[Jr Godzilla]

or something like this

https://youtu.be/x9F7SMFo0VU

[chase_nt]

It’s been quite a while since I updated this thread but a couple of days ago I reached the 1000 km mark in my Abarth. I’ve owned the car for 6 months now and the Abarth is the fastest to the 1000 km mark among any of the prior new cars that I’ve owned. It’s all thanks to the solo 400 kilometer road trip that I had to undertake in order to get it to my home town of Visakhapatnam. Technically I would have to take my car to the service center for its six month service however I have to wait until the first week of October because I took delivery of the car with a trade certificate (T/C) from the dealer in March. The dealer explicitly told me that the day he can provide me the T/R number would be the date my invoice would be made out. So though I had taken delivery of my car on March 11th, I had to wait until April 6th which was when I actually got my T/R number and hence the invoice was made out on that date.








The issues that I had with the car in the beginning with regard to the ergonomics seem to have vaporized over the months. I am all at home in the car and things couldn’t have been better with regard to the seating position or the pedal placement. I haven’t taken my car out on any long drives after getting it to Visakhapatnam and all my driving has been within the city. I haven’t experienced any niggles with the car over the months and it has been smooth sailing so far. The gearbox seems to have gotten better and I no longer have that rubbery feel associated with it. However I would like to say that this car really deserves a 6 speed transmission and it’s the biggest drawback of this otherwise amazing car. A six speed transmission would have been the perfect accoutrement for the 145 bhp turbo motor which would have transformed it into a different beast altogether. The torque steer that used to be a regular feature on hard acceleration in the first gear seems to have lulled compared to the first few months of ownership. I don’t know if I have got used to it or if subconsciously I’m not really pushing the gas pedal all the way but it definitely seems to be on the lower side. Also the wheel spins in first gear on flooring the gas pedal have been at a minimum. It’s as though the wheels are able to handle the power better even though I have not upgraded the rubber. But I also have to say that since I drive my car primarily within the city I don’t get a lot of opportunities to push the car to its limits in first gear. I am planning on a few long drives after the monsoon season (if there’s one thing I hate it would be getting my car all dirty in the rain) and that’s when I’ll be able to judge things better.








One thing that really impresses me with the Abarth is how powerful the car is in the 5th gear. While the fifth gear in other five speed transmission equipped cars that I’ve driven is enough just to amble along without much ado, it’s not the same thing with this beast. If you are out on a free road at 70 km/hr and are in the 5th gear expecting the car to just potter along without the engine reacting too much to the accelerator input that’s where you are totally wrong. This car truly defies logic and pulls like a freight train (if the tachometer hits that sweet spot of 2000 rpm) with the slightest accelerator input in 5th gear which makes you momentarily glance at the gear shifter to see if you are actually in the 5th gear or in a lower gear. This makes overtaking in 5th gear a breeze and totally effortless as there is absolutely no need to downshift.








After being on the roads of the city (it’s still the only Abarth Punto in Visakhapatnam) for 6 months I’ll have to say that the car still attracts a bit of attention but not as much as it did in the beginning. There was an instance about a month ago when some people in a Chevy Spark started following me for a couple of kilometers just to have a closer glimpse of the car. I have to say that things like this become fair game once you own the Abarth Punto. The fuel efficiency based on what I read off the MID appears to have increased a little bit compared to when I first purchased the car. While I used to see values ranging from 6.8-8.5 in the beginning nowadays it’s more like 9-10.5. I’d like to point out that I drive exclusively within the city, I also don’t drive for the sake of fuel efficiency, drive just once a week and never go for a full tank of gas (unless I’m driving out of the city). I’ll be updating the thread again after I get my first service check done next month.

[Waspune]

You have indeed got used to the Fiat quirks. Congrats. It took me close to a year to find the right driving position in my Punto Evo 90 HP. Regarding the torque steer, I am sure you have got used to the power delivery, the same way I got used to my 90 HP's turbo lag

The more you will drive the Abarth, the more you will get attached with it, that's the Fiat bug.

Wanted to know what kind of FE you got on your solo highway trip?

