Thinking about trading in the CR-Z for a Fiat 500 Abarth, thoughts?

So I went down to the garage and plugged in my GG3" w/ GG orange pad, a couple dabs of M101, set the machine to 6 (really the only setting to be used for it) and did a section of the hood. Before I started I inspected the hood with my Brinkmann and didn't really see any swirls but I know in natrual sunlight I could see them. Fast forward to after doing the one secion, I ended up doing the entire hood and it looked great, tomorrow its going to be nice so I'll wash it and then see how it looks in the sun, report coming tomorrow!

I think it will be funny if I could polish out the entire car with the GG3", a machine so beaten down here on AG, we'll see how it goes! BTW I did apply some AW after polishing so it had something over the top of it.

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***UPDATE***

Its finally nice out and my buddy Hectour had the time to install some "go fast" goodies on the Abarth and they sure woke it up! Have a Euro Compulsion R3T V2 short ram intake as well as their ram-air pipe and the 500 Madness V2 "piggy-back" tune. Takes about 80 miles for the piggy-back to "learn" the ECU and now I need to learn to keep my foot out of it because just driving normal you can feel the "tug" aka torque already, I couldn't be happier!!!

Before, during and after pics! My buddy Hectour did the install and I installed the billet oil cap, LOL!

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Klasse Act said:
***UPDATE***

Its finally nice out and my buddy Hectour had the time to install some "go fast" goodies on the Abarth and they sure woke it up! Have a Euro Compulsion R3T V2 short ram intake as well as their ram-air pipe and the 500 Madness V2 "piggy-back" tune. Takes about 80 miles for the piggy-back to "learn" the ECU and now I need to learn to keep my foot out of it because just driving normal you can feel the "tug" aka torque already, I couldn't be happier!!!

Before, during and after pics! My buddy Hectour did the install and I installed the billet oil cap, LOL!

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Click to expand...

Nice... so the "butt dyno" is saying good things? :xyxthumbs:
 
Klasse Act said:
***UPDATE***

Its finally nice out and my buddy Hectour had the time to install some "go fast" goodies on the Abarth and they sure woke it up! Have a Euro Compulsion R3T V2 short ram intake as well as their ram-air pipe and the 500 Madness V2 "piggy-back" tune. Takes about 80 miles for the piggy-back to "learn" the ECU and now I need to learn to keep my foot out of it because just driving normal you can feel the "tug" aka torque already, I couldn't be happier!!!

Before, during and after pics! My buddy Hectour did the install and I installed the billet oil cap, LOL!

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Click to expand...

Looks great! Always nice to unleash some more HP's and take things up a notch.
 
Monicaaaaa.....your back! Yeah the "butt dyno" says YESS! Stock is 155/165 and I should be around 180/190 if I had to guess but there's NO doubt it has more POWAH!!

Your ride Audi, its very nice! Did you do an MTM tune on yours?

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Klasse Act said:
Monicaaaaa.....your back! Yeah the "butt dyno" says YESS! Stock is 155/165 and I should be around 180/190 if I had to guess but there's NO doubt it has more POWAH!!

Your ride Audi, its very nice! Did you do an MTM tune on yours?

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Oh I've been here all along :laughing:

I'll be back on the dyno hopefully in may... need a re-tune from my header I had put on. Looking forward to the final numbers.
 
Klasse Act said:
***UPDATE***


Before, during and after pics! My buddy Hectour did the install and I installed the billet oil cap, LOL!

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Click to expand...

The billet oil cap is the most important part! Most HP gained will be because of that obviously.

All kidding aside glad to see youre enjoying the car. Don't get into too much trouble with that extra power.
 
Klasse Act said:
Monicaaaaa.....your back! Yeah the "butt dyno" says YESS! Stock is 155/165 and I should be around 180/190 if I had to guess but there's NO doubt it has more POWAH!!

Your ride Audi, its very nice! Did you do an MTM tune on yours?

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Click to expand...

No I have not done any tuning since I owned a 2008 Audi A4 Avant

A lot of the German brands are getting tough on people for ECU tunes. Audi in particular flags the car electronically during service when plugged into the diagnostic port. The gamble is too high with a warranty claim on vehicles that are costly to repair.

The turbo V-8 in my CLS has certainly not left me wanting for more power!
 
Added some "show" bits after the "go" bits were added earlier in the week:

The ESSEESSE badge has been added due to the boost in power. In Europe the ESSEESSE model is upgraded over the standard Abarth, funny thing is this, over there the standard Abarth makes 135 hp and the ESSEESSE makes 160 hp, which is exactly what our Abarth makes here, so bumping up our standard Abarth turns it into a U.S.-spec ESSEESSE, LOL. I'd even go a step further to say my car makes the extra 25 hp too.


