:popc orn:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...th-899489.html

 

looks like fun

 

Didn't they do a shootout on Top Gear w/ a MINI and the 500 came out on top?? Not sure if it was a totally apples-to-apples comparo, but kudos to the 500 Abarth anyway!!!

 

I hope they bring the 500 to the US eventually. We need more MINI type small car offerings.

 

Hamman Fiat 500

 

It would be nice to revive the Abarth name again in the states. It's been a long, long time.

 

i thought MISFITOY had something like that?

 

Yeah okay...I like the front end of this one much better.

 

Oh joy, there's now a 180 HP version.

http://www.motorauthority.com/first-...ris-debut.html

 

Awesome. If I ever have to get a new car, that will be it.

 

Like a MINI, still cute no matter how "sporty" you try to make it look.

 

Sad but true. In this case beauty is just skin deep.

In the late 70's Gianni Agnelli chairman of Fiat received some $400 billion from The Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company for 15% of the shares and two directors appointed to the board...

Ten years later the el-Qaddaffi ( Momar Qadaffi ) regime who basically runs Libya was identified as a known sponsor of international terrorism.

Today, Libya still owns 2% of Fiat shares while we are sending US troops there.

IMO the Fiat 500 just lost some of it's cuteness.

 

Still remember PAN-AM/Lockerbie.....
or is it the current mass excution of civilians by hired hands from other nations currently going on?
Oh well.....
if this info can't kill the Fiat in the us, I bet the dealer network will....

 

It looks like a juiced up Chevy Aveo. Still, I'd like to test drive the Abarth if it makes it to Canada.

Also let's try not to make this a political thread.. all of our cars are burning Arab oil in them, there is no entirely human rights friendly automobile.

 

Political how exactly ? And last checked we get a miniscule amount of oil from the Middle East. Like "maybe" 10% ?! And if you only use BP gas....well ?

And I don't see how you can call this "political" when a car company sells off some of it's shares to a terrorist state. That's just (bad) BUSINESS ! Afterall, they are not a democratic state last I checked ?

So don't play that card here. Sorry no dice.

 

Like Chrysler you mean?...give me a break!......FIAT = GREAT cars...end of story....

 

I'm not playing cards or rolling dice. I was offering a suggestion for the direction of this thread. If you feel that terrorism and questionable middle eastern business interests do not qualify as "political," that's your opinion and I have no interest in debating semantics, any more than I wish to debate politics here.

Unsubscribed.

 

I saw a Fiat500 a couple of nights ago. It actually made me laugh... a lot!

 

I think these new Fiats look *great* in photographs, but having seen 3 or 4 in real life on the road, they look cheap as hell, not just compared to MINIs, but even to something like a Honda Fit. Maybe when the bring the Abarth they can make it look a little better.

 

Just saw my first one yesterday (white). It looked plain cheap. The one

thing I liked about it was the cute blonde driving it! I think that it will be

the flavor of the week for the next year and then go away like the Smart

car has pretty much done.

 

Saw one the other day driving through Albany ny on i-90...
looked kinda funny....not cute or funky funny....just cheap cheesy funny....popoortions seemed off...curves in the wrong places.....kinda like a smart car on 'roids...

 

I test drove a 500 the other day. I drove one of the Sport models (slightly stiffer suspension, bolstered seats). It's a pretty nice car to drive... it was a pretty lame test drive, I should add, way too short... my main complaint was the clutch, which is super light, not much feel in it at all, was just a total guess when the gear was going to engage every time I shifted.

I thought they looked better seen stopped, up close, or... the Sport and Lounge versions look pretty good, but most of what I've seen on the road are the cheaper Pop ones, which might account for the cheap first impressions they've been making.

MINI killer? No way. But for the price, they are a great deal... so cheap compared to even a stripped Cooper. They were itching to make a deal, too, unlike MINI dealers who simply don't budge on price, offer absurdly low trade-in values, that sort of thing. It makes you think, in a bad economy, if you can save $7,000 by driving a Fiat... hmmm...

I also test drove a Ford Fiesta a while back -- I think it's a nice looking car -- and it's probably a fair competitor to the 500. I thought the 500 was a far better drive than the Fiesta. The Fiesta (which unfortunately had a completely uninspiring automatic transmission) was just utterly without character... made me want to take a nap between stoplights. Even if the 500 doesn't have the MINI thing going on, at least it has a good bit of personality as you drive it. Of course the Fiesta is considerably bigger (and thus more practical) than the Fiat, but still...

 

Hey I'm with grayraven on this...personally I don't like being in a mobility unit for the NATO support in Libya..so coming home to see citizens cruising around in Chryslers or even a Fiat makes me sick. Onto the 500! I think it's quite the hideous representation of a a shoe on wheels. Utter disgust...I'm bias what can I say? LOL ARAB OIL? Read up.

 

I just talked to a guy in S.Daytona that has one. He thought the miles per gallon should be better on the interstate then the 26mpg he gets. He gets 29/31 around town in traffic but on his vacation he had to keep it under 75 to get the 26mpg he got. He said if he ran 80 it would go down to 21 MPG and if he knew the car would not get better highway milage he would have kept his Hona Civic.

I told him to try using 93 octane and see if that helped.

His car sure was tiny parked next to my Mini. I sat in his car and I really did not like it. He sat in my car and loved it.

I have a picture I'll post when I find what I did with it.

Some people on this forum already own a 500, If you read this please post what kind of milage you get in normal driving. (NORMAL) not fuel saving sissy driving.

 

Every 3rd car here is an efffin Fiat 500. Im already over them...lol. They have been out for a few years now. I have seen 3 Abarths since the other day and drove one last night. Its whatever. I will take the Mini over them any day. And I live in Sicily now btw...