Slow Car on a lease, thoughts ?????

[MikeInWimbledon]

I entirely agree about the current FIAT 500. SWMBO hired a 500 Hybrid City Car with a 70 HP Petrol engine in France earlier this year. It was 9 months old and had done 60k km. Clean & tidy but a bl..dy awful car to drive, and as you say noisy & uncomfortable. .

A shame as I always liked the petrol 500 - my granddaughter has a 6 year old one which the family love.

Aye, but this is the essence of the town car conflict: short wheelbase, compact, yada yada.

While that might be true for the Suzuki too, for his use is it an issue.

As has often been said, a vehicle may be hopeless for driving 600 miles in a day, without a single stop, while towing a caravan on the back, but does that mean it’s not fit for the intended job?

 

[BTB 500]

I entirely agree about the current FIAT 500. SWMBO hired a 500 Hybrid City Car with a 70 HP Petrol engine in France earlier this year. It was 9 months old and had done 60k km. Clean & tidy but a bl..dy awful car to drive, and as you say noisy & uncomfortable. .

A shame as I always liked the petrol 500 - my granddaughter has a 6 year old one which the family love.

The current petrol 500 is made in Poland and is an old design (on sale for 17 years) built on the same floorpan as the Panda and Ford Ka. It's being dropped as it doesn't meet some new EU regs that come in shortly, but demand for petrol is still strong so Fiat are looking at an ICE version of the much newer 500e EV (made by Stellantis in Italy). Possibly the first manufacturer to convert an existing car from BEV to ICE rather than the other way round?

 

[BTB 500]

I think that anything that can get to 60 in 10 seconds can be an issue these days....especially if you spend a bit of time on dual carriage ways and motorways. You need a bit of poke to join a busy motorway and changing lanes can need power to avoid the BMW/Audi piloting reps.

The roads are full of slower vehicles that use motorways and dual carriageways without any issues ... buses, coaches, vans, HGVs, pickups, etc.

 

[NJSS]

Fiat are looking at an ICE version of the much newer 500e EV

Excellent news - thank-you.

 

[markjay]

We had a Swift in Barbados....

I guess that's not the Brabus then.......

He said B-a-r-b-a-d-o-s...

 

[markjay]

Small city cars are very much in demand in the South of Italy, old and modern alike......:

So much so, in fact, that the owner if this Fiat 500 is worried that someone will steal it....:

And, small cars allow for some crazy parking:

(The man in the photo is the driver who just parked the car in the middle and is walking away - I should have taken a video of his parking....)

 

[TrueSpirit]

I've heard great things about the suzuki swift sport (the pre 2020 model ) and would Consider a 5 door sport go fast-ish version... 134ish Horsepower ...

 

[Londonscottish]

I entirely agree about the current FIAT 500. SWMBO hired a 500 Hybrid City Car with a 70 HP Petrol engine in France earlier this year. It was 9 months old and had done 60k km. Clean & tidy but a bl..dy awful car to drive, and as you say noisy & uncomfortable. .

A shame as I always liked the petrol 500 - my granddaughter has a 6 year old one which the family love.

I drove my wife's 1.2 200 miles down the M1 from Huddersfield to London when I bought it during Covid. I found it fine. The slowest car I'd driven in living memory but otherwise surprisingly fine.

 

[poormansporsche]

Well, sat in one today, surprisingly roomy. I liked the seats somewhat Recaro-ish despite the Noddy car exterior, heated too even on the boggo model. Quite funky dash compared to the vag cars. Liked the steering wheel too. Enough room in the back for the teenage giant Daughters even with the seat quite the way back.

Do prefer the outgoing model exterior looks wise but definitely worth further looking into.

 

[Londonscottish]

Well, sat in one today, surprisingly roomy. I liked the seats somewhat Recaro-ish despite the Noddy car exterior, heated too even on the boggo model. Quite funky dash compared to the vag cars. Liked the steering wheel too. Enough room in the back for the teenage giant Daughters even with the seat quite the way back.

Do prefer the outgoing model exterior looks wise but definitely worth further looking into.

The previous one is amazingly roomy. I can get all 4 of us in it - inc a 6 foot 2 son. It's OK round town.

By comparison the R56 MINI is dreadful.

 

[E55BOF]

By comparison the R56 MINI is dreadful.

I'll second that. I'm 6'1", and it was effectively a two-seater with another large adult in it.

 

[Londonscottish]

I'll second that. I'm 6'1", and it was effectively a two-seater with another large adult in it.

I took my wife to Car Giant just she could see an example of everything in one place. After saying "definitely not" to all the other suspects (Up Citi Go, Mii, Swift, Twingo, Fiesta etc) we were left with her original shortlist of a MINI or a 500.

I found it almost impossible to get in the back of an R56 whereas the 500 was easy. That was a major factor.

They are very different cars, of course, aimed at different markets.

 

[markjay]

I took my wife to Car Giant just she could see an example of everything in one place. After saying "definitely not" to all the other suspects (Up Citi Go, Mii, Swift, Twingo, Fiesta etc) we were left with her original shortlist of a MINI or a 500.

I found it almost impossible to get in the back of an R56 whereas the 500 was easy. That was a major factor.

They are very different cars, of course, aimed at different markets.

I drive a Fiat 500L rental in Italy on the autostrada and it's a proper car, size-wise.

 

[poormansporsche]

The previous one is amazingly roomy. I can get all 4 of us in it - inc a 6 foot 2 son. It's OK round town.

Apparently the 24 model swift is the same car underneath as the outgoing 2015 - 2023. Just dropped the interesting Turbo models and replaced the body with a even more cutesy design !

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I drive a Fiat 500L rental in Italy on the autostrada and it's a proper car, size-wise.

Rentals are sobering. FIAT 500, MINI, Golf, Audi A3, Fiesta, Focus: fabulous cars.

BMW 2 series coupe, Mustang, and GLC: OK

FIAT 500X, Tesla 3, Malibu: crock of sheet. Cars you can lock and walk away, never wanting to look back

Peugeot: Seriously? "Are you SURE that you don't have something else?"

 

[Darrell]

Rentals are sobering. FIAT 500, MINI, Golf, Audi A3, Fiesta, Focus: fabulous cars.

BMW 2 series coupe, Mustang, and GLC: OK

FIAT 500X, Tesla 3, Malibu: crock of sheet. Cars you can lock and walk away, never wanting to look back

Peugeot: Seriously? "Are you SURE that you don't have something else?"

Daughter is eyeballing an Audi A1.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Daughter is eyeballing an Audi A1.

A friend of mine had a 1.4 S Line which was a cracking little car.
Mr S fancies one of these:

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I've still got an unfulfilled long felt want for one of these.

They've been going UP in value over the last five years. Ridiculous that a good one is more than a comparable BMW 330CI or Golf GTI

(That said, the aluminium body is still a panelbeater's nightmare)

 

[JHS]

I've still got an unfulfilled long felt want for one of these.

They've been going UP in value over the last five years. Ridiculous that a good one is more than a comparable BMW 330CI or Golf GTI

(That said, the aluminium body is still a panelbeater's nightmare)

View attachment 157053

I have long said that these are a future classic

 

[Darrell]

I've still got an unfulfilled long felt want for one of these.

They've been going UP in value over the last five years. Ridiculous that a good one is more than a comparable BMW 330CI or Golf GTI

(That said, the aluminium body is still a panelbeater's nightmare)

View attachment 157053

I mentioned one of these to my wife back in 2019 as a runabout. It was an emphatic no. Shane really cos I like them.