Fiat 500C TwinAir vs 500C Abarth review - Auto Express

your explanation gives me one more reason , to buy a fiat 500 twinair, thanks

I'd buy the twin-air not for economy but for the way it drives & the noise. My mate at work gets 45 mpg with his

Fiat 500 twinair is such a fun car in an age of boring characterless vehicles .

I have a twinair...it's fantastic. The interior looks cool too. Go for black or graphite.

I've always been a massive fan of the Abarth but I'd say the twinair would be a better purchase if you're using it as an everyday driver. The Abarth's are made too stiff and rigid, which is great if you're taking it on a track but how often would that be? The twinair has a manageable amount of power and is also a lot of fun to drive despite having a lot less power. It has a nice mellow sound to it too and has 'chuckable' driving characteristics whilst also having a light and comfortable steering wheel which I feel is the perfect handling mix. For an everyday car you'd have to make a lot more compromises with the Abarth than the twinair.

O to 60 in 8 seconds? Did he set off in 5th@1200rpm?

The 0.9 Twin air turbo engine in my Fiat Panda 4x4 will easily achieve 58mpg when driven with a very light throttle and make the right gear changes accordingly. The Panda is heavier than the 500 and my 4x4 is running all season tyres which aren't quite as mpg friendly as the 500 tyres, plus my Panda is running all the extra 4x4 drive train. I did this on a long run with plenty of 50mph 6th gear gentle cruising! So the 500 should be able to easily achieve similar results, it definitely won't hit the claimed 69mpg but if driven hard will only get mid 30s mpg. My combined figures are mid 40s mpg which isn't bad really, if you consider it only costs £30 a year for road tax and my insurance is £310 per year fully comp, it represents good value running costs. The thing with the Twin air engine, it likes to be driven hard and that gorgeous sound it makes when you start hitting 3k revs and above is quite addictive, it feels like a performance motorbike engine that likes to be revved, there isn't much grunt below 2k revs but if you keep it between 2k and 3k and keep it in the right gear, it should be very good on fuel. I don't bother with the eco mode, not sure it would make much difference?

Ich bin beide gefahren, den Abarth als Competizione und den TA 105. Habe mir dann auch den Fiat 500 mit"half an engine", also de Zweizylinder mit 105 PS zugelegt und es bislang nicht eine Sekunde bereut. Der Abarth ist ein faszinierender Sportler, aber der Zweizylinder hat einfach mehr Charakter und ist deutlich günstiger im Unterhalt.

I drive a 66plate 145hp 595 Abarth, and its possible to get around 53mpg with careful driving, but 46mpg is about right. Its a rare sight on Uk roads, and loads of fun to drive, and fairly affordable to run.

I have the Abarth, tuned to 160/170 HP. It's probably more economical as you barely have to work the engine in such a small car, you can overtake in 5th and down changes aren't required for going up hills either. The gearing is longer too so the revs would probably be lower. Please remember that economy gets better once the cars are run in. Mine averages anywhere between 33 and 40 MPG now, i should imagine the Tin air would probably do 45 to 55 once run in.

Fuel economy figures have more to do with where and how you drive your car.  I have a 500 abarth, and with a mixture of motorway and B roads, my average is 42. I don't drive it like a granny either.

Can you get the abarth with a 5 gear manual, instead of flappy paddles?

so they drive sporty cars and economical cars (which people won't drive sporty) the same way. I don't know anyone who revs the hell out of an economy car and wonders why it is using more fuel.

@JaSt321 The semi-auto box you see in the convertible in the vid is only available in the convertible in the UK. But they are going to start selling the convertible with the manual gearbox in a few months in the UK, they are also putting the semi-auto box in the tin top as an option too. All depends where you live though, this is for the UK market only!

The sport mode deffo makes the car go faster. I know because I own one.

big fan of the multiair engine!

how do yall get your economy numbers in G.B.?

On a more positive note, the review suggests the outcome I would have imagined. I would also go for the twinair. The abarth styling is too OTT for me, and I do love the 'little' two-cylinder motor.

still I think this is a couple of cool cars.

They are thrashing these two models very very harshly. Current average on my 1.4 Lounge is anything between 44 to 48mpg (UK). The Semi Auto box featured on the Abarth is an optional extra, just go with regular manual for a better drive if you do want one. But I will agree a bit with the mention of suspension, Regular 1.4's have a harsher semi sports setup on them and my god does it bounce, 1.2 and twinair are very relaxed in comparison!