General TwinAir Thread (including MPG)

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General TwinAir Thread (including MPG)

Hello

Haven't been around for a while, still doing relatively low miles in the TA on short runs and the MPG has remained pretty steady. I took a fairly long run a few weeks ago, the first time it had done over 100 miles without stopping! That returned a much better mpg. No issues though, still a great car with a fantastic engine and driving experience.

cheers
 
My wife has borrowed a twin air while we are waiting for her 1.2 to arrive, my daughter has a 1.2 already. I have driven both and HATE the twin air. Not sure why, it just doesn't seem to suit in town driving. You pull away and within a second have to change gear because it's hit the rev limiter, if you try to drive slower it is not very smooth. If you are in traffic poodling along at 30 mph, you have to do it in 3rd anything else and the car vibrates like its engine is about to fall out. Economy, not sure how well it will perform there as it's always revving so high to get anywhere.

It's ok on a motorway but no better than a 1.2. Might be slightly faster but I still prefer the 1.2 as it's a smoother and quieter drive. The twinair I have is a 2011 Dec reg with 2200 miles on. Not sure whether the car is just older than my daughter's which makes it not as good or its lived a very hard life but my other observations -

Suspension on twinair - I have a speed hump at the end of my road, no matter how slow I go over it, the front of the car hits it. This doesn't happen in my daughters car.

The gearbox isn't as good, it just seems a bit weird going from 3 to 5 like there is no space between the gear stick. In my daughters, it easy to tell and feels much more direct. The twinair just feels wrong, also the clutch is different, not sure why just again feels wrong for a new car, I would say it drives like its done 100,000 miles not 2,200!!.

I'm sorry, but such blanket statements about a car you've driven for only a matter of miles are just rubbish.

If I jumped in my wifes Subaru right now and drove it the 5 miles to work I'd say it was rubbish compared to the 500. Give it a longer drive and then I get into the 500 and think that's rubbish.

You're comparing a courtesy car which has probably been thrashed for most of its 2000 miles and which you're not familiar with, to a car you've driven many times and for a longer distance. That's never going to work....
 
MY daughters car has covered 400 miles since new, I have probably done 30 miles in it. The twinair has done 300 miles since we have had it, I have driven about 200 of those(We have the car for about a month while we wait for the new one)

I agree it could be crap because its been thrashed for the time before I got it but surely, even thrashing a car for 2000 miles shouldn't make it as bad as I think it is. I'm not trying to make sweeping statements just giving my opinion. You can chose to read what I have to say or not, I am not a fan of the twin air, I have been driving for 25 years and have probably owned about 100 cars in that time so do know how to adapt my driving to suit a car, When I compar the 2, the 1.2, in my opinion, is a far better all round drive. The twin air is faster but it is not a better car because of it.
 
MY daughters car has covered 400 miles since new, I have probably done 30 miles in it. The twinair has done 300 miles since we have had it, I have driven about 200 of those(We have the car for about a month while we wait for the new one)

I agree it could be crap because its been thrashed for the time before I got it but surely, even thrashing a car for 2000 miles shouldn't make it as bad as I think it is. I'm not trying to make sweeping statements just giving my opinion. You can chose to read what I have to say or not, I am not a fan of the twin air, I have been driving for 25 years and have probably owned about 100 cars in that time so do know how to adapt my driving to suit a car, When I compar the 2, the 1.2, in my opinion, is a far better all round drive. The twin air is faster but it is not a better car because of it.

I'm been driving 'officially' for 38 years and I could not claim to have owned that number of cars. I might have driven 100 different types but IMHO I thought the TA was a very interesting car but I do like the boost you get from a turbo charged car. Many don't and you might be one of them. I would admit that in the TA there is prononced on & off boost that takes a bit of getting used to.
 
MY daughters car has covered 400 miles since new, I have probably done 30 miles in it. The twinair has done 300 miles since we have had it, I have driven about 200 of those(We have the car for about a month while we wait for the new one)

I agree it could be crap because its been thrashed for the time before I got it but surely, even thrashing a car for 2000 miles shouldn't make it as bad as I think it is. I'm not trying to make sweeping statements just giving my opinion. You can chose to read what I have to say or not, I am not a fan of the twin air, I have been driving for 25 years and have probably owned about 100 cars in that time so do know how to adapt my driving to suit a car, When I compar the 2, the 1.2, in my opinion, is a far better all round drive. The twin air is faster but it is not a better car because of it.

