Buying advice Fiat 500/500 C: City whispers

Visually, the Fiat 500 has been completely the same for almost 15 years, because the visual and technical changes are within limits. School leavers fall in love with the small cars from Turin, as do middle-aged business women, It girls, ponytail Ray-Ban wearers from the trendy metropolis or professionals from the urban environment. Admittedly, men are rarely seen in the Fiat 500. It’s not that the small Fiat doesn’t appeal to men, but its rounded, cuddly design makes it difficult for the stronger sex to openly acknowledge it. A short detour to the bakery with the car of a wife or girlfriend; there is hardly much more and even the high-performance Abarth versions are more likely to be served by cool and trendy women in metropolises like Munich or Hamburg. They all appreciate one thing in particular: the design of the Fiat 500 is a blast. When it was presented in 2007, it was no different than it is today. Similar to the Mini, the 500 serves the retro chic from the 50s and 60s.

The 500 is the perfect companion for the city center. It’s small, it’s agile, it’s chic and cool – for almost 15 years. Which car can claim that? The Fiat 500 – whether as a closed version or as such with the now electrified roll-top roof – has made itself largely independent of its drive. Even the basic model with its 1.2 liter four-cylinder is the right choice. No high-tech engine, no 16-valve, no turbocharging or direct injection. There is no reason to opt for the hardly more powerful Fiat 500 Twin Air, which is much more modern with direct injection and corresponding charging. But it is only a 0.9-liter two-cylinder with a terrifying sound, which with 85 and 105 hp offers more power, but also has to be kicked cheerfully, while the consumption advantage compared to the 1.2-liter model for does not seem to play a major role for the customer. Both are somehow economical and the already comparable performance plays a subordinate role in the Fiat 500, even as the Targa version 500 C.

The 51 kW / 69 PS and just 102 Nm maximum torque of the Fiat 500 1.2 are a power development that leaves a lot to be desired by modern standards – precisely because the manual five-speed gearshift seems to come from a time that was already a few decades behind one lies. If you want to do it on the autobahn, you push the top speed, which is not always easy to read in the dark, to just under 170 km / h; in reality it is 160 km / h. Anyone looking for a model on the packed used car market should avoid the automated gearbox. The interruptions in tractive power when changing gears are reminiscent of the first generation of Smart Fortwo. The word acceleration may hardly fit the propulsion of the northern Italian front-wheel drive and yet you can’t be angry with the Fiat 500. On the contrary. The engine is sufficient in the best sense of the word. It takes you from A to B, from your own home to the office, on the way back to shopping and when your best friend wants to go to the airport, there is even space for the large suitcase in the anything but generously dimensioned luggage compartment of the Fiat 500 Convertible. If not, the back seat is turned down and you have a stylish appearance every time you drive. The chassis is not too soft, not too hard and the steering assistance that can be activated via a button when parking is just as superfluous as the rear parking sensors.

Hardly any model on the car market has such coveted special editions as the Fiat 500. Years ago, the deep dark blue Fiat 500/500 C Riva was a real show because it brought real luxury to the small car. A luxury that had previously only been experienced in the first generations of the Lancia Y, but which never won over the masses and had no chance outside of Italy. Things look completely different with the Fiat 500, because it is now also exploring the anything but small car-friendly USA. The quality of the 500 is decent even if the hard plastic panels inside become a bit unsightly over the years.

The successful exterior design continues in the interior, even if the northern Italian’s age can be seen inside over the years. The multifunctional instrument behind the handy leather steering wheel provides practical, but not up-to-date information with intertwined round clocks and a digital instrument from the early days of the radio alarm clock about the most important functions. The younger models were even available with digital instruments for a surcharge. In the middle is the central operation of the automatic air conditioning without the painfully missing seat heating, which many dealers installed as a retrofit solution, and above it, depending on the version, the small touchscreen, on which the navigation, sound system and the networking of the smartphone cannot be controlled perfectly, but properly.

So much styling has its price, because even if dealers in particular want to lure customers into 500 models with cheap equipment with snap offers, the editions have their price – especially as a used car. The particularly popular Fiat 500 C Riva 1.2 from 2016 costs just under 14,000 euros with an electric roof, light leather interior, stylish aluminum wheels and digital instruments and a mileage of less than 50,000 kilometers, which is hardly less than when new, with a significant discount. Closed models with the chattering 0.9-liter engine still cost 12,000 euros. The special edition Fiat 500 Vintage 57 is cheap and stylish to look at, with colors like the old 500, which, with its 69 hp four-cylinder, costs barely more than 7,500 euros with well under 50,000 kilometers. Most of the models on the market are checked-book as city runabouts, whereby the maintenance status has large amplitudes in the supply structure. With the optional equipment, you should attach importance to details such as leather seats, xenon light, panoramic roof and the screen operating system so that you can mirror your own smartphone in the car. The at least 135 hp Abarth versions are also quite popular, but are actually dispensable for the city center and, with the bulky aprons and flickering sound, a matter of taste. In terms of price, these start at around 10,000 euros from the middle of the past decade.