General Manual Abarth - Is it worth it?

[jamesfarnden]

Considering buying a manual stilo abarth on a 55 plate with 35,000 on the clock and one previous owner. Can anyone cast any doubt over my purchase? Never seen tooo many negative comments as far as the manual is concerned. Also what is the cost of a service roughly?

 

[Citizen Smith]

From personal experience the depriciation is the worst thing, see how much road tax is/will be for it, clutch slave cylinder is a known fault as was on my previous Abarth.

 

[jamesfarnden]

Thanks for that. Road tax and insurance are not too bad. What mpg can i expect? I heard it will be in the region of 20-25 mpg? Can anybdy shed any light on the servicing costs. And any other things to be wary of?

 

[Yellow Peril]

Thanks for that. Road tax and insurance are not too bad. What mpg can i expect? I heard it will be in the region of 20-25 mpg? Can anybdy shed any light on the servicing costs. And any other things to be wary of?

You should do better than that (unless you constantly rag it). I get 29-30mpg even in the winter...

Most important thing is regular oil and filter changes with a top-quality oil and a regular check on oil level between services.

 

[Citizen Smith]

Mpg you are realistically looking at 22mpg - 32 is achievable but only long mway trips. if thrashed it will return 11 - 15 mpg i found.

Servicing I always did myself but its something not to be skimped on TBH. Tyre wear can be an issue but mostly due to wheel alignment being out.

 

[jamesfarnden]

Mpg you are realistically looking at 22mpg - 32 is achievable but only long mway trips. if thrashed it will return 11 - 15 mpg i found.

Servicing I always did myself but its something not to be skimped on TBH. Tyre wear can be an issue but mostly due to wheel alignment being out.

So is it a worthwhile purchase or not. Or should i invest my money in something else? Not buying for another week at least so plenty of time to decide.

 

[krismc]

Well it's hard to say is it worth it as we don't know the price.

However I have an abarth,3 door, leather and sky roof. love the semi auto box and all the toys, I put new exhaust on and it sounds a million dollars. Paid £1700 for it, plus exhaust, tints, new style abarth badging in and out,and audi style led sidelights running the length of each headlamp at bottom.
All in it owes me bout £2150

But please just think of an abarth as a nippy gt rather than hot hatch.

As for depreciation I got mine so cheap that so long as it's still taxed and running I'll always st back what I paid as I believe cats eventually stay at a steady price.

I've put 6k on mine no real issues,
With just new abarth bashing on and audi style led sidelights it turns heads everywhere, and if I had £3k or less I'd buy another no worries (ps they sound great)

 

[12[X]]

not sure how you guys are getting these figures - city driving (only monitored last 400 miles) i get 20.2 mpg on my 1.8 (selenia performer) with an average of 10 miles/hour – now, it has given me 48.6 mpg on the trip to lake district and back (but that was economy driving @ 60 miles/hour and slip streaming). Also a car is never an investment (hence depreciation) - it’s a personal choice (or statement if you believe some)

 

[Citizen Smith]

So is it a worthwhile purchase or not. Or should i invest my money in something else? Not buying for another week at least so plenty of time to decide.

I invested quite a bit of money trying to get more power, better handling etc and for the 1st 4 years was great but after my experience with the slave cylinder leaking I lost all confidence in driving her.

I called it quits in the end and got a GTi instead and although its common I feel happier and more confident when I drive her now plus it has warranty.

If it were me I wouldn't TBH.

 

[krismc]

not sure how you guys are getting these figures - city driving (only monitored last 400 miles) i get 20.2 mpg on my 1.8 (selenia performer) with an average of 10 miles/hour – now, it has given me 48.6 mpg on the trip to lake district and back (but that was economy driving @ 60 miles/hour and slip streaming). Also a car is never an investment (hence depreciation) - it’s a personal choice (or statement if you believe some)

You need to change driving style.

Believe it or not I'm currently working 2 jobs 2nd being a delivery job at night and use my abarth.

I do around 60 miles a night. Put in bout tenner and my readout is always showing avg 25/26 mpg and this is all city based driving with some high revs through tunnels and small echoey streets

 

[12[X]]

You need to change driving style.

