So having only sourced winter tyres for our A500 we decided to take the little car skiing....   

12hrs 30mins and 790miles later we made it to Courmayeur in Italy.....Leicester to Courmayeur via Eurotunnel is a long way in the abarth but just about manageable in one hit....

Interestingly fully loaded up with 4 pairs of skis, 2 sets of boots and all the other gear the abarth felt much more planted on the road, more comfortable and less fidgety on the motorway. 

We took the toll roads and did the speed limits all the way down (130kph so 80mph). The car wasn't as thirsty as i expected. It averaged a respectable 34mpg with all the weight and roof box (about 11% worse economy than usual but given the sustained high speed plus extra wind resistance of the roof box i was quite impressed - my diesel skoda averaged only 38mpg last year)

When we arrived one of the first cars we saw in town was a black italian A500!

Anyone contemplating such a journey, the A500 is a surprisingly practical car assuming only 2 people and you use the back seat for bags. We got all our gear in the car no problem and it wasn't as unpleasant a journey as i was expecting - it was only the sustained noise that got to me after 12 hrs!

Few photos below - i will put a post in general A500 re the roof rack for those interested in how it works

Brilliant! Great car to have in a ski resort. Enjoy your hol. 

Abarth sponsored some Apline activity this weekend but it wasn't at Courmayer it was at Sestriere but just to keep with the Apline flavour here is the promo. The A500 looks fantastic with the pod lights on the front but as Ruxpin's A500 shows they don't stay all shiney and clean for long.

I've had Facebook updates about that daily. Looks like great fun.   

I'm back from skiing already unfortunately - 1 week goes very quickly 

The motorways in france must be salted heavily as the car was filthy by the time we got back but given it was -5C all the way through the mountains and reached a high of +2C by the time we reached Calais i'm not complaining. I was also very grateful of the winter tyres.

It will get washed at some point.....

Hahahaha quality  looks like a brilliant holiday to

What snow tyres did you have on? Any pictures of the worst roads that you traveled on or were they all good and mostly salted?

There wasn't any real snow on the roads this year - the hotel car park in the photos above was as bad as it got.

The real problem is that to get to Courmayeur it is a 130kph motorway all the way to Chamonix. The last 2hrs of the motorway is an alpine road which is suprisingly twisty with big drops behind the crash barriers which when coupled with -5C means i was glad to have winter tyres........(Pirelli Snowcontrol Serie II)

It's also not always that nice.....few photos below from the drive 2 years ago

1st one on the motorway, 2nd going through chamonix, 3rd on the road upto the Mont Blanc tunnel, 4th my fabia i think??!!

Just spotted this, Abarth looks ace 

I currently drive a VRS and have set my mind on a Abarth next(wife wants a MINI).  How you finding the difference on fuel?  I currently average 43 MPG on a mix of driving and am prepared for a hit going back to petrol but just wondered how you found it?

Only just seen your message - i'll drop you a u2u

Go for the abarth! 

Ruxpin,

Did you previously post on MLOC?  Small world if so (I have S1 Exige and AGP SS).