Gordan the Gordini

Hope you are happy with your new Italian beauty Kaz..glad to have met you too mate..dont be a stranger and let us know how you like your new ride..

take care and share some pics later..:thumb:
 
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Enjoy the abarth Kaz.

Id have rather ate my own turd than owning one a few years ago, but got to say they really have grown massively on me to the point id actually consider having one.

Keep us updated on how you get on with it :smile:
 
Enjoy the abarth Kaz.

Id have rather ate my own turd than owning one a few years ago, but got to say they really have grown massively on me to the point id actually consider having one.

Keep us updated on how you get on with it :smile:

I've had a few friends say the same but I really can't see why. They might have improved it somewhat since then.

I've already done 115 Miles in it and have given it some. It's a fairly sluggy car (1.4 Engine) until the Turbo kicks in, but that screams economy to me so I feel like I've got a good balance now between economy and blipping it about. I've already driven from Chippenham to Bath and I got 40MPG, that was on country roads.

Then when you put your foot down and it spools up, all hell breaks loose. It's absolutely mental and while the top end feels the same as the Clio, it would have already pulled away by the time my clio would have gotten in to the powerband.

10/10 so far, brilliant bit of kit, I can't stop finding excuses to drive it. Even then, due to the reduction in engine size I can drive it more!
 
Sounds like you're having a great time with the Abarth already Kaz! Interesting comparison with the Clio - how does the 500 compare in the twisties??
 
Sounds like you're having a great time with the Abarth already Kaz! Interesting comparison with the Clio - how does the 500 compare in the twisties??
I've not pushed it some what but I've already noticed the shorter wheelbase. It feels very similar to the clio that the arse end is very lively, which I think is important in a FWD car. The power delivery is better in terms of I'm finding it hard to one wheel peel even though I didn't go for the optional LSD. In the clio, one wheel peeling was super easy to do and was actually quite frustrating. Both wheels in the abarth feel very much connected in terms of taking power. As for power delivery, the abarth would pull away from the clio at low rpm but if they were both at full chat then I'm sure they'd be neck and neck.

All in all, which is one reason why I jumped it, it felt like the clio is so many ways. Very very similar and brilliant so far.

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Awesome i have a soft spot for these i nearly got one a few months back, it's the sound that got me. However my busines partner has one too and you I could imagine the ribbing we would get from the staff.

What do you think of the suspension? The one i drove was an earlier model and if I'm being honest wasn't great.
 
Awesome i have a soft spot for these i nearly got one a few months back, it's the sound that got me. However my busines partner has one too and you I could imagine the ribbing we would get from the staff.

What do you think of the suspension? The one i drove was an earlier model and if I'm being honest wasn't great.
How come you didn't find it great?

I come from a non cup clio so I've noticed the abarth is a bit firmer but not stupidly firm.

I took it for a blast today for the first time, down some country roads. It's very good but I think the Clio is the winner for feedback. As for handling I'm still getting used to it but I think it's on par with the non cup clio at the moment. I've had to adjust the seat to be a little more upright so that it's more supportive but that's just my crap setup and posture lol. I'm defiantly sitting taller in the abarth which is a bit of a shame because I thought the clio seating position was quite tall! I know I can get lowering rails for the abarth so I might invest in a set for myself. The tyres on my old clio were budgets and the car had a half cup half non cup setup in the front and that provided me with more feedback than the current tyres and setup thats on the abarth. I think a tracking adjustment is needed on the abarth in the front but I'm not going to push for that due to its short wheelbase in comparison, it might be a bit too lively. We shall see.

I'm getting 40mpg on country runs at the moment which absolutely trumps the clio, where I was getting 28 to 31mpg. The turbo in the abarth is really nice too, it's not massive and it spools really nicely, comes online from 2 to 3k rpm which is hardly anything.

Overall I'm still happy, especially with the fuel saving which was one of the reasons for swapping, the clio just used to drink fuel even driving like a granny.

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On another note, the abarth is a softer hot hatch, but the sport button firms it all up and raises the boost threshold. I've not really used the sport button, I'm purely taking from a non sport button mode point of view. It's quite strange but I really like the button, I only ever flip it on when I'm blipping it, I don't use it all the time. I've not driven it hard with sport mode on, only normal mode. I'll get around to that soon [emoji5]

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