Most liked posts in thread: Fiat 500 Sales Behind Expectations?

Have a friend that has well over 300,000 miles on his Cherokee and is just now doing a motor rebuild.

I would have no problem owning a Jeep. That said a few years back my mother bought a top of the line Chrysler and by 30,000 miles it drove and road like it was worn out and in just over two years old she dumped it for a Volvo.....

But maybe we all should step down from our high horses and be realistic; in comparison to say a Lexus, the Mini Cooper is by no means a super reliable car brand, not bad but not great. Just Thanksgiving I told a Brother in law who lives in a town where the nearest Mini dealership is a couple hours away, not to buy one for his wife, my wife's sister.....sorry but Honda they are not.

But me do love mine!!!

 

One of the most reliable things about the R50-R53 is that Chrysler lump under the hood. Many great things have come from Brazil.

The Peugeot lump in the newer MINI seems to be less reliable. Only time will tell once folks pile the miles on. I'm hoping they prove reliable so I can buy one in the future once I wear my old Brazilian one out. :wink:

 

I have already lived the nightmare.....don't get me wrong, there was a lot about Fiats that I liked and I generally had pretty good luck with them....that said.....

In the mid 70's our Porsche+Audi dealership was having trouble surviving, we couldn't get near enough Audis and Porsche prices had doubled in only a couple of years. The owner decided to add another line and we all hoped it was Honda (even tho Honda really didn't have that good a rep or even products in the early-mid 70's) but instead, we were informed we were becoming the local FIAT dealer. Things went OK, we got and sold a lot of cars, didn't make a lot of money on them, but did a lot of warranty work and later regular service work. 6 months later we added Alfa Romeo - the thing I remember most besides how difficult it was to get the engines to run smoothly (in all fairness a lot of cars didn't run well in the mid 70's due to emmissins requirements) with the spica mechanical fuel injection was the fact that the cars frequently came off the truck with rust holes in the bodies!
The final straw was the addition of Lancia. I really liked how the Beta Coupes drove and handled, although they were way underpowered, but quality and reliability were not hallmarks of Italian car manufacture in those days.

I had hopes that times had changed for the better, but I'm not so sure based on what I've seen so far. Time will tell.....and it may be a bit early to judge.

 

Just not sure what they expected. They partner with the lowest quality manufacturer in the States who already has one foot in the grave (would be IN the grave had the bailouts not been forced on us). They had a golden opportunity to reintroduce their brand and perhaps have a huge win, but then not only missed the train, but fell on the tracks in front of it.

 

A bit over 101,500 today, stay tuned.

 

You better slow down and make it last, until you are sure MINI has something in the works you will actually like. :lol:

Jim

 

Well there is the VW GTI & the WRX, they are on my short list. I like both of them a lot. Like MINI's too.

 

I had the pleasure of seeing several of the new Scirroco's in Hong Kong on my last trip. They are SCHWEEEEET. Very cool looking cars in person. Why they aren't sending them here, I do not know, but they would be hugely popular if they did...

 

So, you are saying that you might jump ship at some point? R-53 or bust kind of thing? For me it is more the "retro" thing that I like and the roadster really does that. Do I like everything MINI, well no, but that is true with any brand. Besides I really like MOTD a lot.

Jim

 

I do too, but owning a MINI will not stop me from coming down.
My husband will be down for the 3rd year in a row for MOTD10 and he doesn't drive a MINI :cornut:

 

LOL- nice :cornut:

 

Ahhh, its time for all those end of year lists. Oh Boy...

Yahoo Finance has one that covers the biggest marketing flops of 2011. Our Fiat friends come in at # 6 with their oh so wonderful handling of the Fiat 500.

See the full listing The Worst Product Flops of 2011 - Yahoo! Finance

 

That is some distinguished "FAIL" company.

 

Did anybody see the Motortrend article comparing the Scion Tc, Honda CRZ, VW Beetle, Hyundai Veloster, Fiat 500, and MINI. 3 guesses which got first place!

Mini Cooper vs Scion TC vs Honda CR-Z EX vs Volkswagen Beetle vs Hyundai Veloster vs Fiat 500 Comparison- Motor Trend

 

Also go click on this poll on Fox News Car Report. Afterwards check out how many votes the 500 got...

Fox Car Report's Favorite Five Of 2011 | Fox News

 

Today I was loittering around the library (not in my jammies by the way) and I was flipping through the 2012 Edmondston Lemon-Aid guide and came across this on page 504 for the Fiat 500

"RATING: Not recommended during its first year on the market. Fiat's got some nerve. After walking out on its US and Canadian owners in 1984 and leaving them high and dry with worthless warranties and rust-cankered vehicles, Fiat announced a triumphant return to North America as Chyrsler's saviour. When Fiat pulled out of North America, I was in the trenches as president of the Automobile Protection Association and remember only too well the many Fiat owners who were stunned that their rusty, unreliable, and unwanted pieces of crap would never be fixed. The CAW, UAW, Ontario provincial governement, and Canadian federal government never lifted finger to help owners of these rust heaps get their money back. Now Mexican workers are getting their salaries underwritten by our unions and governments."

That guy's not mincing words...

 

Thanks for the info Ric.....

 

Huh... Doesn't surprise me given the state of affairs in DC. Guess ya can't blame Chrysler for doing what ever they can to get further into the small car market. Hell of it is, their small cars have pretty much always been substandard. Fiat is just another of those with a crappy track record and when money's handed out the way it is these days, any car company has a chance if it smokes the mirrors as jobs created. Undoubtedly someone's hidden pet pork project, I'm guessing.

Awesome info Rixter. Tanks.

 

Here's another way to look at it all.....the 500's failure in the market is NOT a good thing......

The reason is that it may keep other mfr's from bringing thier pint sized offerrings here - and there are some great cars there in Europe and Asia.

Will Audi bring the A1 over? Not likely if Fiat can't sell 500's

What about the Ford Ka?

How about a Peugeot or Citroen? They make some really great hot hatches...

But here's the real fail IMHO, more big damn SUVs, Crossovers and so on clogging the roads. I was really hoping for a small car revolution, much like in the early 70's only with great handling, responsive, economical and good looking cars. It could have happened....

Now I think most mfrs will go right back to the way things were, because big cars make big money, and small cars simply cost.....

Hell, even MINI has gone 'big".. :wink:

 

I do think we will see more small cars. The mfr's are smart enough to see that Fiat's failing is not with the actual vehicle but with the marketing and how they dealt with the dealer body. Fiat had to reestablish it's self here in the US. Other mfr's such as Audi already have a large dealer base and entrenched marketing plans. They are not starting from scratch like Fiat did. They also do not need to overcome the "rust bucket" issues and Fix It Again Tony mindset that those of a certain age still have when they hear Fiat.