Ciao everyone, here it's Marchettino and today we find out together what are the running costs of my small pocket rocket, the 500 Abarth!
The 500 Abarth is my first car, incredible to say that I own it since 7 years, time really flies!
It's a car that has a great emotional value to me and I don't have plans to sell it.
In all these years I covered a whopping 110.000km, I bought the car second hand with 23.000km.
And yes I can say to know this little box very good and due to popular demand, today we'll find out the running costs.
I would say, let's start with the fuel consumption.
The 500 Abarth has a tiny 1.5L 4cyl turbo engine which is capable to offer great satisfactions,
it's a car that if driven with a light foot, it's able to offer relatively good consumptions, if you have a heavy of obviously it drinks.
Driving on the highway on the speed limits I noticed the average consumption is about 10-11km per litre,
it's a shame this transmission is a 5-speed so at 130kph on the highway the engine is already at 3500rpm,
in the city I noticed my Abarth does about 8km per litre, if you're sporty instead the consumption get pretty high,
it goes to a minimum of 4km per litre!
Guess how I like to drive?
Obviously I think the fuel consumption in the city the Abarth can do better because I want to remind you mine is not stock,
I bought it with 135hp and with the time I pumped it to 215hp,
the difference of power is huge so does also the consumption but the highway and flatout consumption are the same.
I think a defect of this car is the relatively low autonomy, which is given due to the small fuel tank with a capacity of about 36 litres,
so if you drive a lot the pit stops to the gas stations will be frequent!
Talking about the second running cost, let's talk about tires!
The 500 Abarth, even though it's car with the chassis of the Panda it's still a sports and fun car to drive and I think
on this kind of car you need to buy good tires, I think it's a bit of a shame to save on this.
Also because it's a car that with a few mods it can really go fast, anyway
after all these years driving the car mainly on the road and doing trackdays once in a while I noticed that
my average consumption for a set of tires is about 30.000km, once I reached nearly 40.000km but probably it was given to driving mainly on the highway where the tire wear is lower.
and the cost; I have 17" wheels by checking online, the average price for a single tire is about 100€, I think it's a good price.
Let's talk about the brakes!
The topic is the same, with a strict road use and trackdays once in a while,
the wear was about 30.000km for the front pads and about 40.000km for the front disks.
The cost for a set of front pads is about 100€ meanwhile for a set of front disks about 190€.
Concerning the wear of the rear pads and disks, the wear is halved compared to the front and the cost is much lower.
I think in 110.000km I replaced the rear pads and disks only once and they're still good!
Consider that I like to have a sporty driving style so I think the average Abarth owner has a much lower wear of all these components.
If there's something not to underestimate on this car is the maintenance, I'm quite puzzled by the fact Abarth recommends to service the car every 30.000km,
honestly I've always serviced the car every 10.000km and I have to say the maintenance is not very expensive on this car, it has a tiny engine
and going to a Abarth workshop for a classic service with a classic engine oil and filter you spend about 180€.
I've always done the first services at Abarth, then I started to do them at home with the help of a friend
and the cost was much lower, about 1/3.
Another cost you inevitably bump into every year is the car tax,
we can say it's very acceptable for this car.
If you buy the 135hp version of the Abarth you're going to spend about 255€ every year.
In the Abarth line up there are different models that go up to 180hp, let's say on the 170hp version the car tax starts to be a bit annoying!
And obviously after the cat tax here's another cost you bump into every year, the insurance.
I spend aobut 800€, it's not even a full insurance, I'm covered against theft, vandals and fire and this is what I spend every year.
Nowadays you can find a second hand 500 Abarth for even 8000€ and if I have to be honest it's a very fun and thrilling for its price and as I already said
you can really make it fly without spending lots of money!
And her'es a recap of my running costs of the Abarth, it's a very affordable car, especially if bought second hand and it's a very fund car for its price.
There must be a reason if I still own mine after 7 years!
I hope I cleared your mind with this video, make sure to drop a like if you enjoy it, subscribe to my YouTube if you haven't yet and as always thanks for watching, ciao!