airsafari87
Member
So it's coming up to a year since we took delivery of our Twin Air Plus and I thought I'd write up a mini owners review with our findings and general likes dislikes with the car.
Standard Twin Air Plus spec :-
Midnight Indigo Blue
Minus the black roof and spoiler
Full black leather interior (best option to tick by miles in my opinion)
Side rubbing strips with `500' logos.
Picture taken at the bottom of Honister Pass in the Lake District last week.
Primarily it is my girlfriends car but we do share it and with me being a fan of and owning old VW's I get to drive it plenty when they break down!
The car was initially ordered when my girlfriends old Fiesta died on us, she had always hankered after a 500 and seeing as though we could get the Fiat friends and family discount the time was right to take the plunge and buy one.
Initially we were going to go for an Abarth but after browsing the Fiat website and going through the configurators on there we were both very struck by the Twin Air Plus, at the time neither of us were even aware of Fiat doing a 2 cylinder turbo engine and with me being an engineer myself I was rather intrigued and drawn towards it, my girlfriend? Well she just liked the zero road tax costs!!!
We approched the dealership and luckily enough they had a Pop model with the Twin Air engine on demo so we left to our own devices to take that out for a test drive. Now I went on the test drive fully expecting to be totally underwhelmed by a piddly 800cc 2 cylinder engine despite it having a turbo (such a tiny, tiny turbo) but I came away feeling the exact opposite I absolutely loved it! Revved for fun, was pretty sprightly and sounded like nothing I had ever driven such a characterful engine, Well done Fiat!!!
The deal was sealed, Abarth ideas were shelved and Twin Air was in our sights.
She wasn't a fan of the black roof so that was omitted during the ordering process and at the time neither of us were a fan of the black wheels, we did try to get the same wheel in silver but our dealer was unable to do that for us, and while I'm on the subject of the dealer I have to say our experience with the particular salesman we dealt with couldn't have been better and GMD Fiat in Durham will be getting my business again because of that. But I digress ...
She wasn't keen on speccing up full leather but I was firm on this one despite it being her car it WAS having leather! And now a year on she see's why, it's a must have imho.
I'm not a huge lover of 500's without the side rubbing strips, some colours suit it without while others really do need them I think, the Midnight Indigo being one of them.
Order placed ...
So we took delivery of our little car, nicknamed `Guido' by my gf.
First job for the car when we got it though was a full detail, I'd instructed the dealer to leave the car just as it was when it left the transporter and it was driven straight from the garage and to my friends detailing studio,with both of us being professional detailers we set about the car in preparation for laying down a few coats of paintwork sealant which was duly applied that evening ... Unfortunately for my girlfriend though that meant her not getting her brand new car back for another 24 hours as the sealant we used was sensative to moisture and lived it's first 24 hours in a snug temparature controlled environment while it cured.
And in its first year with us it's been absolutely faultless and a joy to drive. 8000 miles are now under it's wheels and it's recent trip over Hartside Pass and around the Lake District has been the absolute highlight so far.
The black wheels have grown on us both and I really like them now.
Don't regret not having the black roof either.
Fuel consumption, ahhhh yes the good old fuel consumption issue!! Obviously it acheives nowhere near the manufacture claims of 60mpg+ but you know what? I don't give a rats ass!!! Look at it like this, It has climate control, so that's left on pretty much all the time to do it's job otherwise why have it? The enjoy is an absolute peach so when the opportunity presents itself why not take advantage of that and enjoy it . The `growl' (another of my other halfs monickers) from the engine as it's revved is so addictive.
If you want a car for its high mpg buy a diesel, if you want a fun characterful car with reasonable fuel economy buy a twin air, simple as that
For the record it averages 40 - 45mpg which is mainly stop start town driving, a small amount of motorway miles and in a reasonably hilly area ... The `Eco' button is NEVER switched on!!
A couple of little niggles I have has been the slight hesitation you get when accelerating after changing gear swiftly, Now I've spoke to a guy I know who does live remaps and as well as releasing 10 or so more bhp he can also smooth out that hesitation slightly. I shall look into that sometime soon.
The ride height is so far up in the air too and needs lowering desperately but more on that later. I suppose coming from a VW that bottoms out on catseyes thats to be expected I guess!
The Shift light too is a major annoyance too and I will be asking the dealer if this can be turned off when it goes in for it's service too.
And thats it, only minor niggles really and nothing that detracts from the experience.
A couple of questions though ....
My brother in law has just recently bought a new Abarth Essesse and has the standard Abarth springs spare.
I'm assuming they will just be a direct swap with the existing ones on the Twin Air are they? No issues with the difference in wieghts between the 2 cars and the spring weights? Hopefully if they are a direct swap it will get it sitting slightly lower looking a lot better, especially when the wheels are spaced out a touch too.
Has anyone developed a filter and exhaust for the twin air engine yet? Knowing how delicious twin cylinder motorbikes sound I can only assume that a free breathing twin air engine will sound an absolute peach.
