Let’s get this out of the way up front. The Fiat 500 Sport does not compare favorably to the MINI Cooper in ways an enthusiast would appreciate. The steering is light and the clutch lighter. The manual transmission is vague at best and any propulsion out of the highly acclaimed 101 hp Multi-air Fiat 1.4L four cylinder feels like a happy coincidence. Within a half block behind the wheel of the 500 I was in ‘leisure’ mode whether I liked it or not. Yet it didn’t take long to really come to appreciate the meandering quality of the performance and the confident (and unfortunately cheap) ambiance of the Italian style inside and out. But let’s not lose focus on what this car is. Clearly Fiat isn’t trying to out-do the MINI in terms of driving dynamics. Instead it’s focused on bringing costs down to deliver a stylish small car at an affordable price. Case in point the Fiat 500 Sport we tested came to $19,500 with Rosso Brilliante exterior paint, sunroof and the safety and convenience package. It’s a pretty impressive value proposition when you consider a standard Cooper with no options in the US can’t be had under $20k these days. And the Fiat 500 Sport comes with eight airbags, a better than good Bose Stereo and the cutest little red painted brake calipers I’ve ever seen. More...
Just can't get enthusiastic about it. I have seen the Fiat 500 Abarth's run in classic races at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, now they were impressive.
I drove behind one painted the same as the one in the pic there, with a sunroof too, just this morning. I wanted to wave to the driver, but she looked kind of frazzled, and probably wouldn't have gotten why I was waving.
Yeah..... Just wait until the warranty runs out and that motorized mechanism for the soft top goes on the blink..... I imagine it works something like that wild motorized seat belt mouse that runs around the door opening that Toyota came up with a few years back.
I parked next to one the other day ---AND--- It was a very nice small car and taller and skinnier then my Mini JCW hatchback. I did notice that there is no room in back of the rear seats for grocery bag's so you would have to fold down at least one of the rear seats if you went food shopping. It just looks like a very small car in the way a Smart Car looks. At least a Mini looks more like a real car.(My Opinion) and has more usable room. The Smart car and the Fiat 500 are both really good for some people but just not for me. It is just so hard to beat a Mini for LOOKS, COMFORT, STYLE, DRIVING FUN, USEFUL INTERIOR ROOM, and the "JOY" of just having one. I did once own a Fiat 500 in 1959:biggrin5: when I was 16 years old. They have not changed a whole lot since then as far as size goes. They are just more plush and have a different motor and now have an automatic transmission if you want one. They are still tiny little cars and well built. You just can't compare them to a Mini Cooper at all because they are in a different size class. That does not mean they are bad cars because they are good for most people. Me and my 1959 Fiat 500 back in 1959