Fiat 500 Sport 2016 new car review
In 2007 Fiat followed in the footsteps of Volkswagen and Mini Cooper by reincarnating one of its most popular cars.
In 2007 Fiat followed in the footsteps of Volkswagen and Mini Cooper by reincarnating one of its most popular cars - the two-cylinder rear-engine 500 (known as the Bambina in NZ), but this time in a conventional front-wheel-drive format on a platform shared with the Fiat Panda and Ford Ka.
Fiat sold more than 3.8 million units of the original 500 from 1957 to 1975, and the 500D “Bambina” was assembled for a time in New Zealand by Torino Motors for local consumption in the late 1960s.
Inside and out
The problem with retro cars, such as the new Beetle, new MINI, and also the new 500, is while the exterior and interior design cues remain faithful to the original, having to accommodate modern safety regulations and the needs of the marketing department, can sometimes compromise the execution of the final product.
If you are more than 6 foot tall, or your spouse is, then don’t order a Fiat 500 with the factory fitted tilt/slide glass sunroof. My six-foot-four-inch-tall husband found himself sitting back at a rakish angle to fit inside the 500 Sport, and even me at five foot eight inches found my hair brushing against the ceiling, due to the area occupied by the roofs internal space requirement. Chris also found the jarring ride from the suspension over corrugations and the bumpy road is quite uncomfortable at times; thankfully he only had to endure this for a short commute from work to our home.
While the Blue & Me communication system is getting a bit long in the tooth, it is still easy enough to hook up a phone using Bluetooth, and the Fiat will read out incoming text messages which are no longer an exclusive party trick since the advent of Apple CarPlay. The 500 has premium audio.
For 2016 the distributor is offering a limited edition Sport pack for the 500, as reviewed here. It has a few of those retro-style quirks that for some people won’t be an issue, and for others most likely quite maddening.
At $25,990 the Fiat 500 Sport offers good value with its offer of the tilt/slide glass sunroof, rear-seat leather upholstery, reversing sensors and the upgraded alloy wheels and low profile tyre combination in addition to the standard specification.
On the road
The new 2016 Fiat 500 is fun to drive and very easy to place in traffic and also to find parking spaces for thanks to its diminutive dimensions, but it has a few compromises in its character which will be forgiven by some and frustrate others.
First, the bouncy ride quality coupled with the noise from the small low profile tyres can get a bit tiring, and you find yourself often driving around road corrugations and manhole covers, because the cabin noise, vibration, and harshness created by these is quite noticeable.
On the flip side of the coin, thanks to its short wheelbase and diminutive dimensions you can slip through gaps in city traffic that nobody else could even consider.
The 500 will pull up on a postage stamp and can park in those tiny spaces where no other vehicle can, as I have seen in cities such as London and Paris. It’s one of the few occasions I have had a car small enough to use the 'Small Car Only' spaces in our contract parking building.
The Dual Logic transmission in the 500 Sport uses a robotised single clutch to automatically change the five-speed manual gearbox up and down through the gears. Hence there is no clutch pedal, but the system is not particularly sensitive or lightning-quick in automatic mode.
For the majority of the road test I left the Dual Logic selector in manual mode and used the flappy paddles to change up and down through the gears at my discretion, rather than to wait for the auto mode to sort itself out.
The 500 Sport has a Sport mode button, but this seemed only to make the steering feel unnecessarily heavier, and it didn’t seem to liberate any more response from the engine.
While I appreciate that Fiat thinks the Dual Logic offers the best compromise between a manual and automatic transmission, I would have preferred a proper manual transmission with a clutch pedal, which is more in keeping with a small Italian city car.
Conclusion
My daily commute is a 22km round trip from the outer suburbs to the CBD, and the 500 is an ideal vehicle for such an application given that most days I’m the sole occupant. This car is ideal for apartment dwelling couples or as a second small family car for a parent to do the school run.
That said, I was in a cafe recently when three people and their luggage managed to squeeze themselves into a Fiat 500 parked outside. One large suitcase went inside the boot, another large suitcase sat on the back seat, and the two passengers nursed their not inconsiderable carry on luggage, clinging on for dear life as the driver spun a U-turn into oncoming traffic.
I love the idea behind the 500, I do like the look and the design of the retro Fiat, but people who like to drive enthusiastically may be better served by the cheaper $19,990 Pop model with a manual transmission and no sunroof. If you want an open-top version, buy the 500C with the fabric roof and enjoy better headroom inside when the roof is in the closed position.
Price: $25,990
Note: this was reviewed as a new vehicle
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