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Tuning Gutless...

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Tuning Gutless...

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ferg

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Hi guys, I test drove (and secured purchase of) my missus's first car today and our first fiat. A 1.2 Fiat 500 lounge to be precise. I've always liked the 500 but always thought of it being a woman's car apart from the Abarth.. which looks the dogs ******.... but I was pleasantly surprised by how sporty it felt and even for what felt like a tall car the handling was very nice and responsive and quick and solid. However, it felt very gutless. I know I'm probably the main problem, seeing as I drive a 240bhp 2.0 Turbo daily... But even when I shifted down and booted it, it just seemed to do nothing. Which is great for her as her first car, but if I'm driving somewhere longer distance than to the shop I'd just like to give it a bit more poke. Anything i could do to improve it without 'Modifying' it? Basically, i can't do anything to it because it's my girlfriends car.. so no air filter, no turbo, no lowering springs/coilovers, no lightweight alloys, no remapping, no nothing :'( It might be a simple case of it's been stood in a showroom so needs some running in to get back into it's stride. Could I put in better spark plugs or anything? Maybe an uprated air filter in the standard box? Uprated injectors (she won't have the foggiest clue if I were to do these..) Anything at all I could do? haha it's annoying :eek:
 
There is an absolute wealth of information here. Just locate the search button and you could possibly find what you are looking for!
Edit. Sorry that sounded a bit unwelcoming. But just go have a search and I am sure you might find something.
 
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hi mate, no worries, I know nothing abrupt was intended :) I understand where you're coming from but I thought maybe since this was a 'she can't notice but I can tell' hidden thing it might be a bit futile searching as everyone is showing off their shiny tuning parts :) whereas I'm trying to hide as much as possible, ney, every one of them haha
 
Hi & welcome :wave:

Good to have you here.

You probably won't want to hear this, but I doubt there's much you can easily do to get any significant performance improvement from a 1.2; the general consensus is that if you have a 1.2 & want more oomph, the best way to spend your money is on trading it in for a TA/1.4/A500.

Since you've just bought yours, this isn't really an option - so I'll make a suggestion. Rather than changing the car, change your attitude to driving it - find the 1.2's natural pace, and adapt your driving style to suit that. Trying to drive it like it's a warm hatch is just going to leave you frustrated and impatient, but put some nice relaxing music on a memory stick, ease off the go pedal & chill out a little & you might just find yourself enjoying the 1.2 more than you might expect.

There are many, many quicker cars out there, but drive it carefully & there are very few petrol cars that can beat it for fuel economy.
 
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Mercky said:
Is it new? If so it will feel a bit gutless until run in with a few K up. Welcome btw!
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Used from car dealer/showroom, so good condition, but i agree somewhat in that it has probably been stood for a while and just needs running in again :)

Thanks JRKitching, I assumed as much :) It was never going to be my daily driver pace... lacking something like 180bhp haha was a very different driving experience. But it was nice.. very smooth, very agile. So I think I will like it a lot for what it is :) End of the day really it's my missus car so it's up to her really, just i'll be using it solely out of us, as she hasn't passed her test yet. So was wondering if I could sneak some more oomph out of it :)
 
One worthwhile improvement for the 1.2 is to fit Iridium plugs - the OEM plugs are of the cheap copper core type and are usually well shot after 10,000 miles or so.

NGK DCPR7EIX are the closest equivalent; less than £30 for a set and should be good for at least 40k.

It most likely won't get you any significant extra power, but if the existing plugs are in anything less than first class order (and they won't be unless they've just been changed), the car will start and run better and IMO it's a worthwhile upgrade.
 
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The 1.2 is a great, characterful and fun engine, but it won't be fast.

It's enjoyment, in my opinion, comes from the fact that it revs nicely and smoothly, sounds good and can be pushed without going crazy speeds. It's about enjoying driving it, rather than enjoying the speed itself. Typical Italian small car character.

I loved mine, and used it for some decent length runs (400 miles +) with no problems.
 
fantastic, cheers mate, i'll pop some in come available funds :) I know i'll have fun in it :) handles really well. I'll adapt im sure :) cheers guys :) Cracking forum... proven already :) glad i joined!
 
