NF500 / petrol engines

Novitec specialise in tuning and styling products for the Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Fiat brands, so it should come as no surprise that they have turned their hand to hotting up Fiat’s baby 500.

For the 1.3 litre turbo-diesel unit, a 335€ plug-and-play control module will give your 500 some added pep, taking the performance up to 83 from 70 hp, and reducing the 0-62 mph time to a respectable 11.9 seconds.

If that sounds a little run-of-the-mill, considering Novitec are far from the first to tune the diesel 500, maybe their petrol based shenanigans will raise your heckles a little more. Both the 1.4 and 1.6 petrol engines can both be fitted with a supercharger, this boost the engine output to a maximum 131 hp, and ups torque output from 131 nm to 172 nm. This gives the diminutive Fiat 500 a kick in the pants that can propel it from 0-62 mph in 8.8 seconds, to a top speed of 198 km/h.

If you’re as interested in styling as you are performance, Novitec can also supply stainless steel exhaust systems with one or two exit points, a front apron with spoiler and additional air dams, and 16 or 17 inch multispoke alloy wheels.

Suspension upgrades are also offered in two flavours, either sport springs in combination with the production shock absorbers or a height-adjustable coil-over sport suspension set which can lower the car from 30 mm to 80mm.

This isn’t new news, but worth revisiting and certainly worthy of a mention on NF500 for those unaware of the future plans for powering the new Fiat 500.

The original Fiat 500 “Topolino”, as many will be aware, was powered by a rear mounted twin-cylinder engine. The new 500, while swapping the engine to the front in a similar fashion to Volkswagen’s new Beetle, will return to two-cylinder power in the not too distant future. Although the new Multiair engines from FPT (Fiat Powertrain) will have nothing very retro about them in terms of their design or technology.

Twin cylinder engines have been considered a thing of the past by many due to being difficult to refine in terms of balancing economy, reasonable levels of performance, and most significantly refinement, but following years of development work Fiat believe they can offer a winning package.

The 0.9 litre version of the new Multiair engine is due to replace the 1.2 litre petrol engines in the Fiat car range, while the 1.4 litre petrol engines will also adopt Multiair technology to improve their performance in all areas.

Replacing the 1.2 litre engines with the new 0.9 litre twin cylinder model will improve fuel economy by over 20%, while Multiair technology could improve the 1.4 litre petrol engines by offering 10% improved torque figures, 10% better fuel consumption and a 50% reduction in emissions for both naturally aspirated and turbo variants.

All this will of course go towards helping Fiat achieve their claim that by 2012, the Fiat Group will have the lowest weighted average emissions of any other manufacture.

Full details of Fiats engine plans can be found in the official PDF from Fiat Powertrain in our downloads section on NF500.

This press release from Fiat dates back to March 2007. We’re repeating it Today, ahead of the 500 Live event taking place this evening, to provide a reminder of Fiat’s goals and ambitions for their new Bambina. The press release was accompanied by the first official photographs of the new Fiat 500, which you can view in the NF500 Flickr Group.

On July 4, 1957, in Turin, Fiat presented the Nuova Fiat 500, a real icon of our times, with which Fiat concluded a revival that had begun straight after the Second World War. On July 4, 2007, exactly 50 years later, again in Turin, Fiat will present the new Fiat 500 which will be marketed immediately after the launch. And the new car will conclude an equally important cycle of revival for Fiat Automobiles SpA.

Developed by the Fiat Style Centre and manufactured in the plant in Tychy (Poland), the new 500 is a 3-door model with very compact measurements: it is 355 cm long, 165 cm wide, 149 cm tall and has a wheelbase of 230 cm. The car is extremely entertaining to drive, due to its three engines: a 75 bhp 1.3 16v Multijet turbodiesel unit and two petrol engines, the 69 bhp 1.2 8v and the 100 bhp 1.4 16v, all of which are available with five or six speed mechanical gearboxes.

The model confirms Fiat Automobiles SpA’s undisputed leadership in this category - a result of its extraordinary heritage of technical, design and human experience accumulated in over a century - and it takes a quality leap forward in terms of comfort and safety, technology and equipment for this segment. The new 500 is the most up-to-date solution for the motorist who ‘enjoys’ his car in complete freedom, appreciates it for day-to-day use, but also wishes to drive a car that is entertaining and practical, environmentally-friendly and accessible, but also appealing and full of fun.