I drove a 500 Abarth today

geekdaddy

geekdaddy

X1/9 Learner's Permit...
Driving a 500 Abarth in sport mode is a lot of fun. Fast, nimble, and the overall powertrain and shifting are smooth and quick.

I've always struggled with the idea of putting a Honda motor in our little X. Nothing wrong with it just not something I want to do.

But putting the Abarth motor and trans would be awesome. Hope somebody eventually figures out the electronic and harness complexities :)
 
geekdaddy said:
Driving a 500 Abarth in sport mode is a lot of fun. Fast, nimble, and the overall powertrain and shifting are smooth and quick.

I've always struggled with the idea of putting a Honda motor in our little X. Nothing wrong with it just not something I want to do.

But putting the Abarth motor and trans would be awesome. Hope somebody eventually figures out the electronic and harness complexities :)
Click to expand...

It's happening...

:shh:
 
I haven't driven one myself, but the turbo'd 1.4 Fiat 500 is almost universally panned by road test journalists for having no grunt down low, coming on all of a sudden, and being extremely peaky at the top end.

Maybe when turbos were young this was the nature of the beast, but the same journalists report that other makes have developed turbo installations that are nearly indistinguishable as such.

IMHO FIAT needs to work harder at this.
 
Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
I haven't driven one myself, but the turbo'd 1.4 Fiat 500 is almost universally panned by road test journalists for having no grunt down low, coming on all of a sudden, and being extremely peaky at the top end.

Maybe when turbos were young this was the nature of the beast, but the same journalists report that other makes have developed turbo installations that are nearly indistinguishable as such.

IMHO FIAT needs to work harder at this.
Click to expand...

They CANNOT be referring to the 1.4 multi air turbos we get here. Thanks to the multiair valve arrangement they have a very broad flat power band, with higher TQ numbers than HP.

It's an incredible platform, with much more power available thru simple exhaust upgrades, larger front mount intercooler, and ECU piggyback mods.

One guy in Northern Calif has dynoed 212whp, 234tq with his 2013 Abarth with the aforementioned changes.
 
zonker said:
They CANNOT be referring to the 1.4 multi air turbos we get here. Thanks to the multiair valve arrangement they have a very broad flat power band, with higher TQ numbers than HP.

It's an incredible platform, with much more power available thru simple exhaust upgrades, larger front mount intercooler, and ECU piggyback mods.

One guy in Northern Calif has dynoed 212whp, 234tq with his 2013 Abarth with the aforementioned changes.
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Then you get yours tuned by these guys:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJbQ-MDVDuA"]2012 Custom Fiat Abarth - Jay Leno's Garage - YouTube[/ame]

I have the ECU tuned "piggy back" controller and the madness go pedal. It is a BLAST to drive. If I didn't have so much time/money invested in my x19, I would go balls out on this Abarth. My nephew Jason Hoover was getting into racing them in 2013 but had some bad luck and decided to go back to Mazda.
 
Here we go...

The car magazines have had it in for FIAT for as long as I can remember. Everyone needs a whipping boy and they usually pick FIAT. You say you have never even driven a car with this motor yet you buy into this opinion.

The motor is a lot of fun, yes there is turbo lag and yes, the power comes on strong. I personally love the feeling of the motor (with some enhancements). It is making north of 200hp to the wheels in the tune I have and it makes the car fly and sound great.

Go drive one for yourself and form your own opinion, the magazines don't understand a small, fun car. It is not a powerhouse V8 or even V6. It is a 1.4l motor that is making some decent power in a fun, light package.

I agree, we need to get one of these motors into an X1/9.
 
Nice Vid

I noticed Jay was sporting the "Fiat Grin" while driving the Abarth...:wink2:
 
stock trim

170 lb.-ft * 2500 - 4000 rpm... mine is still stock, I just warm it up, engage Sport mode and take Electronic Stability Control fully off and it is a total blast to drive. I will one day make the mods to put both HP and torque over 200 and when that happens, got no shadow!
 
Just saw a CARFIX episode...

where they took a stock Abarth 500 to the SEMA show and had the folks from 500MADNESS supply them with every go-fast and hop-up body part in their inventory.

These two guys are primarily Hot-Rodders and one said that initially he would have never given the Fiat a second look. Towards the end of the show they "test" their upgrades and can't stop giggling and laughing uncontrollably for 5 minutes.

Their conclusion was that this was (and no longer is) a car for "daily driving" duties as there are so many other good rides out there for less money, more space and comfort, and have PROVEN reliability.

But this is indeed a car to have LOTS OF FUN with and one they would love to own!

My thoughts as well!
 
Black-Tooth said:
where they took a stock Abarth 500 to the SEMA show and had the folks from 500MADNESS supply them with every go-fast and hop-up body part in their inventory.

These two guys are primarily Hot-Rodders and one said that initially he would have never given the Fiat a second look. Towards the end of the show they "test" their upgrades and can't stop giggling and laughing uncontrollably for 5 minutes.

Their conclusion was that this was (and no longer is) a car for "daily driving" duties as there are so many other good rides out there for less money, more space and comfort, and have PROVEN reliability.

