The Fiat 500

[bronsin]

What is the word about this car? Is the quality comparable to Toyota Ive heard its made in Mexico? How is the gas mileage it has a 1300cc engine an improvement over the Tpyota. What is it good at? What is it bad at?


Thanks!

[Betrivent]

It's got a nice interior.. otherwise it feels mushy and gutless.

[UTVitz]

The Fiat 500 is a car to be avoided by people who are use to toyota reliablity. The 500 is made in Mexico, but is full of design and quality quirks so common to the European brands. I work for a company that rents a few of these 500's and they are riddled with issues from check engine lights to creaky drivers doors. Sometimes they give a warning of overheating and they are not. I've driven the car a lot with the want of falling in love with it, but it didn't happen-too many flaws. The engine is insanely hard to give basic service to-it's packed in there. This car is nothing more than a fashion statement as the J-Lo ads on TV only confirm. Test drive for fun, but walk away knowing it is no Toyota when it comes to ownership costs, repair, maintainablity, and reliablity.

[bronsin]

Just what I needed, a cold hard slap in the face to snap me out of it.

We need small cars like the 500 though and we arent getting them.

But we dont need lousy small cars.

Yeah that SmartCar is a fashion statement too. That interior is nuts.

[daf62757]

Look up dependable in the dictionary and you won't find a photo of a Fiat next to it! Won't find a Toyota either, but ask any Toyota owner if they would buy another Toyota and I would bet that 95% of them would say yes they would.

I can go to the casino to gamble. When I spend my hard earned money on a car, I buy a Toyota!

[Killchain]

Designed by Fiat, ordered by Chrysler, and built in Mexico............

http://www.motorweek.org/reviews/roa...2012_fiat_500/

No thanks, I'll stick with the Yaris. I wish I had the cash for the Scion IC.

[Hamster]

I don't understand buying the European car made in Mexico....how does that make it European?

[padre1964]

Fiat recommends premium fuel in the 500. Thats enough to keep me away from them.

[Idahotom]

Fiat stands for: Fix It Again Tony

[Thirty-Nine]

Here is my review, FWIW.

http://www.subcompactculture.com/201...-fiat-500.html

In a nutshell: Nimble, a bit noisy, comfy but small interior, lots of personality. Felt well put together. Not a fan of the dash

[matthewai]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMUbzjxPa8

okay okay OKAY not bad not bad......it actually seems better than this >>> haahhaah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHiYSAenanM

granted its 2 different scenarios

[joe keeney]

They use to sell that junk back in the 70's, After 50,000 look for the nearest bone yard.

[TLyttle]

just like the BMW Mini, I find the 500 to be an overinflated bogus shadow of what the original was. Anyone who has driven a REAL 500 will know what I mean.

[vten]

having both vehicle for more than 4 months is a little different than having them for as a weekly rental. A lot of ppl just jumped to a conclusion that the new fiat is the same as the old one, the problematic one, without owning them.

here's my share..
compare to to my 08 yaris, the fiat 500 is superior in build quality ....made in mexico or not ...they still have the strict quality control compare to let say " made in somewhere..."ahhh coffee or smoke break every 10 minutes with a huge stomach and pants down half way to the leg country " :P

the engine itself is smaller than the yaris, but packed with technology ...press the sport button then you feel the huge different ...My butt hp feel a better response to the fiat compare to the yaris even with all the mods I have minus the supercharger.

I can go on and on for this but I need to be at work in 10 minutes and need to get ready

just my .02Cents ....

[UTVitz]

I look at vehicles as long term ownership costs and experiences. And the Fiat uses a timing belt that will need expensive replacement-this is with hope the belt makes it to recommended change miles-Aveo owners know this is not always true. This multi-air valve train seems like marketing hype as it does nothing for fuel economy and just adds to something new to break and no one that knows how to fix it when it does. Biggest mechanical gripe is the iron block aluminum head-this has proven over and over again to be a long term ownership mismatch. The two metals heat and cool differently and almost guarantees headgasket leaks usually after 100K miles. I know this from owning a 92 Miata that has this problem. The sport button is electronic gee wizardry at work on the power steering boost and automatic transmission shift points. That button has to be pushed everytime you start the car to keep it active. Otherwise the power steering reverts to super overboost and the auto making long rubbery shifts.

If you're thinking of purchasing one for long term ownership review the Fiat 500 forum to see what problems people are reporting-most are minor gripes, but this is only after a few months of ownership. I could go on, but to me the Fiat is in the same boat as the Smart fourtwo and mini cooper-expensive to own long term. Search Mini Cooper problems and the nightmare stories fill pages after 45K miles with that car especially the auto version. And Smarts 3 cylinder Mitsubishi engine is not making it long term either.

Now if you only intend to keep the car till it's out of warranty this may not matter. I tend to keep mine to 200K and that only works out if I don't have to buy the car a seond time in repair costs. While looks and comfort/fun are important I look at the mechanicals first and go from there. Reliablity reports are great places to start and the Scion xd was numero uno which is pretty much a yaris clone

[Viperoni]

The 500's 0-60 is something like 12 seconds... just a wee bit too slow for me.
Isn't the Yaris' 0-60 at least a second quicker?

[cali yaris]

^ Mine is.

If had a Fiat, I'd make that fast too. It's such a clever little car.

[matthewai]

yeah im sure alot of people would if they had the means, and time, would also make it fast to some degree