Scottish Elises

Before I get the **** ripped out of me, can I just say that this little car does put a smile on your face... and although it's been bought with a view that my wife will use it for her daily commute, I think I'll be stealing the keys quite often . Yes.. I am a big woofter.
Picked it up this morning from Abarth Glasgow (after cancelling the order through Edinburgh, as they just didn't seem to have a handle on customer service).











I've taken the day off, and having fun in it while the wife is at work (with my car).
Andy.

Looks a little beaut.........

tut

No p*sstaking here.

I have always liked the Nissan Micra

Well thats the first Abarth I've seen that isn't stickered to the hilt MaxPower stylee. I have to say it does look pretty good!

Like it....a lot.

Cracking looking thing mate

Looks fantastic

I have driven some ghey cars in my time but that white one I just sold was by far the worst - yours is not as bad, as the one I was selling had cream everything inside and you couldnt escape the camp

Cracking wee cars to drive though

I know what you mean about the cream interior JJ. I think that may be on the 'lounge' spec. The 1.2 sports are a bit more bareable inside though (in fact.. a dark interior transforms it I think).
They aren't particularly cheap for what they are ... but from a smile perspective, I think they are worth it
We looked at Mini's, but a similar spec'd Mini Cooper was even more pricey, and not as brisk... so dropped that idea.
We were also looking at Suzuki Swift Sports, Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart, Renaultsport Twingo.
Couldn't find a Twingo to test drive anywhere locally (Renault garage were not very pro-active in that either)... and the interior of the Twingo's we did see looked a bit bland.
The Colt was a massive disappointment on the test drive. Numb, and didn't feel anywhere near as quick as the figures suggest. The Colt was actually our #1 choice right up until the test drive.

Ferg.... sorry but it will be getting red Abarth side stripes put on it (I'm a boy racer at heart)....but not via the dealer (it's a £160 dealer fit option !!). Being a cheapskate I've sourced some decent replicas from a vinyl/sticker place myself for £20

It's just the standard Abarth with 135bhp. Brisk enough to be fun, but certainly no real hot-hatch.
Did briefly consider the official 'Esseesse' upgrade which takes you to 160bhp, until I saw the price, and just what you got in the kit. £2600... for basically a different map on a new ECU... some springs which arguably make the car worse (apparantly it's constantly on the bump stops).. multispoke 17" wheels which I've heard are narrower & heavier then the Abarth 17" upgrade options.. a BMC panel filter .. and some different disks & pads (same calipers, not a major brake upgrade).

Quickly gave that idea a miss & put the money towards the 17" 10-spoke alloys, leather & climate. You can upgrade to an Esseesse at anytime within 12K miles or 1st year, so we can consider it later... but can buy the BMC filter for £50 myself if I want, and there are companies around which can map the current ECU to 170bhp for just £300 if we want to make it go faster... so can't see us buying the proper kit TBH.

Nizzy... call me a homo by all means... but please no more Micra jibes

Love it

.....quite worrying that Arnold Clark in Springburn make anyone's customer service record look good

Loving it. One of the few new cars I'd really really like

Chris

Walshy has a great story about those 500's

keep it shiny side up, and dont go near an airfield or any high speed corners

I think the Abarth is a cracking car and would be quite happy to have one sat on the drive. Decent bhp for such a small car too so should be quite swift. nice one

Love it! I tried to talk the missus into one of these a while back but she doesn't like them. She does know f*** all about cars mind!

Peter76 wrote:Love it! I tried to talk the missus into one of these a while back but she doesn't like them. She does know f*** all about cars mind!

+1

surpirsed how good these sound for a 1.4 too