Automotive

Hopefully you will find the Cinquecento e a nice contrast to your other soulful cars.

I find that when I am behind the wheel, I tend to drive it completely differently than any other car I've ever driven, and even mentally I find myself in a completely different state of mind, though not necessarily in ways one would think.

A few things I've come to realize - 

I have definitely gotten used to the total completely silent smoothness of the experience

Range anxiety can be managed; one finds oneself doing much more trip planning, naturally.

You will find others tend to wander into your path; not sure why...

With the lower COG it actually handles quite nicely and surprisingly has a tighter radius than the Abarth (Surprisingly) - it has a turning radius about what you would expect for such a short wheelbase.

The short and narrow body really allows you to zip around and you go for tighter spaces, both moving and parking, very intuitively.

The off the line torque is quite impressive, tough it can result in torque steer since it is a fwd car.  But lead footing it also sucks down the battery reserves mighty fast.

I've found the most efficient, range-wise, way to drive is to maximize coasting, with smooth light acceleration.  Funny how quickly one adapts to this driving style.

Figure about 1 mile for 1% of battery power in stop and go with smooth acceleration; 20% less for freeway steady state cruising and 30-40% less for aggressive driving on flat roads; even less for uphill.

One very unexpected side effect is that I find myself coming up on the car in front of me, either in a straight line, or when pulling into next lane, much more quickly and unexpectedly than in any other car I've ever driven. not sure if it is because of the lack of sensory feedback - vibrations and auditory; or due to the size...but had more than one unintended close calls so far.

Enjoy, glad the WanderingPurist was able to put you on to a good thing!

TM

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