Fiat/Abarth 500

  • Thread starter Moglet
  • 224 comments
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Jondot
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That is all.


Incidentally I discovered the other day that my instructor has changed to a Mini Clubman D (or rather has been forced to by a new company).

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That's £16,000 of car with 110bhp - who on earth thought that was a good place to stick a learner?
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all plastic fender guards, think about it.
 
Cano
This. Got damn even the wheels scream MINI to me.
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That's because they're almost exactly the same as the Mini ones in the image above. :lol: I'm actually glad I got rid of my 500 when I did, it happened just before they started showing them off as 'glamorous' cars. If I could go back now I'd have spent that money on a 2nd hand Yaris T-Sport!
 
...So where does this leave the Punto?

Edit: Or the Bravo for that matter.
 
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That'll be the version we're getting here in the US, complete with the re-worked 1.4L MutliAir engine that's seeing duty in the Dodge Dart and Fiat 500 Abarth. It just seems so, large.

The Trekking version up there is definitely distinctive, but it seems a bit misleading. It'd be absolutely perfect if they offered the car with a basic AWD system, but that isn't there. Still, the size will be far more appealing to Americans than the current car. The only trick will be pricing it right. Don't let it kick too far above $20K, and they could have a very interesting Mini Countryman competitor here.
 
That thing is just hideous. The only thing that could save it would be the rear but I doubt that'll be any better.

Incidentally, I really don't like the design of the 500 now; it has dated very quickly IMO.
 
I don't think it's dated (is it possible for retro to "date"? Surely that's the point...), but it's certainly become a bit too common for its looks to make the impact they once did.

Still, it appears to be doing okay for Fiat still - they're easily as common as MINIs.
 
I think that depends on the design sensibilities introduced into the design to make it feasible. I don't think it applies to the 500, but the old New Beetle and PT Cruiser were both very obviously turn of the millennium designs to me, which isn't something that befell the original Bini.
 
Proportionally, the new 500 is quite similar to the old one. The only thing that stops it looking too close is its relative size - the 500 is small, but the original one really is tiny.

At a glance, the BINI has never looked like an original MINI (though it did work well - the one that replaced it, less so). And the PT did well because it caught a retro boom, and didn't directly try to copy anything. It was just a car, with retro styling.

The original New Beetle looks worse the more I see it. The current Beetle (minus New) is probably the most successful retro design in many years, if comparing it to the original is a priority: Proportionally it's close enough to require a double-take when you see it from some angles. And while it's larger than the New Beetle physically, it looks smaller. Which is a neat trick*.

The 500L, like the Countryman, is cack. Definitive proof that you can't just hack elements from a deliberately retro car and bung them on something completely unrelated. The 500L is perhaps worse than the Countryman, as MINI has made more effort to screw around and make the features fit the car, whereas Fiat hasn't bothered.



* As an aside, original Beetles, at least ones like my Super Beetle, are surprisingly large. It was both longer, taller, and nearly as wide as my 2008 Fiat Panda. Yet it weighed 150kg less. The new Beetle, as I found out when I went to drive it, actually looks bigger than a Mk1 Ford Focus.
 
I just wish Fiat would make it easy on me and just sell the damn Panda 4X4 here.

I'm a 100% believer that the small, AWD market is one that has yet to be tapped here in the US. With Suzuki dead, there isn't an offering at the end of the market where most would want to shop, aside from the Subaru Impreza.
 
Toronado
I think the Samurai was the Jimny, just with bigger engines and etc.
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Sorry, I should have been more clear. The Samurai was the SJ, which in a select few markets was called the Jimny. The current car is now called the Jimny in all markets (far as I'm aware). It's fairly similar to the Samurai in size, but does have vaguely more modern features.

The U.S. got the old roly-poly SJ, but to my knowledge you guys have never had the post-1998 version, known as the Jimny worldwide.

Amazingly, they still sell the Jimny here, and it's barely changed from 1998. We're 14 years into a production run with virtually no changes, which must be some sort of record.
 
True, Suzuki will start manufacturing the Jimny around here as well, it's a bit old-fashioned but still a fairly capable little thing and it's rugged nature and diminutive size fit well into our cratered roads.

My question concerning the Jimny was to relate it to the 4x4 Panda, surely they're on different leagues when it comes to off-roading, but still, as an all weather option the Panda might prove to be feasible on the US. If there is market for something as small as the Jimny, I'm inclined to believe the Panda would fare very well in North America.
 
The one thing I don't like about that is the exhaust pipes. The gaps in the bumper would fit 2 large pipes much better than 4 smaller ones.
 
Moglet
The one thing I don't like about that is the exhaust pipes. The gaps in the bumper would fit 2 large pipes much better than 4 smaller ones.
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That's the Monza exhaust which I believe is standard on the Competitzione. The base and Turismo models are equipped with two large pipes.
 
FT-1
That's the Monza exhaust which I believe is standard on the Competitzione. The base and Turismo models are equipped with two large pipes.
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That explains the shape of the splitter area then.
 
I've been curious about the complete radio silence about the Fiat/Abarth 500 in the US market. 2019 models don't appear on the Fiat USA website, and they certainly aren't available at any dealerships. So I did a little digging and I found this article (in Italian).

https://www.clubalfa.it/54392-nuova-fiat-500-chiave-futuro-marchio-stati-uniti

2019, however, is expected to be a very important year for Fiat because it will bring several changes to the United States. The most awaited is surely the arrival of the second generation of the Fiat 500
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I don't see any citations, but the character of the article seems to suggest this is based on some sort of press release. Anyways, Europe got the revised car for the 2016 model year, and the NA model is basically the same as the car that went on sale originally in 2007.

If true, I'm glad they aren't killing it off. I rather like seeing these cars around. Also the Abarth is such a joyfully disgruntled thing, they are hard not to love.
 

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