Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Do you know of a future Product you would like us to make?

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AnthonyV
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:37 pm

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by AnthonyV »

Being an enthusiast, as well as a business owner, I can see both sides of the coin. I understand fully what it entails to bring a new product to market, as well as the margin needed to make all your R&D, marketing etc... worth your time. That said, I've not seen a vehicle in quite some time begging more for a tuning tool to be made, nor a more perfect market for one then the Abarth/Turbo 500 platform.

In fact, from a business standpoint alone, I am honestly dumbfounded on how someone has not brought a tuning product like this to market yet for this car? I thought for certain, this would be the exact type of vehicle tuning firms would be falling over each other for to get something out before the other? The car is quite a serious performance vehicle, but more importantly in terms of marketing/sales, has a huge enthusiast backing! And very willing enthusiasts at that!

I know you guys mentioned concerns about how many piggyback tuning units we're out there on the market already, which might dilute the need for a flash tuner device. I can tell you with great certainty, that wouldn't be the case at all. For a similar example, look back about 10-12 years. When Subaru first launched their turbo model WRX here in the states, a plethora of tuners tried the piggyback thing. Literally thousands of piggybacks we're sold. Not much later, a few places started cracking the ecu's for them and writing tunes straight onto the ecu by mail in (that's about to start happening now for the 500). Fast forward a bit, and the Acessport gets released for Subaru. They sold a absolutely ludicrous amount of those things (was there first major breakthrough), despite the fact there we're heaps of piggyback tuners on the market already.

The reason for that being, people just want a simple device they can plug into a obd port and press a button. Nobody likes to screw with tearing into their brand new car, uncoupling piggyback harness wires, and stashing little boxes away every time they want to go back to stock or change something. It's just a pain in the ass, and from my experience with them, you seem to get widely varying results and reliability. It's quite simply, a headache. I know I have personally not done any ECU tuning with my car, as I've not seen anything that's a viable solution for what I want. I'm waiting for a product just like the ones you offer to come out for this car, and I know tons of other people are doing the same. Not only would you have the customers like me, you would have all the people that simply want to convert to a good, reliable, simple solution, and not deal with the mess of a piggyback.

As surprised as I am that nobody has done a flash tuner for these cars yet, the one thing I have no doubts about is that whomever is the first to bring one of these to market is gong to absolutely "clean up" on selling them. It's like somebody saying "hey if you drill there you'll strike oil"......but nobody's drilling. The first tuner to tap into it will do well to say the least. The only reason I've not done it myself is I don't have the resources nor skills required (i'm not a ecu tuner). You folks have both those things though, and could potentially be the first to bring a really breakthrough product to the FIAT community!

Cheers,

-Anthony
shagghie
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Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:49 pm

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shagghie »

Good points above Anthony...

As he mentioned there is one tuner that is close to having a bench tune (Mail in ECU) for the Abarth/500T/500L/Dart1.4T, and even they will be cleaning up in this community as there is so much disposable income with Abarth owners over other small platform cars. A lot of us own much bigger more expensive cars, other sports cars, exotics even. We ALL are enamored with the simple idea: 'small but wicked' with an Italian racing heritage that is unsurpassed globally. Most of us also want sleepers in this regard too. And we all come from diverse loyalties prior to the Abarth platform too.. me from the VAG community, many others, from the Lotus community, M3 owners, etc... and yet still, we're all dumbfounded with this car's potential and ability to out maneuver other cars on the road and on the track, and soon, even in the 1/4 mile.

We just need a tuner that wants to have their name on our cars at the track when everyone's jaws are dropping. Let's put it this way, I already even have a 'fan club' at the local SCCA SOLO2 events... people are so in love with this car, the way it sounds, the way it goes over the road...it looks to be the underdog, but really it's the new benchmark and everyone is starting to catch on to that fact. This isn't hyperbole or fanboy-ism here..this is coming from someone that has 25+ years behind him building up all different makes and models of cars. I've yet to be this excited about a platform in all that time.
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

All the info is really appreciated guys, we need to continue to rally for support. We've managed 27 thus far, and would really like to see 100 before month's end. Thanks again for all the support.
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
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Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

No posts since Friday? C'mon you guys are killing me..... :normal:
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

1. shadowshaggy
2. slickhead
3. musicsurf
4. mudking
5. shaggie
6. modular
7. crossfirecat
8. trevc
9. zyxelenator
10. ScorpionSkins
11. sk8ace
12. nevadaabarth
13. 1.4ldartowner
14. steven4264
15. racer
16. luka
17. sporadicMotion
18. redred
19. stubtail
20. d-abarth
21. tjgluth
22. dsmithpdx
23. Banzaitoyota
24. ivmil
25. charger66
26. AnthonyV - still waiting on your post on this forum, but added you to the list already.
27. jakehodge - he started a thread for the Dart 1.4L; so I'm hijacking his name and adding to our list :lol:
28. the stig - isn't able to register for some or another reason on this forum, so you're added now.
29. TorkMe - from our forum

