Photo: Fiat
Fans of automatic transmissions were undoubtedly happy when Fiat announced that it would offer an automatic on the 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth and Turbo models, but what they make up for in not having to manually shift they will give up in terms of fuel economy. With the 2015 Fiat 500 going on sale later this summer, the EPA has announced fuel economy for these new models.
Generally speaking, modern automatic transmissions are more efficient than manual gearboxes, but this isn’t the case with the 2015 Fiat 500. For both the 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth and 2015 Fiat 500 Turbo, the new option for a six-speed automatic transmission will result in EPA-estimated fuel economy of 24 mpg city, 32 mpg highway and 27 mpg combined. This compares to EPA numbers of 28 mpg city, 34 mpg highway and 30 mpg combined for the 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth equipped with the five-speed manual transmission, which was previously the only option you could choose on this model.
With an official output of 157 hp and 183 lb-ft of torque, the 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth will be getting a decent bump in torque when equipped with the automatic transmission, although horsepower will be down slightly. Models equipped with the manual gearbox will be rated at 160 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque.
Fiat has still not released pricing for the 2015 Fiat 500 lineup, so it’s not clear how much the new automatic transmission will cost on the Abarth or Turbo models. For comparison, though, the standard Fiat 500 could be equipped with the automatic as a $1,250 option for the 2014 model year.
Production for the 2015 Fiat 500 started last month at Chrysler’s Toluca Assembly Plant in Toluca, Mexico, and in addition to the new transmission, the Fiat 500 will be getting an updated interior and new cabin tech. The new technology includes an all-new instrument gauge cluster that now features a seven-inch thin film transistor (TFT) high-definition color display instead of the previous model’s analog dials and small digital screen.
With an official output of 157 hp and 183 lb-ft of torque, the 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth will be getting a decent bump in torque when equipped with the automatic transmission, although horsepower will be down slightly. Models equipped with the manual gearbox will be rated at 160 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque.
Fiat has still not released pricing for the 2015 Fiat 500 lineup, so it’s not clear how much the new automatic transmission will cost on the Abarth or Turbo models. For comparison, though, the standard Fiat 500 could be equipped with the automatic as a $1,250 option for the 2014 model year.
Production for the 2015 Fiat 500 started last month at Chrysler’s Toluca Assembly Plant in Toluca, Mexico, and in addition to the new transmission, the Fiat 500 will be getting an updated interior and new cabin tech. The new technology includes an all-new instrument gauge cluster that now features a seven-inch thin film transistor (TFT) high-definition color display instead of the previous model’s analog dials and small digital screen.
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