Fiat 500s.....to a noob...

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Turn7

Original Poster:

23,642 posts

222 months

Saturday 15th September 2018
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Asked in GG and it got moved to the graveyard that is the car buying forum, so asking here.....

Recently had one as a rental in Jersey and actually liked it quite a lot, so now considering it as a daily.
Not sure what version we had, but Im guessing new as only 12k miles, also pretty sure it was a four pot.

So, for around 12k annual mileage over 5 ish years, are they a good bet? If not, alternatives ?

Would maybe consider a lease or possibly buy an older model......

Nigel_O

2,904 posts

220 months

Sunday 16th September 2018
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Assuming you're looking at one of the entry-level models (TwinAir, 1.2 Pop etc), they are pretty decent for a city car. Decent looking (subjective, I know), pretty reliable if maintained, no real horror stories

TwinAir isn't as frugal as the figures suggest, as it has to be pushed fairly hard to make decent progress

The Abarth (standard Abarth and the hotter 595) are very entertaining - great little point & squirt pocket rockets

They're based on the Grande Punto platform, so they're basically sound

Not much boot space though - quite possibly the smallest parcel shelf I've ever seen...

So

26,354 posts

223 months

Sunday 16th September 2018
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Turn7 said:
Asked in GG and it got moved to the graveyard that is the car buying forum, so asking here.....

Recently had one as a rental in Jersey and actually liked it quite a lot, so now considering it as a daily.
Not sure what version we had, but Im guessing new as only 12k miles, also pretty sure it was a four pot.

So, for around 12k annual mileage over 5 ish years, are they a good bet? If not, alternatives ?

Would maybe consider a lease or possibly buy an older model......
We bought one as a pool car about 6 months ago. It's a 1.2 Lounge. It was a pre-reg from Desira Group who seem to sell a lot of pre-reg cars to the trade. About 1600 miles and looked new. We paid cash as the finance deals were not great.

It is very impressive in terms of functionality and it is nippy enough. Though the fuel gauge drops a lot more quickly if you ignore the up shift indicator on the speedo dial.

The positives:

Looks cool
Drives smoothly
Good tech
Fun
Teenage girls are drawn to it
A full tank of fuel slows it down
Good stereo
Stylish interior

The negatives:

Back end skittish over bumps
If you're a good looking man (like me), who takes care of himself. people presume you're gay.
Some components (e.g. seat height adjuster) really reflect the price tag.
"City" steering mode is completely pointless on such an easy to steer car.





DELTAHPE

200 posts

239 months

Sunday 16th September 2018
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Buy a panda, more practical, still cool and far less common than a 500.

RATATTAK

11,170 posts

190 months

Sunday 16th September 2018
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I have a 105 HP Twinair - it's good fun