ground clearance

[trinME]

Hi Chris- You know my concern- what is the ground clearance, what is the lowest point? The most useful information would be under real world conditions; i.e. w/fluids, driver, and passenger. -TR

[Fiat500USA]

trinME wrote

Hi Chris- You know my concern- what is the ground clearance, what is the lowest point? The most useful information would be under real world conditions; i.e. w/fluids, driver, and passenger. -TR

The ground clearance measurement was recorded at curb weight, which is full fluids.  

[trinME]

Thanks Chris. So the 4.1" is correct?
Looking at the above photo, on a different monitor with better contrast, I see there's a flat black lip/insert, that extends below the rest of the bumper. If that's made of rubber, and is indeed the lowest point on the car, I'm not concerned about contact with hard objects, such as a curb. I'm still interested in how that lip will interact with snow, however. -TR

[cinquecento]

Just eyeballing the picture, keep in mind those are 16" wheels, so the radius of the wheel is 8".  Using this, I'd say the car is riding at least 6" off the ground, maybe more.  If someone took the time to scale it they could extract the preproduction ground clearance from the pictures.

I'm 100% sure it's more than 4", though.

[trinME]

I agree that the clearance under most of the car, including the rocker panels, appears to be more than 6". But if you look at the flat black lip under the front bumper, it appears to be closer to 4". I foresee the potential for problems if the car is pushing a wave of snow ahead of itself, in anything over 4".  Hopefully, some of those pre-release test miles have been in wintry conditions, and any problems that show up have been rectified. -TR

[Fiat500USA]

trinME wrote

I agree that the clearance under most of the car, including the rocker panels, appears to be more than 6". But if you look at the flat black lip under the front bumper, it appears to be closer to 4". I foresee the potential for problems if the car is pushing a wave of snow ahead of itself, in anything over 4".  Hopefully, some of those pre-release test miles have been in wintry conditions, and any problems that show up have been rectified. -TR

Last night I was trying to come up with the European spec clearance. I'll work on that.

[jakeliu]

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[shaaneson]

I foresee the potential for problems if the car is pushing a wave of snow ahead of itself, in anything over 4".  Hopefully, some of those pre-release test miles have been in wintry conditions, and any problems that show up have been rectified.