Fiat 500 City Review

Fiat 500 City Review – You are either born with a love for the Fiat 500 or you are not; it doesn’t grow on you. Either you think they are cute and cheesy, or you think they are impactful, saccharine cupcakes, with vintage effects without charm, mass produced, and while you can see the appeal of buying eight in different colors and parking them one by one other – Seriously, who is that, besides Hertz? For the sake of neutrality, I’ll keep quiet about which side I’m on and assume everyone is Team Cute.

The exterior has been made a little brighter with the addition of a lot of chrome, especially at the front, where the silver radiator grill is shaped like a very wide Viking’s helmet. Customization is huge these days, both in cars, and you can, if you want, drop the monkey wrench on a fancy exterior color (in my case Avantgarde Bordeaux metallic) and more on a leather interior. Now you’ll spend over £1,000 telling the world you’re like no one else who owns a Fiat.

Fiat 500 City Review

Fiat 500 City Review

However, I really liked the leather steering wheel: it made me feel agile and responsive, especially in urban driving conditions, for which this car was created. Indeed, weaving in and out of traffic, it had it all – low emissions, high mileage, responsive steering, cheerful looks and a nice infotainment/satnav screen big enough to see a map that didn’t change as you navigated. city

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Not much of a pinch for me, but I was happy to park for a change. Bluetooth and USB connectivity are probably a big attraction for young people. The electric sunroof – only on the Top Lounge version – was, like Minecraft, very popular with children, for an unknown reason.

A top speed of 200 km/h may seem improbable when driving on the highway. Even at 70 mph and considering its size, it is noisy, rattle and a little bouncy (not in a good way). Being on the highway changes your perspective a bit: the interior, while not cheap, still looks a bit tacky, and the back is so tight that the only adult you want in it is that that you actively regret.

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It’s a city car through and through – and quite expensive considering so many limitations. But if you loved the Fiat 500 before – and many did – you will certainly bring all that love, with a few extra features, to this new incarnation. Could there be many milestones for the 17-year-old? Fiat 500? Most generations of modern car models are long dead and have been buried in this century. The “New Mini” of the BMW Group has had three complete model generations in more than 25 years.

But historically speaking, truly unique small cars tend to live longer. Both the original Mini and Citroen 2CV continued in production for more than four decades of continuous production and received only minor and incremental updates; Original Volkswagen Beetle more than six.

Fiat 500 Review & Ratings

First introduced in 2007, 50 years after the launch of the Cinquecento that inspired it, the 500 has proved a success for FiatSteve Cropley, editor-in-chief.

At the moment, it will be hard to imagine that the rebooted little Fiat will stick around for that long, but if it survives another twelve months, it will have a longer lifespan than Dante Giacosa’s original ‘nuova 500’ 1957

The original Nova 500 was so simple that it was conceived in part as an alternative to a scooter. There was an engine option available and it only had two seats (at launch) and suicide doors. In comparison, the modern 500 is much bigger and more powerful.

Fiat 500 City Review

First introduced in 2007, 50 years after the launch of the Cinquecento that inspired it, the 500 proved to be a success for Fiat, increasing sales and significantly improving the brand’s image. It is also the father of a whole family of sister models: the 500X, 500L and now the all-electric Fiat 500.

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The hybrid engine makes Fiat’s only urban fashionista easier and better to drive, although it has become something of a triumph of charm over rational common sense.

It’s been a long time since I last tested this car; for our latest UK test, you have to look back beyond the introduction of the 1.0-litre hybrid engine powering this test car, which was added in 2020.

At this stage, they removed the old Fiat two- and four-cylinder petrol engines and inserted this three-cylinder unit, which uses a 12-volt belt-driven starter-generator and a small lithium-ion battery, although still rated at just 68 horsepower and 68 pound-feet of torque per foot. Fiat also took the opportunity to replace the old five-speed manual gearbox with a six-speed one at the same time and did not replace the old “Dualogic” five-speed automatic manual gearbox.

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Meanwhile, the car received a much-needed facelift in 2015, which saw 1,900 changes to Fiat’s winning formula – the most notable tweaks to the headlights, taillights and bumpers.

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Basically, the design is what sells the car. The proportions of the original have been replicated here, which is an achievement in itself, considering that the original was a two-seater with an air-cooled engine at the rear, and this is a four-seater with an engine water cooled, assembled. more conventional in front.

The 500 is, of course, a successor to the 1957 car, but not in a slavish way. For example, the original did not have additional lights under the round headlights as in a modern car. It has not yet passed the Euro NCAP crash tests (according to current standards, the Fiat 500 is a car with three stars in NCAP tests).

The lines along the hood of the car are reminiscent of the original Cinquecento, although it was only a chrome strip in the center of the hood. The production techniques of the time did not allow such strong folds as this. A 2015 facelift gave the 500 bolder headlights and taillights, but in the end it didn’t change the cheeky charm of the little Fiat.

Fiat 500 City Review

Aside from the shifter and a few infotainment updates, the 500’s interior hasn’t really changed since a major facelift in 2015.

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In some ways, it still feels like a pretty neat package. As for the general space, you feel quite tight behind the wheel from the large driver’s door, like a rudder, when closed, in front of a narrow pedal box and the steering column without any reach adjustment . But the headroom is not that tight; the front seats adjust to intelligently adjust the angle of the cushions to the height of the base; and visibility is good in most directions.

I like the idea of ​​a supermini convertible, but I suspect I couldn’t live with it for long. The trunk of 500 is quite small; yet the 500C needs to wait a few seconds to open if the roof is fully tilted, and then provides a cargo opening like a letterbox. Matt SaundersRoad Test Editor

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The exception to this rule, at least in the case of the 500C convertible version, is where the fabric hood tilts all the way back and gathers behind the rear seats in a somewhat unsightly cluster (only suitable for children smaller), and blocks much of the view in the rearview mirror. With the 500C you also get a less accessible and generally useful boot – so it’s worth asking yourself how much you want that tousled fringe.

The design of the 500 presented the engineers with a greater challenge to provide space for the rear passengers than in the front. The roof of the 1957 car curves towards the rear to deliberately reduce the space behind the front seats and distinguish it from the four-seater 600.

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But today’s car, which is only 10 feet long, was designed from the beginning as a full four-seater, so you sit low in the back seats of the 500, on thin but dense padding, and there is little head and leg room. Further back, under a very small parcel shelf, there’s a 185-litre boot.

The quality of materials in the cabin, which was tested a decade or more ago for a small car aimed at premium cars, will be worse in 2024. This is partly because Fiat has discontinued older and richer versions of the car equipment. Our test car had a dark plastic dashboard that felt hard and shiny in places, though its switches mostly avoided a cheap touch.

The Abarth models are a bit of a different breed and, as you’d expect, have all the sporty pretensions you’d expect from a hot track day special. They all feature the same 1.4-litre T-Jet turbocharged petrol engine, but each produces different outputs – 143bhp, 163bhp and 178bhp respectively in the 595, Turismo and Competizione models.

Fiat 500 City Review

In the case of the Abarth, it is clear that Fiat wants you to have no doubt that you are in an Abarth, not a regular Fiat. The general layout of the cabin is, of course, very similar to the regular 500, but in detail it is pure Abarth. At least that’s how Fiat sees the modern Abarth, and that means a spoonful

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