[ncmx5]

For any 124 Abarth owners I have a question. I just took out an Abarth for a test drive, it was alot of fun but as far the that sport toggle goes, I could not see any indication whether or not it was on.
Now I need to find one with recaro seats to see if its worth the extra money !

 

[frankmar]

For any 124 Abarth owners I have a question. I just took out an Abarth for a test drive, it was alot of fun but as far the that sport toggle goes, I could not see any indication whether or not it was on.
Now I need to find one with recaro seats to see if its worth the extra money !

I think it's lite near the sports mode button, I don't remember if it shows in one of the clusters.But I did feel a difference with sport mode, gas gage went fast down. >

 

[sweitznr]

The word SPORT shows in the window in the tachometer that indicates what gear you've selected. When you toggle you need to hold the position up for a few seconds before it engages. Probably a "feature" to make sure you really want to select sport mode.

 

[ncmx5]

OK yeah it was a quick test drive , I hadn't held it down for long and the traction control was on , It felt good to me but now I want to see what everyones talking about.

 

[RBH58]

I've never driven ours in non-Sports mode. I've always hit the Sport button straight after the Start button. A hangover from the MiTo which was actually undriveable in any other mode than Dynamic.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I've never driven ours in non-Sports mode. I've always hit the Sport button straight after the Start button. A hangover from the MiTo which was actually undriveable in any other mode than Dynamic.

I'm with you on this. The vague and ambiguous throttle pedal made me put it in sport mode as I was leaving the dealership for the first time. I havent driven it more than a few miles outside sport mode, and that's only because I forgot to turn it on, and then soon after fixed that.

 

[CANABARTH]

Hello, I also read somewhere that the engine mapping changes and full torque is available sooner....there is a big difference in response and steering feel. same here, car sluggish in normal mode.

 

[GuidoVeloce]

Are you sure that all of these things happen with the sport button? I measured boost curve with the Torque app and it is unchanged. The steering feels unchanged. The sound is unchanged. Mileage is unchanged.
The only thing that seems to change is the feel of the throttle and, possibly, the electronic stability control. I think that the button only affects the initial sensitivity of the throttle (nonlinearity) and EST. I like it, but it is not indispensable.

 

[Hapster]

The steering is definitely changed. You can jiggle the wheel a little bit in normal, but in sport, it's much more sensitive, when I was test driving, I preferred non sport on long straightaways, but sport on windy roads.

 

[RBH58]

Are you sure that all of these things happen with the sport button? I measured boost curve with the Torque app and it is unchanged. The steering feels unchanged. The sound is unchanged. Mileage is unchanged.
The only thing that seems to change is the feel of the throttle and, possibly, the electronic stability control. I think that the button only affects the initial sensitivity of the throttle (nonlinearity) and EST. I like it, but it is not indispensable.

I must admit I don't notice a huge difference. On our Alfa MiTo QV, the change from "Normal" to Dynamic was huge (throttle map, power delivery, damping, steering weight), on the 124 it's a LOT more subtle...if there at all IMHO.

 

[Jasonv1]

Make sure you hold it down for a few seconds; it needs that to enable. Obviously verify the light is on above the gear indicator.

I noticed a difference in acceleration, seemed like it went with slightly different shift points. Can't say I saw a difference in steering but I wasn't really looking one (yet).

 

[RBH58]

Make sure you hold it down for a few seconds; it needs that to enable. Obviously verify the light is on above the gear indicator.

I noticed a difference in acceleration, seemed like it went with slightly different shift points. Can't say I saw a difference in steering but I wasn't really looking one (yet).

Probably a lot more noticeable in the auto.

 

[Amante]

Probably a lot more noticeable in the auto.

There's an aha moment for me - I didn't know the Sport mode was available in the manual Abarth - thought it was just in the auto. The Lusso doesn't have it of course - but it sounds like it doesn't do a lot in the manual cars, so I don't need to be envious - do I?

 

[bffmike]

There's an aha moment for me - I didn't know the Sport mode was available in the manual Abarth - thought it was just in the auto. The Lusso doesn't have it of course - but it sounds like it doesn't do a lot in the manual cars, so I don't need to be envious - do I?

There's definitely a difference in a manual Abarth. It puts more torque at lower RPM's and stiffens the steering (and probably eats more gas as a result). Great on hills and winding roads and for getting in front of other cars when lane-changing. It's a much more spirited drive.

 

[RBH58]

There's definitely a difference in a manual Abarth. It puts more torque at lower RPM's and stiffens the steering (and probably eats more gas as a result). Great on hills and winding roads and for getting in front of other cars when lane-changing. It's a much more spirited drive.

Will have to try in again and. As I said, the difference in steering weight between modes on our Alfa MiTo was profound (it was awfully light in "Normal"). On the 124 it's nowhere near as chalk and cheese. My Renaultsport Megane used have 5 optional throttle maps. Throttle response could be set from "Doughy" (for snow) through "Linear" to "Hair Trigger". None of them changed the engine mapping or the outputs of the engine, but they sure felt like they did. It was an illusion.

 

[Jasonv1]

Oops, I described shift points but I have a manual (duh). The bit about torque is what I definitely feel.

There's definitely a difference in a manual Abarth. It puts more torque at lower RPM's and stiffens the steering (and probably eats more gas as a result). Great on hills and winding roads and for getting in front of other cars when lane-changing. It's a much more spirited drive.

 

[any]

There's definitely a difference in a manual Abarth. It puts more torque at lower RPM's and stiffens the steering (and probably eats more gas as a result). Great on hills and winding roads and for getting in front of other cars when lane-changing. It's a much more spirited drive.

I'm speaking about European Abarth. There is a LOT more torque at lower RPM's, You can fell the difference at 1500 RPM, but I don't see much difference in mpg, in both cases I'm around 31mpg (13Km/liter)
Also the stability control is less intrusive, in the same bend and condition, in one case I got the funny yellow light on the dash blinking, in the other I have the back sliding a bit 0

 

[RBH58]

Are you sure that all of these things happen with the sport button? I measured boost curve with the Torque app and it is unchanged.

Would be good to verify this, because I suspect the perceived "power boost" may be an illusion from having a more urgent mapping on the gas pedal. Would be nice to know if it's not producing the full beans in non-Sport-mode.

I don't think there's any doubt it loosens the stability control and changes the shift points on the auto version. I can't feel a huge difference in the steering but there may be a bit.

 

[Chaddy]

ALL the media reviews state four things change with Sports Mode
- Engine mapping
- Auto trans
- ESP sensitivity
- Steering weighting

Quote fiat500usa.com:
The Abarth is equipped with a Sport button and when engaged the Abarth's throttle response is more aggressive, and the engine's 184lbs-ft of torque is now available at 2500 rpm, 700 rpm lower than when not in Sport mode and the other Spider models. Classica and Lusso models do not have a Sport button. By comparison, these other models make 169lbs-ft of torque at 2500 rpm, 15 lbs-ft less than the Abarth in Sport mode at the same rpm.

In Sport mode, automatic transmission shift calibrations are also changed, and gears are held longer, and shifts are made quicker. Steering calibration is also modified, and stability control settings have more oversteer dialed in for an even sportier handling feel.

 

[RBH58]

Thanks. That seems to clarify it.