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General 1.1 Active Eco

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General 1.1 Active Eco

LeanMeanRacing said:
An excess of power does make overtaking safer. However, if you simply just don't have the power, you don't overtake and as a result, aren't putting yourself at risk. I enjoy making progress on the right road, but am always wary of passing slower vehicles because if an approaching car is also travelling quickly, that's one high closing speed!
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Thats a sensible answer and also a sensible approach to driving. I do find myself being more patient when driving the Active but thats because I dont really have a choice. However I am not a patient person and there are a lot of bad and slow drivers out there. Having that bit of extra poke is really needed in those situations when you need to get past them. Luckily for me I very rarely face those situations so it doesnt bother me. You cant fault the Active either, it was built to play in the city and it does that very well.
 
i dont have trouble overtaking people despite the 54hp. its all about keeping momentum and RAGGING THE **** OUT OF THE ENGINE!

it growls like a supercar and handles (mine does atleast) decently.

2nd and 3rd are the best gears in the active for overtaking.

30-40 use 2nd to overtake and 40-65ish use 3rd

if your going faster than 65 then you shouldnt need to overtake as 70mph is the national speed limit unless there is noone around:slayer:
 
pandasam said:
i dont have trouble overtaking people despite the 54hp. its all about keeping momentum and RAGGING THE **** OUT OF THE ENGINE!

it growls like a supercar and handles (mine does atleast) decently.

2nd and 3rd are the best gears in the active for overtaking.

30-40 use 2nd to overtake and 40-65ish use 3rd

if your going faster than 65 then you shouldnt need to overtake as 70mph is the national speed limit unless there is noone around:slayer:
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I know Fiat engines are supposed to be driven hard but I wonder how long your engine will last. Remind me never to buy a car from you, drive it like you stole it indeed.
 
haha i dont thrash it at all really. only when i overtake people

and yea it growlsfirst at over 10mph but before 20 on part throttle and 2nd it does it at around 30
 
Most Easterly Pandas said:
Quite a long time if left to warm up first and properly maintained. The FIRE engines are very sturdy (y)
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thank you, and i never thrash it from cold cos its stupid and i always wait for about 5-10mins after it has reached coolant opt tempt so that the oil has time to warm up
 
Most Easterly Pandas said:
Quite a long time if left to warm up first and properly maintained. The FIRE engines are very sturdy (y)
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I have no doubt about how sturdy the Fiat FIRE engines are. I have owned an older Panda previously with a 1 litre FIRE engine and it was a peach. It had done over 90K before the head gasket finally went. I am sure that the engine was fixable and would continue to run as good as new but the body was mostly filler by that point.

No matter what engine a car has or how strong it is thrashing an engine a lot will shorten its life. Ok it might not totally destroy an engine but it will shorten the time it takes until it needs to be rebuilt. A lot of sports cars that are meant to be thrashed use exotic special tougher metals to withstand that treatment. They also use special synthetic oils to stop a lot of friction and wear. Cars like the Mits Evo FQ400 with highly tuned engines need really short servicing intervals to keep them in tip top condition. I remember that some Scoobys needed a service every 3 months.

Its none of my business how people drive their cars. It was just a comment and an observation. I am not saying you should treat car with kid gloves and keep the revs down like driving Miss Daisy. However really thrashing a car (even after warming it up) all the time will eventually have adverse effects. I do give my car the beans every now and then but the vast majority of the time I really REALLY look after it.

Lets put it this way. You are going to buy a car and both have a FSH. One owner is a guy in his fifties who is seems pleasant and sensible. The other is a young lad with a baseball cap on backwards and chewing gum. He delightfully tells you how much speed he has had out of it. He also informs you that if you really thrash it hard in low gears you can get a lot out of it. Now tell me honestly, just going on those details which car would you buy?
 
I have just been darting around town in the little Active doing some errands for the missus. Dont get me wrong I wear the trousers in the relationship, well when she lets me. Anyway the point is that little car and that little engine is totally and utterly fandabidosy! It really is very quick to 30 and I am no stranger to what a properly quick car feels like. There might be very little torque but its available straight away and it just shifts like the brown stuff off a shovel. I have had a quick look online and I cant find any 0 to 30 times but they would give a better picture. The 0 to 60 time of 14.5 seconds is deceiving. I am positive the car will have a quick 0 to 30 time but then the power just dies after about 40 and struggles.

Oh and before anybody says anything I didnt thrash it. Its annoying because it doesnt have a rev counter. However you can tell that the power just dies off about mid way. So in other words I personally dont feel that you dont need to rev it that high as the power band seems to be fairly low down.
 
Pandemonium said:
No matter what engine a car has or how strong it is thrashing an engine a lot will shorten its life. Ok it might not totally destroy an engine but it will shorten the time it takes until it needs to be rebuilt. A lot of sports cars that are meant to be thrashed use exotic special tougher metals to withstand that treatment. They also use special synthetic oils to stop a lot of friction and wear. Cars like the Mits Evo FQ400 with highly tuned engines need really short servicing intervals to keep them in tip top condition. I remember that some Scoobys needed a service every 3 months.
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Actually, labouring an engine and using too few revs is worse than taking it to the redline regularly.

Whilst sports cars have more premium internals like forged pistons, polished conrods and a lightened and balanced bottom end (as is the case with my old ITR), the reason for this generally is because they are producing more power so stronger internals are needed. Sure some specialist cars need shorter service intervals.

