1st week with series 4 comp

[Velocityboy]

Hello,

Have had my series 4 comp for a week now so thought I would share my first impressions.  Have covered about 300 miles now with a mixture of city, motorway and A/B road covered.

Sound
I have to start with the sound...easily the best sounding forced induction 4 pot I've had the pleasure of listening too.  I actually ordered the car without ever having sat in one let alone hearing one but it doesn't disappoint.  I spent the weeks before collection listening to various YouTube vids of the monza but it's not the same until you hear it for real.  Cold starts are where it's at with a lovely rumble on tick over and a great bark with the slightest tickle of the throttle.  It makes me grin every time  . Under full throttle there is nice induction noise too.

Interior
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the interior having owned numerous fiats in the past - it's a really nice place to be.  I have the standard fabric sabelt seats and these are comfy despite being firm with little padding.  I have done a few 2+ hour stints in the car and haven't suffered any aches or pains.  The LCD display is fantastic.  High res, responsive and always clear to see with various modes to keep the geeks like me happy.  I have the standard 5" media unit with Nav and again no complaints there.  I also have the standard sound system and have found the audio quality to be fine once you tweak the EQ a bit.  For those with kids I have also had both mine in the back (5 and 7 years old) with still plenty of room.  Xenons are great no complaints there either.

performance
I'm obviously still running it in but have had the occasional full throttle moment up to around 4-5k revs.  There is noticeable lag but you adjust to this quite quickly.  It definitely pulls hard on full boost and reminds me of my old fiat coupe 20v turbo which was no slouch (power to weight of both cars is very close).  3rd gear sport mode on and full throttle is seriously fun.  I'll be to add more to this once it's fully run in.

Handling
I've driven the car in both wet and dry conditions now and my thoughts are as follows.  In the dry there a decent amount of grip and it resists understeer well.  It doesn't grip as hard as something like a renaultsport Clio but that's likely down to tyres (I have the standard wheels with pirellis and not the michelins).  Perhaps they'll improve with a few more miles under them.  In the wet the grip is virtually non existent.  The front washes wide far too easily for my liking - I'll need to change tyres or fiddle with pressures to see I can get some improvement.  For now though it's simply taking it steady and slow anytime it's wet.  Handling wise I haven't explored much beyond the limits of grip so can't really say how playful it is or isn't.

Brakes
Brakes are fab - good feel, no fade and confidence inspiring.  I've started to get some brake squeal but this seems to be an unfortunate side effect of any car I've had with decent brakes.

Suspension
It's very firm.  Things can get pretty bouncy on rough roads so you consciously hunt for the smoothest tarmac but despite this the damping is pretty impressive given its small size and weight.  I've had a couple of panda 100hps in the past and anyone who has driven/been in one I can tell you it's a big improvement over that!

Exterior
I think the car looks great in series 4 form.  I have it in Black with the standard red calipers and it's very aggressive and purposeful.  I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow following a clean (raining today). 

Overall I'm really pleased with it.  I wanted something fun with character and reasonable running costs and so far it has exceeded my expectations.  Can't wait to get back out in it!

Cheers

[FRZ]

I have the optional supersport alloys on my series 4 and they came with Michelins. I used to have P-zeros on my old comp and didn't think they were too bad but I must admit the PS3's are so much better, especially in the wet.

I've done about 40 miles today (that included an unexpected drive up the hill at Goodwood) in the driving rain and standing water and they've been outstanding.

[roystinho]

Great write up. I'm coming from a Renaultsport Clio Trophy and know what you mean about the grip when I drove a series 3 comp, so when it came to light the new one could be had with an LSD I just had to have one

I believe P-Zeros are named after the amount of grip they give you. Michelins far better.