General How Fast is your Qubo?

[raton_laveur]

I had mine up to an indicated 185 KMH @ 4000 RPM in Germany the other day. That's about 115 MPH. Subtract the speedo error given by the French car magazine Auto Plus and it's 180/112.

I've got a 95 HP Trekking with the roof bars removed. She's done over 13000 KM, so over 8000 miles since bought last October. I'm thinking of replacing the springs with standard ones to lower it by about 20 mm and replacing the bonnet with one from a Nemo to reduce drag.

Lowering the body will hopefully make it a little easier to climb in and out of and maybe also reduce drag and fuel consumption slightly. I may also have the skid plate removed for the same reason.
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[Monkeyboot]

Never taken my qubo 1.3 mjet past 80mph, havn't felt the need for speed with this car. Thanks for letting us know what your trekking model will go to though. Good luck with your mods.

 

[raton_laveur]

Interesting thing is that Fiat says it will only do 170, so that's 15 KMH better than advertised. I didn't try for the actual max speed, which may have been a little bit more. 4OOO RPM is the power peak so I left it at that.

You're right, it's no racehorse but it's nice to know what the capabilities are. The Idea 1.9 I had some years ago was good for an indicated 207 KMH, which really surprised me.

 

[Qube O]

Not bothered in the least about top speed, thats for the young mad heads out there. If I was after speed the Qubo would not even be on the list of cars to look at.
As for chopping it around, well I just hope that Fiat are happy, because if you need to make a warrenty claim !!!!!, not to mention a insurance claim !!!!!!, then watch out.
Qube O.

 

[Gene26]

My petrol one struggled up to an indicated 85mph once. Our 1.1 Panda is quicker. It's happy enough at 70 though. Dont think i would bother lowering it, though, surely that would just affect the ride?

 

[raton_laveur]

Not bothered in the least about top speed, thats for the young mad heads out there. If I was after speed the Qubo would not even be on the list of cars to look at.
As for chopping it around, well I just hope that Fiat are happy, because if you need to make a warrenty claim !!!!!, not to mention a insurance claim !!!!!!, then watch out.
Qube O.

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I'm in my 60's...

 

[raton_laveur]

My petrol one struggled up to an indicated 85mph once. Our 1.1 Panda is quicker. It's happy enough at 70 though. Dont think i would bother lowering it, though, surely that would just affect the ride?

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What I want to do is lower it back to standard. The Trekking sits 20 or 25 mm higher than the normal version. Getting into the rear seat is not fun as is.

 

[s44gtw]

Really, Less than 1".
That is the difference between ooo and Ahhhh.

That taller figure is a bit of hype for the shake of those buying a rough tough off roader. lol not.
& might be true in an unladen car.

If passengers can not climb in i would park against a Kerb/hump to assist them.
(or buy a little folding step to help them enter/exit.)

george

 

[mario99uk]

Got to agree,

1) So you bought a Trekking, paying a premium for the extra features...
Then removed the roof rails, and possibly drop the suspension - surely easier not to have bought the Trekking version to start with.

2) A discussion about top speed? on a Qubo forum Mine's saved me from 3 speeding tickets already over my old soft top 2 seater.

Having said which, it's your car and each to their own.

 

[raton_laveur]

I got the Trekking based on the price/equipment ratio compared to the other versions. Most everything on the Trekking is standard as opposed to being optional or not available on the other versions. As an example, you can't get the Traction+ on any of the others. The 15 inch alloys on the Trekking are also cheaper to re-tire than the 16's on the lower versions. The Trekking also has a nicer interior so there were plenty of reasons in favor of buying it compared to the others.

My workday commute is almost 50 miles each way and Belgium does in fact have speed limits. The modifications I'm looking at will hopefully reduce my fuel consumption by enough to pay for doing them over time. I got a Qubo as opposed to a Punto for the interior space. I'll be retired in less than four years. Between then and now I'll be moving house so the Qubo will have a role to play in that later on. Also, I plan to be increasingly active in swapmeets and similar events over time. The Qubo will let me easily bring a lot of stuff to and from these events. The first one will be in early May for model railway gear. As to the roof bars, I've never had a need for something like that in any of the cars I've owned so I saw no reason to leave them in place. Not having them saves about 3% of my fuel costs.

For all of that, I've always enjoyed faster cars. I had an Alfasud TI with 105 HP, one of the hottest hatches of the day, when I worked in the UK in the 80's. I enjoy a car that has some performance and comfort as well as some practicality. My Trekking has a lot of practicality, decent comfort and acceptable performance so it's an excellent choice for me. It's PSA sisters don't offer the same equipment and performance so I quickly eliminated them from the competition of what to buy. The best alternative would have been the new Doblo but the running costs would have been higher over it's lifetime as would the purchase cost of an Emotion 2.0 JTD.

 

[Highlander]

Not quite sure why anyone wants to bust their Qubo's guts on the M/way in the first place, if its speed your after, be like my daughtere and get a Ford Focus ST.
As for pulling a new car to bits, it does not make sence, if the Trekking does not meet your requirements then what was wrong with the Dynamic 95???.

Our Qubo has sat at 80mph quite happy on the M/way, and to be honest its fast enough.

Ian

 

[mario99uk]

That's my school of thinking - my Qubo is known as "The flying house brick", not sure relatively trivial modifications would be noticeable even over time. With my luck I'd remove the sump guard to save 0.5% fuel and then hit a rock and destroy the sump!

As popeye said, "I am what I am, and so is my Qubo!"

 

[ivantate]

If the speedo is anything like the grande punto then it is the most innaccurate I have ever used, but either way I am sure you cracked the 100mph mark.

I cant see the roof rails making a huge difference as the frontal area is very small and they are close to the roof. You should have the door mirrors removed that will make a bigger difference.

Synthetic engine and gearbox oil and definately get some narrower non m+s tyres are a must too.


In reality a Grande Punto with the Multijet II engine and hiring a box trailer when it is too small would also be economical and spacious.

 

[raton_laveur]

I've had the car for four months and she's already done 10000 miles. The aerodynamic mods do make a difference when you do around 30000 miles a year, mostly at motorway speeds. Smaller mirrors would help but a complete removal would fail inspection when the time comes.