General Punto GT vs Abarth Selespeed vs Abarth manual

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General Punto GT vs Abarth Selespeed vs Abarth manual

Mikas

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Who can tell me about driving experiences with these models?

I came from a '98 Punto GT (130hp) and last February I've replaced it by an Abarth Selespeed.
But I found the Abarth to be faster than the Punto only at speeds above 170Km/h or so. Which of course, is less than 1% of my car use. The fuel consuption is also higher than the Punto.

Since the Abarth has more torque than the Punto at relatively low revs (3500rpms), I wonder why I notice that much difference for the Punto.
I know we don't feel any speed with the Stilo, but I also notice that's harder to pull away from the typical Turbo diesel cars. Something that didn't happened with the Punto GT.

I also like to hear about speed and acceleration figures for the manual gearbox abarth, and/or driving experiences compaired with the selespeed or Punto GT.

Michael
 
The punto GT is a proper lightweight hot hatch, the Abarth is a comfy cruiser, its never gonna beat the GT apart from on top end.

Stilo TURBO!!!!(diesel)
 
i also read an article saying that stilo abarth is not a "racing car" as focus st170 or civic R or megane sport .... stilo unlike cars mentioned above has preety big engine and its ment to be a cruiser on the road ...
just compare the weight of the punto and stilo and you fill found out ... once i had a chance to drive UNO TURBO RACING ... i think it had around 120-130bhp but I'm sure that it was lighter than 900kg ... its a BOMB on the ROAD.

FIAT STILO 1.6 3dR Tiziano Red
Sub=Pioneer TS WX20LPA
AUTOMOBILE SK
 
Originally posted by janevj
i also read an article saying that stilo abarth is not a "racing car" as focus st170 or civic R or megane sport .... stilo unlike cars mentioned above has preety big engine and its ment to be a cruiser on the road ...
I'm forced to agree with that. :(
just compare the weight of the punto and stilo and you fill found out ... once i had a chance to drive UNO TURBO RACING ... i think it had around 120-130bhp but I'm sure that it was lighter than 900kg ... its a BOMB on the ROAD.
Uno Turbo weights about 1040Kg and my ex-Punto GT weights near 1100Kg which is not that far from the less than 1300Kg the Abarth weights...
But I guess It makes diference.
I guess I just want a Turbo for my Stilo!
:p

Michael
 
Hi
You'll have to try an Coupé Turbo version.
So you will feel acceleration.
Solution : put an turbo on your Abarth

Stilo JTD 3D (115HP) Dynamic Steel Silver, Leather, Nav+, Spoilerkit, Comfortpack, Auto airco
Alloys HR-Alurad Brio5 18x7.5"
 
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IM prety certain that the punto gt and the stilo abarth 0-60 are both 8.5 s




1.6 3 dr K&N, full ss eghaust twin 3" tailpipes full engine remap, abarth sideskirts 5 dr spoiler


louc
 
yeah my bro had a coupe 2.0 turbo 20v jobbie and f*** it would go!not been in any other cars to match it, even a top engine Z4 seems slower!!!

"SERIES 2" 3 Door 1.9 JTD Dynamic in Metallic Black with MP3 player, leather gearstick & steerinig wheel!
 
The stats can be the same, but as we all know 0-60 times don't always give an accurate impression of real world performance, an aparently fast car can disappoint and vice versa.

Stilo TURBO!!!!(diesel)
 
The fastest car I ever owned was an MG which I spared no expense on modifying....Hell that car would shift.. and I mean shift. It had a full race engine apart from the camshaft which I had modified to make the car more tractable at lower revs by reducing the valve over-lap. I imposed a rev limit of 8500 on the engine and all else was lightened where ever possible. What your after is power/weight and that car regularly produced 120bhp at the wheels on the Dyno. A std. Midget would produce about 45bhp.
This is the trouble with the Stilo and other modern cars...they are too heavy for good performance. Adding a turbo helps as it makes the car feel quicker in mid-range where it really counts. At the end of the day its all about gas flow and forced induction helps here also.


1.8 5 Door in Sassi Grey
Comfort Pack 1
 
its not how fast it goes that matters, its how fast it feels.
i had a 1275GT mini that was not fast, but it felt like the fastest car on the planet. TOP FUN.

metalboot.jpg
 
Originally posted by stilo1600
IM prety certain that the punto gt and the stilo abarth 0-60 are both 8.5 s
I don't thing those figures are correct. Fiat gives 8.5 to the Abarth, and 7.9 to Punto GT.
I mean Punto GT 1.4 8v turbocharged, not Punto HGT 1.8 16V.
...And I can tell you for my experience that the Punto is a lot more faster climbing on speed.
My Selespeed Abarth only shows better acceleration at speeds above 160Km/h (about 100mph).

Michael
 
Originally posted by DOG
its not how fast it goes that matters, its how fast it feels.
i had a 1275GT mini that was not fast, but it felt like the fastest car on the planet. TOP FUN.
Understand you quite well.
The other day I decided to give it a run on the freeway and caught my girldfriend retouching her makeup on the mirror while I was doing 140mph. I guess that says it all.
|)
I will look for a Turbo in the future. I miss the kick!
Michael
 
Originally posted by James M
Don't they enforce speed limits in Portugal?:D
Yeap! ...They even use not identified fast cars with radar: Subaru Impreza's and BMW 330 mainly.
It's kind of risky to speed up. But for you to get the proper idea, I've done it on an empty section of the highway during five minutes or so on a 2 hours trip.
I usually ride at speeds below 160Km/h (100mph) being the limit 120Km/h (75mph aprox.).

Michael
 
What about the abarth with manual gearbox?
Is there someone that can tell about his/her experiences?
Is is pratically the same as the selespeed?
Same gearbox (without the robot), same speed ratios?
Same acceleration and top speed?

Michael
 
I think the Abarth feels slow because it is so refined. I 'followed' a Civic-R the other day and it was screaming - the Stilo didn't feel as though it was really breaking into a sweat - unlike the guy in the Civic who couldn't figure out why he wasn't pulling away from me :D

BTW - the Fiat workshop manual quotes the performance figures as 7.9s to 62mph (100kmh) rather than 8.5s that is in the sales brochures - the dealer also told me the car was faster than Fiat were claiming - strange!

Paul

Stilo Abarth 3dr, Broom Yellow (Nov '03)
 
I must agree that i have also noticed that i cannot feel the speed inside the stilo ... the other day i went up to 200km/h with my friend and his Kia Sephia ... and boy the i thought the car was finished ... it was just a fight between the wheels, the steering wheel and my friends hands :) awfull

pjp the 100km/h run is different because it depends a lot from the way its being mesured ... measured with the speedo in the car or other way ... starting with screeming tyres or not ... type of tyres etc so it might vary but im not sure about the 0.6 variation that you are talking about ... its too much.

FIAT STILO 1.6 3dR Tiziano Red
Sub=Pioneer TS WX20LPA
AUTOMOBILE SK
 
Basically for £8500, you might aswell get a Renault Clio Cup, that will toast most cars on the road and it's incredible to drive. My Mondeo TDCi is like a stilo, although superchipped it doesnt give a great impresion of speed, and doesnt pull at all, but it will do 0-60 in 7.8 (confirmed at elvington in york).

When I went in the Mini one, it felt bloody fast for some reason...Probably that go-kart feeling.

Chris.
 
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