Believe it or not I'm currently working 2 jobs 2nd being a delivery job at night and use my abarth.

I do around 60 miles a night. Put in bout tenner and my readout is always showing avg 25/26 mpg and this is all city based driving with some high revs through tunnels and small echoey streets

that's cool bet your average speed is (possibly) over 10 miles an hour? and you don’t spend all your time in traffic.. :yum:

 

[viggers]

At the end of the day its a 2.4 so it aint never going to be economical, if you want good mpg buy a 1.0 or a diesel not a 5 pot. Around 25 mpg is what i get with mixed driving.

As for sevicing cost, it is expensive if you go to a dealer i payed £199 for my last low milage service. But i have been pointed in the direction of a garage that will do a full sevice for £100 +vat who can reset the service light, so i'll be giving them a try next time since my warranty is up.

Mine is now three an a half years old and done 20,000 miles, i've owned it for the last two an a half and have put 17,000 miles on her. I've never had any major problems, but there have been others that have had no end of problems with theres. So it my be just luck, just like any car.

 

[dibbers]

from memory - i've been out of the fiat fold for a while now - later manual abarths / prestigios suffered from severe deletion of options, the early cars - whilst some say are problematic - may have a full complement of electrics, leather, lcd display etc. later cars do without the in-dash lcd screen and from the ph2 revision, some are minus even leather / connect nav.

for me, part of the cars appeal was kit Vs price. (ie, connect nav etc "makes" it a bit different).

fuel consumption? i got 22-25mpg from my '54 Prestigio which included a lot of motorway driving at times. my standard daily commute is 30 mixed miles....i had to fill it twice a week.

onsider what is said above, it's a 2.4 5pot and will never get high 30's in mpg, and insurance / servicing will be accordingly.

personally, i would have another one tomorrow if it was cheap enough and offered lots of toys that are rare on a sub £3k "modern" car.

select carefully it could be a good - not great - car, but buy a dog and you'll forever be in dread of the "beep beep"...

 

[jamesfarnden]

from memory - i've been out of the fiat fold for a while now - later manual abarths / prestigios suffered from severe deletion of options, the early cars - whilst some say are problematic - may have a full complement of electrics, leather, lcd display etc. later cars do without the in-dash lcd screen and from the ph2 revision, some are minus even leather / connect nav.

for me, part of the cars appeal was kit Vs price. (ie, connect nav etc "makes" it a bit different).

fuel consumption? i got 22-25mpg from my '54 Prestigio which included a lot of motorway driving at times. my standard daily commute is 30 mixed miles....i had to fill it twice a week.

onsider what is said above, it's a 2.4 5pot and will never get high 30's in mpg, and insurance / servicing will be accordingly.

personally, i would have another one tomorrow if it was cheap enough and offered lots of toys that are rare on a sub £3k "modern" car.

select carefully it could be a good - not great - car, but buy a dog and you'll forever be in dread of the "beep beep"...

£5000 from a dealer, manual transmission, leather, climate , cd changer, 35,000 miles, 1 owner from new. Grey metallic with scorpion claw alloys. Lovely car to look at, but just aint that sure about owning it.

 

[dibbers]

if you're looking for a manual 3 door circa £5k i'd buy a schuey (yes, they are around at that price) far more exclusive and a little sexier....different bodykit / wheels / colour.

essentially, the abarths / prestigios / scheuys are a good car for the money, but in my opinion the only field they are outstanding is value and "bang for buck"....was hugely disappointed in comparitive power output and running costs of mine.

m y advice to you? go for a £3-£4k car that would have bottomed out most of it's depreciation. you should be able to get a fully loaded 2003-4 car for that money. there are plenty around at the moment (guess around 50+ on 'trader, 25+ on eBay?)

i would go also for a selespeed, but that's another argument.......

 

[krismc]

Agree with dibbers.

I'd go for a model that has bottomed out a bit in price.

Again earlier models you get more spec for less money.

Same looks outside, better spec in, just an older Reg plate.