OT: took the beast home...

[grunau_baby]

...on friday, finally!!!:jump: Parental (motherly) feelings right away. It´s soo small, BUT it´s sooo furious when unleashed. In "sport mode" it sounds like a miniature Masserati!

I must confess I still hold back on using it´s full power, half of it is already enough to smoke most Audi´s around. Moreover the (obliged by law) wintertyres make the roadholding less perfect than it normaly is, that´s a real pitty!

I must resist taking it into bed at night to keep it warm:costumes::costumes::costumes:

Regards
Alex

[GT182]

At least it's small enough to park on the sidewalk. ;) :costumes:

What make is the "beast"?

[Milton Shupe]

I love it Alex! Need a baby sitter for a few years? Guess I am awaiting an all electric vehicle here but I hope my old truck will hang on for another 144K miles. :applause:

[grunau_baby]

Nah, won´t share it:a1310:...:costumes:

The beast is:
Fiat (what else?) Panda 100HP
Compared to a default Panda it has:
1. wider lower custom wheelbase and suspension with 15" light alloy wheels
2. 1.4 L 16V twin-cam Fire engine with 100 bhp
Let me tell you, 100 bhp is not really much, but the car weighs less than a ton and with a precise 6 speed transmission with sport mode the beast accelerates from 0-60 mph as fast as:
Audi A3 FSI
http://www.autoplenum.de/Bilder/P/p0504820/AUDI/AUDI-A3-1-8-TFSI-Sportback-Attraction--2008-.jpg (this car needs 60 bhp and a turbo more for the same performance)
or a BMW 118i
http://www.autobild.de/ir_img/58545540_aa3c42e1a5.jpg (this one needs 30 bhp more, but is slightly slower)
Top speed is something between 115 - 125 mph.
3. the brakes have - according to some even german reviews - Porsche quality, can´t confirm that, but they are best I´ve ever had.
4. sport seats (very nice)
5. MP3 player, climate control, leather steering, tinted rear-windows, etc.
Plus low insurance, low taxes and low fuel costs and an added bonus of getting it into any tiny parking space.

All in all not bad for a "gnome"
Official info (in english):
http://www.fiat.co.uk/showroom.aspx?id=4828#showroom/panda_100hp/watch
nice website they have
http://www.fiat.co.uk/Showroom/#showroom/panda_100hp/explore

Moreover it is a rare car, I like the "little" understatement and It gives me a broad grin on my face.
Alex

[Wulf190]

.... why don't we have that in the states???

I'd give that card a serious look over the Honda Fit sport I've been eyeing.

[brad kaste]

Wulf190,....Fiat hasn't been imported into the US for a number of years. They pulled out due to poor quality control and low sales numbers. 'F.I.A.T.' became an acronym joke that stood for 'Fix-It-Again-Tony.' I'm sure the quality standards of Fiat has risen in the last couple of decades. It couldn't have gotten worse......:redf:

[Daveroo]

my mom had a Fiat 850 spider roadster..lil 2 seat convertable....the starter went out yearly....and to replace it you had to pull the engine out..littlerally....the mechanic got real good at it..and started to advertise being a fiat specialist...lol...

it was so small i once drove it under a semi trailer...it was parked and i drove slow..but i was dared to do it.....wouldnt do it on the freeway but was told i would be given grand if i did...:jump:...i almost did it....

with the top off..i could sit up with a straight back and look over the top of the windshield to dsrive..looked funny....
both myself and my dad are bg....im 6'5"..dads 6'3"..i was wieghing about 230..he weighed about 260 lots of muscle onboth of us...we had a little black hardtop for it..one day we drove it to a shopping center..pulled up to a parking spot and this group of women were lookin at the car...kinda coo'in over it..how cute..neat lil car..ect..and he and i got out..i heard holy christ..howed you fit?...LOL

[Lionheart]

Congradulations Alex on your new family member. Looks like a real beauty.


I had 2 Mirifiori's and an X-1/9 back in my younger days. Loved them. Sold my red X-1/9 (repainted in Porsche red and fitted with Ferrari badge and Vitoloni mirrors) to help finance my small car company, lol.. Drove the heck out of my 131 Mirifiori. Great car. Repainted it Lamborghini metallic copper.