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EddieF said:
The car cost 18.5k and you're going in negative, plus the percentage rate to finance, you're gonna end up paying close to 30k for a car that's not worth it. The monthly payments may sound right, and easy to afford, but in the long run, it's probably gonna be another 5, to 6 year loan and a lot more money than the car is worth. Depending on the interest rate the dealer gives you, it might be more. Just my 2 cents, good luck.
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Exactly. Forget about the negative equity for a second. you pay for quite a lot, well, a fair amount, of depreciation the first couple of years, even on a Honda. Then you have the "transaction cost" The spread between selling wholesale and buying retail. The Honda will give you reliable transportation probably for about as long as you want to own it. You visit this forum, so I'm thinking your Honda is going to be presentable for about as long as you want to own it, too. That means you have the opportunity to drive around payment free for a couple of years. Save the payments and you are close to buying your next car for cash if you want. Or, you can have fun with that money on things that don't involve cars.

That said, there are some good deals on new Fiats right now. Look at Truecar. In my old neighborhood (not here) they are selling the Abarth new for under $20K. If you opt for the plain 500 but with the turbo, they are under $17K. Probably a better long-term choice. If it were me, I'd see if I couldn't get the extended factory warranty from some dealer who sells them cheap on the 'net.....Its a Fiat after all.
 
I really dig the decals... They are nice touches, not too blingy :xyxthumbs:
 
DetailKitty said:
I really dig the decals... They are nice touches, not too blingy :xyxthumbs:
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That's an actual emblem from Europe and yeah, not too blingy. I think the way it sits now is how its going to look for a while. The black out mod is planted in my head, so its going to happen come hell or high water, period. I would also like to add the triple stripe like Road Race Motorsports has on their Abarth, it even goes onto the dashboard piece too, very cool mod. I like stripes on a car, had the stripes on the R56 and then had "Viper-style" stripes added as well as GT350-style ones too, with a custom "S" towards the back, really liked that. My stripe package will go over the bumper, hood, roof (including sunroof), hatch and rear bumper. Once I get the blackout mod done and that stripe the car will be unique to me, something I was able to achieve with the MINI and something I really wanna do with this car, I'm well on my way.

BTW Monica my buddy sent me a pic of his Abarth on the Devil's Triangle last weekend, the car was "tripod", I'll post a pic of it later, looking forward to that run this year:props:
 
Klasse Act said:
That's an actual emblem from Europe and yeah, not too blingy. I think the way it sits now is how its going to look for a while. The black out mod is planted in my head, so its going to happen come hell or high water, period. I would also like to add the triple stripe like Road Race Motorsports has on their Abarth, it even goes onto the dashboard piece too, very cool mod. I like stripes on a car, had the stripes on the R56 and then had "Viper-style" stripes added as well as GT350-style ones too, with a custom "S" towards the back, really liked that. My stripe package will go over the bumper, hood, roof (including sunroof), hatch and rear bumper. Once I get the blackout mod done and that stripe the car will be unique to me, something I was able to achieve with the MINI and something I really wanna do with this car, I'm well on my way.

BTW Monica my buddy sent me a pic of his Abarth on the Devil's Triangle last weekend, the car was "tripod", I'll post a pic of it later, looking forward to that run this year:props:
Click to expand...

I had custom stripes on my R56 as well... went a totally different route with the R53.

I am looking forward to seeing more of your progress :xyxthumbs:

Devil's Triangle... nice. I'll wait for that pic ;)
 
Sorry Monica, here you go! The Devil's Triangle has 3 180 degree uphill turns (if you run it counter clockwise) and you MUST use 1st gear to get up the hill, well unless you've got some big V8!

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Klasse Act said:
Sorry Monica, here you go! The Devil's Triangle has 3 180 degree uphill turns (if you run it counter clockwise) and you MUST use 1st gear to get up the hill, well unless you've got some big V8!

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Hee hee... the car looks so tiny!!!!!!

(says the woman with the MINI)
 
DetailKitty said:
No, but I've been in one. My buddy has one... its pretty nice, too.
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I was lucky enough to drive a couple, one an early 60's model and the other from the late 60's. We also had a 68' Aussie spec S model w/ dual carbs and front disc brakes, 90 hp, double the standard car but never took that one on the road, it was that off white w/ ruby red top and cosmo wheels, flawless car! One thing that blows people away is how big the car is inside compared with the outside.

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^^ Are we talking about Mr.Bean MINI Cooper? LOL If so, that's hilarious and awesome!
 
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