General What Engine to go for?

[multispoke]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/89927/20101208/nissan-leaf-best-engine-power-system-wards-autoworld-magazine.htm
Note that the best 4 cylinder engine always seem to be a 1.6 although it appears to be a turbocharged one. Although I would stand corrected if 350cc is the optimum size.

http://www.wheels24.co.za/News/General_News/Fiat-MultiAir-is-best-new-engine-20100624
The Abart heads will be very happy with this. It's a shame that the Americans are getting the mult-air before us and they probably wouldn't even buy them.
http://www.arbury.co.uk/about-us/latest-news/fiat-500-twin-air.aspx
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/jeremyclarkson/article551643.ece
Note the Jeremy has given the Twin air his no. 1

 

[wigit]

i suppose all people are different and for me it has to be the twin-air, wanted an economilca runaround that could cope with motorway use, for me it has a bit more poke than the 1.2, i'm not a derv fan, the 1.4s were missing the point of what i wanted

 

[TrevC]

I don't know how Omad's workmate is trying to drive economically, but he must be doing something wrong. I just drove my Twinair lounge (less than a week old, 250 miles on the clock) home from work, Eco off and got just over 48mpg. It's a 23 mile journey, 15 miles on country lanes and the rest at less than 30mph through towns, with a 5 minute 70mph dual carriageway burst. Average speed was 35mph. I was accelerating briskly, but keeping below 4000rpm out of deference to its newness. I reckon the best economy measure is to anticipate roundabouts, junctions etc and lift off in plenty of time to avoid heavy braking. Hopefully after a couple of thousand miles I'll be getting 50mpg plus, which will be fine by me.

 

[cjc156]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/89927/20101208/nissan-leaf-best-engine-power-system-wards-autoworld-magazine.htm
Note that the best 4 cylinder engine always seem to be a 1.6 although it appears to be a turbocharged one. Although I would stand corrected if 350cc is the optimum size.

http://www.wheels24.co.za/News/General_News/Fiat-MultiAir-is-best-new-engine-20100624
The Abart heads will be very happy with this. It's a shame that the Americans are getting the mult-air before us and they probably wouldn't even buy them.
http://www.arbury.co.uk/about-us/latest-news/fiat-500-twin-air.aspx
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/jeremyclarkson/article551643.ece
Note the Jeremy has given the Twin air his no. 1

Funny, just glanced at Whatcar while waiting at the station and they gave the TwinAir a not so rosy review. Although I didnt get a chance to read the article, it gave the impression that the entire test was done with ECO on. Not that I would take WhatCar to heart, its the only car magazine written by people who dont like cars.

 

[306maxi]

They treat them like appliances.....

 

[wigit]

what car are the sort of people who say a toyota avensis is the best car in the world

 

[trphil]

what car are the sort of people who say a toyota avensis is the best car in the world

Are you saying it's not?

 

[multispoke]

I still don't don't see the issue with turbo's. Unless you're unlucky or drive like a plonker you're unlikely to ever see any issues

https://www.fiatforum.com/abarth-500/265191-2nd-year-report-abarth-ownership.html

I have had my May 2008 1.4 sport for 1 year and done 5K miles with 39K on the clock. I have had no problems like the one outlined above on my car. I wonder how many of the problems are turbo related or is it just that the nature of turbos results in the car working much harder. Will the same fate be suffered by the twin air ?
I am at a crossroads about selling my 1.4 sport for an Abarth (there's one for sale at the moment and I have an 'offer' on my car). I have posted this on a non Abart forum for a reason. Am I mad ?

 

[DraigFlag87]

https://www.fiatforum.com/abarth-500/265191-2nd-year-report-abarth-ownership.html

I have had my May 2008 1.4 sport for 1 year and done 5K miles with 39K on the clock. I have had no problems like the one outlined above on my car. I wonder how many of the problems are turbo related or is it just that the nature of turbos results in the car working much harder. Will the same fate be suffered by the twin air ?
I am at a crossroads about selling my 1.4 sport for an Abarth (there's one for sale at the moment and I have an 'offer' on my car). I have posted this on a non Abart forum for a reason. Am I mad ?

That's my car and i've had a fair few probs, but the engine and Turbo are bullet proof, never had any probs with them. In fact, they can take much more HP than what Abarth give them.

 

[306maxi]

https://www.fiatforum.com/abarth-500/265191-2nd-year-report-abarth-ownership.html

I have had my May 2008 1.4 sport for 1 year and done 5K miles with 39K on the clock. I have had no problems like the one outlined above on my car. I wonder how many of the problems are turbo related or is it just that the nature of turbos results in the car working much harder. Will the same fate be suffered by the twin air ?
I am at a crossroads about selling my 1.4 sport for an Abarth (there's one for sale at the moment and I have an 'offer' on my car). I have posted this on a non Abart forum for a reason. Am I mad ?

I did say that unless you drive like a plonker then you won't have much in terms of problems. The person that you're linking to has gone through multiple sets of tyres already in a short time......

 

[DraigFlag87]

Don't ****ing start Maxi. Anyway, You should try "fun" sometime, you might like it.