I used to druel through the Abarth performance parts catalogs.. Could never really afford to soup up my X-1/9 though. arrghh....

A friend of mine actually turbocharged his. Had a boost gauge in the dash, lol.. Crazy man.




Bill

[grunau_baby]

Fiat really had serious quality problems in the past, but compared to french micro cars (I did compare them all) the quality is indeed IMHO much better today. Never really had any "FIAT-troubles" with any of my italian cars, only with the Lancia Delta. The constant bad thing about it was the german bosch car-electrics:banghead:

They have very reliable and revy engines and the build quality has improved a lot, at least better than the french stuff.
Concerning service and spare parts FIAT still is bit complicated, but waiting for special custom parts really makes you feel an exclusive one off car owner:icon_lol:

Bill, if you like abarth you really have some goodies here in europe. It still amazes me what performance Fiat creates out off those small Fire engines! I toyed with this one http://www.italiaspeed.com/2007/cars/other/abarth/09/grande_punto_abarth/products.html (but the "essesse" from min 3.30), but it was a bit too expensive for me:
C0lWbH-QzKM

Alex

[luckydog]

Fiat ???????
= Fiasco
I'll give ya 6 mo.

[peperez]

Wulf190,....Fiat hasn't been imported into the US for a number of years. They pulled out due to poor quality control and low sales numbers. 'F.I.A.T.' became an acronym joke that stood for 'Fix-It-Again-Tony.' I'm sure the quality standards of Fiat has risen in the last couple of decades. It couldn't have gotten worse......:redf:

My first car was a Fiat 147. It gave me few trouble and I got more than 300,000 km with it! Now I have a Tempra SW. The secret is preventive maintanance. Just follow the manual.


Pepe

[Roadburner440]

I love it Alex! Need a baby sitter for a few years? Guess I am awaiting an all electric vehicle here but I hope my old truck will hang on for another 144K miles. :applause:

Congrats on the new car, and hope you enjoy it! Fiat makes some decent cars now. In the States I see a lot of the 500 (I think?). Is a sharp looking car in person, and something I gave serious pause too before we bought the Volt in September.. Cause for us we wanted to get rid of our truck (it just sat in the driveway, and the transmission was going out in it). So for me it was do I want something like the Fiat that the kids will grow out of, and I can only use as a work/errands car, or did I want to get a full size sedan. As far as full electrics go my advice to you is DON'T. There are a lot of things you need to consider as they are not for everyone. For me my choice was to get a car like the Fiat, and I looked at a bunch of them. Scion is going to be making the iQ which is going to compete with these smaller cars. Toyota is also coming out with the Prius C which will be an even smaller Prius, but getting close to 60mpg. My advice to anyone considering going full electric is to carefully evaluate your needs, and go from there. A few points you must remember if you go full EV is 1.) Your heater will suck, and you will freeze 2.) When the battery is out of juice it is done, and you are not going anywhere. In a Leaf on a regular outlet it takes 20 hours for a full charge (73 miles), so depending on how much charge you need to get home you are better off flat bedding it back... Now there are plenty of upsides. To many to list here. I cannot recommend the Chevrolet Volt enough though. I have 3208 miles on mine now with 2539 of them all electric, and I am not going back to a full gasoline car again. The power availability is an experience you just do not get, there are no transmissions in electric cars so acceleration is smooth and seemless. Not to mention even if traffic is backed up your power usage is minimal, so you can sit there forever. The added benefit of the Volt is after I burn up my 35-47 miles of battery power I can go essentially unlimited as long as I put gas in it. Until they start putting in more charging stations I think cars like the Volt are the best way to go at the moment for people that can afford the car, and get the good charging station installed in their house... Cars like the Fiat, Scion iQ, Prius C, and the rest are great also for reducing overall fuel consumption. Saving us money, and stopping our donations to the Middle East.

[AckAck]

So, does Alex still have his (now 3 year old) Fiat, and was it all he hoped?

[Ferry_vO]

So, does Alex still have his (now 3 year old) Fiat, and was it all he hoped?

Looking at his avatar he has a Lancia (=Fiat in tuxedo) now.

