General Just Test Drove a Used Abarth

[ytareh]

It was an early model .I wasn’t blown away to be honest .It didn’t feel as fast as Id expected and I drive a 1.1 Panda .There was a fairly/faintly distinct hesitation /miss ( mild shudder ?) in the power delivery at around 4K rpm .Dealer says he will do any remedial work required and a full service and timing belt .Car has around 50kmiles and a fairly decent but not comprehensive / Full set of receipts for work done .
Is this likely to be a simple fix or should I be concerned ?

Other impressions - sunroof takes away headroom .Im 5’11” and my hair was rubbing roof .Seat can only lower cushion tilt and not overall height.
Cruising mpg has potential to get into low / mid 40s so no worse than my old Panda 100hp .Ride is not too hard in Abarth despite 17s.

Turning circle huge like 100hp !

Sound ? Ok but spoiled by the miss .Low down torque makes it quite driveable but runs out of puff before 5k .

Oh the exhaust was ‘popping’ on lively gearchanges , is that MEANT to happen

Maybe I should wait for a better /non sunroof (?) one ?Or an Up GTi?! ;-)

I enjoyed the drive home in my humble Panda Eco but it’s not exactly in its natural habitat slipping into the outside lane on motorway

 

[Bluetruck]

Go drive another and see if it feels better. The turning cirle is terrible, caused by fitting 17in wheels. Thats why they dont have a 6 speed gearbox, the box end cap extends into the wheel arch and the big wheels would rub. Was it a tilt/slid roof? They do take up headroom whereas the normal glass roof is better. Popping exhaust is normal! Seat adjustment is crap but i found the sweet spot in mine within a month.....

 

[Al D]

Goudrons, in your 4 experiences including your own car, does this sound right? The 145 Abarth has 16' wheels apparently. Brilliant. Looks comfy ride too. Am going to consider one in the future now.

 

[ytareh]

Would it be coil packs ?I know that these kinds of issues can end up with replacing plugs, leads etc etc etc and still no improvement .I remember having an Opel GSI(Vauxhall Astra GTE ) 16v and the ‘hesitation ‘ at certain revs ended up being deteterioration of some tracks /wires in ECU that even the main dealer never heard of ,

 

[Goudrons]

You need to consider most used Abarths aren't as they left the factory.
Apart from all the dealer upgrades and packs, quite a few will also have had a tweek here and there by the previous owner/s.

Yes, they can pop and bang on the over run, though it depends on the exhaust and perhaps cat, some owners fit freer flowing 200 cell cats and/or remap them to inject fuel on the over run to do this.

Pre series 4 cars and the later series 4 595's with 145hp and 160hp (Trofeo) run the IHI turbo.

S4 Turismo and Competizione run a bigger Garret turbo with either 165 or 180hp (or more)

I found the IHI quite smooth in 145, but a bit viby and buzzy when the wick has been turned up 160hp.

The 165hp and the 180hp feel a lot better sorted engine wise, much better torque, little lag and an insane kick around 3k, hang on and the power is intoxicating all the way to, er 70mph (+ a little bit).

It does sound like something is a miss if it's running out of puff a 5k with this one.
You might bounce off the limiter in first if you haven't grabbed 2nd quick enough, but cane it in 2nd and 3rd and it should get up and go, particularly if you've pushed the Sport button, it should all feel a bit frantic with that sort of rpm showing.

If you are really interested in one, try and get a base "reading" and take out a S4 145hp, most dealers will have a demo one of these.
Early cars without the official and unofficial upgrades should drive similarly.

Also try some of the other Abarth forums, you'll find cars in the classifieds that are being sold by the owners and they'll know the score regarding upgrades.

 

[lsgraham_uk]

I have two series fours, one with 16" wheels and the other with 17". The turning circle on 17" is Ridiculous, you look like a learner when trying to park or three point turn. On one of my cars I have a tuning box and filter which I would guess is giving out 170bhp/200lbft. It will spin the wheels in second at moment at around 3k when the torque kicks in. The turbo setup in standard cars feel like it is torque limited over the Rev range to feel like it builds up. With the tuning box it is borderline too quick for the short wheelbase to the point of feeling a little skitty. To get the exhaust to pop you need o change up at about 4k with a little trailing throttle. Alternatively drive it when cold and it will do it for first five minutes quite often.

When it comes to replacing I would go for a 165 (bigger turbo) but would want to fit wider 16" wheels for the ride balance rather than 17's.
Felt the ttc for first time the other day and it does tighten the line quite well, but only in longer sweeping bends.

 

[jrkitching]

These sorts of cars can be an absolute moneypit.

A 500 is designed and engineered to have an economic life of 10-12 years, the early cars will be close to the end of that by now. You could easily be handing this car over to a breakers in a couple of years time in exchange for £100 or so, and that two years motoring will then have cost you the purchase price plus whatever you spend on it in the meantime (which could be quite a lot).

Contrast that with the likely costs of running a new car with three years warranty and returning it at the end of a pcp and the monthly payments will look cheap in comparison.

However you slice it, you can't run an A500 for 1.1 Panda money and, with the greatest of respect and understanding for the OP, if you can't afford the payments on a new one, you almost certainly can't afford the running costs and depreciation on an 8-9yr old one.

An older performance car with an attractive screen price can seem like a dream come true to someone on a budget (and at the end of the day, aren't most of us?), but that dream can very easily turn into a nightmare.

This particular example would certainly appear to have issues and problems; at the moment, they are someone else's issues and problems, and if I were in the OP's position, I'd make it my first priority to keep it that way.

 

[jimboy]

Yep, I would agree with jrkitching. I'm not going to add anything but on a humorous note, this morning purchasing my Sunday paper from the next village, I was behind this very tall & quite fat chap & coming outside to the carpark watch him getting into an Abarth. I actually took my time to watch this very large man eventually drive away. It was somehow fascinating how he maneuvered his body into that wee car. His body mass left hardly any light coming through the windows. Just my observations.

I'm a bit of a people watcher & there are times when situations just grab you & take you in..

 

[Goudrons]

These sorts of cars can be an absolute moneypit.

There's no doubt about it, they are all, new and old, money pits.
But surprisingly, you can spec a 500s up to the same sort of price as my Turismo and it'll probably lose more in depreciation than my Abarth.

But as money pits go though, they are enormous fun and when it's this much fun, you don't really care!