500 (Abarth) Draigflag's ABARTH 500 (new thread!).

[yellow seicento]

fiat road trip, love it!! me and a few mates did one over the new year period, we went from boston (east coast) over to bristol on new years eve, then onto portmadog (sp) for the 2nd night going through the brecon beacons and black mountains, then on our final day we went around snowdon on to betsi-co-it again (sp) then down to lake bala then back home, totalled 740 miles, i was in a mk2 punto sporting, my friend chris (who is on here) was in a 1.6 bravo (classic) and his brother dan was in a 20VT coupe, absolutely loved wales, the roads are very good,

 

[yellow seicento]

also loving the pictures!

 

[DraigFlag87]

fiat road trip, love it!! me and a few mates did one over the new year period, we went from boston (east coast) over to bristol on new years eve, then onto portmadog (sp) for the 2nd night going through the brecon beacons and black mountains, then on our final day we went around snowdon on to betsi-co-it again (sp) then down to lake bala then back home, totalled 740 miles, i was in a mk2 punto sporting, my friend chris (who is on here) was in a 1.6 bravo (classic) and his brother dan was in a 20VT coupe, absolutely loved wales, the roads are very good,

WOW that's pretty epic too! Yea Wales has the best roads by far, even the cops know that, hence why there are very little speed cameras too (my nearest fixed one is 50 miles away! )

Only down side is that motorcyclists (Power Rangers) come over here and they die. Never own a bike after living here and seeing what happens to the human body with such little protection

 

[Rawb]

WOW that's pretty epic too! Yea Wales has the best roads by far, even the cops know that, hence why there are very little speed cameras too (my nearest fixed one is 50 miles away! )

Only down side is that motorcyclists (Power Rangers) come over here and they die. Never own a bike after living here and seeing what happens to the human body with such little protection

I'm actually making it my yearly aim to come to Wales and do the roads up and around the EVO triangle. Probably do it in the summer holidays. Only thing im worrying about is the speed limit and little ninja police men with lovely guns that i'd happily knock over with the front of my car.

I have heard great things about the roads, I have been to north wales and gone down near Merthyr Tydfil (sp) a few times, lovely roads. Better scenery. If Wales is still as nice as it is today when I retire, I know where I am going.

 

[DraigFlag87]

Yea be careful in the summer, the EVO triangle has a constant whiff of bacon (mainly thanks to the bikers, the one's that haven't died) You also get idiots in Camper vans/caravans everywhere in the summer too, very annoying, i make a habit out of giving them a 5 seconds blast from the horn as i overtake in true Italian spirit!

Best time to come is Sept/Oct/Nov as it's still warm/dry but everyone has gone home. March/April/May can be good too, avoid Easter!

 

[yellow seicento]

yeah it was pretty mental, car was perfect didnt miss a beat, got a few looks too, three fiats in convoy lol, more then likely because of the coop though, is the evo triangle the road that goes west of snowdonia and then east above it?? I didn't see any speed camera's when I was there either, wasn't as much snow as I thought there would be, only random piles on the blindside of corners which made it interesting, cant see those roads been to safe for bikers really,

 

[306maxi]

yeah it was pretty mental, car was perfect didnt miss a beat, got a few looks too, three fiats in convoy lol, more then likely because of the coop though, is the evo triangle the road that goes west of snowdonia and then east above it?? I didn't see any speed camera's when I was there either, wasn't as much snow as I thought there would be, only random piles on the blindside of corners which made it interesting, cant see those roads been to safe for bikers really,

Complete wrong roads lol

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=A543&daddr=53.120558,-3.5572763+to:A5&hl=en&geocode=FRJ2KQMdnuXH_w%3BFS6OKgMdZLjJ_ymB0MVpqDtlSDFBeyV8J4sNEw%3BFdZ1KQMd1CLI_w&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=12&via=1&sll=53.074434,-3.646431&sspn=0.183984,0.527&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=12

You were probably a week late for the snow.

 

[yellow seicento]

yeah, i saw it on the news and though we were going to have problems but luckily there wasn't any where we was, we didn't do the evo triangle by looking at that map, I want to go back, we was planning a trip to scotland but dont think thats happening now im going to do a small 'lincs' road trip,

 

[DraigFlag87]

yeah it was pretty mental, car was perfect didnt miss a beat, got a few looks too, three fiats in convoy lol

You want to try 11 Abarth's in a row, we had people waving, slowing down and pressing themselves on the windows, taking pictures, racing us etc! Great fun!

 

[yellow seicento]

I bet that was a really good site, Im really tempted to get an A500 or punto evo abarth, they look loads better then the usual run of the mill euro boxes that are the new cars of today, even if they aren't as powerful,

 

[DraigFlag87]

even if they aren't as powerful,

Well they can be, or they can be more powerful, it just depends how much you want to spend. If you don't buy the SS kit for the A500, then for a little bit more you can get a bigger Turbo and lots of other bits bolted on and have it running at around 226 BHP, spend even more and get it up to almost 300 HP.

Or go the cheap route and get a tuning box, you'll have 160 to 170 BHP then!

 

[yellow seicento]

yeah, what I meant was from standard compared to renault sports, focus RS's, astra VXR's, but i'd sooner do what you have just explained, far more passion and beauty I feel, but ive got a soft spot for fiats atm, even though mines costing me,

I used to lik the RS's but seeing them all the time i've gone off them and I dont like the new astra's either they look like the new megane that looks like the new focus ect ect

 

[DraigFlag87]

I know what you mean, it's not the best drive or the most powerful choice, but for me there's no competition when it comes to looks! The A500 stays true to the original, it has bags of character and probably has one of the best interiors of any small car I've seen!

 

[yellow seicento]

yeah, i agree with you, they are one of the best looking cars about, saw one in lincoln on saturday me and my mate were 'gerning' away

 

[DraigFlag87]

Few recent ones. Pretty rubbish. Not done many recently as haven't been using the car much. Think I've done just over 100 miles since i came back from Yorkshire lol. At least i cleaned it, first time since November!

 

[DraigFlag87]

A few from my Sunday afternoon spin!

Oh and a short video!

 

[max500]

DraigFla, really great photos! good composition for many of them!

 

[thebigm]

Never really been into the A500, always liked the AGP more but this thread makes me jealous lol.

Very nice car mate well looked after .

 

[DraigFlag87]

DraigFla, really great photos! good composition for many of them!

Thanks

Never really been into the A500, always liked the AGP more but this thread makes me jealous lol.

Very nice car mate well looked after .

I like the A500, AGP and even the APE is growing on me too. They all have their pro's and con's, but i just love the cheeky looks of the A500. Amazing how they give such a small car attitude and actually make it look cool without over styling it. Clever design.

 

[DraigFlag87]

Well I've had a day at home today for reasons some of you may have guessed. Rather than do nothing, i decided to do the car after such a long stint of not being washed properly (besides the odd 20 minute scrub!)

Basically i spent 6 hours doing the outside, and i only do the inside twice a year or so, so i avoided that all together! Anyway, after all the rubbish on the roads over winter etc, the thing was dripping with tar! See picture below, can't really see it all that well but the stuff was everywhere, even in between the wheel spokes! Pics were taken after the car was washed

Whole car was clayed and all other exterior trim treated too. Unfortunately by the time I'd finished, the light had faded too much so the finished results will have to wait. Does look good though, i might just keep it now, it's so smoooooooth now