Had 2 Fiats (Bravas- 131) in my drivetime history and loved the look and feel of the cars when they were right but my gawd did they cost me a boatload to keep on the road running well.
Today I can only look at the Fiat and just smirk and think "suckers"-

 

Again, amazing how those old 'truisms' keep coming back. I had a Fiat 850 Spyder and a 124 Sport back in the 70's and yep, they were a b**** to keep running properly. But that could be said about a lot of cars from those days and those days are long gone, even for Fiat.

 

Absolutely... And thus far, the Fiat is a blast.
Still keeping the mini so I can get my mini fix too.

I hope the new mini is great, not wishing them any ill will.

There are a lot of choices and when mini sales thinks that they don't need to do anything, that customers will buy even if things aren't right, well, then other choices are chosen.

I bought the first one not wanting the RF tires and I was ready and they wanted to force RF tires thus, see ya... Did it once at my cost, not again.

I also had a Fiat back in the 80s...hard to get fixed.
Seems to be a lot better now. I know owners and they aren't having any problems...

 

....and then last night my wife mentioned that she loves the look of the new VW Beetle...especially the convertibles. I looked online and noticed that you get a lot of car for the money...........hmmmm

 

We just traded a fiat 500 for my new countryman.

The reliability was okay, but the fit and finish are horrible. Multiple things fell apart in the interior in 14000 miles.

Mileage was not nearly as good as advertised.

Honestly, it is an Italian designed Chrysler assembled product built to a pierce point. We really wanted it to be a long term car, but there was just no way.

The stereo was pretty nice though.

 

The 500 and the 500L are very different cars. Test drove the 500....too cramped and cheep feeling.

The 500L is a diff story. Just took it on its first 25 hour road trip and it handled ice storms and holiday travels stuff just fine. A van actually went across 4 lanes of traffic in front of us, the fiat did everything I asked of it with perfection.

Then on the second part of that trip, nice and dry, got to open it up and tap 100 a few times. Up hills, when many other cars were struggling, the fiat rocked. As if though there wasn't a hill.....no struggles and passed with ease. Agility was top notch when needing to weave through tight spots going up those hills.

Is it an equal for my Countryman? No...
But it is a worthy car.... Even with 30 less HP, it rocked the hills like a dream. Maybe geared differently to make up for it? But whatever Fiat did in the design on the 500L, they did an excellent job.

For now, still keeping the Countryman...but if Fiat made me a decent offer on the CM for another Fiat Trekking 500L, it might be tough to pass it by.

Now I have two cars that are a blast to drive.

I know that the Fiat 500L is their answer to the Mini Counytryman....
Its not quite there yet, but its really not all that far either.

 

A coworker of mine bought a 500L about 3 months ago after testing a Countryman. He went with the Fiat due to the cost being less. Today I brought in my new Countryman and showed him. He was wishing now he had went the other way especially with us expecting 10+ inches of snow. He wishes at our altitude he had the extra horsepower and now realizes how much he used the all wheel drive in his last car, which his Fiat doesn't have. After looking at his, the Fiat I believe is a nice car, but it isn't for me. I don't like the looks. I feel like it's just a cheep knockoff/wannabe of the Countryman. To each his own though. For me,..... I'm loving my MINI.

 

While waiting for our Countryman lease to expire and the appropriately equipped Fiat 500L to arrive at the dealer, the December MINI lease programs were announced and our MINI dealer stepped up on discount. No longer a huge price disparity, we opted to order a new Countryman All4 and cancel the 500L order.

Really liked the 500L and it is one hell of a great bargain, but we are willing to pay a little more for the MINI.

As the OP of the Smelly Clutch thread, I must say the improved clutch has had no issues whatsoever and, though it took a long time, MINI made it right for us and now we are buying another one.

 

I bought a 500 last weekend. The car came with an air compressor with fix-a-flat built in (the sealant canister is replaced upon use). Not really comfortable with that, I opted add the spare tire, which is an option on the 500 (and probably on the 500L). On the 500, the spare is mounted on a hoist underneath like some pickup truck spares. That's actually more desirable to me than putting a well under the cargo area; if you have a bunch of stuff in your car you don't have to empty it out if you get a flat.

So... Fiat doesn't leave you totally in a lurch, there is the compressor/sealant kit standard, and an option for a spare. Now my car has both.

 

How big are you? I'm 6'-2", 200 lb. and the 500 is roomy for me in the front seat.

 

It might be a $20,000 purchase (and financed at that most likely), but to the salesman, perhaps it's a $250 deal (in terms of their net payout), and to the dealership perhaps it's a $2000 gross deal.

If the deal makes sense to to a dealership, believe me, they will do it.

But if there's not enough money to be made to cover proportionate overhead, or they foresee greater costs ahead, it's their right to say no.