Dreaming of a euro car...

[A.J.]

I was looking at new cars available in Europe...
Man I'm so jealous...

There the Fiat 500 is available with the 0.9L TwinAir gasoline 2 cylinder engine.
86hp @ 5500rpm
107ft-lb @ 1900rpm
107mph max speed
0-62.15mph: 11.0 sec
2213 lbs
Start-stop technology
50.1 / 65.3 mpg (city/highway)

Just for reference, on the euro cycle, the Prius gets
58.8 / 61.9 mpg (city/highway)

Plus the 2 cylinder makes has such an awesome soundtrack
Unfortunately, it will never meet North American "consumers' " "demands" for "power" and "refinement".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZQzD...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y57ZUySZFg

[seifrob]

I used to have the original model.. This new one sounds great, almost like original. I am glad that Fiat didn't made the same mistake VW did with its Beetle/new beetle.

[user removed]

Dats cause we be Moronicans.
He needs some lessons in gear shifting.

regards
Mech

[kach22i]

For less money you can get a really nice air-cooled vintage Porsche 911, and the sound will be awesome. Not Ferrari awesome, but it would still put that Fiat to shame.

You have good taste in cars, dream bigger young man.

I get 27 mpg hwy, not bad for a +30 year old car. Some people claim to get over 30 mpg in theirs.

2013 Abarth Panda. Come Again?
2013 Abarth Panda. Come Again?

Unlike the rest of the Abarth range the Panda Abarth will come with Fiat’s 0.9L two-cylinder Twin Air turbo petrol and then the performance division will tweak it so that it will produce 110hp meaning a 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 110mph. The bonus of the twin air engine is a claimed 60mpg so this mad sounding recipe is now starting to sound quite sensible.

I could live with this car, looking and sounding better all the time.

[greenkz]

im always looking at what europe has for cars. i like to shock people at work by showing them cars like the ford fiesta econetic,the seat ibiza ecomotive,the vw polo bluetec, and what they get for mileage. we here in the usa are really still in the 1970's.

[A.J.]

Originally Posted by greenkz

the vw polo bluetec

Diesel! Heresy!

I saw that too. Don't even get me started on that one, it gets 58.8 / 81.1 mpg (city/highway) on the Euro Test Cycle.

[Ed-in-Maine]

Originally Posted by kach22i

I get 27 mpg hwy, not bad for a +30 year old car. Some people claim to get over 30 mpg in theirs.

2013 Abarth Panda. Come Again?
2013 Abarth Panda. Come Again?


I could live with this car, looking and sounding better all the time.

I used to drive a 1973 911T CIS and later a 1984 911 Carrera Targa and if I kept my foot out of it both easily got better than 30 hwy. But the sound they made was intoxicating. Not to mention the exciting handling quarks of those early car is a BLAST Can you say "power on over steer" All on the race track only of course
Ed

[some_other_dave]

Sheez, we can't get much more than 20 MPG out of my wife's 1982 911...

The 84+ ones with electronic fuel injection (instead of CIS) and taller gearing do better, but still!!

-soD

[Ed-in-Maine]

Originally Posted by some_other_dave

Sheez, we can't get much more than 20 MPG out of my wife's 1982 911...

The 84+ ones with electronic fuel injection (instead of CIS) and taller gearing do better, but still!!

-soD

Porsche was having a devil of a time complying with emissions and built some trash motors in that period IMHO. The 84 3.2L was a vastly better motor. But 20 is hard to believe we are talking hwy cruise control on at 60-65mph right, not 100+?
Ed

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by some_other_dave

Sheez, we can't get much more than 20 MPG out of my wife's 1982 911...

The 84+ ones with electronic fuel injection (instead of CIS) and taller gearing do better, but still!!

-soD

She's driving it like she stole it, and having too much fun.

Spirited driving can knock you down to 8 mpg on the track, 10-12 on the street.

On average if you stay off a highway and fool around a fair amount of the time 18-20 mpg is respectable and fun (with an old air-cooled Porsche).

One of the guys in the Pelican forum rebuilt his engine and can only get 20 mpg hwy. I think he just tightened it up too much, and could improve with age.