Why all the excitement about the Abarth badged GP? A 1.4 150bhp petrol engined car will be much slower in the real world (forget 0-60 times!) than the GPS 130bhp diesel. The insurance group will be much higher (12?) because of the "Abarth" badge & I'm GUESSING that "real" - not quoted - average mpg on the highly stressed 1.4 will be close to 30mpg.
The promised 180bhp 1.4 will be an automotive disaster unless you've got deep pockets. Small engines with big BHP = extreme fuel consumption (& unreliability). I will guess at around 26mpg with NORMAL driving, but if you use the revs to spin the turbo I will GUESS at approx 20mpg.....
The existing GPS 130 will blow the socks off a 150bhp petrol Abarth. A GPS 130 with a 170 bhp re-map/tuning box will most definately leave the 180bhp Abarth in the weeds. - all for £260-£500 with half the insurance premium & almost double the mpg!!. You will be very hard pushed to get less than 46mpg from a GPS 130 - however you drive it....
As an aside, in Nov 2003 I bought one of the first Mazda 231 bhp (1.3 litre) R-X8's in the country. The official mpg figures were 24. something mpg. I was lucky to get 18mpg! After 6 weeks I got mightily sick of the running costs & took a big hit & traded it for a new R32 Golf, after Mazda UK refused to accept that the advertised fuel consumption figures were misleading. The R32 only managed 22mpg but it's sheer power &, more importantly, torque, put a big grin on my face for a year.
Take a tip from me: The Abarth badge will mean nothing when you come to sell or trade in your motor. The 3 limited colours will put people off. Not many people want Black, White or Red.
Last year (2006/2007) the sales of diesel cars took over 50% of the UK Market. Why should that happen, as diesel is 2 pence more expensive than petrol? To tune a Turbo-diesel for another 30bhp costs no more than £300. To get 30bhp out of either a fuel-injected or Turbo petrol engine will cost upwards of £2000.........