Anyone driven / own one?

I have been thinking about a little fun car for quite some time, can’t be too expensive to buy/run/fix. Seem to be better on those fronts than a cooper S.

I also see a few pictures of bikes inside them on google.

Anyone own one? Whats it like? Can you fit a bike in the back in the real world (road or large 29er?) If not would a saris bones 3 fit okay – doesn’t look like there is much of a lip on the bumper.

Other option I’ve been thinking about is an older audi tt.

Drove one on some back roads in Spain and it was a huge amount of fun.
I’d be pretty surprised if you could fit any sort of bike in it though

I’ve had a tuned 500 esseesse for the past two years. It depends what you want but It’s ok.
Running costs are mad for such a crappy small car if you keep them to the service schedule .
Mine is an oil change every 6k with abarth bend special magic oil at £130 a time. Front disks £450 from brembo. Pads £120.
Driven as a small Italian car should be driven, and you’ll get 33 mpg – small tank = 230 per tank

They bounce around like a demented flea unless you change the rear bump stops for shorter fiat coupe bumpstops . An essential mod. Without the shorter bump stops the factory long ones actually rest 2cm above the spring cup – this means you have 2cm of travel before the solid bumpstops come into play.

With the new bumpstops you have 10 /12 cm of travel so the dampers get a chance to dampen any surface changes.

In conclusion, expensive to run and a bit shit, but it has a personality.

Just get a Fiesta ST.

Agreed

Fiesta is far too dull I’m afraid, plus we’ve got a focus. I want something with a bit of character, and I’d like a decent interior to. Maybe it’s an older tt then, more pics of bikes in the boot of those

Well I used to get a bike inside my smart car regularly, so it must be doable.

Mrs BC has a 1.4 500 Sport, it’s a fun little car but does bounce around a bit.

It’s also needed stuff that I don’t think it should of needed for its age/mileage (rear shocks, drop links etc).

I’ve had a medium road bike in the back with both wheels off.

I imagine the Abarth would be fun but could quite easily turn into a money pit.

I’d go for a 01-06 Civic Type R for a fun car, easily takes a bike with a wheel off too.

My wife has a 1.4 Lounge and compared to a Mini (she had a Mini One a few years ago) its an awful drive. Steering is nowhere near as sharp or tight, the suspension is awful – sort of more of a shock amplifier as opposed to a shock absorber. Interior space is tiny. Its a bit like an original Mini in the way it bounces around – it holds the road OK but the lack of comfort and refinement gets a bit tedious. Not sure if the Arbarth will be any more refined, but I can’t imagine a stiffer suspension setup will improve the ride.

Older TTs are nice to look at and sit in, but shit to drive. We’ve got a Panda 100hp and I recognise a lot of the characteristics on and on reefers to, but it’s a hoot to drive. You can get a bike in with wheels off and bars twiddled too. Go with your heart.

Mrs rkk01 just sold hers last week.
Brilliant little car if you want some fun – just turning the key make the car burble and you giggle like a loon 🙂

Handling is a bit mad, skips over rough surfaces and steering is either to firm (sport) or too vague (non sport).

Running costs – Mrs rkk got about 8-12k out of the tyres 😮 and not much more out of a set of pads and discs…!
Real world mpg =38-40. Motorway speeds are prob 80 or less….

BUT all of these thoughts disappear when you stab the throttle and that little 1.4t fizzes round the tacho

Totally impractical but will be a total hoot to drive and depreciation free, but only if you go for the original

I admit the modern version is probably easier to live with on a day to day basis,
I used to have a early tuned Fiat 126 which was great on the roads ,not so much fun on the motorway though.

VW high up! Is great fun to drive, not much power but I loved the handling. Very spacious for a tiny car. A shame they never put th GT into production.

I had someone following me in one a while ago.

I’m sure they’re fun but he did look a bit like

It was certainly bouncing about like the Little Tikes one!

I had a works mini 2nd gen.
Driven flat out everywhere, got nearly 450 miles to a tank.
Servicing included, low depreciation.
Pops, snorts and bangs on the over-run.
But- almost too mad, heart rate used to increase before I even got in it.
Properly quick, once it was going the speedo would rise like a rev counter, could keep up with a modern 911 down the hanger straight at silverstone.

The Abarth 500 I drove for a weekend was hilariously silly. Not the greatest to drive, or the fastest, or the most sensible or the most efficient. But a real riot/hoot and invoked a smile even just to look at it on the drive. I also think they achieve the rare trick of being a warm/hot hatch in which you don’t look like you’re trying too hard.

Some years later I owned a Panda 100HP. This was equally daft (albeit in slightly different ways) and also highly entertaining as a result – again, even if it isn’t wasn’t the best or fastest car around. Yes, the suspension was rock hard and it bounced around like a space hopper, but that was part of its charm.

