Hello to everyone on the Abarth Forum. It's a great idea to have an Abarth forum, as it does get a little silly on some forums towards Abarth owners and enthusiasts.

I thought it would be nice if we could let everyone know who they are chatting with on this forum, it may lead to people feeling a little more comfortable in telling people their opinions.

I'll start then. My name is John, I am the franchise Manager for Vospers Abarth in Plymouth. We are the sole Abarth Dealers for the south west. We are a family run buisness that pride itself on its customer care.

I myself drive a G.P. Abarth, and as we speak, it is being fitted with the Esse Esse kit.

Being a dealer, I feel that I can possibley give the best, most accurate information about the brand, and hopefully I will be able to correct some of the misinformed rumours that often surface about Abarth.

I've been quite well known on the "Italiaspeed" forum for a while now, and i'll always make sure that anything I post is correct!

I was very lucky this year to go to the lauch of the G.P. Abarth in Turin, during which, we got to have a day in the Abarth Factory, and half a day at the Ballocco test facility driving the car. 

If you have any questions, ask away and i'll do my best to answer as quick as possible.

Hello chaps, good idea.

Well my names Andrew, living in the sunny Midlands.

Am a bit of a hot hatch fan, currently drive a Lupo GTI and my other half has a Panda 100HP. I write about my Lupo in the longtermer section of the recently relaunched Performance Car magazine, which might be of minor interest...http://performancecarmagazine.co.uk/longtermers.asp.

I've had a few Fiats in the past, and its always been disappointing that they have never really cultivated a performance model range, so I'm thrilled that not only are they launching hot models but they are also making a special effort to separate the Abarth models from the cars they are based on. Its also very nice to have a place to chat about them too!

Welcome Chris. Sounds like you bought the right combination on the car, White with skydome does look great. Any plans to Esse Esse it?

As far as insurance goes, it is only 2 groups higher with the kit, so shouldn't make too much difference.
As I said in another post, my demo is on the ramp in a million peices as we speak, and should be ready by Tuesday. It is quite a sight with the whole front end removed from the car, wish I had taken some photos now, I will wait until we do a customers car next week and i'll try to post some pics.
Don't know if the dealer told you when you bought the car, but be careful if you want to Esse Esse the car later. The first thing we have to do when you come back is to plug the examiner system into the car. If it shows that you have hit the rev limiter on the car, Turin will not let us put the kit on it.

Skydome is tried and tested. The same system is fitted to 500, Panda, Grande Punto and Bravo. I can honestly say I have only had one with a problem, and that was because the factory made the wiring to the switch too short.

Welcome Mick, nice to see someone from the Fiat Forum.
If you swap the wheels, make sure you get the right stud spacing because they are different to the Grande Punto.
Have fun with your new Abarth, i'm sure you'll have better service than you got with the Barchetta.

Hey guys, thanks for registering.

The whole CO2/road tax issue played a big part in my decision, too, and it's because of this I'm now sold on the idea of the Sport Boost button.

Hope you enjoy your car, Owen.

Hello,

I'm Fiona and I'm 31.  Live in Nottingham and work in Sheffield and Canary Wharf for a bank.  I'm a Scot who moved down here about 10 years ago.

I have a GPA in white, red mirrors, stripes and climate which my husband (Steve - Old Boy on Fiat Forum) and I picked up from Research in Nuneaton 2 or so weeks ago.

I'm 41 weeks pregnant (I know - it won't come out...) so not driving the GPA at the moment as I'm finding it easier to drive our auto 5 series.

Px'd our S reg Punto Sporting for the GPA.  This was a great car so was sad to see it go but wanted something a bit "safer" for the nipper.  Have a real soft spot for sporty Fiats.

Steve and I are car mad and we also have a Lotus Exige with a s/c honda type r engine jammed in the back for track day fun.  We are both heavily involved in the Midlands Lotus forum. 

Hopefully the GPA will get an esseesse kit for it's Xmas and we can maybe get it on track for a few laps.  I've already insured it as an SS (as the insurer (who are also my employer) calls it) to save grief later on.

I was at Donington on Sunday at a Lotus on Track trackday that was shared with the Alfa Romeo owners club.  The GPA got some great comments from the Alfa guys and seemed to be being photographed every 5 minutes.

Fiat Forum Abarth threads seemed to descend into bickering so decided not to join there.  This places seems friendly so hope to hang around and chat!  I'm sure Steve will be along to say "hi" soon.

Take care!