Whether it's correct to put it here or not, its put here now anyways:

http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/showthre ... ybe/page13

It's the link to our forum, for DiableSport's sake, and you can see what everyone has to really say about it. We have nothing to hide here, we really want to see a flash tuner come to market and we're looking into every avenue. Still trying to get the support to get this going, but we'll see where that lands us at a later point in time.
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garrett
Site Admin
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Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by garrett »

Please take 10 minutes, even if you don't particularly want a DiabloSport tuner, to register and make a post. I don't care if you forget about it afterwards, just need a little bit of initial support to get them to get a Beta Test out. .
I don't find this to be very productive, in the least bit.
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shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

garrett, I really didn't mean that the way it came across. I apologize for extremely poor wording. I suppose there's really not a better way to word it though.

At any rate, you guys have to acknowledge as well, that you're not the only company that's interested in working on this project. We've got 4 others that have expressed interest. Also, even if we gather 10,000 people that had requested this product; your company has made it EXTREMELY clear to us that there's no guarantee it'll happen, and most certainly won't gain any spots in the list of stuff being worked on. I've got a list of emails from Vas V. that make it clear to myself that no amount of interest will guarantee anything. I haven't purchased a piggyback, because I think their foolish. I want a flash tuner, that I have some degree of control over. You requested a list, and I had to make some remarks that I probably shouldn't have made just to get one of the mods here to say anything. The first comment from one of you guys was you actually, telling me that you guys basically have better things to do in the mean time than worry about us.

No one here got a welcome or hey thanks for your interest or anything in regards to me trying to generate some interest in your company. I said what I said realizing you can look at the forum, I wouldn't have posted a link to my other thread otherwise. It was intended for the people looking into purchasing a tuner, but I know you guys do read these comments as well.

I've read some of the other threads in this section....shame on some people for what they've said, it's quite disrespectful. There's also some points being made by the mods, shame on them for treating customers/potential customers that way. Telling me I have to do all the marketing work for your company is disrespectful towards me as a new customer.

If I stepped on someones toes, life's hard get a helmet. I don't really do being treated poorly by a company that I want to spend money with, it inclines me to not do so.

You've mentioned that you previously have looked into the Abarth's a little, from what little tuning experience I have; you can't look into tuning a little, you either have or have not. If you have, you would have some realistic answer as to what would be required to make a tuner. I work for a living and for my money, I'm not going to piss it away on some half ass done tuner.

If we can all get beyond this, I'll be gathering more support in the mean time. You guys have to see this from our perspective as well, not just yours. We don't like doing legwork, just to be told in the end its not worth your time.

As someone pointed out previously, you're not tuning heritage. The Abarth family has been around for many years, and isn't going anywhere. There's thousands of these cars, maybe not as many as SRT's, but plenty all the same.

I'm sure I'll catch flack for this, or maybe not, don't really care. I speak my mind because there's no real other way to get through life.
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garrett
Site Admin
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Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by garrett »

What you're not seeing is of the thousands of users on your forum, only twenty some odd users have voiced their opinion. Your site boasts as the largest fiat community, but the interest just hasnt showed thus far. Nobody is asking you to do any legwork, but what we do ask is that you generate some interest. If the interest is truly there it will show with the support.

You're perception of being the "Salesman" is the wrong attitude. We have lots of projects in the works, and to make a tune for a vehicle requires lots of Research and Development. There's no hard feelings here, but we do need to see the response from the community to gauge how much interest is truly in the tuning aspect of the Fiat Abarth community.

We have, over the last few months, been gauging interest in the Hyundai Genesis turbo market. If you take a look at the you would see how much interest and buzz there is around getting a device. There's several threads and polls going and this is still something we're working on. It's not an overnight process by any means.

http://www.diablosport.com/forum/viewto ... 17&t=45509

http://www.gencoupe.com/engine/119643-a ... e-now.html



Again, if the interest is truly there, it will show.
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shadowshaggy
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Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

You do bring up a very interesting point as an aside, why hasn't anyone from here made such a thread in our forum? He reached out to the Genesis guys.....not the other way around. We shall start our own poll!