On an on- the rear. That sounds like a shared rear with the Panda 100hp

Had a 500L for a week while my van was in getting a warranty job done and I really liked it, thought it looked rubbish from the outside but after a week driving it I thought it was a great car, never thought I would like a fiat but I do.

Hora, yes it’s identical, though the abarth has a rear arb hidden in the beam. Strangely the ride is better in the abarth than the 100hp

I adore my abarth 500 esseesse it’s properly quick – much faster than on paper. It doesn’t handle as crisply as my cinq but then I spent a fortune on the cinqs suspension. The noise is addictive & quick up shifts through bridges (for the BANG, or if yer lucky BANG-BANG!) make a journey. Mine has recently started spitting flames which, while thoroughly childish is so awesome.

Brakes are expensive (less so from ebear.it) but the 6k oil changes are dead easy to do.

Optional sabelt seats are very supportive, but designed for skimpy Italianate blokes arses – no good for celts or pie-fuelled Anglo Saxons.

I can get two big bikes in the boot with the seats down, they’re is no safe way to fit a rack thanks to the wing.

Abarth forum is ok, but tends to be populated by a bunch of mechanically inept w@nker$.

I never get out of it without having a huge silly grin on my face.

Fatty in 500:

My Leon Cupra is 12 years old and still on the original discs/pads (OK, only 68K miles though) 🙂

Don’t know if the abarth interior is the same but I’ve had two large 29ers in the back of my wife’s standard 500. A squeeze, needed front pass seat a bit forward but doable

The Fiat 500 & the Ford Ka are essentially the same car.

Oh yes – how could I forget… The twin sheets of flame and shotgun pop 🙂
Scared daughter stupid. She would “tell mummy” if I used the “press me” “press me” “press me” button.

Oh, and it looked great in Campovolo Grey (aka aircraft primer grey)

Thanks for the photo, def looks like it could do the job. Can you actually remove the rear seats?

This is solely for a bit of fun and smiles per mile, we have a sensible car. This would be for me and my bike when I go on little day trips. Hopefully it would make the tedious m4 a little more interesting!

Mpg is less of a concern than insurance, tax, servicing costs and reliability as I only do around 5k a year, and plan to keep for quite some time (owned current car for 13yrs)

Looks like you can pick up early models from £8k… I know, you could get a bike for that.

Wife really wants a tt, but they just look bland will cost a couple of k more to get the current shape and I’m sure they will cost more in the long run

If I’m nice to it, I can get 50mpg, if I’m nasty it’s been known to do 11 over hartside. Seats come out with a spanner. Bikes strangely fit better with seats in.

Fiesta is far too dull I’m afraid,

It’s one of the best cars I’ve driven.

We got a 1.4 100 hp lounge for Katie to use and eventually for Abigale to learn in. Lady that had it before us had every extra imaginable fitted and we got it for a silly low price. She can get her Enduro in with the back seats down. Great little car for a run about, reminds me of my first mini. Not that good on petrol or oil and servicing at dealers is costly.

We hired an Abarth 500 on holiday a few yrs ago and I must admit I loved that little car! (especially as I only paid to hire a fiat 500 1.2l and was tossed the keys to the Abarth..)

The engine is a peach and the exhaust note is addictive. However handling is not as good as the gf’s current 2ng gen Mini Cooper 1.6 petrol. The Mini puts a smile on my face every time I drive it and as an ownership prospect is a lot more palatable as it seems better screwed together than the Fiat. The Mini is pretty refined on the motorway in 6th for a little car too. The Cooper S’s must be bat shit mental given how gutsy the NA 1.6 is in the Cooper.

On the TT front me and a pal got two FS 26’ers in the back of his… It was a squeeze mind and we got some funny looks unfolding the bikes (and ourselves) out of the car at Hamsterly!

Cooper S – can fit one bike without great issue with the seats down & bat shit mental just about sums it up!

How about an Abarth 695 Biposto? They’ve even taken the rear seats out to make it easier to fit a bike in, but the rollcage might get in the way 😉

hot_fiat – Member
If I’m nice to it, I can get 50mpg, if I’m nasty it’s been known to do 11 over hartside. Seats come out with a spanner. Bikes strangely fit better with seats in.
POSTED 12 HOURS AGO #

11mpg, what a waste of petrol in a not particularly quick FWD hatchback. I’d want to be driving a V8 with at least 400 bhp for figures that low.

To the OP, I’d try one first as my dad has a Panda 100hp and I think it’s awfull to drive; a real lack of feel to the steering and a very skittish ride. The only decent FWD cars I’ve driven are a Honda Integra DC5 and an MG ZS 180, but then I’m a bit jaded after a succession of BMW M3s I don’t know the technical details of the 500, but the Integra and ZS succeed due to independant rear suspension and equal length drive shafts that all but eliminate torque steer.

Get one of these instead:
Considerably more sensible.