Anyway apologies for the lengthy wordy post, hope it wasn't too boring to read.
Mark
Standard Twin Air Plus spec :-
Midnight Indigo Blue
Minus the black roof and spoiler
Full black leather interior (best option to tick by miles in my opinion)
Side rubbing strips with `500' logos.
Picture taken at the bottom of Honister Pass in the Lake District last week.
Primarily it is my girlfriends car but we do share it and with me being a fan of and owning old VW's I get to drive it plenty when they break down!
The car was initially ordered when my girlfriends old Fiesta died on us, she had always hankered after a 500 and seeing as though we could get the Fiat friends and family discount the time was right to take the plunge and buy one.
Initially we were going to go for an Abarth but after browsing the Fiat website and going through the configurators on there we were both very struck by the Twin Air Plus, at the time neither of us were even aware of Fiat doing a 2 cylinder turbo engine and with me being an engineer myself I was rather intrigued and drawn towards it, my girlfriend? Well she just liked the zero road tax costs!!!
We approched the dealership and luckily enough they had a Pop model with the Twin Air engine on demo so we left to our own devices to take that out for a test drive. Now I went on the test drive fully expecting to be totally underwhelmed by a piddly 800cc 2 cylinder engine despite it having a turbo (such a tiny, tiny turbo) but I came away feeling the exact opposite I absolutely loved it! Revved for fun, was pretty sprightly and sounded like nothing I had ever driven such a characterful engine, Well done Fiat!!!
The deal was sealed, Abarth ideas were shelved and Twin Air was in our sights.
She wasn't a fan of the black roof so that was omitted during the ordering process and at the time neither of us were a fan of the black wheels, we did try to get the same wheel in silver but our dealer was unable to do that for us, and while I'm on the subject of the dealer I have to say our experience with the particular salesman we dealt with couldn't have been better and GMD Fiat in Durham will be getting my business again because of that. But I digress ...
She wasn't keen on speccing up full leather but I was firm on this one despite it being her car it WAS having leather! And now a year on she see's why, it's a must have imho.
I'm not a huge lover of 500's without the side rubbing strips, some colours suit it without while others really do need them I think, the Midnight Indigo being one of them.
Order placed ...
So we took delivery of our little car, nicknamed `Guido' by my gf.
First job for the car when we got it though was a full detail, I'd instructed the dealer to leave the car just as it was when it left the transporter and it was driven straight from the garage and to my friends detailing studio,with both of us being professional detailers we set about the car in preparation for laying down a few coats of paintwork sealant which was duly applied that evening ... Unfortunately for my girlfriend though that meant her not getting her brand new car back for another 24 hours as the sealant we used was sensative to moisture and lived it's first 24 hours in a snug temparature controlled environment while it cured.
And in its first year with us it's been absolutely faultless and a joy to drive. 8000 miles are now under it's wheels and it's recent trip over Hartside Pass and around the Lake District has been the absolute highlight so far.
The black wheels have grown on us both and I really like them now.
Don't regret not having the black roof either.
Fuel consumption, ahhhh yes the good old fuel consumption issue!! Obviously it acheives nowhere near the manufacture claims of 60mpg+ but you know what? I don't give a rats ass!!! Look at it like this, It has climate control, so that's left on pretty much all the time to do it's job otherwise why have it? The enjoy is an absolute peach so when the opportunity presents itself why not take advantage of that and enjoy it . The `growl' (another of my other halfs monickers) from the engine as it's revved is so addictive.
If you want a car for its high mpg buy a diesel, if you want a fun characterful car with reasonable fuel economy buy a twin air, simple as that
For the record it averages 40 - 45mpg which is mainly stop start town driving, a small amount of motorway miles and in a reasonably hilly area ... The `Eco' button is NEVER switched on!!
A couple of little niggles I have has been the slight hesitation you get when accelerating after changing gear swiftly, Now I've spoke to a guy I know who does live remaps and as well as releasing 10 or so more bhp he can also smooth out that hesitation slightly. I shall look into that sometime soon.
The ride height is so far up in the air too and needs lowering desperately but more on that later. I suppose coming from a VW that bottoms out on catseyes thats to be expected I guess!
The Shift light too is a major annoyance too and I will be asking the dealer if this can be turned off when it goes in for it's service too.
And thats it, only minor niggles really and nothing that detracts from the experience.
A couple of questions though ....
My brother in law has just recently bought a new Abarth Essesse and has the standard Abarth springs spare.
I'm assuming they will just be a direct swap with the existing ones on the Twin Air are they? No issues with the difference in wieghts between the 2 cars and the spring weights? Hopefully if they are a direct swap it will get it sitting slightly lower looking a lot better, especially when the wheels are spaced out a touch too.
Has anyone developed a filter and exhaust for the twin air engine yet? Knowing how delicious twin cylinder motorbikes sound I can only assume that a free breathing twin air engine will sound an absolute peach.
Anyway apologies for the lengthy wordy post, hope it wasn't too boring to read.
Mark
and have now fitted rear mudflaps and wind deflectors on doors.