I'm with that garrett, I really am. I don't expect you guys to drop what you're doing just to work on the Abarth's. Do I find it rather odd they've been in the U.S. for 3MY now, and you still haven't developed a tuner for them? Yes, yes I do find that peculiar. I understand as well, that the Genesis has been around for a few more MY, and you're now working on them. I am interested in results next year, not next month. I will base my purchase at that time on who has developed a proper product and will probably end up with more than one of them, because I want a real comparison between the units. So, I suppose I'll continue to stir up interest in a DS tuner on here, as well as on our forum. By the way, not everyone on our forum has an Abarth, most of them have the base models and some have the Sport Turbo; but there are quite a few Abarth owners cropping up. As shaggie said previously, they're also cropping up at Auto-X events and making a name for themselves without a tuner. We're all interested to see what'll happen with a real tune :twisted:
abarth phreak
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:16 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by abarth phreak »

Garrett,

First and foremost, I am interested in a quality tuner and would pay a reasonable premium to get one developed. I can bet that many other Abarth, DART and Turbo owners here would be willing to do the same, for a quality product that delivers results. I come from the SRT-4 Community, having owned two 2005 SRT-4s with one at over 400hp and the other over 500hp at the wheels, and I can respect the work that goes into getting cars to maximize their performance and of the need for proper control systems. DiabloSport was one of the better names in the handful of available controllers on the market. Thank you and DS for that support.

It is true that the Fiat 500 community is pretty small compared to some other makes, but keep in mind the product is still new in the US. There are plenty of owners, but as you know not everyone is on the forums, not everyone has a computer, not everyone even knows what a tuner unit is. Some of that is because DS has not released one to be talked about yet. It is a small community, but we talk and network well. You must already realize that the 25 plus names you see so far are just a small sample of the potential sales on this. I would say well under 5% of what would be yielded at product launch. You see a DiabloSport sticker on my car and you know what I have and then want it right? What I am seeing here is an opportunity for DiabloSport to capitalize on the market by being the first to get there. In doing that, 100% of the business will be yours as EVERYONE would want a tuner. It would be hard for other tuners to get that business because of the size and investment needed. Piggybacks would be forgot about...especially at their crazy price point.

What I am saying is, we would like a true business perspective with a positive attitude that it can be done. We need honest consideration for this for it to even be possible. If you need 200 units of interest at a price point of $500, how many do you need for it if we accepted a reasonable premium on it? (We would step up that way)

I know of 5 guys right now that I can reach out to locally who would be interested that are not on the forum...but just like you, I do not want to waste my time if the attitude of support is not high from DiabloSport. Tell us exactly what you need so we can do it, but provide positive support for us in our efforts also. If Diablo Sport has no real interest, whatever the reason, be honest about it and tell us that too so we do not waste your time or ours. But remember, someone eventually will be the first.

Lastly, you may want to speak with TorkMe about what he already knows about the system, it might just make the entire process that much easier as he has already been inside the systems current files and has seen some serious gains in performance. The potential is already there and proven.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. I hope to see DiabloSport at the Podium.


"If your not first, your last."
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

Good news everyone, especially the DS admins:

http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/showthre ... post640929

We now have an official poll. I'll include the 500L (which uses the same engine) below as well.

http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/poll.php ... howresults

So, now it's sort of a better deal. We should be able to compile a list of names from our voting on a monthly basis.
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

We've got 47 votes between the Abarth/500T/500L thus far on our poll. You'll have to check the link to see the results:

http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/forumdis ... erformance
http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/poll.php ... howresults

So far, so good though. Our goal is 100 by the end of November, the poll has been up since Friday; and it's only Tuesday. Have a few more days to get another 50 votes. Our next goal beyond that is 250 by January 1. Thanks again for the support guys, and make sure to tell your friends with any of those three vehicles, that are interested, to vote in the poll.
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

I feel as if I'm being ignored a little here....We've got 62 positive votes, no negative.

Links to polls/threads for DS Admins to check out:

http://www.fiat500owners.com/forum/9-fi ... post339993

http://www.fiat500owners.com/forum/51-f ... turbo.html

http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/showthre ... 500L-Turbo

http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/showthre ... post641614

So now that all my support is now headed in the proper direction through the proper channels at their respective locations, we're off to a good start. Now its time for the voting to really ramp up :drivingbad: , 100 by the end of the month and 250 by January 1
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

So lets say Jan 1 we have the 250 people that have expressed their interest, what would hypothetically be the timeline this project would gain any traction inside the company? I realize it's not going to get done overnight, or even in 6 weeks; but will we see a product for sale in Summer 2014?
shadowshaggy
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:29 am

Re: Fiat 500 Abarth 1.4L Turbo Tuner

Post by shadowshaggy »

And.....we're at 68 now :mrgreen:
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