my previous italian stallion

[Brian1612]

Just thought I would give a little more detail to my car history that lead me to the Abarth ☺

Started of with a polo with golf wheels on it, hated polo's but with these wheels on it i fell in love and this was my first car, bought outright. Was shockingly slow but it did its job as a cool little car for 2 years while my insurance came down.

I then left my apprenticeship so money was tighter and traded this in once it started expierencing problems for a little 1.4 8v punto evo GP with a whopping 77 bhp, possibly 20 more than the polo haha, payments were only £112 a month so was perfect for me. Also fitted a set of 17" wolf race alloys in gun metal in a bid to make it look like a sporting lol.

Then my sister decided to get one herself and while buying hers a Sporting caught my eye... after a year in the evo GP i upgraded to the 135 sporting and was an absolute cracker. Full leather, parking sensors, sat nav, skydome,  basically every extra possible apart from duel climate and this was my pride and joy for two years. Early on I went to AC to get some warranty work done and clocked the Abarth SS I own now that had been sold. Who would have thought 2 years later I would have been travelling back down from Perth in that very car haha.... so yeah, thats brought me to the present and that is how my love affair with fiat/abarth has came about 😆

Done mainly aesthetics mods to all the cars but the Abarth has had a Tmc box fitted along with new esseesse wheel courtesy of AC. Love it and can't see me getting rid of it any time soon unless that Abarth Roadster comes out and its quick as well as gorgeous.... 😉

[will-w]

Loving the Sporting - what did you think of the Skydome?

I have one on my Supersport and I had one on my AGP Esseesse, I love them

[Brian1612]

It was a novelty when I first got it tbh, soon came to realise it was hardly useful as opening the sunroof just created too much noise in the cabin and the air-con cooled the cabin better....

but the most annoying thing was the amount of headroom it chopped off, at 5'11 Im not the tallest but I could'nt look over my shoulder/look in my mirrors without hitting my head off the roof, and that was with the seat as low as it would go, was very annoying...  was a nice feature on the car but not practical sadly, plus I can't help but feel the bulky leather seats/skydome roof/spare wheel really added quite a bit of weight to the car and had an effect of performance.

[will-w]

Wow, that wasn't the response I was expecting!

Both my AGP and Supersport have Skydomes and I've had no issues at all, even at 6 foot 1.

I did notice on the EVO that the seats are different and higher, even at the lowest setting - but even then I don't hit my head.

As for noise, yes, it can get noisy when the wind is buffetting from the side but I have it open probably 9 times out of 10 when I'm in the car.  Even when it's raining.

Goes to show that we're all as unique as our cars

[Brian1612]

Might just be the way I sit, I found myself slouching to look in the side mirrors so I didn't hit the roof  and I spose I have a sort of quiff hair doo like the guy from the script that may have been the issue as well lol 

Like I said was a very nice feature to have and look at but after a bit I realised it wasn't for me, was glad my SS didn't have one, especially with it being Camp grey, would have looked silly black roof on my car with all the red trim, it looks good on my sporting as it was white/black themed.

Yeah everyone has there own tastes! 

[James]

You started off badly but then found your stride, well done 

[Brian1612]

Haha thank you james and I know, was a reliable little car for two years before all the warning lights started coming on lol  but the slowest thing I have ever witnessed... 55 bhp. Little kids on bikes used to pull away quick than me!