[Ferry_vO]

Fiat ???????
= Fiasco
I'll give ya 6 mo.

That was true up till ten years ago, after that the quality has improved a lot; the Stilo was probably the last bad Fiat made.
I never thought of owning a Fiat with the mid-nineties Uno, Tipo, Bravo and Tempra line in mind but this year, while searching for something different, I found a beautiful '06 Grande Punto and after the test drive I bought it. It's quiet, comfortable, spacious, fuel economy is great and it feels like it's made from a single block of steel. Haven't had a single problem since I bought it.
In fact I'm so happy with it my brother-in-law bought a Bravo diesel now!

[Prowler1111]

Well....i was raised in many countries, one of them Brazil, where they assembled the "uno" (Fiat Uno) which happened to be one (if memory fits me right) of my 1st cars.
So, let´s talk about quality..fenders were plastic, black plastic (painted ones appeared latter in the "Punto" the natural evolution of the Uno), they were so bad..that in hot sunny days..they got deformed...yup you read that right..in fact you could calculate the age of an Uno by the way the front fender was..bent..the solution was to use primer and paint them...now they didn´t deform, but started to fall apart since the plastic fasteners couldnt support the pressure of the plastic expanding and contracting, it does sound funny now, but it wasnt when you owned one!lol

Best regards

Prowler

[grunau_baby]

Oh my? My old Fiat thread is still alive...

And still the old predjudices. Well all the cars I owned or drove from the 70s, 80s and 90s had a quality and rust-problem, no matter where they came from (Ford - rusted away, Opel GM - rusted away, always trouble, VW - minor rust, but many mechanical issues all the time and these days way too expensive for what you actually get, Renault - OMG!, Mercedes - electronic issues and severe rust!, Audi - honestly great cars before VW turned them into the overprized crap they are now). Never had the amount of trouble after switching to italian cars, quality - if maintaned well (crucial for any car IMHO) - is very good and a very good value for money! Downside, maintenance is a weak point still, due to Fiat-dealer-service-infrastructure. But I do have a perfect service for my stable, so that´s no issue.

The big plus indeed is a driving pleasure and comfyness you will hardly find on any other cars (VW e.g. always handle like sluggish tanks compared to italians) especially in the same class for the same money. And since I am mainly into small luxury cars you won´t get around Fiat/Lancia anyway if you are not into meagerness and self-mortification.

Ferry, didn´t know you got a GP now. Thought you´d never go for a Fiat...;-) Had one for a while too a few years ago, but personally I missed that certain Lancia-luxury on it, but a great car it was. More spacious then an Audi A4 inside (yep, that´s true) and a great ride and those fire-engines are the best you can have (if you run a 1.4 always check the oil level, keep it high - just below the top line - and you will have a smooth ride and never any trouble with it;-). Unfortunately in details mine suffered a bit from careless build-quality of the pre 08 models which was a downside for me on it. And the Bravo (unfortunately completely underestimated) is a really really great car!

As for my current (now long term) line up:
moi, taking the plunge into "New Lancia" and there´s nothing better in this class (Ford Ka, 500, Panda, Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto, etc.), drives like a boss;-))
55279

And wifey´s christmas and B-day present, the predecessor in white...
55280
..a 500 pieces limited edition, with special color and trim and all leather-alcantara interior (no small car cheap greyish plastic-crap), lush as hell;-))))

Both great rides and bringing a big smile on my face whenever I´m behind the wheel (nothing else matters;-)!

Alex

[Ferry_vO]

Ferry, didn´t know you got a GP now. Thought you´d never go for a Fiat...;-)

Neither did I, but this one was just right for me on looks, price and trade-in of my old car. It's the 8v 1.4 liter. No build quality issues here, not a rattle heard so far! The ride is somewhat firm (Though deflating the tires a bit helped, as the garage had 'em pumped way too hard.), but not as hard as German cars. Not as soft as Frech cars either.

