potholes, I have no idea what you are on about. A 500 going over potholes or speed bumps is an interesting experience. Comfort is not high up on the list:p
 
Lol, what are you on about ahmett?!:):D

Who said the 500 handled well? No-one! I don't think anyone on here would say that it handles particularly well, but what Fiat have managed to do is create a car that you ENJOY driving.

As for potholes, I have no idea what you are on about. A 500 going over potholes or speed bumps is an interesting experience. Comfort is not high up on the list:p
For me, a fun car must be one that handles well. I cannot have fun in a Fiat 500 when I am worried of pushing its very low limits and crashing or losing control.

Regarding the potholes, I meant that its relatively high ride height makes it much better than a Mini or another lower car (most cars are lower unless you are talking SUV's). The bounces and rolls add to the, as you put it, 'fun' Italian experience!
 
You cannot pass an Rear Wheel Drive Car in an FWD under any circumstances except snow. Besides, with ESP on all models, you don't even go sideways unless you specifically turn off the electronics.
OK I'm bored of this now. You either don't get it or deliberately refuse to understand the context.

Let's leave it at that.
 
OK I'm bored of this now. You either don't get it or deliberately refuse to understand the context.

Let's leave it at that.
i get it very well you just are too biased. FWD is cheaper and simpler than RWD, which is one of the main reasons why car manufacturers prefer it, costs them less money.
 
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