You must dislike a hell of a lot of cars to get through one every three months?
 
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I too have been driving for about 25 years and owned many cars (not quite as many as a new one every 3 months though:)) and I really do think that the twin air is totally different to anything else. It's because of the twin cylinders.

It does take a while to get the best out of it, more than 200 miles I would say.
 
You must dislike a hell of a lot of cars to get through one every three months?

I just get bored of cars very quickly, and my wife and I both drive and own cars so we have 2 cars changed quite regularly, I think my record is 5 in 4 months a couple of years ago( BMW 5 series, to Chrysler Crossfire, to Renault CLio 182, to CLK 55 AMG to BMW 330 lol) This did involve some car swaps not just selling and buying again....

Had fun in all of them but only for a short period of time, the most fun was the CLK, but I soon found that to make use of the power meant breaking the law as soon as you touched the accelerator, bit of a pain when there are speed humps/cameras everywhere.

I have owned a number of turbo charged cars including an old Escort RS Turbo(But that was in 1991 so at the time it was new(Well 8 months old) and I usually love them. Perhaps that is what the problem is with the twinair, Usually, a turbo'd car puts a smile on your face when on boost, the fiat is just not fast enough to do that.

It is quite nippy, but not faster enough than the 1.2 to warrant the noise and pain of driving everywhere in 3rd....

If a car is slow, it may as well be a nice drive just my opinion of course.

The car I have been loaned is a bi-colour, is there a difference in the suspension setup/gearbox/clutch between the twinair and 1.2?

It feels like there is....
 
Owned a 100 cars? WTF?

I have driven the following in my 11 year driving career
Honda HRV (driving instructors car)
Fiat 131 (owned)
Peugeot 504 (owned)
Peugeot 504 (my dads one)
Saab 900
Toyota Hiace
Volvo 940
Hyunadai Accent
Daihatsu Charade
Audi 80 (owned for a few weeks)
Peugeot 406 (owned for a couple of years)
Subaru Legacy Turbo (wifes car)
Two Nissan Micra rental cars
Peugeot Partner
Peugeot Boxer
Fiat 500 (owned)
Punto Evo (courtesy car)
A couple of MiTo's the other week
A couple of 500 demonstrators
A Panda 100hp demonstrator
A couple of Legacy's in a dealership

So that's around 30 cars I've driven in the last 11 years. Owning 100 cars in 25 is just bonkers! I don't really count the Audi as a car I've owned as it was given to me for free and I never liked it anyway so I've only owned 4 cars in 11 years.
 
Maybe he is a trader = )

Nope, not a trader, just get bored with cars quickly. I think it might be an addiction lol, I just enjoy the whole process of looking for, buying and driving cars sad I know, perhaps I need counselling lol!!:D:D
 
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Nope, not a trader, just get bored with cars quickly. I think it might be an addition lol, I just enjoy the whole process of looking for, buying and driving cars sad I know, perhaps I need counselling lol!!:D:D


Yeah when i buy a car i plan on keeping it for 10 years! So i only buy a car if i really like it. So far, with an Audi A2 and a Fiat 500 i have been lucky and i have had no desire to change either car. I only sold the Audi A2 (my first car) when I was leaving the UK for Greece.
 
Yeah when i buy a car i plan on keeping it for 10 years! So i only buy a car if i really like it. So far, with an Audi A2 and a Fiat 500 i have been lucky and i have had no desire to change either car. I only sold the Audi A2 (my first car) when I was leaving the UK for Greece.

I love all the cars I buy and plan to keep them, I then get bored and love other cars that I don't own so want one of those lol.

Anyway, I have bought a fiat 500 for the wife so we will be keeping that one for a while at least. I just need to find a weekend car for me.. Hmmm, maybe a porsche conv as I have saved so much money on tax/insurance on the fiat lol
 
I have owned a number of turbo charged cars including an old Escort RS Turbo(But that was in 1991 so at the time it was new(Well 8 months old) and I usually love them. Perhaps that is what the problem is with the twinair, Usually, a turbo'd car puts a smile on your face when on boost, the fiat is just not fast enough to do that.

