Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

[Mega]

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/21/f...130-dealers-d/

I think Fiat made a big mistake to think it could sell the 500 in the US. They thought "Mini"......But Mini is not that small. BMW copied the old BMC Mini but it is in fact a LOT bigger. I driven quite a few & apart from the ride which is very poor (Run-flat's don't suit UK roads) i thought it was good.

Plenty of room for the front & so, so in the rear, the trunk space is a joke (I seen bigger Glove boxes), but a resable size car. Checky "Italian Job" styling, BMW build else where.

The 500 is based on a much smaller Eco box, build Q is right out of Fiat from the 70's you sit high, & you feel its tight for space. No "Street Cred"......

If you want eco see Hyundai/Toyota.......

Mike

[shiny!]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

I got a 2012 Hyundai Accent hatchback. That's as small as I'm willing to go. Getting about 40 MPG highway.

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/21/f...130-dealers-d/

I think Fiat made a big mistake to think it could sell the 500 in the US. They thought "Mini"......But Mini is not that small. BMW copied the old BMC Mini but it is in fact a LOT bigger. I driven quite a few & apart from the ride which is very poor (Run-flat's don't suit UK roads) i thought it was good.

Plenty of room for the front & so, so in the rear, the trunk space is a joke (I seen bigger Glove boxes), but a resable size car. Checky "Italian Job" styling, BMW build else where.

The 500 is based on a much smaller Eco box, build Q is right out of Fiat from the 70's you sit high, & you feel its tight for space. No "Street Cred"......

If you want eco see Hyundai/Toyota.......

Mike

Sorry to see that this is not selling. I am a huge fan of this car. A perfect city car for San Francisco. This is one of the most fuel efficient cars on the market in the US right now. If it had been available 4 years ago I would have bought one. Now I live europe and I bought one of these:

http://themisseupho.blogspot.com/201...ugeot-308.html

Fast and good looking , but impossible to park. If you have a vision of France full of Super Mario carts, think again. The cars are about the same size as in the US. We even have a good number of SUVs and Light trucks.

I'm going to predict that the fiat 500 will sell out (!) next year as the price of gas explodes upwards after tax day.

One more little fact for you to mull over. My honking big convertible gets 50 miles to the gallon ( diesel )

-G

[mesyn191]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

I got a 2012 Hyundai Accent hatchback. That's as small as I'm willing to go. Getting about 40 MPG highway.

Not trying to scare you but AFAIK some of the newer GDI engines are having carbon build up issues. Wouldn't hurt to use the best fuels, run some SeaFoam through your car at least once a year and to get it checked for deposits every few years.

[GRG55]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/21/f...130-dealers-d/

I think Fiat made a big mistake to think it could sell the 500 in the US. They thought "Mini"......But Mini is not that small. BMW copied the old BMC Mini but it is in fact a LOT bigger. I driven quite a few & apart from the ride which is very poor (Run-flat's don't suit UK roads) i thought it was good.

Plenty of room for the front & so, so in the rear, the trunk space is a joke (I seen bigger Glove boxes), but a resable size car. Checky "Italian Job" styling, BMW build else where.

The 500 is based on a much smaller Eco box, build Q is right out of Fiat from the 70's you sit high, & you feel its tight for space. No "Street Cred"......

If you want eco see Hyundai/Toyota.......

Mike

This is the kind of car you buy your daughter when she heads off to college. Of course that was back in the days when people could afford to send their daughters to college. And buy them a car. Which might explain the slow sales...

Seriously, I suspect there's just not a lot of brand awareness of Fiat in the USA, and those familiar with Fiat still remember the well deserved reputation for poor reliability and rusting problems the last time they tried to sell cars in North America. If I remember the best thing to happen to Fiat back then was the introduction of the Chevy Vega...which was even worse. But even that wasn't enough to save the brand in this market.

[oddlots]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

They're selling pretty well in Canada from all reports which, given the fact that it appears to have casters instead of wheels and we have 3-4 months of winter says either something about the car or about Canadians...

Your choice.

There's a good discussion thread on them here:

http://www.fiat500owners.com/forum/a...php/t-743.html

For anyone doubting my good judgement (cough) my family drives two 2007 9-3 Saab sport combis... bought for a song after the start of the bankruptcy-without-end that is the sad fate of this manufacturer...

And I love 'em because they were great value. And lots of torque-steer to boot! Fun!

[shiny!]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

Not trying to scare you but AFAIK some of the newer GDI engines are having carbon build up issues. Wouldn't hurt to use the best fuels, run some SeaFoam through your car at least once a year and to get it checked for deposits every few years.

Thanks for the warning. Carbon buildup on the injectors is a concern, but Hyundai's Theta II engine design hopefully addresses that problem and it has a 10-year warranty, so I decided to go with it. Still, I only fill up with Chevron. I'll do the Seafoam trick, too. I appreciate your concern!

[Mega]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

Good choice
I have a friend whom worked for Jag & now Hyundai in R+D, Hyundai spent a shed full of money over the last 8 years & you are now seeing the results.

Mike

[shiny!]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

Good choice
I have a friend whom worked for Jag & now Hyundai in R+D, Hyundai spent a shed full of money over the last 8 years & you are now seeing the results.

Mike

It seemed like Hyundai really outdid themselves with the 2012 models. Stronger steel frames, loads of safety features, good MPG.

Here's a discussion about what Hyundai did to overcome the problem of carbon buildup in their GDI engine:

http://www.hyundai-forums.com/222-yf...engines-2.html

People say that synthetic motor oil is preferable in GDI engines. But my dealer is giving me $10 oil changes for the life of the car, and they only use regular oil. I don't think they would do something that would hurt the engine since they're the ones who would have to do the warranty work. Hope I'm right...

[GRG55]

Re: Americans will not Crappy little cars!!!

They're selling pretty well in Canada from all reports which, given the fact that it appears to have casters instead of wheels and we have 3-4 months of winter...

Not to mention we Canadians have much higher fuel taxes than our American cousins...which might be another motivator?