But this is indeed a car to have LOTS OF FUN with and one they would love to own!

My thoughts as well!
Click to expand...

I would really like to see that episode but I can not find it ANYWHERE. :(
 
Saw that

I remember lots of eye candy and the Madness mods, but don't remember them questioning reliability. They did make the comment about how this wouldn't be a "primary driver" car, but would be a blast to own. They also said that if anyone questioned why would anyone think of modding one of these, the availability of so many mods, including carbon fiber body parts shows that there is a big market for them, as mfrs wouldn't produce if no demand was there.
 
Well...

The same people who say they wouldn't drive one as a DD are probably driving SUVs or some other unnecessary vehicular mass. My wife thinks she needs a big car (she finally settled on a Mustang GT) and when I go twice as far on half as much gas, it makes me smile.

People really do not need big cars, they just think they do.
 
Matt has been looking at it. The issues are that it is a completely computer controlled engine which you cannot run any other way. Thus there is a mountain/miles of wiring and multiple computers which need to talk to each other etc, which need to be packaged into the car. You have to get a whole car to pry everything you need out of it.

Certainly is doable, but it will never be an easy install, until someone can reverse engineer the complete engine software to control the Multi-Air components it will always be a complex install. Any takers?

I like many others would like to keep it all Italian design and engineering, perhaps if someone brought over a non Air Abarth engine from Europe we might be able get throughout this with more conventional engine management ie Megasquirt
 
Matt-Matt, which Matt??? If you mean MWB-Matt...

I happen to know that he purchased a complete turbo drive train from Mike-Mike Sotor a while back... and I think it was for just that purpose!

I know that was what Mike-Mike was planning to do with it!

Maybe ya oughtta poke MWB-Matt and see what he's up to!
 
Oh that's the Matt :)

We had a brief conversation at FFO about it with my previous post as a summation. And to be very clear, I am in no way shape or form speaking for Matt and company on this subject.

To be clear, he didn't say he wasn't or won't, just delineated the difficulties attendant with such a conversion.

Just as Hondata has made it possible to have a free standing Honda CPU, a similar solution needs to be created for the Fiat ecu system

Knowing Matt he will trot out a running example tomorrow just to show: how wrong I am; what a know it all pompous ass I have become; and because we have all been clamoring for one for so long...
 
kmead said:
Oh that's the Matt :)

We had a brief conversation at FFO about it with my previous post as a summation. And to be very clear, I am in no way shape or form speaking for Matt and company on this subject.

To be clear, he didn't say he wasn't or won't, just delineated the difficulties attendant with such a conversion.

Just as Hondata has made it possible to have a free standing Honda CPU, a similar solution needs to be created for the Fiat ecu system

Knowing Matt he will trot out a running example tomorrow just to show: how wrong I am; what a know it all pompous ass I have become; and because we have all been clamoring for one for so long...
Click to expand...

Hooverspeed is also considering it but it would be nice if something like (and as you said) Hondata made for Honda CPU "unlocking" was available. I have a full 2012 Abarth engine waiting...
 
BrettM said:
The car magazines have had it in for FIAT for as long as I can remember. Everyone needs a whipping boy and they usually pick FIAT. You say you have never even driven a car with this motor yet you buy into this opinion.
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I recently read the C&D comparison between the 500 Abarth, Ford Focus, and Mini Cooper S. It was mostly a joke because I've tried the other two and hate them for all points I love my Abarth, but some of their complaints I've heard from other owners and agree with, like the seat height feeling as though you're sitting on a stack of phone books, but then, my 128 sedan was like that too. However, when they always, always, always get on the rag about the "Italian driving position," the writer has essentially hit the Fix-It-Again-Tony button. If a reviewer doesn't get how to sit in an I-car, they're not going to get the rest of it either. Just dumb.

BrettM said:
The motor is a lot of fun, yes there is turbo lag and yes, the power comes on strong. I personally love the feeling of the motor (with some enhancements). It is making north of 200hp to the wheels in the tune I have and it makes the car fly and sound great.
Click to expand...

Mine is mostly stock except for the MM Pedal, a Road Race rear bar, and Uniroyal Tiger Paw all-seasons on the 17" rims. That is PLENTY for me! And I regularly change the pedal settings on the fly, depending on traffic conditions. Have to agree with you, it's a fun motor to command, EXCELLENT NOISES, and like every I-car I've owned, it takes a while to learn its personality to get the most out of it.

BTW, I drive mine every day, and anyone who says you can't or shouldn't doesn't know what they're talking about. The Uniroyals make it a year round car and I've driven it with *some* confidence in the snow.

And I too have thought it'd be a great motor for the X, not just for its power, but a good "personality" match.

John O.
 
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Well said John...

This car is not about 0-60 speed, it is about personality and fun balanced with a potent motor. My Abarth easily breaks the 0-60 mark in under 6 seconds. I think it is close to 5.5 but that is hard to measure. Not bad for a 1.4 l. They can say what they want, they just don't get it.

I actually like the driving position, never minded the high seating position. Do wish for more headroom though.
 
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