The legendary Fiat 500 was produced by the Fiat company from 1957 to 1975 and was extremely popular. The 500 was designed as a cheap and practical city car with a small body size of only 2.97 m and a tiny 479 cc two-cylinder air-cooled engine. This car was considered one of the first cars in the city. In 2007, Fiat introduced the new 500 with a very similar design to the old one. A great retro-style car is geared towards the buyer who is already enticed by the MINI created by Volkswagen New Beetle or BMW, but Fiat is cheaper. The car is 3.55 meters long and 1.65 meters wide, with a top speed of 180 km / h. The 500 is built on a Fiat Panda platform and will initially have three engines: a 1.2 8v, a 1.3 Multijet 75 hp turbo diesel and an 85 hp 1.4 16v engine. A version of the Fiat 500 Abarth with a 1.4-liter variable-geometry turbocharger with 135 hp will be produced. The new 500 received a five-star EuroNCAP front-end collision rating and became the shortest car to receive this rating (overtaking the MINI car). After an impressive presentation with Marilyn Monroe-style song “Happy Birthday, dear Cinquecento,” it looks like the 500 model is becoming a very popular and grumpy car like its predecessor 50 years ago.
Very spacious according to its size, economical, durable and beautiful
No essential disadvantages found
Year: 2011
Engine capacity, l: 1,2
Fuel Type: Petrol
Gearbox: Mechanical
Body type: Hatchback
Car description
I’ve owned it for almost four years. Back then it was bought brand new and up to this day it has done 50.000 miles. No major failures occurred, only oil, steering box and filters were changed. Trim quality of the 500 saloon is good as well as sound insulation; the chassis seems to be quite soft. The interior is pretty roomy for two passengers or a man of height 1.80 meters like me. Sitting in the back for taller passengers is quite comfortable too.
Performance
As long as you aren’t in a hurry, a 1.2-liter petrol engine with a manual transmission will do fine, but automatic transmission wouldn’t be the wisest decision to go for since it lacks on power and possibly can cause additional unnecessary problems. A 1.4-liter engine consumes approx. 2 liters more of petrol, but the difference in the amount of fuel consumed won’t be noticeable if driving in a city mode. Having a 1.3-liter diesel engine usually results in difficulty to warm up the engine in winter time or irritating engine noise. Average fuel consumption is approx. 5.5-6 liter of petrol or 4.5-5 liter of diesel 62 mph.
Reliability, running costs
The loss of money on depreciation when you buy a brand-new Fiat 500 will be dramatic during the first three years of owning it. So in order to avoid that, I’d better suggest buying this Fiat now rather than waiting for couple more years. Running costs are quite low.
Recommendations to buyers
Look for a well-maintained vehicle having a 1.2 engine with a manual transmission and of course Fiat 500 in bright body color will look great. This is our second family car, which my wife adores so does my elder kids.