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Ken Gratton26 Nov 2014
REVIEW

Fiat 500 2014 Review

Fiat's bambino in the local range can be an acquired taste, but the entry-level Pop variant is caviar on a Maccas budget

Fiat 500 Pop
Road Test

No newcomer to the Aussie market, the Fiat 500 has seen its fortunes rise spectacularly since being repositioned to suit a new brand of buyer – one that is budget-conscious to a greater degree than the cognoscenti who bought the diminutive hatchback in the past. At the entry level the 500 Pop is battling it out with a range of Japanese and Korean light cars, but brings to bear its principal strength – character and novelty.

There was a time when you could pack a family of four into a Fiat 500 and drive from Melbourne to the race track at Winton for a V8 Supercars event  – roughly a two-hour journey each way – without any disparaging remarks from the back seat. Since then, however, the family has grown, but the Fiat hasn't.

From a recent seven-day test of the entry-level 500 Pop it's now clearer than ever that the 500 is a boutique model in the light car segment. The Fiat is simply not as practical as many of its rivals, but it shouldn't be judged by the same criteria anyway.

Finished in a light mint green colour, which looked even brighter and more 'fluoro' than white alone, the entry-level 500 Pop was a strange amalgam of glamour in a poverty pack. The steel wheels and unprepossessing covers were at odds with the colour, but arguably more appropriate to the 500's heritage than a set of alloys would have been.

Number one daughter found it exceptionally hard to cope with being dropped off in the 500 Pop a day after being chauffeured to school in a metallic black Audi S6. She was not convinced by the argument that the Fiat is 'cool' for trendy young women who pride themselves on their non-conformist approach to life. Cachet is obviously not a universal constant...

Behind the wheel I found steering, handling and roadholding were well ahead of the car's performance potential. The 500 delivered responsive steering with pleasing feedback. Tidy handling and safe levels of grip resulted in impressive cornering power for a car that's also a comfy-riding machine on a short wheelbase. Put quite simply, however, the 500 with the 1.2-litre engine is never going to muster the tyre-ravaging performance that would stretch the car's dynamic ability in extremis.

It took a little while to adjust to the entry-level 500's power delivery. In lower gears the engine was lusty enough with a few revs in hand, but there was a flat spot that demanded either a bit of gentle clutch riding on a light throttle for a clean launch, or revving the engine to 3500rpm and dumping the clutch. Either way, it wasn't what we're used to in modern, torquey four-cylinder cars.

And the engine's performance and power delivery might have been helped by an extra cog in the five-speed manual box. At times the spread of ratios seemed too wide, up hill and down dale. The transmission's shift quality was a little clunky, but quite precise and light otherwise. A shift indicator in the instrument binnacle informed drivers when to shift (down as well as up), but took no account of hills, which is when the 500 was most likely to struggle. Fuel consumption over the week was 7.0L/100km.

While the 500 was generally quiet on the road, tyre noise was appreciable up to freeway speeds, with a mild hum from the engine and a modicum of wind noise beginning to intrude at 100km/h. At times the exhaust system seemed to be making contact with the body during launch from a standing start – generating some vibration – and a spring in the braking system would twang after easing off the brake pedal. These were not major issues, but speak to the car's relatively low-cost engineering and (presumably) its manufacturing.

Ergonomics proved to be a problem when I drove the 500 Pop at its local launch. Nothing has changed there; the pedals are still too close to the driver, the steering wheel remains too far away, and the shape of the seat just doesn't feel right. To sit directly in front of the rather baroque instrument binnacle the driver has to be perched on and supported more by the left bolster than the right. Cushioning was not that crash-hot either. Even though the instrument binnacle comprises nothing much more than a tacho set within the speedo – and trip computer functions reading out from the centre of the tacho, the overall look is ostentatious and difficult to read at a glance.

Other little packaging vagaries included the electric window switches located on the centre fascia, and the seat recline knob inboard rather than outboard. When it came to loading passengers in the rear the front seats offered a memory-return facility of sorts, but it was a two-stage process, requiring return of the seat base first, following by lifting the hand-pull again and pushing back the squab.

In the rear, there was actually quite good knee room for adults, but I found headroom back there was at a premium. It's likely to be soon out-grown by teenagers – as I learned first-hand. There were no vents back there either, and the side windows didn't open at all, so the Fiat could be a sweatbox in summer.

The rear seat squab folded down in one piece for loading extra-large cargo, but unlatching the squab required finding the two concealed levers near the C pillars first, and then operating them simultaneously. I found it to be a stretch, but achievable. The boot itself was naturally very small, but large enough for several bags of groceries, and folding the seat down would yield plenty more volume besides.

It goes without saying that the 500 is a charmer in so many ways. I've written as much in the past. As a practical second car for the family, however, it's just not in contention. The 500 – and particularly the low-cost 500 Pop – is a car aimed fair and square at singles. Even then, it's a car with a narrowly defined appeal. Just ask my daughter.

2014 Fiat 500 Pop pricing and specifications:
Price:
$17,000 (as tested, including on-road costs)
Engine: 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 51kW/102Nm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel: 5.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 119g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP)

What we liked: Not so much:
>> Heritage styling >> Packaging concessions
>> Cornering prowess >> Power delivery
>> Hard-working engine >> Takes a special sort of person to be seen at the wheel

Also consider:
>> MINI Cooper
>> Volkswagen Beetle

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Written byKen Gratton
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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Expert rating
62/100
Engine, Drivetrain & Chassis
12/20
Price, Packaging & Practicality
12/20
Safety & Technology
12/20
Behind the Wheel
13/20
X-Factor
13/20
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