Did i mention i've used 1 MM of tread in 6000 miles on my current set?

 

[306maxi]

Don't ****ing start Maxi. Anyway, You should try "fun" sometime, you might like it.

Did i mention i've used 1 MM of tread in 6000 miles on my current set?

I do have fun don't worry

 

[TwinAir Newbie]

Funny, just glanced at Whatcar while waiting at the station and they gave the TwinAir a not so rosy review. Although I didnt get a chance to read the article, it gave the impression that the entire test was done with ECO on. Not that I would take WhatCar to heart, its the only car magazine written by people who dont like cars.

I glanced at the article.

It seemed a bit unfair that the TwinAir was at least £2000 cheaper than any of the other three cars in the group test.

I wouldn't beef at the fuel figures they posted but they did say that the 0-60mph (a useless thing to do I know) was something like 14.7 seconds.

Now that must have been with the Eco button on!

Hang on- I've gone to the What Car data bank- usually good for a mistake- and that quotes 11 seconds for 0-60, which is not what was stated in the group test.

 

[cjc156]

It must be with the eco button on, I'll have a read when I am at the station tomorrow....

 

[306maxi]

I glanced at the article.

It seemed a bit unfair that the TwinAir was at least £2000 cheaper than any of the other three cars in the group test.

I wouldn't beef at the fuel figures they posted but they did say that the 0-60mph (a useless thing to do I know) was something like 14.7 seconds.

Now that must have been with the Eco button on!

Hang on- I've gone to the What Car data bank- usually good for a mistake- and that quotes 11 seconds for 0-60, which is not what was stated in the group test.

Perhaps the person from What?!?!?! Car?!?!?! thought it was a stain removal test?

 

[multispoke]

…I've had the squeaky/sticky brake issue, finally sorted after i had to fork out almost £400 on new brakes, washer jets both broke again for the 2nd time, at least 2 wheel bearings have been replaced…
Another very concerning thing is the oil. Some have mentioned white sludge, well mines brown, and when i took the filler cap off and shook it, 5 drops of water came out. Could be related to the coolant dropping. I've also got oil leaking out one of the pipes leading to the turbo.

QUOTE]

There's a mention of the oil leaking on one pipes to the turbo and sludge in the oil. You sound like a guy who loves his car particularly given that you're buying another one. The oil thing really concerned me - this is something that I saw on my old 127 sport at 70k miles in my years when that I should have been driving more 'prudently'. The reason that I moved up to bigger cc engines was so that they could take a bit of a thrashing. It has been remarked that the classic 70s 500 with the 2-cylinder engine lasted no more than 2000 miles (an exaggeration) but Fiat are offering 60k and a 3 year on the new ones so they're confident. Other manufactures like Land Rover & BMW are quick to change engines if they suspected that their's a weakness in their engines. The problem that I will have is that the Abarth that I'm looking to buy is out of warranty (only 2 years on imports in Ireland) whilst the my current 1.4 sport has 4 years running out in May 2012. I never thought that one day I would be looking for 'peace of mind'.

 

[DraigFlag87]

Fiat's engines are solid, their turbocharged technology is superior, look how many awards they've won, the MJ engine won awards when it was first out, the Abarth 500 with the T-jet engine was Top Gear's "Hot hatch of the year 2009" (and now their favorite engine is the Twinair) and the new 1.4 Multiar engine won engine of the year last year (i think) giving Ferrari's V8 second place!

Have faith, their engines, turbo or N/A are superb

 

[multispoke]

Fiat's engines are solid, their turbocharged technology is superior, look how many awards they've won, the MJ engine won awards when it was first out, the Abarth 500 with the T-jet engine was Top Gear's "Hot hatch of the year 2009" (and now their favorite engine is the Twinair) and the new 1.4 Multiar engine won engine of the year last year (i think) giving Ferrari's V8 second place!

Have faith, their engines, turbo or N/A are superb

Fiat have always excelled at the small cars with 6 out of my first 9 cars being Fiat/Lancia (primarily a diet of 850s & 127s). The last 4 have been Fiat/Alfa. That’s of the 22 that I have owned.
The Twin Air will become the engine of choice for petrol heads in the current climate that cannot stretch to an Abarth or for those downsizing from an Abarth !

 

[keeforelli]

have just read what cars online review of the twin air based on comments here.

'takes an age to build up speed unless you thrash it'

erm- what engine were they testing exactly?

overall- 'noisy and slow'

misinformation much?

 

[chris_p]

Don't be put off by the contradictory comments on the TwinAir. It is a real Jekyll and Hyde engine. In Normal mode it has exactly the kind of performance you need around town and the soundtrack is characterful and fun.
Press Eco, turn on Stop-Start and, with careful driving, you can achieve excellent mpg. My Average mpg computer is accurate when compared to brimming. Yesterday I drove from East London and out into the Berkshire countryside then back through Barnet. Country roads, M4, M40, M25 and the North Circular. A journey of 137 miles. No £10 Congestion Charge and an average of 67.2 mpg. It's not difficult to achieve this economy but it's also easy to bat along in the lower gears and knock 30 mpg off! It's up to you.