Abarth 595 Esseesse 2019 Review
It's good in a bad sort of way. Essentially, the 595 is based on the same platform as the previous-generation Panda, which is getting on for 16 years old now. As a result, it's shot through with numerous compromises that hobble any claim on the title of 鈥榰ltimate hot hatch鈥? The Ford Fiesta ST is leagues ahead in terms of performance, outright ability and driver involvement, while even a car such as the slower Volkswagen Up GTI has the Esseesse covered in most dynamic areas. Yet despite this, it鈥檚 hard not to get at least a little bit swept up in the 595鈥檚 fizzy and frenetic character. With Sport mode selected to open the valves in the exhaust (and sharpen the otherwise leaden throttle), the 1.4-litre rasps into life before settling down to a gurgling idle. Blip of the throttle and the burble is overlaid with faint turbo whistle, just like on the Abarth 124 Spider.
It鈥檚 such an endearing sound that you鈥檙e almost willing to overlook the slightly old-school Italian long-arm and short-leg driving position, plus the high-set seat and pedals offset to the right. Still, those Sabelt buckets support in all the right places and the chunky steering wheel feels good in your hands. Move off and the first word that comes to mind is 鈥榝irm鈥? If you had two words spare, they would be 鈥榲ery firm鈥? On the pockmarked roads around our Turin test venue, the 595 bobbed over the surface with unwavering accuracy, rendering each imperfection in HD detail. Bigger potholes are simply too much for the short-travel suspension, with occupants occasionally launched out of their seats. Yet despite the stiffness of the set-up, the Koni dampers do a decent job of rounding off the sharpest edges, so while you're jostled, those sickening crashes you expect never come. There鈥檚 decent grip too, the Abarth clinging on gamely until the front eventually starts to wash wide. You sense this eventual small slide through the seat of the pants and your eyes rather than the steering, which is quite slow off the straightahead and lacking much feel. In Standard mode, the electrically assisted steering is fingertip light, while switching to Sport adds too much weight and a sticky resistance. Curiously, the mechanical limited-slip differential doesn鈥檛 play as big a part as you鈥檇 hope, as there鈥檚 none of that tightening of line you get from similar setups as you get on the throttle mid-corner. It鈥檚 only when the car is almost straight do you feel that trademark stiffening of the steering as the front wheels dig in and find traction.
The Geneva Motor Show 2014 is on-going at the moment and automobile manufacturers are quite busy previewing new cars over there. Audi has decided to use Geneva as its place to unveil the all new Audi TT. Although this is the all new and improved TT, people who aren't car people may think it is the same car. Audi, what prominent changes you have made to the TT. The wheel arches hark back to the original TT and is more definitive than the previous model , a character line running the entire side of the car complete the external package. This 2015 Audi TT is 20mm shorter at 4180mm than the outgoing model. Three 4-cylinder turbocharged, direct-injection engines will be initially offered. There are two 2.0 TFSI units, one a 230 HP / 370 Nm and a 310 HP / 380 Nm (280 lb-ft) TTS variant as well as a turbodiesel 2.0 TDI making 184 HP / 380 Nm torque. As for performance figures, the base 2.0 TFSI coupled to a six-speed manual gearbox enables this grown up Audi TT to achieve a 0-100 km/h in 6 seconds and 5.3s with S tronic DSG type transmission. It has a ECU limited maximum speed of 155 mph (250 km/h). The hotter 310 HP TTS quattro takes 4.7 seconds to 100km/h in both manual and S tronic gearbox and has the same limited maximum speed. The diesel TT would take 7.2 seconds to 100km/h and will max out at 146 mph (235 km/h). The interior air vents are pretty unique. They incorporate some of the air conditioning controls to the middle of the center vents keeping things relatively clean and neat inside.
This 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32 is one of 5,000 US-spec examples built, 2,000 of which were finished in Deep Blue Pearl. This particular car features partial leather and cloth upholstery and was sold new through Boardwalk Volkswagen Park Cities in Dallas, Texas. It remained with the original owner until late 2013, and was purchased by the second owner in January 2014. The seller acquired it in April 2014, and 14k of its 79,600 miles have been added since. Power comes from a 3.2-liter VR6 paired with a six-speed manual transmission and Haldex-based 4Motion all-wheel drive. This Mk4 R32 is offered with a clean Carfax report, records back to new, a car cover, battery maintainer, and a clean Michigan title in the seller鈥檚 name. Each R32 was equipped with 18鈥?OZ Racing Aristo alloy wheels. In July 2015 at 69,600 miles the seller had the wheels refinished and mounted new 225/40 series Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires.
