Fiat 500 - opinions please!

Hintza

The thing about cars is they are all down to personal taste at the end of the day. Sillygoose wants to have a rant about the Fiat 500 (personally I like it).

I probably wouldn't buy a Ford just because every Tom, !!!!!! and Harry has one, but could quite easily contadict myself (thought there were some cracking deals on the Kuga a while back).

And just don't start me on MPV's to me they are the spawn of the devil, no design, crap drive etc etc (but I'm sure some couldn't live without one) but for the majority of drivers why oh why? Had a Zafira for last two months horrible!

Happy_Shrimper

Interesting thread. What did you go for Grammagirl?
I have had a test drive in the Diesel Swift and it was very good. Thought I couldn't be swayed, but wanted to do the rounds. Citreon C3 seems quite nice, but didn't hit the spot. Corsa - nah, Clio - nope, Mazda 2 - not looked yet - maybe saturday, but generally don't like Mazdas. Ka, booked for a test drive on saturday, but doubt I will like it. 500 - tempting. Very well equiped and great interior. Its a funky little car. 1.2 Stop&Start is well priced and when working out costings over the diesel version, it adds up favourably. Resale value is likely to be strong.

I do 25000 miles a year on the motorway - normally heavy traffic so speed is not a concern, but economy is very important. It needs to be comfortable and reliable.

It really looks like its down to the diesel Swift and S&S 500. The Swift was a great drive and going to be hard to beat as a driving machine, but 500 cheaper to buy and service interval of 18000 compared to the Swifts 9000. I'll soon know after Saturday!

Oh, by the way - I'm a male driver!

tomstickland

I had a look on Autotrader the other day and you can pick up 4-5 year old Mondeo TDi estates for £2.5K.
So why pay £8K for a new "toaster"?

diable

joncarpet wrote: »

listen to your niggling fear!
Fix It Again Tomorrow

I always thought that it was Fix It Again Tony

Inactive

Happy_Shrimper wrote: »

Interesting thread. What did you go for Grammagirl?
I have had a test drive in the Diesel Swift and it was very good. Thought I couldn't be swayed, but wanted to do the rounds. Citreon C3 seems quite nice, but didn't hit the spot. Corsa - nah, Clio - nope, Mazda 2 - not looked yet - maybe saturday, but generally don't like Mazdas. Ka, booked for a test drive on saturday, but doubt I will like it. 500 - tempting. Very well equiped and great interior. Its a funky little car. 1.2 Stop&Start is well priced and when working out costings over the diesel version, it adds up favourably. Resale value is likely to be strong.

Why don't you like Mazda's? they are excellent cars.

If you want " reliable " they are your best option.

Hintza

Inactive wrote: »

Why don't you like Mazda's? they are excellent cars.

May i refer my learned counsel to the Korean car thread......same can be said for the Japanese cars....who would have one....;)

Seriosly though I think if it was me I would be looking at something a bit bigger than a Fiat 500 if I was doing 25k miles a year. So in this case I would be voting for the Swift, if not something even bigger.

jb66

I had a go in a ford ka (which is based on a fiat 500) and hated it, I also never liked mazdas but went in anyway and got a test drive of a mazda 2 and was very impressed. It was same price as a ka and had so much more including air-con. Then i found out they can give you 0% finance or 3.9% depending on your deposit and i was sold.

Getting one in grey mica and cant wait!

Inactive

Hintza wrote: »

May i refer my learned counsel to the Korean car thread......same can be said for the Japanese cars....who would have one....;)

.

Me... Toyota is the biggest seller of cars in the world, they cannot all be wrong..


I have always owned Mazda'a, Honda's and the older Nissans, never had a fault with any of them.

My Daughter has a Mazda 323, purchased new in May 2000, it still has the original battery and exhaust on it, never missed a beat.

Happy_Shrimper

Thanks for the constructive replies.
I am a little concerned about the size of the 500, but wife and kids keen on the 500. Always had big cars for the M25 journey I do. How bad can it be in a modern small car? They are comfortably equiped, M25 rarely goes that fast anyway, and you can only occupy one seat on your own. Rest of the space is irrelevent!
I'll see how it goes tomorrow with the KA and 500. Hopefully will also get another drive in the Swift and possibly Mazda 2 as they are at the same dealer. Wouldn't have bothered at all with the Mazda had it not been for this thread.
I think my dislike of Mazdas stems from an episode of Men Behaving Badly if anyone recalls what I'm reffering to :rotfl:.
I've never been a big fan of Japanese cars as they always seemed tinny and 'cheap' compared the the european alternatives. The Swift somehow feels European - maybe because its built in Hungary??
Like I think I mentioned before, the Swift has a 9000 service interval and the 500 18000. A big + in favour of the Fiat. Suzuki are doing 0% though (with 30% deposit) Oh what to do!
Out of interest, I'm seeing conflicting reports on whether its possible to haggle with scrappage. Dealers all say no, but if it meant a deposit there and then ...

Inactive

Happy_Shrimper wrote: »

Thanks for the constructive replies.

I've never been a big fan of Japanese cars as they always seemed tinny and 'cheap' compared the the european alternatives. The Swift somehow feels European - maybe because its built in Hungary??

Strange that I always think of Fiat's and Citroens as being tinny and cheap, to each his / her own, as they say.

Fiat Panda is made in Poland I believe, a far better buy than the 500 IMO, not that I would buy either of them.