General TwinAir Thread (including MPG)

[elation]

My quest for a test drive takes a futher twist, your gonna like this one.

Finally got a reply from Fiat UK indicating they have finally tracked down a dealer with a Twinair demo.

That dealership is shut!

Cheers

D

Where in the world are you? I've got a twinair on demo. If I can prise the keys off the boss. Based in west mids.

Its ace, just over 1000 miles and its loosening up, but absolutely obliterates 1.4 Punto Multiairs, and will stick with a 500 1.4 up to about 60.

 

[grimwau]

Now that Monday has been and gone do we have a diagnosis yet?

Ha! Ha! ........... and I thought I was impatient. Had a phone call on Monday (as promised) and was told the car was finished and out on road test and that I would be contacted by the service manager after the car got back and everything had been checked from underneath.

About an hour later I got the call to say everything was fine and that the car is ready for collection and I was told that I would get a full explanation of the problem and how it was resolved when I collect it.

So, fingers crossed I will be able to give you more info tomorrow night.

I guess I'll find out it my diagnosis of faulty Oil Pressure switch was correct or am I right out of touch after 20 years out of the trade.

 

[rallycinq]

Where in the world are you? I've got a twinair on demo. If I can prise the keys off the boss. Based in west mids.

Its ace, just over 1000 miles and its loosening up, but absolutely obliterates 1.4 Punto Multiairs, and will stick with a 500 1.4 up to about 60.

I am in Central Scotland, so its a wee bit far to travel.

I've now found out that the dealer that Fiat sent me to has moved premises rather than completely shut, but it is unbelievable that Fiat UK don't seem to know.

Cheers

D

 

[Mikey1985]

This isn't the kind of thing we want to hear, I booked a test drive for fri 21st in a twin air, fell in love with the whole concept and was hoping it would be super reliable, hope yours is a one off! incidentally anyone know the average wait time between ordering and receiving the car? the dealer said around 2 months but guessing that varies with spec? thanks.

 

[elation]

Factory ordered cars are coming through around 10 - 12 weeks at the moment, but there's a fair amount of stock at Portbury, so as long as you don't want anything too far from standard you should be able to pick one up reasonably quickly.

 

[Mikey1985]

Ah, good to know, thanks for that Elation

 

[grimwau]

This isn't the kind of thing we want to hear, I booked a test drive for fri 21st in a twin air, fell in love with the whole concept and was hoping it would be super reliable, hope yours is a one off! incidentally anyone know the average wait time between ordering and receiving the car? the dealer said around 2 months but guessing that varies with spec? thanks.

Cheers Mikey, it turns out that oil pressure switch hadn't been torqued to to the correct setting and the crushable washer didn't therefore seal properly. As you say, hopefully this is a one off but only time will tell due to the newness of the car/engine to the UK.

I made a point of asking which oil was used as I have heard that unless Selenia K Pure Energy is used it could affect the warranty and was told that they used Shell 5W30 which they said was the same specification. I suppose nowadays, especially with multi franchise agencies operating from the same dealership they tend to use a "one fits all" attitude but as long as it meets or exceeds the Selenia specification I can't see a problem.

PS. regarding waiting timesmine was built and in the country in under 8 weeks but Xmas and the bad weather stopped it getting to my dealer until early January. I don't think that the specifcation makes it take any longer than a basic model as I loaded mine to the hilt (see my sig) and it was here PDQ.

 

[Venters]

Good call on the oil pressure switch then Tony.

Here's hoping that's the only problem your gonna have a for a good wee while.

 

[Mikey1985]

I like the 'oh and an oil leak' added to the end of your sig I would still love to know about the ecconomy of the engine, watched a fifth gear test where he only got something like 48mpg but he looked like a bit of a fool and I know manufacturer claims are sometimes hard to achieve but they can't lie either, it must be capable of the 59 urban cycle.

Sorry to blether on but we are struggling to decide upon the extras we should possibly have. Are any a waste of time? we were thinking electroclash grey, 15'' 2 tone alloys, esp and rear parking sensors.

 

[ahmett]

I believe electroclash grey to be an amazing color and quite rare on the streets!

 

[grimwau]

I like the 'oh and an oil leak' added to the end of your sig I would still love to know about the ecconomy of the engine, watched a fifth gear test where he only got something like 48mpg but he looked like a bit of a fool and I know manufacturer claims are sometimes hard to achieve but they can't lie either, it must be capable of the 59 urban cycle.

Sorry to blether on but we are struggling to decide upon the extras we should possibly have. Are any a waste of time? we were thinking electroclash grey, 15'' 2 tone alloys, esp and rear parking sensors.

Mikey, you've opened a can of worms asking about ESP, lol. For what it's worth I wouldn't have a car without it if it was an option. Again, I find that the parking sensors are very useful when reversing up my drive at night (see pic) whereas others might consider you a poor driver if you can't reverse a liitle 500.

https://www.fiatforum.com/gallery/data/2417/PIC_2.jpg



Regarding fuel consumption and this is based on just the two trips back from the dealership to my home (approx 110 miles in total) and driving the same way as my old 500 1.3MJT I averaged 38mpg and all those miles were exta urban.