Enjoy the beast.

[chase_nt]

Originally Posted by Waspune

Wanted to know what kind of FE you got on your solo highway trip?

The only time that i had filled in a full tank of gas in the Abarth was on my drive back to Visakhapatnam from the dealership in Vijayawada. I topped up the tank with extra premium petrol at an indian oil outlet in Vijayawada, reset the trip meter to zero and began my drive back home. Since the car was new i made sure i was always between 80-90 km/hr on the highway (no matter how alluring it was to test the cars limits) while also making sure that i dont redline the car. Since it was the beggining of March, the weather was alright and didn't require the air conditioner to be turned on. After driving more than 100 kilometers i observed that the fuel gauge didn't drop more than a fraction. I was a bit concerned because i expected the 145 bhp motor to guzzle gas and i thought something might be wrong with the gauge. So i pulled into another gas station somewhere on the highway and decided to top up the tank again to see how much fuel was consumed since i embarked on my drive in Vijayawada. The results were totally mind numbing. The vehicle had consumed just 9.75 liters of fuel after a drive of 190 km which translated into an efficiency of 19.4 km/lit After that stop i decided to push the car a little bit faster as it was gonna take too much time to get home driving at that speed. From that point on i made sure to keep the car at 110 km/hr and also indulged myself in the ocassional redlining until i reached Visakhapatnam.

[keroo1099]

Originally Posted by chase_nt

Attachment 1554195
One thing that really impresses me with the Abarth is how powerful the car is in the 5th gear. While the fifth gear in other five speed transmission equipped cars that I’ve driven is enough just to amble along without much ado, it’s not the same thing with this beast. If you are out on a free road at 70 km/hr and are in the 5th gear expecting the car to just potter along without the engine reacting too much to the accelerator input that’s where you are totally wrong. This car truly defies logic and pulls like a freight train (if the tachometer hits that sweet spot of 2000 rpm) with the slightest accelerator input in 5th gear which makes you momentarily glance at the gear shifter to see if you are actually in the 5th gear or in a lower gear. This makes overtaking in 5th gear a breeze and totally effortless as there is absolutely no need to downshift.

I just read your update, and it's interesting that I posted almost identical findings in my post on the T-Jet thread on my recent drive. (#2934)

The first thing I realized was just how effortless it is to drive this car fast. Their is just so much torque past 2000 rpm even in 5th that you really don't have to shift down to overtake, and this is even even on slight inclines!! If I really wanted to shoot past traffic all I had to do was drop down to 4th and punch the throttle. The best bit is I never felt nervous about not having enough 'dum' to overtake.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4056848

[Waspune]

Originally Posted by chase_nt

I was a bit concerned because i expected the 145 bhp motor to guzzle gas and i thought something might be wrong with the gauge. So i pulled into another gas station somewhere on the highway and decided to top up the tank again to see how much fuel was consumed since i embarked on my drive in Vijayawada. The results were totally mind numbing. The vehicle had consumed just 9.75 liters of fuel after a drive of 190 km which translated into an efficiency of 19.4 km/lit

Thats the beauty of a turbo petrol If one is soft on the throttle a turbo petrol can return brilliant FE figures, thanks to the early peak torque delivery, even though I know, that once you get past the run in period, you will not be able to drive the beast at such sedate speeds specially on the highways

[chase_nt]

Originally Posted by Waspune

Thats the beauty of a turbo petrol If one is soft on the throttle a turbo petrol can return brilliant FE figures, thanks to the early peak torque delivery, even though I know, that once you get past the run in period, you will not be able to drive the beast at such sedate speeds specially on the highways

I had first experienced the phenomenal fuel efficiency of turbo petrols with my ex GT TSI on one of my highway runs. But the fact that the Abarth pumps out 145 bhp and was yet returning such a figure just left me gobsmacked

[Divya Sharan]

Wow 19.4 kmpl on an Abarth makes me feel I'm not getting enough from my car.
Having sat in one recently as passenger only made me feel worse. Only if Fiat buckled up with their India ops and worked a little more proactively. This car deserves to sell more.

