Introduction: The Fiat 500 was originally introduced in 1957 as a sort of people's car in the same vein as the Volkswagen Beetle. A very inexpensive and small city car that's affordable to most people regardless of income. Back then it was equipped with a various selection of 2-cylinder engines all smaller than 600cc but weighing less than 500 kg. Ever since this car, Italy's mobility increased significantly and to this day focus heavily on making good small cars while also making today's fastest supercars. Today's car is a essentially a look back at the historical significance of the original 500. This new car was first introduced in 2007. Major changes have been made, first its based off the platform of the Fiat Panda making it front engined and front wheel drive, not like the original car's rear engine and rear wheel drive. The size differences are noticeable as well, while nobody will call the new 500 big, compared to its namesake its actually massive. Lastly, the original car was meant to be the least expensive choice for the Italian driver today's 500 isn't really the least expensive car out there. Fiat decided to bring over this 500 as a symbol of their return to the North American market after leaving in the 1980s. Over here, the Fiat 500's main competitor is BMW's MINI, hoping to replicate that success for the 500.
I wasn't expecting this car to show up at all. I know a few places that used them as fleet cars but I wasn't expecting this car, let along the Sport model. This is the very first Italian designed car I've been given the chance to drive, leaving only British and French cars are the only major automotive nations I haven't driven a car from. Anyways, when seeing this new 500, it definitely is a lot smaller than majority of cars sold here. So, this test was really to determine whether this car is all about style with no substance or whether there really is something to this car that justifies its price.
Performance: The Fiat 500 for North America is given a different engine compared to those in Europe. We are given the 1.4L Multiair engine. This engine produces 101 hp and 98 lb.ft of torque, which seems like a very small number considering most cars available today produce more power than that. However the Fiat does weigh less, this is one of the few cars available in North America that is less than 1000 kg or 2200 lbs. Its acceleration times as a result from 0-100 km/h is 9.7 seconds. Not blisteringly quick but if you've seen some of my reviews particularly of Dodges, I've driven slower before. So if you're worried about highway merging, you could do worse. This engine is equipped with either a 5-speed manual or 6-speed automatic, I was given the auto and its fuel economy was acceptable. Being the sport model, it does matter if you use the sport button it as the engine revs higher in sport mode. When driven hard, this engine is a bit noisy, that said its not as annoying as other engines are...so you might like it.
My Score: 7/10 - It does its job reasonably well. A bit noisy but overall not too bad.
Handling: Once again here's another car where the focus is on how it handles. Its given a big advantage due to its light weight and small size. There are also differences if you have sport mode on or off. When you have the car running in normal mode, the steering is very light and very easy. My guess is this is what the regular user is going to use and in this mode the mundane tasks of parking are made much easier with this car's good maneuverability. However in this mode its not all that fun. When you turn on the sport mode, this changes. The steering is suddenly stiffened and the car all the sudden feels more alive, its difficult to explain. The car starts to feel sharper and more eager to tackle the corners compared to normal mode. This button really seems to make a big difference. As an enjoyable small car, I can't fault its handling since during normal mode all the stuff you need to do while driving is made very easy, with sport mode you get to enjoy driving which is nice after a hard day. I could go into depth about the rest of the handling characteristics but I find its easier to say that the car's handling faults don't matter because this car is fun.
My Score: 10/10 - Easy to drive, and with a touch of a button fun too.
Interior: This is another area where Italian car design tends to be different from other automotive nations. From a normal person's perspective this seems like any other small car, kind of cheap and the interior is very small. However, when you look at the details more carefully there are some things that were done rather well. First off, one of the large dash trim pieces will be coloured the same as the exterior of your car. If you picked a bright colour, your interior's atmosphere improves greatly over the typical dull grey boredom we're used to seeing in most cheap cars. Next is the gauges, it looks like it has one dial but a careful look shows both speedo and tach are in the same place. As a result, as you drive along your revs attempt to catch up to the speedo, lovely touch. Lastly the controls, no they're not metal but Fiat has deliberately avoided to use of too many ugly knobs to avoid spoiling the look of the dash. As for the practical stuff, the seats are fine for someone of my size. I get the feeling an obese person will not like it at all as you're likely to bother the passenger because of how close the seats are to one another. There are two seats in the back, but realistically unless your as short as I am, nobody else will fit in the back. This may be a hatchback but because of its small size, you're not going to be taking a lot of shopping back with you. Rear visibility in this car is pretty good. The build quality so far is difficult to determine, this is after all made in the same factory as the PT Cruiser in Toluca, Mexico but that car wasn't made well. My example seemed to be fine so far, I may update this entry later.
My Score: 7/10 - Neat styling touches and nice atmosphere, but significantly reduced practicality due to its size.
Styling: This car takes most of its inspiration from the original 1957 Fiat 500. However its given that rather ordinary small car and turned it into a cute one. You're given rather nice rims for the Sport model. It also manages to integrate all of today's automotive exterior necessities like fog lights and so on, rather well. This is the sort of car a child would like as a anthropomorphic character like Herbie the Beetle. I see this car appealing particularly to female drivers and children. Men might not want this sort of image.
My Score: 10/10 - An excellent modern take on a ordinary city car.
Value for money: This is the area of scoring that troubles me. This sport model I've been driving costs $18,500 and that's for the manual, the automatic is another $1000. The fuel economy is not great to justify this cost. Its got very little practicality as a daily driver, unless you drive alone. Now, compared to the Mini it competes against, its still cheaper. However it also has to compete with rather ordinary cars and its hard to justify the value. This sport model puts this Fiat's price where the Subaru Impreza starts. On most tangible levels the Fiat doesn't do well. If you care a lot about styling and cheap fun, then you'll like the Fiat. If however you need more out of a car than that, look elsewhere because that's all the Fiat focuses on.
My Score: 2/10 - Style with a bit of substance, but that's it really.
Overall: 36/50 - A very likable car, does certain things brilliantly but its as limited in practicality as many sports cars and its a bit pricey.
