my brother-in-law has an Abarth, I don't know, I don't get it. ever since I started riding, I haven't been happy with any cars. but I've made bad choices,

We're starting to see more of them here in Columbus, Ohio area.  I personally think they look neat - I've always liked small cars, and have had about a dozen old VW Bugs ( not the new ones ) in my lifetime.

I have a buddy who has a Smart - that thing looks dangerous, but he drives about 50 miles each way to work and gets about 45 mpg.

What's the mileage rating on the Fiat 500?  Do you have a dealer close for service?  Don't know about you, but I'm a firm believer in getting cars serviced at the dealer for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that if a tech screws up, you've got the dealer and the manufacturer behind him.

I have found that dealer service is no more expensive than Billy Bob's garage.
I like OEM parts, and techs who are properly trained on my car, not dozens of other types where the guy may, or may not know what he's tearing into.
Example - back 20 years ago, my wife thought she heard a noise in her transmission in her '93 BMW 5 series wagon with only 2,000 miles till warranty expired.  She took it to dealer, the guy put in it gear on the lift, took a doc's stethoscope on the tranny case and started listening to the tranny.
He heard the noise, told her it'd be about 10 minutes to call BMW and get approval to tear into it.
He came back saying that the factory wouldn't let him get into it - her brand new tranny would be shipped that day - the factory wanted hers shipped back, untouched, so they could autopsy it and figure out what happened.
New tranny was $3500 - all replaced totally under warranty.  Would you get that from Billy Bob?  Doubtful.

Jerry Eichenberger wrote on 03/07/13 at 15:59:09:


So many things wrong with what you just said. For starters - you didn't find that the dealer was "no more expensive" because dealer bills are sometimes twice as what you'd pay at a chain. This is why chains exist in the first place.

Second - The same guys that work at dealers work at chains. I know this because the vast majority of my friends are mechanics. They all bounce from shop to shop whether it's a dealer or not.

Third - Warranty work. If you have a car that's under warranty - you aren't paying for it in the first place so of course you'd go to the dealer. And as far as getting a transmission for free - do you really think you're getting that anywhere when a car is out of warranty?

Clearly you're talking out of your ass.


*edit* Oh - and "Billy Bob's" would be the cheapest of the three because they don't have huge overhead from franchise fees.

The Fiat 500 is a very cool little car and just might meet your driving requirements with a lot more panache than my '08 Yaris 2-Dr HB ... which BTW, even with a 5-spd hasn't gotten any better than 34mpg ... but is decent enough in the snow (equipped with winter tires) ... and we get LOTS of snow up here! I'd say the 500 would be at least as good driving in the white stuff ...

I don't get the Prius at all.  Why bother with batteries that are horribly expensive to replace after a few years?  If mileage is your main goal, why not just go diesel, like a VW Golf diesel?  Mileage is actually better, and srevice life can't be beat.

A good friend of mine works at a local Chrysler/Fiat dealership and he sez that the new 500s are waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the quality of the older Fiats from decades past ... the new Fiat 500 is at least as reliable as most subcompact imports on the North American market today and have a decent warranty as well ... If I were interested in one, I wouldn't let the reputation of 1970's era Fiats sway my decision ...