Well I finally pilled the trigger, purchased a 2013 Abarth 500C

Kevin Channer

True Classic
Well I followed my heart and purchased an Abarth 500C, Its a 2013 with 42k miles and looks well loved, has a clean mechanical bill of health, and on budget, under $10k. One item that was on my wish list leather interior, it does not have but I may not miss that. After some extended seat time I will be making some changes to the suspension. It is currently lowered with possibly H&R springs but it is riding too harsh, I maybe will change the shocks to Koni yellow struts or ?
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Very nice! Congratulations!

Mine rides on stock springs and struts. It's "tight", but feels pretty good (I'm also on 17"). I love driving mine, it's hilarious! Makes my morning commute a lot more fun.
 
Well I followed my heart and purchased an Abarth 500C, Its a 2013 with 42k miles and looks well loved, has a clean mechanical bill of health, and on budget, under $10k. One item that was on my wish list leather interior, it does not have but I may not miss that. After some extended seat time I will be making some changes to the suspension. It is currently lowered with possibly H&R springs but it is riding too harsh, I maybe will change the shocks to Koni yellow struts or ?View attachment 15897 View attachment 15896
Congratulations Kevin. I hope you get lots of enjoyment from your new ride.
 
Nice! Looks good in White/Black accents & wheels :)

I wanted my wife to buy this, but she didn’t like the seats. If it wasn’t for that silly pull strap that looks ragged on even low mileage cars, I might have persuaded her :D
 
There is the GQ option which has the full Abarth drivetrain with the premium 500 lounge interior and it is a convertible. Two other contenders in my personal search were the Volvo C30 and the Audi A3, the Volvo was difficult to find in my budget with low miles and a manual trans. The Audi A3 is also pricey and hard to find in a manual with the S package. I will be changing my suspension soon as the ride is like a track car but not dialed in. The stock strut/shocks are not performing well with lowering springs.
 
If it wasn’t for that silly pull strap that looks ragged on even low mileage cars

Interestingly, my 2013 has 133,000 kms on it and the straps are perfect! My car had two booster seats in the back seat - so those straps were used quite often to access the previous owner's kids!

I believe the later cars do not have the strap, at least not the ones I saw in Europe (I saw a 595 and a 695 at the Barcelona car show last year).
 
Hey Kevin, how's the Abarth so far?
So far so good on Abarth ownership. It was very nice to attend our local annual event "Best of France and Italy" under my own Fiat power. I hung out with Pappa Tony, and "addicted punk" among others, had a nice breakfast at Bob's (Pride) bodyshop, witnessed JJs big reveal, It was a fun day. No complaints so far except the horribly stiff ride but I am changing that as we speak. I got a set of Koni sport shocks with Eibach pro springs. It is an easy install, just been being a little fussy about the details, and my son has been taking up my time an energy with his "project" arrgh… I had a little scare just after I got it. A warning light came on and I was not sure what it was so I checked the oil and it was down two quarts! Some how in the purchase process I never checked the oil! I topped it up and it seems fine, but it seems that consumption is higher than I would expect for such a new car. I will be watching it. I know that many of the newer cars, like my 2009 Mini Cooper, had a bit of oil consumption that was considered to be normal. It is fun to drive but you do get a lot of little reminders from the fit and finish that this is brought to you by the people who built the PT cruiser. Same factory, I believe.
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Congrats on the Abarth! I put the yellow Koni's and some slightly lower springs on my 2013 Abarth earlier this year, and with the adjustment in the middle, the car is much firmer to drive, probably a bit too firm for NY roads and pot holes! I keep meaning to adjust them to very soft for daily driving but haven't got around to it. Over on one of the FIAT forums there are other owners that have oil consumption issues like you mention, so while I don't think it's common (like in half or more of all cars), it does happen, so just keep an eye on oil levels, and check that you don't have a leak somewhere. Another common issue is a boot or gasket on the #1 spark plug that lets some oil get in, so you might also want to just pull the wires to see how clean it looks around your plugs. Manual says to change them every 30,000 miles.
 
Well the Koni 's and Eibach springs are installed, WOW! what a difference. It now handles well with a smooth ride. I had expected to find the stock struts/shocks to be shot. But they are actually ok, just overwhelmed by the short very stiff stage II springs. On a side note, I went to buy plastic cowl clips that I needed to replace (they are single use) and I found that the last local Fiat Studio is now closed. Ontario Fiat is now Alfa Maserati, with Fiat service and parts across the street at the Dodge dealer, the parts guy was nice enough, but they did not have the clips and he did not know when they could get them in stock, not very reassuring. I saw no Fiats on the sales lot, did see a couple of 500 EV in service.
 
common problem with the new FIATs, with dealers disappearing, and not great parts and service support. Hopefully with the Internet (RockAuto and etc) and supplies from Europe we can always find parts for the new 500s.
 
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