I had a 1988 RS turbo in 1991 that I managed to get one with low mileage. I loved the car and got caught in spiral of BBR chips but ended up dealing with the police - not for being naughty - but from weekly nightime visits looking to joyride. It took a ram bar on the driveway and an immobilser to sort it out. Had to sell it at 70K to a friend of the mechanic when it needed new everything. There was a reason why Ford only designed the car to run 133bhp and not 160-170bhp.
 
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I had a 1988 RS turbo in 1991 that I managed to get one with low mileage. I loved the car and got caught in spiral of BBR chips but ended up dealing with the police - not for being naughty - but from weekly nightime visits looking to joyride. It took a ram bar on the driveway and an immobilser to sort it out. Had to sell it at 70K to a friend of the mechanic when it needed new everything. There was a reason why Ford only designed the car to run 133bhp and not 160-170bhp.

Cool, I had a 1991, only covered 8000 miles when I got it and it was something like 3000 less than new price. I remember insurance was over £1,000 at the time and didn't do the chipping etc. I had to get one of those plug in immobiliser things fitted and a top end alarm just to get it insured.

The funniest thing that happened in mine(Well wasn't really funny but..) The alarm was very good and never went off, then one night it did, it had been raining and I noticed one of the back windows didn't look right when I looked out to see why my alarm was going off. I went outside and someone had carefully cut out the rear quarter glass, and slid it under the car. I had a baby seat in the back so I guess they had trouble getting in and the alarm went off so they ran off!!!

In those days I was doing shift work in London so got to have fun in my car, got pulled a few times.. I remember the days before cameras speed humps..
 
Cool, I had a 1991, only covered 8000 miles when I got it and it was something like 3000 less than new price. I remember insurance was over £1,000 at the time and didn't do the chipping etc. I had to get one of those plug in immobiliser things fitted and a top end alarm just to get it insured.

The funniest thing that happened in mine(Well wasn't really funny but..) The alarm was very good and never went off, then one night it did, it had been raining and I noticed one of the back windows didn't look right when I looked out to see why my alarm was going off. I went outside and someone had carefully cut out the rear quarter glass, and slid it under the car. I had a baby seat in the back so I guess they had trouble getting in and the alarm went off so they ran off!!!

In those days I was doing shift work in London so got to have fun in my car, got pulled a few times.. I remember the days before cameras speed humps..

Sorry didn't mean to hit the LIKE button:eek::eek:
 
Looking at some of the stats I'm about in the middle. 1968 to date:

Austin A35
Ford Anglia
Austin A40
Vauxhall Viva x 2
Vauxhall Chevette
Ford Escort x2
Vauxhall Cavalier x 2
Vauxhall Astra
Vauxhall cavalier SRi (Most fun up to this point)
Merc 190E (Auto)
Merc 2.0 C Class (Auto)
Rover 75 2.5 (Auto) Most refined car I have owned)
Jaguar S Type x 2 (Auto)
Audi TT 2.0 FSi (S Tronic)
Audi A4 (Auto)
Merc C Class Sport 2.5 Tdi (Auto)
Fiat 500 TA Dualogic (The most fun car to drive out of the whole lot!!)

(y)
 
If my wife was reading this thread, she would think handal was me, given the number of cars we've owned over the years! It's generally me that fancies a change, and I'm proud of the "logical" arguments I've come up with over the years. Having said that, we've had my wife's Renault Modus for over 3 years, and my TA is now into its second year and I have no desire to change it for a while yet.
I agree that any 4-cyl engine is going to be smoother in town - the 1.2 turbo in the Renault will pull smoothly from less than 30 mph in 5th, not so the TA. However, I drove a 1.2 and a 1.3 (75bhp) diesel before buying the TA and it felt much quicker than either. The 1.2 felt underpowered on motorway inclines, where the TA is good. I didn't notice any significant differences in gearchange, clutch etc. on my admittedly brief drives.
At the end of the day, you choose what you like - if handal and his daughter like the car she's got, other peoples personal preferences don't matter, do they?
 
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