Alfa Romeo MiTo at the dealer

[teatako]

If you want a N/A engine with good throttle response then the easiest way is to get more cubes.

even easier if I get a bike, and i get even higher revs!. seriously though, that´s not even half the civic´s issue, if you leave in neutral and stab the throttle, you´d normally expect the revs to climb dramatically in a vtec engine designed for high revs. not the case.

[LeonOfTheDead]

even easier if I get a bike, and i get even higher revs!. seriously though, that´s not even half the civic´s issue, if you leave in neutral and stab the throttle, you´d normally expect the revs to climb dramatically in a vtec engine designed for high revs. not the case.

it's not that easy. required emissions levels influence a lot the engine's response, and performance engines like Honda's ones suffer it quite heavily, it changed a lot their behavior compared to older models.
electronic controlled throttle doesn't help neither.

[teatako]

it's not that easy. required emissions levels influence a lot the engine's response, and performance engines like Honda's ones suffer it quite heavily, it changed a lot their behavior compared to older models.
electronic controlled throttle doesn't help either.

If it´s for environmental reasons, that´s different. Won´t complain then. treehugging FTW

[cmcpokey]

i had an R53 S. and i just liked having the power available to me. didnt like the 'lag' that was there below 3k. like teatako said about the civic, the engine just failed to climb with out keeping your foot burried. i think Ferrer's mini might not have has as much problem with it, since the fuel you get in europe is a significantly higher octane than it is here. and the higher octane really helps.

normal cars for me are not big V8 camaros and such. i have had small 4 cyls up until my current G35. that does have the torque that i didnt really have with the mini.

[LeonOfTheDead]

i had an R53 S. and i just liked having the power available to me. didnt like the 'lag' that was there below 3k. like teatako said about the civic, the engine just failed to climb with out keeping your foot burried. i think Ferrer's mini might not have has as much problem with it, since the fuel you get in europe is a significantly higher octane than it is here. and the higher octane really helps.

normal cars for me are not big V8 camaros and such. i have had small 4 cyls up until my current G35. that does have the torque that i didnt really have with the mini.

I knew that US fuels have less octane than here, but how much less? average octane in US?
here is 95, and 98 with "premium" fuels.

[clutch-monkey]

isince the fuel you get in europe is a significantly higher octane than it is here. and the higher octane really helps.

I knew that US fuels have less octane than here, but how much less? average octane in US?
here is 95, and 98 with "premium" fuels.

iirc there is no difference, but merely a different rating system..if anything the US equivalents are more consistent than europe.

[M_M]

iirc there is no difference, but merely a different rating system..if anything the US equivalents are more consistent than europe.

Oh really? I once read that in the U.S. average fuel octane was something like 91 or even less...

[Ferrer]

I knew that US fuels have less octane than here, but how much less? average octane in US?
here is 95, and 98 with "premium" fuels.

I always put 95 in it. And it's always been fine.

From 1500rpm it pulls cleanly. But I thinks it's not only the engine but the short gearing that helps there too. In fact 6th can be used from about 50km/h (~30mph) and in the motorway you never need to get out of 6th gear, even if you get stuck behind a lorry doing 90-100km/h when it pulls out you can accelerate quite fast without changing down.

[clutch-monkey]

Oh really? I once read that in the U.S. average fuel octane was something like 91 or even less...

87 and 91 MON. not RON. But Europe does have higher octanes available i think.
Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[LeonOfTheDead]

this afternoon I was out with the GF and found a black MiTo with 17" wheels at the mall
I find it way better in the flesh than in pics, and the wheels are ok imo, they look big enough. the front is curvaceous, but not as much as it looks on jpeg, and I like it. the overall look is quite impressive for a car of that segment, better than any (new) Mini or 500.
sure, the car could be lowered by one or two inches. but it still really good looking.

[M_M]

the overall look is quite impressive for a car of that segment, better than any (new) Mini or 500.

I like the Mini or the 500 more (a lot more...).

sure, the car could be lowered by one or two inches.

Oh, that's for sure...

Last Sunday I went to the Alfa Romeo dealer to test the MiTo (I also took some pics, if anybody is interested).
There were two MiTo to test: a black 1.4 TB and a white 1.6 Mjet. They both had sticker on the bonnet and on the side (will post some pics). So, I had a go with the Turbo Benzina.
First of all, parking sensor are absolutely compulsory: you can almost see nothing when you turn your head to look behind the car. Windows are small... and the ass is big
Then I had something like a 3 minutes test drive, so I can't be too comprehensive.
The first thing I noticed was the clutch: waaay tooo soft/light, even lighter than my Corsa's clutch (and the MiTo also has double the torque...). But probably I could get used to it, after a few time spent behind the steering wheel.
Dunno what to say about comfort, the roads I drove on were not rough (can I say that?).
And now the engine: I didn't floor the pedal in the first minutes (I wanted to concentrate on something else, like the noise: not bad at all, especially when you turn the car on, but the car is maybe a bit too loud when cruising. I don't know whether Alfa's engineers did that to make the engine's roar constantly audible) but then I did... Woah, I haven't driven cars such the Mini Cooper S but... what an engine! It reminded me what torque is
You can put it in 4th or even 5th gear and then accelerate. If you push the pedal just to its half, the car seems to accelerate like my Corsa. Then you push it a bit more (or you floor it) and the the car accelerates brilliantly! And there were three people in the car.
Oh, and you can tell the engine was built with low/mid rpms torque in mind: when you go near 5500rpm, you can actually feel that the push start to vanish. But that's ok, I think, the engine is always a 1.4cc...
What else? I didn't cornered too violently, so I can't tell about the chassis, but a friend of mine (the one with the R56 Cooper) told me that the chassis was not as firm as the one underneath the Mini. But we both agreed on the MiTo's engine...
Last thing to add: I don't like the interior but it's nicely trimmed with quite good quality plastics. But the power windows switchers are a bit too distant from you left hand when you search them...

P.S.: I drove the car in Dynamic and Normal mode. When switching from N to D you can actually feel the engine roaring a bit more. I was driving at constant speed and switched to D: the rpms raised of about 500rpm. Dunno if I've been clear...

[Street_Dreamer]

I like the Mini or the 500 more (a lot more...)

I can understand the 500. But the new New Mini? *shudders*. It's a monstrosity. The old New Mini was a good looking car; even if i didn't like it, i'll admit that much, but the new one is horrid.

[LeonOfTheDead]

I can understand the 500. But the new New Mini? *shudders*. It's a monstrosity. The old New Mini was a good looking car; even if i didn't like it, i'll admit that much, but the new one is horrid.

I don't find it horrid, but being too similar to the old New Mini, it lacks of the appeal the first had, and also the new one has more banal details. I had some hard times looking at the differences between the two, and that is enough for me to say that they fail with the style.

[Street_Dreamer]

I don't find it horrid, but being too similar to the old New Mini, it lacks of the appeal the first had, and also the new one has more banal details. I had some hard times looking at the differences between the two, and that is enough for me to say that they fail with the style.

The healights and higher waistline make it look fat. That alone, makes me hate it.