[aptiwa]

Originally Posted by chase_nt

The vehicle had consumed just 9.75 liters of fuel after a drive of 190 km which translated into an efficiency of 19.4 km/lit

I had a similar experience many years ago when I moved from my Aveo U-va 1.2 hatch to a Toyota Corolla 1.8 sedan. I expected my FE to drop but was surprised to notice it being the same and occasionally even better. On investigation I realised that the higher torque of the Corolla at lower revs meant fewer downshifts and lower fuel consumption.

The Turbo, at least in the zone, ensures that you have plenty of torque for any requirements. The same is the reason you can overtake in the 5th gear as well. Most cars with 6 gears typically have an overdrive that makes the engine stay at low revs to improve fuel economy but negatively impact the ability to overtake quickly.

[chase_nt]

A few days ago I went on a drive to Araku Valley which is nestled in the pristine eastern ghats. Araku valley is a little more than 100 kilometers from Visakhapatnam. Ever since I bought the Abarth I’ve been itching to drive it on ghat roads and it sure as hell impressed me with what it had to offer. The whole trip lasted less than half a day and it added around 245 kilometers to the odometer of my Abarth. Out of the 1300 odd kilometers on the odometer of my 8 month Abarth about 700 clicks comprise of city driving. I’d have to say that the Abarth takes to ghat roads and highways like bread goes with butter. In order to truly experience what the Abarth has to offer a trip on ghat roads is a must. The way the car was holding its line as I pushed it around corners and bends was just insane. I’ll be very honest and say that this is the best handling car that I’ve owned. Every machine has its limits but you rarely come across a machine that is able to defy those limits and the only limitation in this scenario is how hard I am willing to push myself to test its limits. There were umpteen times when I was pushing the Abarth upto 70 km/hr on the narrow ghats while I was hugging the shoulder of the tarmac and yet the car was incredibly composed without a hint of body roll or jitteriness. Everything with regard to the steering was so precise that it felt like a point and shoot affair and not a rollicking drive down the ghats. Not once while I was on the ghats did I feel a sense of under/oversteer creeping into the dynamics of the Abarth and the feedback offered by the steering was just the way any enthusiast would like it. Similar drives on these ghats in other cars equipped with manual transmissions had resulted in the tires making squealing noises indicating that they were at their limit with respect to the grip they were offering however there were no such dramas with the Abarth. While the city is not the ideal place to drive the Abarth it feels at home on those twists and turns that dot the ghats and makes you want to crave driving it in those conditions more often.











Over the several months of owning this car I’ve primarily driven it within the city and one of the biggest hassles that I face is the frequent gear changes that it requires despite all the power/torque that it boasts of while it potters along on congested city roads. The problem I face is that the cars engine begins to knock (while I try to amble along with slow moving traffic) if the speed falls below 30 km/hr and I am in fourth gear. This necessitates a change to third gear and can get annoying especially within the city where such instances happen very often. What makes this difficult to fathom is the fact that this never was the case with far less powerful manuals such as the Chevrolet Beat and Honda Brio that I used to own. In fact both the above cars could amble along in city traffic in 4th gear even if the speed was around 25 km/hr without requiring a downshift. For now I am leaving you with a few photos that were clicked while I was up in the ghats.

[h14]

Good going and waiting to see more miles on your Abarth's odo

Originally Posted by chase_nt

The problem I face is that the cars engine begins to knock (while I try to amble along with slow moving traffic) if the speed falls below 30 km/hr and I am in fourth gear. This necessitates a change to third gear and can get annoying especially within the city where such instances happen very often. What makes this difficult to fathom is the fact that this never was the case with far less powerful manuals such as the Chevrolet Beat and Honda Brio that I used to own. In fact both the above cars could amble along in city traffic in 4th gear even if the speed was around 25 km/hr without requiring a downshift.

This is more since the t-jet motor is turbo charged. 30kms & 4th gear is expecting too much out of a turbo motor. Sometimes driving on higher gear at low speeds can do more harm. I think you need to get adapted to it

I did own a Chevy spark for a quite a while and understand how I can go around all day in city traffic on 4th & 5th gears at low speeds, but that just cannot happen in any turbo petrol.

