dannyp84 said:
Does it feel like you're sitting on it more so than in it ? Weird driving position in general ? Is it fun to drive around town? Does it feel like it's well-built ?
I feel like I'm sitting in it. Door window sills are high. Driving position is fine for an econobox. It does not feel well-built. It's pretty solid, but interior noise is somewhere between nails on a chalkboard and a turboprop.
It's actually pretty fun, but the clutch and shifter are a mess. The clutch is way too light and way to sloppy. There is way too much travel between where it starts to engage and where it's fully engaged. I feel like they could speed up the pedal ratio by 2x and it would both firm it up, and increase the speed of travel. The shifter is a very long throw, and (maybe due to 70k miles of wear) has about 1" of side slop in gear. I feel like going for reverse is like reaching for the passenger's crotch.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
If you launch it hard enough in reverse repeatedly, can you get a bounce going that will allow for backwards wheelies?
That, my friend, sounds like a challenge I'm willing to accept.
Jesse Ransom said:
dannyp84 said:
Does it feel like you're sitting on it more so than in it ? Weird driving position in general ? Is it fun to drive around town? Does it feel like it's well-built ?
This stuff.
I don't know how differently the base version drives from the Abarth, but I feel like I heard murmurs of weird seating (though I'm prone to old cars that feel "on" rather than "in" compared to newer cars) and weird steering feedback. What are your impressions?
I still think Abarths are incredibly cool and about the best sounding car to come out of a factory in forever, though I'm slowly accepting that they're not such great engines that it's worth figuring out how to swap the MultiAir into anything else. But if I stumbled into an Abarth as a runabout...
As a former 1st-gen xB driver, nothing compares to the feeling that toaster gives you of sitting ON a car instead of in it.
So, short story longer, the van is torn apart for front axle bearings, and I've been riding the motorcycle for a few days. "Hot For Teacher's" daughter is off at college leaving her Fiat at home, so they offered it to me as a loaner. In the 20 hours I've had the keys, I've already put a battery in it and had to inflate both front tires. Not really the car's fault, but it's kinda cursed.
I did give it some spirited driving and it felt rather composed, but bumps in turns with that short wheelbase made my butt pucker. Probably due to the super scrawny rubber, but it was probably that scrawny rubber that saved me from instantly going over- or understeer. I also had to go back to that exit ramp later when I realized that both of the right hubcaps had ejected themselves in that exercise.
I told Teacher's daughter that I wanted to take it to the challenge, and she said, "you know it doesn't accelerate, right?" While that's partly true, I also know she drives like a grandma and shifts super early. That little 1.4L is an absolute dog until 3000 rpm, and then it wakes up a little. I was very shocked to discover that the curb weight is 2300 or more. Feels lighter than that, especially when you consider it only has about 100 ponies.
I rented a 500 hybrid for a few days in Tuscany. It was slow, but that was my only real complaint. Comfortable, good handling, good NVH, adequate stereo... Perfect for dodging in and out of thousand-year-old alleys or twisties in the hills. My takeaway was that it'd make a fine urban daily if only it had a 30 to 50 percent horsepower boost.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
I was very shocked to discover that the curb weight is 2300 or more. Feels lighter than that, especially when you consider it only has about 100 ponies.
You really should try the Abarth with it's 160 hp.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
I could deal with the vehicles shortcomings if the price was cheap enough to reflect the shortcomings, but the prices on these seem to be high still. Sure, everything is high, I know but they still seem high in a relative sense.
They strike me as they would be good "kid cars" (which this one seems to be) but again,only at the right price.
A 2012 (10 years old) w/95k miles (sub 100k) should be $3,800 in my mind but they are closer to $8k and 130k is asking over $5k and this is for base, non turbo models. At those prices, I'd buy a real car.
Two friends have fiat 500es and they really like them. They're both that baby blue color.
John Welsh said:
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
I could deal with the vehicles shortcomings if the price was cheap enough to reflect the shortcomings, but the prices on these seem to be high still. Sure, everything is high, I know but they still seem high in a relative sense.
They strike me as they would be good "kid cars" (which this one seems to be) but again,only at the right price.
A 2012 (10 years old) w/95k miles (sub 100k) should be $3,800 in my mind but they are closer to $8k and 130k is asking over $5k and this is for base, non turbo models. At those prices, I'd buy a real car.
my 2012, with no mods and only 23,000 on the clock, I can sell it for what I bought it for 5 years ago.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
As a former 1st-gen xB driver, nothing compares to the feeling that toaster gives you of sitting ON a car instead of in it.
I haven't driven an Xb, but I describe the 500 Abarth like driving a barstool. It's very unsettling
In reply to ProDarwin :
I have driven a barstool, and I don't want to do it again.
That more than one person ever put a lawnmower engine in (on?) a barstool is indicative of one of humanity's problems. One was enough to find out how bad an idea that is.
j_tso
HalfDork
10/20/22 11:28 p.m.
I drove an xA and that felt like sitting at a desk, very upright. I had the same feeling when I sat in a 500 at the showroom.
I still think an Abarth would be fun, I'd drive around shouting "ciao!"
Jerry
PowerDork
10/21/22 8:57 a.m.
ProDarwin said:
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
As a former 1st-gen xB driver, nothing compares to the feeling that toaster gives you of sitting ON a car instead of in it.
I haven't driven an Xb, but I describe the 500 Abarth like driving a barstool. It's very unsettling
As both a 1st gen xB owner (twice) and long-time Abarth owner, the xB was very cargo van feeling but I didn't feel quite the same in the Abarth. It certianly wasn't low-slung sports car seating but I didn't feel "weird". Well, not for seating reasons at least.
In reply to Jerry :
I'll agree with you on this. Our household has an xB and a 500. The seating is upright in both, but I feel comfortable in either one.
Jerry said:
ProDarwin said:
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
As a former 1st-gen xB driver, nothing compares to the feeling that toaster gives you of sitting ON a car instead of in it.
I haven't driven an Xb, but I describe the 500 Abarth like driving a barstool. It's very unsettling
As both a 1st gen xB owner (twice) and long-time Abarth owner, the xB was very cargo van feeling but I didn't feel quite the same in the Abarth. It certianly wasn't low-slung sports car seating but I didn't feel "weird". Well, not for seating reasons at least.
Yeah, to each his own.
A friend of mine had a 500 Abarth, lowered, and side by side with my stock heigh Veloster (not a abnormally short or low car), the seating height felt significantly higher.
Whats crazier is that the passenger side of the Abarth had no height adjustment to the seat. I'm not that tall (6ft), but my head was basically pressed against the ceiling - a super weird position to be in in such a tall car.
I really wish auto manufacturers or magazines published the H point of cars.
Two new fun foibles...
Last night I was driving around sunset with the driver's window about half way down. As it got dark and colder, I put the window up... which caused the headlights to go out. About every 5th time I hit the up-window switch, the headlights go out. I reported this fun to Teacher's daughter and she said "wait until the bluetooth starts talking to you for no reason." Guess what happened this morning? The bluetooth started talking to me.
I really think it could be fun in the Abarth trim. Not really enjoyable as a DD in my opinion, but I'm used to a full sized van
