Daily driving an Abarth 500?

Mine has been my D.D. since April 2013. Every trip is a smile.

100% reliable, a ton of fun, equally as fun as driving my 308.

One bit of advice - get the cabrio. Everyone likes the open top. No worries on the exhaust sound.

Buy it. You will not regret it.

 

Have you test driven it? I never owned one but rented one for 4-5 days last May in Italy. I did around a thousand miles (including some twisties in the Alps). The engine/exhaust sound didn't bother me (I like my cars small, basic and noisy, though) but I did find the driving experience underwhelming. From the little experience (a couple of twisty miles) I had with the mini cooper s john cooper works, it seemed a superior machine...

 

I think that adding the anti roll bar and Koni shocks on the rear transform the car.

 

I've used mine as a daily driver for 41 months/40.4K miles- 100% trouble-free and pretty entertaining to drive. It's noisy (in a fun way) and rides like a truck, but neither of those issues were a surprise, and neither dissuades me from concluding that it's perhaps the best daily-driver I've owned. If it continues to run like this, I'll keep it forever.
There are various things I'd have done differently if I were designing it, but for largely urban and some back-road driving in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, it's been big fun thus far. A niche car for those who don't mind a somewhat "hair shirt" experience, IMHO.
I vote against the cabrio and in favor of the sunroof. The latter is much less expensive and can be used almost year-round.

 

I daily drove mine for 3+ years. For the most part, it was enjoyable. It was not reliable, though. Mine suffered from numerous issues, which ultimately led to me getting rid of it. I understand most of my issues were known issues for early run first year cars (which mine was), and most, if not all, have been rectified.

If you can live with a loud cabin, bad heat/AC, and minimal creature comforts, it's definitely fun to drive.


Mark

 

42k miles on my 12' 500 and so far I've had to change one bearing and thats it. Oil changes every 6-7k if city driven on synthetic and premium fuel required. Most parts are cheap and can be sourced online.

If you live in a city with terrible roads like I do, be prepared to bounce around. I've driven it through this past winter and horrid temperatures and no problems as of yet.

Ideally the 15's have a few improvements over the first models in quality and finish. Most problems seem to revolve around the first year. Check fiat500usa.com for updates and recalls or TSBs.

 

Mine has had a fair bit of issues... Everything from minor to major. Make sure you have a good studio near you. The majority of issues people have are related to poor service departments.


Mine is an early run car though, and overall the cars are reliable.
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Also you can get really solid deals on the Abarth these days, shop around if you have to.

Considering all the issues I've had, I still enjoy thrashing on it,
And treating it like a truck.
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Also, lots of good reading here:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/other-italian/406943-new-fiat-500-abarth-only-thread.html

 

I've got a 2013 Abarth, the only issue I have had was an annoying blinking odometer which is a known issue as well. I have around 60-65k on mine and daily drive it. It's fwd so does suffer from the terminal understeer issues, but that shouldn't keep you from driving one. Lots of fun, people love it and I always get compliments on the exhaust.

 

I had mine for two years (lots of modifications done to it), had about 5K miles when I got rid of it for a new Mini Cooper S 4 door. Ended up being too small for my twin boys to fit back there, too noisy for my Brittney pup to ride in, and everyone in the family but me hated it. When I took all the mods off it and drove it to the Mini dealer, it was not even remotely as much fun to drive. Mine never saw the dealer but my cars rarely do, I prefer to do things myself. With the mods to the new Mini it is faster than the Abarth though it does lack the steering feel (but i'm working on that). My Abarth did not have the stock exhaust so it was a screamer, but it was fun, but in the end having a car that no one wanted to get it just did not make sense, even for me.

 

I will also stress again to find a solid studio near you, If they all have a bad rap don't purchase a Fiat.

Corporate is absolutely terrible.

 

16k miles here on a 13, no issues at all, no warranty work either. Will always put a stupid grin on your face. Great gas mileage and just loads of fun. All of my commute is back road twistys. Actually fun to be able row through the gears instead of having a car that has so much power it's tough to use below triple digits. No rattles and overall very solid. Would buy again.

 

Daily drove an Abarth for 3 years. One of the most consistently entertaining cars I've driven. Took it from South Carolina to New Jersey several times, and had a 6 week stint of driving it 100+ miles per day. Loved it.

Only MAJOR negative is the combination of a false reverse when parking it (feels like it's in reverse but it's really in neutral, if parked nose down on a hill) and a very weak parking brake. This combo resulted in the car rolling down my driveway THREE TIMES. Fixed under warranty the first two times (just mild cosmetics) with the parking brake tightened. Third time it went over the retaining wall and was totaled.

 

We have two. Great cars. Bigger torsion bar and chassis braces , and on mine H&R springs and Konis have firmed it up nicely.
Really fun cars !

 

44,000 miles on my Abarth, no issues as a daily driver and autocross car. It does not require premium as stated above, but premium is recommended. Drive with the radio on and you'll hardly notice the sound, leave the radio off and enjoy the straight thru exhaust and some backfires on a regular basis.

 

So .... what was the verdict?