My housemate managed to find a red cinquecento sporting, N reg, with just over 66K on her all for the little sum of £350? I took a look at her, and for what he paid; he got a good deal for the money. On first inspection of the cento, looks as if it's been a little boy raced. Took it for a spin and it felt a little lose, and a little mistreated, but he bought it from a city, so im thinking the car has had more city driving than motorway driving? But the only thing that really surprised me was it felt to have more power than mine? Is it because im so used to driving mine? Or possibly the ECU on my housemates cento has been tinkered with? Its a shame really, the body work is a little battered and I don't think the car has seen a pair of Fiat hands for a while..oh yeah and just before i forget...the fuel tank has started to leak! Great stuff, he can go to the trouble of ringing Fiat Head Office!

Sam

I test drove 3 Sei sportings of the same age when I got mine. They were all of similar age and milage and standard. I bought the fastest one One of them was dead slow. Must just be how the car has been treated.

smurfhead said:

I test drove 3 Sei sportings of the same age when I got mine. They were all of similar age and milage and standard. I bought the fastest one One of them was dead slow. Must just be how the car has been treated.

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Can see where your comming from, but what really confuses me, my car has always been regualry serviced, engine couldn't run any better

Engines are built to tolerances - ECU's have to be adaptable to a wide range of possibilities from the factory. Just yesterday during a rolling road session it was shown that there can be 6-8bhp difference between just an ECU on it's own! So I guess it can just be the luck of the draw!

...or there could be some very simple solution like dirty injectors

throw some petrol magic in it. see what the result is.

Where'd you buy it from ?

My mate mentioned something about a red Cinq for sale with 66K on the clock, bodywork had REALLY faded & was going for £400 !...

bad_boy_racer said:

Engines are built to tolerances - ECU's have to be adaptable to a wide range of possibilities from the factory. Just yesterday during a rolling road session it was shown that there can be 6-8bhp difference between just an ECU on it's own! So I guess it can just be the luck of the draw!

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I can believe that....The way that adapted to the engine has to have a bearing on it

Short city trips are very harsh on the engine. Long trips are better though, and will also 'blow the cobwebs off'. Abuse may make it feel faster because there wouldn't be much junk building up in the engine. If you give yours a long run, and give it a thrash once it's warm, you may find yours goes a little better.

There are many things that can make a noticeable difference to performance though, dodgy spark plugs, blocked air filter, tyre pressures, and the condition of many other components such as fuel filter etc. If your car hasn't been serviced for a long time then servicing could improve the performance.

Could be sticky piston rings.

Mine is faster then me m8s might b my driving style but i drive his and mine seemed faster

My brother bought a fiesta from an old guy who had just used it to go down the shops. the car was comedy slow when we first got it, but a few months down the line doing longish journeys every day and piling on the miles, it has really "loosened up" and goes really well now.

I had to chage the head gasket on mine and so the ecu was reset from the day I first got it. Every week i drive 2 round trips of approx 150miles from Dorchester in Dorset to Portsmouth in hampshire, Half of this journey is on Dual carriageways and Motorways and is done at around 95 miles per hour average, the other half is single carriageway and is considerabley slower, however in order to get past the traffic I have to rev the nuts off the car to overtake. The result being that the car gets quicker and quicker every week as the ECU adapts and learns my driving habits. Point being this. If you drive like a ***** thats what your ecu is adapted too. If you drive like a boy racer then the car just gets better and better. Until it goes bang.

crazy_cinq! said:

Where'd you buy it from ?

My mate mentioned something about a red Cinq for sale with 66K on the clock, bodywork had REALLY faded & was going for £400 !...

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Was bought from Attercliffe in Sheffield

funkycinq said:

Was bought from Attercliffe in Sheffield

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nice to see another member from sheffield