New Fiat 500 Abarth Car
And now there’s a faster, meaner-looking sports version. Called the New Fiat 500 Abarth Car, it goes on sale in Britain early next year and is the most eagerly awaited tiny tearaway since the souped-up Mini Cooper. The New Fiat 500 Abarth Car name comes from the world famous tuning firm that in the 1950s and 1960s took ordinary Fiats and turned them into racing cars with a formidable reputation. It is Fiat’s equivalent to the AMG division of Mercedes and it has certainly done its job on the 500.
New Fiat 500 Abarth Car has added a turbocharger to boost the power output of the 1.4 litre engine from 100bhp on the standard car to 135bhp, chopping the 0-62mph acceleration time from 10.5sec to 7.9sec and raising the top speed to 127mph – enough to comfortably outrun the Mini Cooper. There is even a sport button that adds weight to the steering and increases the torque of the engine for spirited driving, and a light that illuminates to prompt gearshift points for optimum performance.
Changes to the 500’s looks are as dramatic. Sitting half an inch lower than the standard car on fatter tyres, the 500 Abarth has also acquired two intercooler vents in its longer snout, twin exhaust tailpipes, a tailgate spoiler and a rear aerodynamic diffuser. Add the optional 17in wheels into the mix and the metamorphosis from cute corgi into stafford-shire bull terrier is complete.
The real fun of the standard 500, though, was in the driving. Rather than distance the driver from the road and swamp him or her with technology, the 500 offered a viscerally real experience. Speed was real, not a figure on the dashboard. Better still, 40mph felt like 60mph and it was all the more fun for it.
Climb inside the 500 Abarth and fire it up and the omens are good. The engine starts with a growl. Bury the throttle and it pulls hard all the way through the rev range, really getting into its stride at about 3000rpm. There’s no sign of the dreaded turbo lag – the delay between application of the throttle and delivery of the power – so the response is pretty well instantaneous. Read the rest of this entry »
New Chevrolet Cruze Car meets an eager Europe
The New Chevrolet Cruze Car is three kinds of car: small, American and important. And with the state of General Motors, New Chevrolet Cruze Car isn’t even the individual words that mean the most: it’s whether The General can combine them into a reliable, fuel efficient and cost effective package.
True, we don’t get to drive these things while they’re parked under the lights, but to have a seat in the New Chevrolet Cruze Car is to imagine a GM that begs the question, “Where was all this before the meltdown?” The studio imagery we’ve seen so far translates nicely into real life, and the center console looks and feels substantial – in fact, it looks like it could be foreign – even if the silver mesh treatment in the show car was a bit much. The car has a compact yet full-bodied stance, and will probably look even better on the road in a color other than scarlet, and not under klieg lights.
Spring of ’09 will welcome this first Cruze variant to Europe, after which other regions will get it, as well as a probable hatchback and wagon. It will be powered by a 1.4-liter turbo four-cylinder that charts up to 140 hp and is said to return 40 mpg. Have a look at the high-res gallery of live shots below to get a better idea of what to expect when the Cruze goes on sale here in a couple years.
New Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Cars
There are already a ton of Ford Mustang variants on the market, and Dodge has seen fit to offer three separate Challenger models, the SE, R/T and SRT8. Could Chevy do the same with the New Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Cars? It’s possible, though there’s been no official word from General Motors as of yet. A New Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Cars model to join the base and SS trims would seem like the next logical step if the line were to be enlarged.
A talented designer who goes by Jinx on Camaro forums has created some renderings of what a New Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Cars could look like. He envisions a supercharged 6.2L LSA engine underhood with 550 horsepower. That hood would need a power bulge to cover the supercharged mill, and the rendering features a clear opening like the latest ZR1, along with a carbon fiber splitter up front.
An enlarged lower air intake would feed the intercooler and is also flanked by functional brake cooling ducts. Quad exhaust tips give those spent gases plenty of room to exit. If a Z28 were to come from the General, they could certainly do worse than to use this guy’s design.