Piccolo Nero e Bella said:
Hey, I wasn't making a statement - I don't think it's a "woman's car". I was just wondering why you qualify it as such. I don't know the gender ratio of owners here on the forum but it's got to be at least 50/50.
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There have been some posts before about this. My wife (who happens to own the car) did a head count of female/male drivers when she was out and about, on a couple of occasions. Female drivers were in the vast, and I mean vast, majority. Not the most scientific piece of research, but just her findings.
The most popular colour in my part of the country is white, and they are almost exclusively driven by females. In fact my wife will comment if she sees a man driving one.
I generally think cars are asexual (not sure about the word, but I am sure you get my meaning). However, some cars do seem to be preferred by women, and some preferred by men.
I await the backlash.
 
wellfan said:
There have been some posts before about this. My wife (who happens to own the car) did a head count of female/male drivers when she was out and about, on a couple of occasions. Female drivers were in the vast, and I mean vast, majority. Not the most scientific piece of research, but just her findings.
The most popular colour in my part of the country is white, and they are almost exclusively driven by females. In fact my wife will comment if she sees a man driving one.
I generally think cars are asexual (not sure about the word, but I am sure you get my meaning). However, some cars do seem to be preferred by women, and some preferred by men.
I await the backlash.
Click to expand...

I entirely agree. I find it completely plausible that most 500's are indeed driven by women, and I’m sure Fiat's marketing and colour choices deliberately target female buyers. I too regard cars as asexual, as you put it, but some, especially smaller vehicles, are definitely marketed to a female clientele. Take the Mitsubishi Mirage locally for instance, available in pink (OK, they call it ‘mulberry’). All the advertising I've seen features the pink colour, and how many blokes are going to be seen in that? Paint it black (as the song says) and it's a different story, but it’s not a different car.

We have two 500's; one white and one black so I'm sure you can guess which is whose. The white one is frequently described as ‘cute’ but not the black (despite the 'hippy' floral decoration...).


My point is that there may be feminine colours but there’s no such thing as a 'woman's car'.
 
It seems to be a 50/50 split of male and female 500 drivers in my area, but I agree that the white 500 seems to be more of a female domain, whereas the males tend to go for the blue, black and grey. The males appear to be mostly middle aged or older.

My original choice was actually a white 500C with maroon softtop, but due to lack of availability I ended up with black all around :D

As for "women's cars", the common stereotype is that anything small/compact is seen as a woman's car. Unless it has a surplus of power -- very few people think the Abarth 500 is a girly car, for example.
 
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44sunsets said:
It seems to be a 50/50 split of male and female 500 drivers in my area, but I agree that the white 500 seems to be more of a female domain, whereas the males tend to go for the blue, black and grey. The males appear to be mostly middle aged or older.

Interesting observation - perhaps we feel we have nothing to prove...(y)

My original choice was actually a white 500C with maroon softtop, but due to lack of availability I ended up with black all around :D

I was initially interested in a red hatch but when they showed me the black cabrio I was hooked man.:cool: Not so much on the body colour itself, but its red and ivory interior made it such a nice place to be. Being last of the manuals was the clincher.

As for "women's cars", the common stereotype is that anything small/compact is seen as a woman's car. Unless it has a surplus of power -- very few people think the Abarth 500 is a girly car, for example.
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Or unless it's a hulking 4WD/SUV full of kids in the supermarket carpark!

The one that puzzled me was the reference to MX-5's as hairdresser's cars. My final choice was a toss-up between an MX-5 and the 500. The C won for its easier ingress/egress (perhaps due to my being mostly middle-aged or older ;)). If I had bought the MX I expect I would have been accused of having a 'mid-life crisis' instead of driving a 'girly' car?
 
Piccolo Nero e Bella said:
Hey, I wasn't making a statement - I don't think it's a "woman's car". I was just wondering why you qualify it as such. I don't know the gender ratio of owners here on the forum but it's got to be at least 50/50.
Click to expand...


Sorry mate, didn't mean to cause offence. I was just going along the lines that all the owners ive seen in a 500 are women. Literally, all of them, so i was just going along with those lines i've seen in my area. No offence was meant. To anyone btw, sorry if i did offend anyone.
 
I'm 60 and my company car's a white Lounge TA with go faster Italian flag stripe along the side... and I'm a man who wants a zippy little car with high mpg and low taxable benefit in kind.

Yes most Fiat 500 drivers are women, and yes the little Fiat doesn't go like a rocket... put your foot down the rev limiter kicks in pretty quickly trying to accelerate onto the motorway, but you get used to its limitations.

If you something that isn't gutless, you have to buy something with a big engine and heavy fuel consumption. Fiat 500s are runabouts for people who rarely have adult passengers in the back, and who want something that will get them from A to B cheaply and with a bit of roar from time to time... a motorbike engine does that for me and I'm not suffering a late life crisis driving a girly car! I think I'm man enough to overcome any image problem others may have, and the wife and daughter like it too. My son's a bit more wary, but then the insurance allows him to drive it... when needs must.
 
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