But really the reality is that if you maintain your car well and use the full rev range regularly there is no reason why it shouldn't last perfectly well. I had a very modified mk1 mr2 supercharger for example, did 35K in it, probably near on 100 odd trackdays in which it was foot to the floor lap after lap and had no problems whatsoever. I just used a good quality oil and serviced it regularly.

Whilst I don't bother tracking my 100hp (not really worth it), I spend a lot of time driving around town, but I will take it right through the rev range on a daily basis. Is this doing my engine harm? Answer is no. It was designed to be able to rev to what it does and providing the engine is appropriately warm it will not harm it all.
 
mine easily gets to 60 in 3rd... (when going up a big hill pulling onto the motorway, needed to get upto speed or get trampled over..).. and will happly do 70 in 4th for that extra umph to stop it slowing down on the big hills...(I'd guess that means in 5th it would do well over 70 on the flats)
 
trackdayqueen said:
Actually, labouring an engine and using too few revs is worse than taking it to the redline regularly.

Whilst sports cars have more premium internals like forged pistons, polished conrods and a lightened and balanced bottom end (as is the case with my old ITR), the reason for this generally is because they are producing more power so stronger internals are needed. Sure some specialist cars need shorter service intervals.

But really the reality is that if you maintain your car well and use the full rev range regularly there is no reason why it shouldn't last perfectly well. I had a very modified mk1 mr2 supercharger for example, did 35K in it, probably near on 100 odd trackdays in which it was foot to the floor lap after lap and had no problems whatsoever. I just used a good quality oil and serviced it regularly.

Whilst I don't bother tracking my 100hp (not really worth it), I spend a lot of time driving around town, but I will take it right through the rev range on a daily basis. Is this doing my engine harm? Answer is no. It was designed to be able to rev to what it does and providing the engine is appropriately warm it will not harm it all.
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If you read what I said I was talking about thrashing a car. To me thrashing a car is redlining the car endlessly not just using the entire rev band. Driving a car and bouncing the revs against the limiter in every gear and every time *CONSTANTLY* will shorten the life of the engine.

I once worked with a young lad who bought a mint Citreon AX GT. He thrashed it everywhere he went foot flat to the floor. Even if he was pulling out of a junction to join traffic he would spin the wheels and belt up to traffic and suddenly slam the brakes on. A few weeks of this constant treatment soon sent the valves hurtling through the block and destroyed the engine. Maybe that is more an indication of French engines but you get what I mean.

Giving a car the beans every now and then wont hurt the engine one little bit. But do it constantly time after time and every time you drive it will harm the engine. Try starting your car up and then leave it to warm up. Then press the throttle pedal straight to the floor and leave it there for an hour. If your car is still running by that time I bet it will be badly damaged. If you disagree with me then go and try it but I bet you wont.
 
Pandemonium said:
If you read what I said I was talking about thrashing a car. To me thrashing a car is redlining the car endlessly not just using the entire rev band. Driving a car and bouncing the revs against the limiter in every gear and every time *CONSTANTLY* will shorten the life of the engine.

I once worked with a young lad who bought a mint Citreon AX GT. He thrashed it everywhere he went foot flat to the floor. Even if he was pulling out of a junction to join traffic he would spin the wheels and belt up to traffic and suddenly slam the brakes on. A few weeks of this constant treatment soon sent the valves hurtling through the block and destroyed the engine. Maybe that is more an indication of French engines but you get what I mean.

Giving a car the beans every now and then wont hurt the engine one little bit. But do it constantly time after time and every time you drive it will harm the engine. Try starting your car up and then leave it to warm up. Then press the throttle pedal straight to the floor and leave it there for an hour. If your car is still running by that time I bet it will be badly damaged. If you disagree with me then go and try it but I bet you wont.
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When you said 'thrashing an engine a lot would shorten it's life', I did not construe that as sitting there with your foot to floor for an hour, neither did your quote infer that 'thrashing' meant you redlined the car constantly.

Of course I'm not going to sit there for an hour, stationary with my foot the floor bouncing off the rev limiter. Who's going to do such a thing?
 
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That reminds me TDQ, i know a guy who is an engine tester, he told me that Nissan's method of testing engine durability is to rev the engine constantly at full revs, for 24 hours! :eek: Fiat probably have a similar method being Italian!

On the contrary, Abarth won't fit the Super Sport kit to the 500 if the engine has hit the rev limiter for a total of 15 seconds or more i believe...
 
Video of a MK1 MR2 with very little oil and no water in at all on full throttle whilst stationary.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBXYbYjQbTA"]YouTube- death of a mk1[/nomedia]

Run until it blew up.
 
trackdayqueen said:
When you said 'thrashing an engine a lot would shorten it's life', I did not construe that as sitting there with your foot to floor for an hour, neither did your quote infer that 'thrashing' meant you redlined the car constantly.

Of course I'm not going to sit there for an hour, stationary with my foot the floor bouncing off the rev limiter. Who's going to do such a thing?
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I take you havent lived on a dodgy council estate then.;)

I have and the local oiks would contantly scream around the estate constantly reving the knackers out of their Novas. I am sure everybody has either known or seen young lads who do this.
 
Pandemonium said:
I take you havent lived on a dodgy council estate then.;)

I have and the local oiks would contantly scream around the estate constantly reving the knackers out of their Novas. I am sure everybody has either known or seen young lads who do this.
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Me, live on a dodgy council estate? Are you having a laugh? :p

I work on one, but I certainly wouldn't live on one!
 
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