[chase_nt]

The very sparingly used White Scorpion.



It was a year ago yesterday that I took delivery of the Abarth and that meant I had to take her in for the mandatory 1 year/15000 Km service. All I was able to manage in a year is about one tenth of the 15000 Km and of those 400 Km were the highway drive that I had to undertake to get her home from the dealer in Vijayawada and a 245 Km drive to Araku Valley and back. If you deduct those 645 Km then the rest of the 900 odd Km comprised of city driving. As there is no Fiat dealership in town I had to get the car serviced from Jyoti Car Care in Visakhapatnam which is the Fiat authorized service center out here. They are a multi brand service center however they have a contract with Fiat to deal with warranty based servicing and repairs for Fiat vehicles. This is the very first time that I’ve had to deal with this sort of a set up because all the previous cars that I’ve owned in India were serviced at dealer linked authorized service stations.


The best part about this sort of a set up is that I didn’t have to contend with waiting in a customer lounge while someone tinkers with my car so I just opted to hang around right next to the car while they were servicing her and it took quite a while to get her serviced. It took 3 ½ hours for the service to be completed and this was thanks to the cumbersome placement of the engine oil filter . In fact the mechanic spent close to 2 hours just to remove the old oil filter. The mechanic went on to inform me that all the TJET vehicles have oddly placed oil filters that are a pain to get hold of. The items changed during the service were oil filter, engine oil, air filter and fuel filter. They were supposed to change the pollen filter too however the owner of the service center said that there’s no need to change the pollen filter with just 1500 odd kilometers on the odometer. I wanted to have it changed but when the mechanic informed me that the pollen filter would also take quite a bit of time to replace akin to the oil filter I decided against it. Besides I hardly use the air con in my vehicle as most of my drives are pretty short and I also like to enjoy the full power of the vehicle instead of having some of it sapped by the air con.


The total cost of the service was Rs 3887 and here is the individual cost of the items that were replaced:
Engine Oil (3 Liters) Rs 1950
Oil Filter Rs 507
Air Filter Rs 890
Fuel Filter Rs 540

As it was the second free service there were no labor charges included in the total. I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the service cost of the Abarth because I used to be charged a bomb at Volkswagen to service the GT TSI. A similar service with the same components that included the pollen filter in place of the fuel filter (the VW service station in town never had a fuel filter available when I took my GT in for any of its scheduled services) would cost me Rs 8500 and this was back in 2015 which was the last time that I visited them. I’m sure VW charge a little bit more now in 2017 for a similar service. I have to say that the guys at Jyoti Car Care were professional and did a good job servicing the Abarth however I was shocked when they informed me that they wouldn’t be able to run a diagnostic check off the cars OBD port as they don’t have the gadget . So if by any chance a warning lamp comes up on my cars instrument cluster there’s no chance of a diagnostic check with the proper equipment. I guess these are the pitfalls of purchasing a vehicle that doesn’t have a dealer linked service station in town and having to deal with a small multi brand service station. Hopefully I don’t have to face any issues relating to any warning lights coming up on the instrument cluster while I own the Abarth but you never know.


So what’s the Abarth like to live with for a year? Honestly, I love the feeling of exclusivity whenever I get behind its wheel. The fact that I am driving a car that’s one of kind (it literally is because I am still the only person in town to own this car and I live in a city with a population of over 2 million) just makes my day. Driving around in the city is not one of the strong points of this car as its more at home on the open road and there are times when I miss that DSG from my GT however all you got to do is downshift and stomp on the gas pedal to be reminded about all that raw power which gets brutally unleashed to its wheels prompting you to wrestle that torque steer which is an absolutely incredible feeling. The car doesn’t have gizmos like rear camera or auto dimming IRVM or rain sensing wipers or auto headlamps but it does have basic gadgets to ensure functionality. However, I feel that the car should have at least come equipped with rear parking sensors given the large C pillars that obstruct rear visibility which force you to keep craning your head multiple times while you reverse. I know that I can have rear parking sensors fitted to the vehicle however, just as there’s nothing like factory horses, similarly factory fitted is factory fitted. I feel that though the ground clearance is lower than most hatchbacks, the tallish stance of the car makes it jittery while indulging in lane changes at high triple digit speeds on the highway. The fit of the interior plastics is not very impressive, this can be illustrated by the fact that the cover on the 12 V socket just fell apart while I was cleaning the interiors and I haven’t used the 12 V socket even once after I purchased the vehicle.


