The Shadow 

"TysMagic" (twjeffery) 10/25/2016 at 10:33 • Filed to: None

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Trying to figure out what fun thing to do next with the loaner Fiat. I’ve had it coming on a month now. My Abarth has been in the shop for a list of things, mostly for getting the top replaced.

It’s a 500 sport try hard edition; black, black wheels, black housings, with an all black interior - tint the windows and you’re set to vape with the pros. My wife and I have dubbed it The Shadow .

It had not been cleaned when I drove off in it. I found a sweet traditional christian mix tape in the glove box, McDonalds trash (filet o’fish tbox to be specific, judge that as you will) , some make up, and a few sockets - considering keeping those.

So far I have:

1. Regularly park at the back of parking spaces while parked next to larger vehicles

2. Squeezed in to small spots where typical BMW drivers have parked

2.5 Squeezed in to small spots in traffic after having to swerve around people who cut me off because they don’t see me (which was not a problem in the red Abarth - bright colors save road rage people)

3. Road tripped from Nashville to Tulsa - where I tried to get reasonable gas mileage, but failed to achieve the 40 mpg as advertised. No A/C and cruise control majority of the way. I suspect I could reach 40 mpg if I was cruising closer to 55 mph, but that was 10-15 mpg below the speed limit.

this is .8 from being a totally empty tank

Some quick pics of the trip

Stayed in an EconoLodge - broke the trip up in two I had no where to be as my wife flew to Tulsa earlier

Made a Fiat friend at the EconoLodge

Classic trashy gas station stuff

Look at this lil cutie (get it, that’s a joke boy)

I’ve put about 2,800 miles on it so far. It has recently developed a very obnoxious high pitched speak when the blower is on low, so that’s cool for a car with six thousand some odd miles.

It’s been requested to see how fast it’ll go in reverse. Any thing I should be looking to do with my otherwise pretty average loaner car?

Milky > TysMagic 10/25/2016 at 10:40

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my roommates’ Abarth has been in the shop twice. Once because he got hit and one time for a wheel bearing. What the hell is wrong with your car?

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Milky 10/25/2016 at 10:44

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It’s a Fiat. That’s what’s wrong with it.

TysMagic > Milky 10/25/2016 at 10:47

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It’s a cabrio and something broke in the top. It’s built so that if something breaks they replace the whole thing as a unit. Fortunately it’s very uncommon for them to break. Unfortunately because it’s so uncommon I had to wait like two months for it to arrive on the slowest boat from Italy. It’s quite the process to replace it. It included taking out the windshield for some reason. They’re also replacing my instrument cluster which is not like the one pictured about, but the older style. It fades out in the heat.
There is also a mysterious noise from the front end they’re trying to diagnose. It’s common for the strut top hats to go bad, so hopefully the easy fix of that.
GOOD NEWS: all under warranty and I’m paying a lump sum of zero for all of it.

Milky > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 10/25/2016 at 10:52

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Sideways on dirt thinks only Toyotas hold together.

TysMagic > Milky 10/25/2016 at 10:54

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FP makes me feel like Buick is the new standard of reliability regardless of being ranked below toyota/lexus

Milky > TysMagic 10/25/2016 at 10:55

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Well shit. Hopefully its done soon.

TysMagic > Milky 10/25/2016 at 10:57

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ETA is by week end, but I haven’t put a lot of faith in that.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Milky 10/25/2016 at 11:06

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While I think 80s and 90s Toyotas are the peak of car quality bang-for-buck (and might still be today), they’re far from the only things I’m impressed with the reliability of. Had an unkillable 90s Datsun Nissan Quest, an unreliable Tercel (fuck the 3e engine), and feel like the overall best car I’ll ever own was a 2000 Hyundai Elantra wagon. I love first-gen Saturns. My two least reliable cars were both early 90s Hondas which I’m generally a fan of otherwise. I was just surrounded by a bunch of Toyotas from that era that just kept going no matter what you did to them with the exception of that goddamn 3E. It just seems like the window for them is different. They’re not like a Honda from the era that needs to be run hard to be good.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > TysMagic 10/25/2016 at 12:12

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You’re a terrible person, because of #1 lol

TysMagic > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/25/2016 at 12:23

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When I first started driving my Abarth I made a pledge that I wouldn’t do that or other tiny car things. Then I got treated SO POORLY as a small car out on the roads that parking lot street justice was the only revenge.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > TysMagic 10/25/2016 at 13:07

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The interior is much improved with the 2015 refresh, but I can’t believe Fiat was cheap enough to skip the exterior facelift that Europe got.

The earliest 500s in the US are 4 years old now, and Fiat basically gave owners no reason to buy another one.

TysMagic > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 10/25/2016 at 13:13

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yyyeeeepppppppp! Benefit to that, you can pick up a used one for chump change and it looks just like the new ones.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > TysMagic 10/25/2016 at 13:16

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See this is why you get an Integra. At least here in Washington, most drivers are almost scared of me. I’ve only had it a few months and I can’t count how many times someone stopped at a 4-way stop before me and let me go first. Or slowed down on the Interstate to let me merge. I’ve gotten into a few awkward situations where we both slowed down equally while I was trying to merge.

It’s weird, I guess the insect eyes just strike fear into people.

TysMagic > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/25/2016 at 13:21

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It’s not the least respected car I’ve driven on the road, but it’s close.
My Ford Focus was treated the worst, people at least move for the Abarth.

Flip to this coin, I was unstoppable in my old XJ8 - people bowed out of the way wellllll before it was a problem.