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Thread: RIP Fiat 500: cancelled in North America (it's official)

  1. #31
    Senior Member DonkeyPal's Avatar
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    Since the gravel roads we have to travel to get home and to get out can be bad, the Fiat 500's barely over 4-inch ground clearance would make it a fair-weather-only car for us. Our 2015 Mirage actually has a bit more ground clearance than the 6-inches our Scion XA had.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 automatic: 43.0 mpg (US) ... 18.3 km/L ... 5.5 L/100 km ... 51.7 mpg (Imp)


  2. #32

    It's official: RIP

    Confirmed yesterday...

    Arrivederci: the Fiat 500 will no longer be sold in Canada

    The little runabout, the brand’s best-selling car, will be departing showrooms across North America at the end of the 2019 model year
    https://driving.ca/fiat/500/auto-new...sold-in-canada

    Some U.S. sales figures...

    Year ... Mirage ... 500

    2019 ... 12,901 ... 1,692 (through June)
    2018 ... 24,316 ... 5,370
    2017 ... 22,386 ... 12,685
    2016 ... 22,226 ... 15,587
    2015 ... 21,515 ... 25,084
    2014 ... 16,708 ... 33,708

    The 500's best year was 2012, its first full year of sales @ 43,772

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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  4. #33
    Senior Member Dirk Diggler's Avatar
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    Thats too bad, my friend from work has a manual 500 and it was fun as hell to drive. Plus the Italians know how to do interiors, the leather stitching on the seats were superb. The stick shifted nicely, didnt stall out once on me, and had good power. Downside was that backseat was a joke, you couldnt fit a toddler back there.

  5. #34
    Senior Member Wallythacker's Avatar
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    I do believe the first year 500's sold for about $12k, give or take. Base model. I was attracted to them for that reason.

    However, after renting one I wanted nothing more to do with it. The doors were very heavy and would slam on your legs when parking facing uphill. It was a pain for my kid to crawl in and out of the back seat.

    It had a severe understeer issue when pushed. The tail would swap ends with the nose in a blink around hard corners. No other small car I rented and drove like a Porsche 917 had such bad manners.

    Finally, fuel mileage. There was none. Case closed.
    Zero, 2014 ES Plus 5MT, written off but not forgotten.
    Zero II, 2014 SE, 5MT, climate She's HOME now!
    Shelby AKA "Cute", 2017 ES 5MT, A/C.

    Mirage owners look at the world differently than everyone else, but in a better way
    We're driving the Beetle of the 21st century, the greatest small car now available!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2017 Mirage ES PLus 1.2 manual: 39.0 mpg (US) ... 16.6 km/L ... 6.0 L/100 km ... 46.8 mpg (Imp)


  6. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by DonkeyPal View Post
    Since the gravel roads we have to travel to get home and to get out can be bad, the Fiat 500's barely over 4-inch ground clearance would make it a fair-weather-only car for us. Our 2015 Mirage actually has a bit more ground clearance than the 6-inches our Scion XA had.
    Something about the Mirage/G4 that I think is really underrated is the ground clearance, which I *think* is 6.3 inches. That's actually pretty darn decent for a car. I definitely notice NOT scraping like I did with my 96 Corolla or 13 500 Abarth.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2018 Mirage G4 ES 1.2 automatic: 32.5 mpg (US) ... 13.8 km/L ... 7.2 L/100 km ... 39.0 mpg (Imp)


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  8. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wallythacker View Post
    I do believe the first year 500's sold for about $12k, give or take. Base model. I was attracted to them for that reason.

    However, after renting one I wanted nothing more to do with it. The doors were very heavy and would slam on your legs when parking facing uphill. It was a pain for my kid to crawl in and out of the back seat.

    It had a severe understeer issue when pushed. The tail would swap ends with the nose in a blink around hard corners. No other small car I rented and drove like a Porsche 917 had such bad manners.

    Finally, fuel mileage. There was none. Case closed.
    How long did you rent it? Do you remember the MPG? I had my 500 Abarth for 6 years. When doing delivery (lots of stop/go) I'd get about 26 mpg (vs about 33 in my G4) and when not delivering, but just around town I'd get closer to 29. Road trip MPG was always mid/upper 30's. And I always drove that car like it was meant to be, fast and hard. My mom has a 15 Pop and she gets 30's around town and 40's on road trips.

    The doors...one of my favorite/least favorite features. While I appreciated the solid feel of the door when shutting, when I parked on an incline, I knew how to do the little 'dance' to fling the door open and hop out in time for it not to swing back and hit me. It only took a couple of times for that to happen before I figured out that 'little dance'.

    A surprising about of parents have used their 500's with little or no complaint. I think it's a case of 'where there's a will, there's a way' lol. I have ridden in the back of my FIAT before, while it wasn't horrible, it certainly was not great. In fact, I felt more comfortable in the back seat of the first gen Mini Cooper. The 500 isn't for everyone, but I'm certainly glad/grateful I had my experience!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2018 Mirage G4 ES 1.2 automatic: 32.5 mpg (US) ... 13.8 km/L ... 7.2 L/100 km ... 39.0 mpg (Imp)


  9. #37
    Senior Member Dirk Diggler's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Go4th View Post
    How long did you rent it? Do you remember the MPG? I had my 500 Abarth for 6 years. When doing delivery (lots of stop/go) I'd get about 26 mpg (vs about 33 in my G4) and when not delivering, but just around town I'd get closer to 29. Road trip MPG was always mid/upper 30's. And I always drove that car like it was meant to be, fast and hard. My mom has a 15 Pop and she gets 30's around town and 40's on road trips.

    The doors...one of my favorite/least favorite features. While I appreciated the solid feel of the door when shutting, when I parked on an incline, I knew how to do the little 'dance' to fling the door open and hop out in time for it not to swing back and hit me. It only took a couple of times for that to happen before I figured out that 'little dance'.

    A surprising about of parents have used their 500's with little or no complaint. I think it's a case of 'where there's a will, there's a way' lol. I have ridden in the back of my FIAT before, while it wasn't horrible, it certainly was not great. In fact, I felt more comfortable in the back seat of the first gen Mini Cooper. The 500 isn't for everyone, but I'm certainly glad/grateful I had my experience!
    Everytime I see your screen name I think for a second it says Goth lol and I envision you in all black with an Edgar Allen Poe tshirt on listening to Bauhaus in your black Mirage.

  10. #38
    Senior Member Wallythacker's Avatar
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    I had it for almost 4 days in the early summer. I put close to 800 miles on it.

    I think the mileage was in the mid 30's (Imperial measure) so I wasn't impressed. I have clue what model it was. It was pretty fancy IIRC, maybe with wood accents? It did go like h*ll though.


    Zero, 2014 ES Plus 5MT, written off but not forgotten.
    Zero II, 2014 SE, 5MT, climate She's HOME now!
    Shelby AKA "Cute", 2017 ES 5MT, A/C.

    Mirage owners look at the world differently than everyone else, but in a better way
    We're driving the Beetle of the 21st century, the greatest small car now available!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2017 Mirage ES PLus 1.2 manual: 39.0 mpg (US) ... 16.6 km/L ... 6.0 L/100 km ... 46.8 mpg (Imp)


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