General buying an Abarth , a few questions

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General buying an Abarth , a few questions

Johny

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Hey


Ive searched the site a bit and havent found what i was looking for :)

About the cambelt, i was at my fiat mechanic and he opened the hood (we dont have many abarths around so he hasnt worked on one yet) and said that he might be able to change it without taking the engine out (thats why it costs so much,cause there is very little room if you try changing it ) .
So i was wondering if any of you guys managed to change it without messing with the whole engine ??

Besides that he said it sounds,looks ok and overall nothing wrong (its a 02 stilo abarth, 34k miles on it). But im just wondering if there are any 02 production year or overall weaknesses that i should be careful about . though i think everything should have been repaired in these 3 years.


btw. i cant freaking wait :)
 
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so my fears are a bit premature. thats sweet cause id rather invest that money somewhere else right now
thanks but im still wondering about it, just not worrying anymore :)
 
Johny said:
so my fears are a bit premature. thats sweet cause id rather invest that money somewhere else right now
thanks but im still wondering about it, just not worrying anymore :)

I checked the servicing costs before I bought mine, they're as follows:

12 - £150
24 - £190
36 - £315
48 - £245
60 - £148
72 - £570

Paul

PS - The servicing costs are nothing compared to your fuel costs - I average 24mpg!
 
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not really worried about fuel costs, thats to be expected from 2.4 but i was wondering if its necesarry to spend 570£ on a cambelt if it could be changed more easily.
besides that, the car im getting looks just like the one in your signature, 17" , yellow,selespeed :)
Are you satisfied with it ?
 
A cambelt change? On an '02 - noooo, not an issue yet!

Although will be interesting to see what they charge us in a few years - mine will be out of warranty then, so will use an independent dealer I reckon.
 
how long does the warranty last anyway ?

And i was wondering, can you rev up the engine with selespeed, like if you want to start from 3500rpm instead from idle ? for example if you want to take off faster or up a hill . is it hold the brake and put you foot down then release the brake or leave it in neutral and flip into first at desired rpm ?
 
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I am 10k off my cambelt change on my 52. It'sgonna be horrible shelling all that out.
 
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Johny said:
how long does the warranty last anyway ?

And i was wondering, can you rev up the engine with selespeed, like if you want to start from 3500rpm instead from idle ? for example if you want to take off faster or up a hill . is it hold the brake and put you foot down then release the brake or leave it in neutral and flip into first at desired rpm ?
i haven't really tried, so i'll give it a go sometime.
 
Johny said:
how long does the warranty last anyway ?

And i was wondering, can you rev up the engine with selespeed, like if you want to start from 3500rpm instead from idle ? for example if you want to take off faster or up a hill . is it hold the brake and put you foot down then release the brake or leave it in neutral and flip into first at desired rpm ?
3 year warranty, not sure of mileage without looking, 60k maybe?!

One way to get those wheels spinning - get stationary, sit it in manual and turn off ASR - then nail your right foot :D- oh yes, car will light up, and leave about 5k of rubber on the road.....

As for leaving it in neutral and flipping it, not something I have tried, tbh - may give it a go in the morning ;)
 
you better not , i was asking if any of you guys know how :) . The first one i remember working on some auto. transmissions (i think tiptronic, audi) but the second i made up. The car would probably just do a hiccup and then accelerate
 
Stuart DemonD said:
As for leaving it in neutral and flipping it, not something I have tried, tbh - may give it a go in the morning ;)

I wouldn't if I were you. If it works (I doubt the electrics will let it) then either all you will get is that sickly smell of clutch with a nice replacement due anytime soon or a gearbox turning itself into molten-metal :eek:

Foot on the brake and throttle will give you the same result (n)

Best letting the car trickle off the line until the clutch has fully engaged then stand on the throttle :D

My Punto JTD is costing me £520 to have a service and cambelt at 60K (12,000 miles early but better safe than sorry). My advice with Fiat group products is to change it early as it will be money well spent. Bloke in an Alfa 147 1.6 had his go at 34,000 miles on a '51. No help from Afa (4 months out of warranty) and a nice £1800 bill. It is not uncommon for Fiat cambelts to go early. I normally do mine at half the due mileage, but forgot with the JTD :(

Monkey
 
JTD Monkey said:
I wouldn't if I were you. If it works (I doubt the electrics will let it) then either all you will get is that sickly smell of clutch with a nice replacement due anytime soon or a gearbox turning itself into molten-metal :eek:
Damn - good job you weren't about when me and Alfanige were doing 0-60, 50-70 and quarter mile runs just after the remap!

Probably explains why I have just had 4 new tyres put on it.....
 
Alfas are known to need new cambelts & tensioners much earlier. I think they revised it from 72000 to 36000 after a few probs. I had my ex GTV done at about 35000 on the recommendation of a specialist.
 
Johny said:
not really worried about fuel costs, thats to be expected from 2.4 but i was wondering if its necesarry to spend 570£ on a cambelt if it could be changed more easily.
besides that, the car im getting looks just like the one in your signature, 17" , yellow,selespeed :)
Are you satisfied with it ?

Yep, I'm satisfied - I love the car to bits!

As far as standing start go, you really don't need to do anything other than hit the throttle. TBH theres no point in nailing it till the car has got to about 5mph, it simply can't get the power down, even with the ASR/ESP, and there tons of torque on tap.

Where abouts in the UK do you live m8?

Paul
 
pjp said:
As far as standing start go, you really don't need to do anything other than hit the throttle. TBH theres no point in nailing it till the car has got to about 5mph, it simply can't get the power down, even with the ASR/ESP, and there tons of torque on tap.
Indeed, I just learnt that the hard way when I first had the car.....the ASR can hardly control the power at low speeds, and wheels still spin if you are not careful.
 
Ive got the car in the garage :) . Itll stay there for another couple of days cause there tons of snow and i dont really need it(her :D )on the weekend.
Besides that im already starting to love it. Im not an expert on sound systems but the sound seems really great and clean. I balanced it F50-R50 and its awesome.
Hmm the automatic im still getting used to and the brakes are :bang: . good thing i had my seatbelt on. Gotta be easy on that pedal.
Pjp im not from the Uk. Slovenia here .
 
Johny said:
Hmm the automatic im still getting used to and the brakes are :bang: . good thing i had my seatbelt on. Gotta be easy on that pedal.
Pjp im not from the Uk. Slovenia here .

It takes quite a while to get really good with the Selespeed.

My brakes took about 5000miles to bed in, before that they were hopeless, and pretty scarey! The odd thing is they seem to work best at high speed, I think it may be something to do with the fact that they fit harder compound pads to the selespeeds and need to warm up a bit!

Paul
 
Brakes? Seem to work for me, and never been a concern. Saying that, didn't buy from new so probably already bedded in.

As for the selespeed, once you get used to it, you will love it - mine is in MANUAL 100% of the time, the only way to fully enjoy it [turn off ASR as well, if dry enough, lol]
 
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