Here it is:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Ferror/Auto/Fiat-Grande-Punto1.jpg



moi, taking the plunge into "New Lancia" and there´s nothing better in this class (Ford Ka, 500, Panda, Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto, etc.), drives like a boss;-))
55279



A girlfriend of mine has a new Ka, which is somewhat of a problem car unfortunately! Looks good though. The new Picanto seems to be a good car too, but rather expensive with full options.
The new Ypsilon looks OK, but for now it's appears to be the last real Lancia.... I saw it earlier this year at a show; I like how it looks but the overall impression of the quality wasn't that great. Doors sounded rather flimsy when closing, but those cars may have been pre-production models

[Willy]

With Fiat having bought a big chunk of Chrysler, we're starting to see Fiats again over here. I've been seeing adverts for the Fiat 500.

This afternoon my mother in law bought a 2012 Chrysler 200 which is to be sold in Europe as a Lancia Flavia after New Years. Real nice car.

[grunau_baby]

Ferry,

funny, I had the 5door GP with the same color and engine. My wife´s Ypsilon has the same engine fited as your´s;-) So watch the oil level. And that´s typical for Fiat, being softer than germans, but firmer than french cars, however the GP is still too soft in my memory, it lacks a bit of the agility I like about other italian cars, but it offers a very safe comfortable ride and interior space is top notch in it´s class.

As for the Ypsilons, those must have been pre-production cars. The closing sound of the doors - like a limo - really was one of the great things about the little one. I didn´t intent to buy one actually, but after a spontaneous testride on the release-party I was "posessed";-) The handling is superb for the size, however compared to the former Ypsilon the interior design became a bit less lush indeed. But all build very well, no rattles, soft artificial leather (very nice to touch), alcantara-like fabric (gotta love the seats with this). I never had any build quality issues with Poland build fiats/lancias, so the issues with the Ka (same platform and engines as 500, Panda and New Ypsilon) seems strange, it´s build in the same plant which is known for superior quality. Sometimes it´s a one off problem, it happens or not...

Willy,
as the introduction of Chrysler cars as Lancias is a - to put it mildly - rather controversial topic in Europe, the influence of Fiat was IMHO a great step forward in build (especially interior) and ride quality of the new chryslers. The new 300/Lancia Thema is great and the Fiat Freemont (Dodge Journey) seems to even sell rather good over here. The 200 will only come as a soft-top convertible over here, the Lancia Flavia. But the other way round chrysler helped to put Lancia back on it´s feet as a full-range manufacturer. It will be especially interesting to follow how Chrysler and Lancia will merge their designs with future models, the current cars are only a short term temporary solution to get things going again, but not bad for that I must say! After the first shock;-)) I must admit that Chysler and Lancia both in their tradition of luxury/comfort and design quite fit together, and since everything develops on a global level anyway the loss of national-identity for both the brands is a price to pay for something rather new...

Alex

[Ferry_vO]

It will be especially interesting to follow how Chrysler and Lancia will merge their designs with future models

Don't you think the nose of the new Ypsilon looks like the old PT Cruiser..? ;)

[grunau_baby]

The funny thing is, the car was completely designed without the chrysler connection in mind! The front end is a homage to the old Ardea small car and has noting to do with a "Pitty" Cruiser:
55360

Moreover this final look is - again funny - better, less feminine like the predecessor, than the original design:
55358

I am glad it looks like it does;-))) The new grille looks quite good on the Delta, too - I was surprised about this myself. Anyway I never had anything against the PT cruiser either - when it came out on the top of the "retro-wave", long before plunging into Lancia that was, I even toyed with the idea of getting one - so this coincidental look-alike was not a handicap for me at all. Btw. The backside looks 100% like a shrinked Delta and the car looks much better live and not really good on pictures strangely.

Alex

[Daveroo]

my folks had one of these..1973 fiat 850 spyder....this isnt there car..but its just like it....was a blast to drive..but i could only drive it with the top off...i had to look over the top of the windshield,and the starter went out alot,,,had to pull the engine oout to replace it...we could do it in about an hour in the house garage....

[grunau_baby]

Oh, those 850 Fiats have been my favourites, especially the coupé.

So you "Suffered" from the spyder, funny little car, but a great drive for sure, I guess:
55416
Must have been like biplaneflying to you with yer head over the windshield. Wearing some Pilot-leatherhelmet and glasses would have done the trick;-)

Alex