The cover to the 12V socket that just fell apart.



A year down the road I am very happy that I purchased this car even though I had a perfectly capable GT TSI because the Abarth Punto is the sort of car that will not be in our market for very long. A vast majority of people think in terms of practicality, functionality and resale value while a miniscule number think about the brute power of the engine in a car and I am one of those miniscule few. The journey with my Abarth may not involve mile munching but at the end of the day it’s all about whether she makes you happy. Here’s looking forward to the next year in my ownership of the white scorpion.


These are the number of KM I have covered since Feb 1st when I last refueled the Abarth. I have a habit of resetting the trip meter every time I refuel her.

[chase_nt]

The White Scorpion touched the 2000 km mark yesterday. While this may not be a big deal for some, its special for me, as my yearly running is around 1000 km. In the unlikely event of going out on highway drives that figure might increase a bit but at this rate the probability of me seeing 20,000 km on the odometer is 0 (its possible only in the unlikely scenario of me owning the car for 20 years). In the last 6 years I've owned 4 brand new cars and this is just the second car that has crossed the 2k km mark. The other being my erstwhile GT TSI. There is not much for me to report about the car and there shouldn't be considering the low kilometers on the odometer. The only thing that I can think of is the fact that the White Scorpion is no longer the lone Abarth on the roads of Vizag. A few weeks ago I ran into a black Abarth with Karnataka registration plates in the city. Excited at the prospect of seeing another Abarth in the city I spoke to the owner who told me that he had moved to Vizag from Bangalore a few months back and that he was expecting to run into me as the service center guys told him about the only other Abarth Punto in the city.


Probably the only Abarth in the country that has such a low odometer reading despite being 1.5 years old.












Engine bay looks brand new because I clean it thoroughly every week.



I spend more time cleaning the Abarth than driving her.









Probably the only Abarth that is maintained in such a pristine condition.






A final parting shot until my next update.

[chase_nt]

Around a week ago I felt an urge to upgrade to the VW GTI. It was purely a heart over head decision that was spurred by the fact that I really wanted to own a performance coupe hatchback which I felt would be a great way to start the New Year. After all i kept telling myself "you only live once" and with the price reduction I felt that “now” would be the best time to fulfill my dream. A lot of stuff kept going through my mind and there was an unfulfilled dream from around 6 years ago when I was on the verge of purchasing a Mini Cooper S for around 35 lakhs (on road). The only thing that stopped me back then was the fact that there was no service station in town and I would have to go all the way to Hyderabad, which is more than 700 kilometers away, whenever I need routine servicing or for any unforeseen repairs. Fast forward to last week and I thought “why not” fulfill a dream by owing the GTI which has a brilliant engine/gearbox/suspension when I would be getting it for a lot less than what I thought of spending on a Mini Cooper S back in 2012. So I went to the Volkswagen dealership in town and they gave me a quote of 19.99 lakhs (ex showroom) which was working out to be 24 lakhs (on road) in Vizag. I inquired about any discounts but they said that there were no discounts on the GTI. By now I had almost made up my mind that I’m going to go for the car and also asked the dealer to evaluate my Abarth Punto so that I could just exchange it with them if they were going to offer me a good price. After evaluating my car the dealer asked me for a couple of day’s time to give me a quotation because my Abarth is very sparingly used and is still under warranty. I decided to head back home and just wait for their call. In the meantime my brain got to thinking whether buying a GTI was really prudent considering the fact that the car is still grossly overpriced even at 19.99 lakhs ex showroom. A Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSI DSG (Style variant) still costs a bit less than the GTI at 19.2 lakhs ex showroom. That’s when I realized that it would be a waste to splurge all that moolah on a GTI which is more or less cosmetically indistinguishable (except to an enthusiast) from a regular GT TSI. Personally I feel that the GTI would be more value for money if it’s on road price works out to be anywhere south of the 20 lakhs range. For now I’m glad that I came to my senses before I ended up making a rash decision.