In fact I didn't get a chance to check the start N stop until I reached my house. :devil:

 

[RobinPJ]

How about a competition to guess the highest mpg figure you get. Everyone can choose one figure. The winner after 6 months gets to have their car cleaned by Lloyd for free....

 

[Mikey1985]

Gah! I hope that 38mpg goes up when everythings bedded in. The car would actually be my mums but as the car person of the family she trusts me to help pick when she does change her car. I was wondering to myself if the great engine note is encouraging people to not drive in a fuel saving manner? lol

I thought the esp was a good idea myself, could potentially save your life but the price rockets up alot with all these extras, lol. Defiately have to have alloys though. Torn between the bonnet stripe, don't think it would be in keeping with my mum, lol

 

[grimwau]

Well, after collecting the car from the dealers the drive home felt really good. The car was smooth and quiet, the steering was precise and had good feel and the suspension definitely felt softer, although, in fairness, I never experienced the same problems that other members have experienced with their cars. The leather seats are very comfortable and the interscope definitely had more presence than the standard item. I was very surprised at the accelleration and mid range pulling power of the engine even though I chose to keep to a maximum of 3000 RPM.

So far so good ......................... You'd think so, but unfortunately there is a problem.

The wife doesn't like driving it as much as our old 500 and that is a problem as I bought it for her, not me. She said that it isn't that she doesn't like it it's just that the 1.3MJT just felt better to drive round town.

I suppose coming from a series of automatic cars the driving characteristics, masses of low end torque for low speed pulling power in almost any gear made it much easier for her to drive.

However, the reason for changing to petrol was because the diesel was not a good town car due to the DPF becoming blocked under these conditions.:shakehead:

So, what to do now?

Looks like I may have to look to P/EX it for one of the 95BHP diesels and go back to having DPF problems, unless the newer diesel engine is more forgiving than the previous version.

The car cost £15105 so anyone have any ideas as to what it would be worth now, one week old with 100 odd miles on the clock if I do decide to sell it?

 

[Venters]

Ouch. As I'm sure you will be well aware P/X value will be almost funny if it were not so serious.
I assume it's not going to be as simple as just adjusting to the different characteristics and getting used to it?

 

[306maxi]

She'll get used to it I reckon Tony. Before the 500 we had a 1.9 turdo diseasel 406 which although rather old school still had loads of torque low down and of course the wifes Subaru has oodles of power as well, well when the wife first got in the 500 she did remark upon the fact that it was comically slow but now she's used to it

 

[JTD_Liam]

I'd leave it for her to at least try and get used to for abit longer. One week is abit hasty when £15000 is at stake & you'd obviously lose the VAT (not sure what rate you got) before you even think about other depreciation.

On a brighter note, the dealer may be willing to do a deal because of you being a repeat customer (assuming the older Mjet was also from them) and also, i read in the Qubo section that the 95bhp Multijet can regenerate on tickover. The regeneration issue arose because it's rumoured the Qubo will be getting the bigger diesel and DPF. It currently uses the 75bhp engine but without DPF.

If the regen at tickover is the case, then this is a definate step in the right direction.

 

[grimwau]

Ouch. As I'm sure you will be well aware P/X value will be almost funny if it were not so serious.
I assume it's not going to be as simple as just adjusting to the different characteristics and getting used to it?

That's what I'm hoping will happen.

She'll get used to it I reckon Tony. Before the 500 we had a 1.9 turdo diseasel 406 which although rather old school still had loads of torque low down and of course the wifes Subaru has oodles of power as well, well when the wife first got in the 500 she did remark upon the fact that it was comically slow but now she's used to it

I hope that you're right, I am crossing fingers and toes.

I'd leave it for her to at least try and get used to for abit longer. One week is abit hasty when £15000 is at stake & you'd obviously lose the VAT (not sure what rate you got) before you even think about other depreciation.

On a brighter note, the dealer may be willing to do a deal because of you being a repeat customer (assuming the older Mjet was also from them) and also, i read in the Qubo section that the 95bhp Multijet can regenerate on tickover. The regeneration issue arose because it's rumoured the Qubo will be getting the bigger diesel and DPF. It currently uses the 75bhp engine but without DPF.

If the regen at tickover is the case, then this is a definate step in the right direction.

Got the VAT at 17.5% luckily and I should have stated that the £15,105.00 is what it would cost today @20%.

My old 75BHP 500 would regenerate on tickover as well, it was just that when you the wife got to work, the shops or home etc. she would have needed to know it was completing a regen cycle to leave it ticking over in the first place, lol.

Also, sometimes it might not be feasible to sit and wait, eg. in a petrol station or if you're already late for work, lol.

 

[306maxi]

I hope that you're right, I am crossing fingers and toes.

New wife perhaps?

 

[grimwau]

New wife perhaps?

I think that after 37 years she'll claim squatters rites. Plus she'll want to keep the house and leave me the car.