Hi guys, I just went to my dealer today. They gave me book trade-in value for my current car.
a Dodge Neon SRT-4.
The deal is, We agreed on the trade price and the price is set until the Abarth comes arrives,
Stipulation is new tires on my Srt-4 (they are Baloney skins)
Went over options, and other details etc,.
My wife handed the sales guy a check for $25.00!
(the salesmen's reasoning behind this is that it dosent really matter to them anyway, If I back out of the deal they will have the car
sold shortly after anyway. And they do need to order stock.)
Heres the build sheet.
White - Red caps and stripes.
Red Leather
Upgraded Beats audio.
NO other options.
I dropped the 17" wheels because it put me right over the top on my budget.
I kept only the options that I cannot change myself later.
However, the 16"s will be used as winter wheels as I get a nice set of 17" wheels down the road.
$24,750.
I will have a VON Shortly. yay!
Test Drive Observations.
Background. - My Neon Srt-4 acr is a beast. My dealer is about an hour drive.
the Car is a beast, Like a cross between a old dump truck and an old muscle car.
Its lowered on H&R Coilovers and solid motor and trans mounts.
Getting "UP" into the Abarth.
Thats what it felt like, lol..
what the heck, I cant reach the pedals!?
Im only 5,9 but im a fat pig with a huge gut.
These cars should be awesome for tall people.
I had to jack the seat as far as possible and still have the wheel at a nice spot,
but it still felt like I was tippy toeing the clutch.. I think I should of scooted my butt a bit more forward in the seat.
Wooow, the clutch in the Abarth will definitely take a long time to get used to,
The Abarth clutch, It felt like I could just blow on it instead of use my foot!
But on the other hand, My Srt-4 Clutch feels like an old V8 Muscle car with a high performance linkage clutch. It does get tiring.
I hope perhaps far down the road I can do something to to improve clutch feel.
The Electric power steering got some flak in some recent reviews.
I thought it felt good., I don't think its the electric power steering in this car at all that is giving the "Numb" feeling.
I think its the case of Motor-trans mounts being TOO SOFT. In fact, On the test drive a 2-3rd gear clutch kick-off at full throttle
Smacked the motor into the firewall. "Whoops, Sorry bud, I wasnt expecting that" I said to the Sales guy.
No problem he said..
As with My Srt-4 I think the Abarth needs either a engine torque bar or upgraded motor transmission mounts BADLY.
Now My SRT has full blown solid top-bottom and transmission mounts. They feel amazing. The motor and trans does not move at all during shifting.
But the biggest difference they make is that they tie the whole front end together, thus giving me back all my Steering wheel feel that was non existent.
I think a middle of the road solution on a daily driven Abarth would be great.
The Mounts in the SRT-4 Do get irritating and tiring at certain times, Such as long rides with the family. they transmit all engine and transmission noise and vibration into the whole chassis.
Handling.
I love Short wheel base cars. I'm a big fan of the old Ford Festivas.
even with the H&R Coilovers, lowered, high perf tires, The long wheel base srt-4 just feels "Heavy"
The turn in stinks, and the Turning radius is worse than a 53' Big Rig.
The turn-in and turning radius is just like my beloved festivas.
I felt like I just cut a 180 degree turn at speed. Feels good.
Sound.
As we all know the Abarth sounds like a mini Ferrari. One of the best sounding 4 bangers ever.
Sounds nice and loud at WOT and Idling, When slowing down and pulling in somewhere I kept thinking the car stalled, it was that quiet.
good.
Interior. The Abarth I looked at had the cloth interior. Sorry, but i was not impressed at all.
the cloth does not feel very think, looks like it would stain and fade very quickly. It also gave the impression that the bolsters are too soft.
I ordered the leather sight unseen without ever seeing or feeling it in person. My fat ass needs the strongest seat material it can get.
Paint, fit and finish. all appeared to be top notch on the Abarth.
Overall performance: yes I forgot to hit the sport button for most of the test drive, DOH!
first pull out of the dealer I nailed it halfway into 1st, then WOT -3-4th gear.
I said to the Sales guy, Wow, this car is a DOG compared to the Srt.
However the motor has a more more linear powerband than the srt.
the SRT-4 will bog-then boost and its a brutal hit.
The Abarth motor just feels so much more open and freer reving. Felt great to bury the tach.
On the way back from the test ride the sales guy pointed out that sport was off.
There we go.. the car felt 1000 times better. It pulled alot harder and after a moment I felt the steering tighten up nicely.
It then impressed me.
MM box/tune, a little tighter motor mounts and a nice free-er flowing non catted downpipe and we have a car that will run right with my srt power-wise.
And it will do it in a much more fun and efficient way.
I cant wait to get my Abarth! This is going to be the longest 2 (hopefully) months EVER.
Sorry for the rambling here, Im just really excited about the car and hope I made some good points/observations.
CHEERS!
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Originally Posted by deathshead
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