Back in October I drove the Abarth a couple of hundred kilometers to Srikakulam and back on the highway. This is the first time I drove the Abarth on the highway after the 400 Km highway drive to bring her back home from the dealership in Vijayawada when she was brand new. This time around I decided to test out the limits of the Abarth on the open road since it was well past its running in period and boy was I impressed. The car is simply phenomenal on the open road and the more you floor the accelerator pedal on the empty stretches of the highway the more at home she felt. I rarely drive with the air con turned on however on this trip I had the air con running and there were also 4 adults on board including me. I was constantly touching very high triple digit speeds and the car felt supremely stable even during high speed lane changes. The fact that the Abarth weighs 1200 kilos helps maintain its stability and composure at speeds which may seem scary in other ordinary hatches. There were instances where I wasn’t even trying to reach certain speeds and kept up-shifting early and getting into 5th gear however the car was relentless even in 5th as the speedometer kept moving up so quickly even with the slightest push of the gas pedal. All this with 4 adults, the air con turned on and the car in 5th gear. There’s absolutely no need to downshift unless you just want to show off. It was just magical. The hydraulic power steering might be cumbersome in the city but it is extremely accurate and precise in terms of feedback during those high speed lane changes on the highway and this is where it truly shines. Though I reached some silly speeds on multiple occasions on my drive the Abarth was never at its limits in terms of handling or power and had a lot more to offer which makes me conclude that it is THE car which can give an enthusiast THE most bang for his/her buck.


I recently ended up getting the 3rd free service (30,000 km or 2 years which-ever is earlier). This particular service entails changing all the fluids in the vehicle in addition to the oil/oil filter/air filter/fuel filter/pollen filter and spark plugs. The entire service cost me Rs 8267 (including GST) and there were no other issues that had to be sorted out. I’m really happy with the servicing costs of the Abarth as it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg despite owning one of the most powerful hatches in the country. Here is a breakup of the cost of individual items that were changed (inclusive of GST):-


1. Filtering Element Rs 801
2. Brake Fluid Rs 359
3. Spark Plugs Rs 1428
4. Transmission Oil Rs 1080
5. Power Steering Fluid Rs 531
6. Oil Rs 1755
7. Oil Filter Rs 507
8. Filter Rs 532
9. Air Filter Rs 209
10. Coolant Rs 1015


More recently I tried Power 99 petrol (by HPCL) in my Abarth for the first time. High octane petrol such as Speed 97 etc was previously never available in my town and the best petrol available was the regular Power petrol by HPCL. Apparently Power 99 has been available in my town for a couple of months now but I never knew about it because there is only one dealer who sells this fuel in the entire city and I came to know about its availability through one of my friends. I’ve been using Power 99 for about 3 weeks and I’m really impressed with the performance of the Abarth on 99 Octane fuel. The engine feels smoother and the car is also very eager to rev with marginal throttle input, the in-gear acceleration has also improved considerably. This is definitely not a placebo effect because initially when I used Power 99 in my car I didn’t feel the difference however the difference kicked in after running the car for about 15 minutes. Power 99 is Rs 20 more expensive than regular petrol however it does make a difference especially if you are driving a car with a powerful engine such as the Abarth. Personally I feel that it is well worth the extra cost and I will continue to use Power 99 in my vehicle depending on its availability.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by chase_nt

3. Spark Plugs Rs 1428

Either FCA has dropped the price which I highly doubt or you've been billed for the wrong plugs, which is good. I hope they did not rip you off too by fitting the wrong plugs.

The NGK Iridium plugs for a T Jet engine and I've replaced them twice in 5 years cost no less than Rs. 4500 a set.