General Considering a 500C Twinair Dualogic

[Norway]

Hi from Norway!

My wife really wants a white pearl 500C Twinair with dualogic. And after seeing lots of 500`s in Italy in the summer holidays, I really think the care is cute too... And what a lovely noise from the Twinair engine!!
The only problem is that Fiat in Norway doesn`t import the Twinair in combination with Cabrio. Forecast for this is Easter-time in 2012. So I am wondering to import one with left-steering by myself from Great Britain.

But I have some questions to you Experts on this Forum:
I have heard from an import company here in Norway that the deliverytime for this model is 3-4 months - Is this true? They say that the Twinair production is on hold, due to some problems....?

I have taken the 1,2 Dualogic for a test-drive, and I think the torque is a bit low (especially when the gear shifts up). Do you Twinair-owners feel that the Twinair has more power than the 1,2?

Thanks so much for your feedback.

 

[FloJo]

As far as I know the TA isn't on hold in the UK - in fact I'm currently waiting for mine to appear from the factory.

But...
And I'm not exactly certain about this, but what about the option of importing from either Denmark, Sweden or even Germany? (if the TA C is available in any of those countries?). At least then you'll already have a LH drive and you could (in theory) do the drive back to Norway?

 

[Norway]

Thank you for your answer FloJo. Yes, I have considered importing from Sweden also. But because of the competitive market in UK and the currency advantage between NOK and GBP, I save more when importing from UK. I also get 5 years warranty when importing via an import company.

How long have you waited for your car?

 

[FloJo]

How long have you waited for your car?

After a few hicups on the part of the dealer I think the order went on the Fiat system around 4 or 5 weeks ago But I'm getting it on a 61 plate so will be waiting for the 1st September now anyway.

 

[arorat]

Email these chappies: http://www.fiatmarylebone.co.uk/tax-free/

They are part of fiat as are IMV where I got mine from, see what they can do.

Cheers

 

[loveshandbags]

Thank you for your answer FloJo. Yes, I have considered importing from Sweden also. But because of the competitive market in UK and the currency advantage between NOK and GBP, I save more when importing from UK. I also get 5 years warranty when importing via an import company.

How long have you waited for your car?

I would keep an eye on the Euro Sterling conversion rate which rollercoasts. Currently 87c to the £ will it generally varying between 84c to 90c. I often 'time' currency changes but have found that the Euro to $ changes more volatile. I know nothing about the Norwegian currency but understand that you have extroadinarily high import taxes since you are not part of the EU.
Re buying from different countries Germany is the dearest in Europe but Finland has historically being the 3rd cheapest 'behind' Greece with Malta as the cheapest (this may have changed).
You mention that if you import from an import company you get 5 years warranty. If I import directly from a UK supplier all that I can get in Ireland is 2 years which is the Fiat warranty - no dealer 3rd year applies.
If you were looking to source a Twin Air I would be looking for 5 years given the newness of the technology.
Where does the import companies source their cars from ?