New Fiat 500

[davidstone28]

The detailing and styling is outstanding. £8000 seems outstanding value for money.









155bhp Abarth version as well coming in 2008.

[herulach]

Id put money on those interiors being from the abarth version, and certainly not in the base model, grey plastic all round in that i reckon

[MaddAussie]

Me likes!

Driven a Micra (new shape) and it drives nice, for a little city carr its not too bad

Tho my favorite itailian car of the mo the new prototype Lancia fulvia

[dave87]

So beautiful (in the case of the Lancia, anyway) and yet, they still manage to have the steering wheel on the wrong side...Tsk Tsk....

[davidstone28]

That Lancia dash looks like a 1950s radio:-







Not sure why they're trying to resurrect the Lancia name - it has minimal brand value and doesn't cover any sectors not already covered by Fiat, Alfa, Maserati etc

[shelley bda]

I am a hooooooge fan of the Fiat 500, I think they are fantastic! and the new shape ones are just awesome!!!!my dream would be to own an old 500

[MaddAussie]

Not sure why they're trying to resurrect the Lancia name - it has minimal brand value and doesn't cover any sectors not already covered by Fiat, Alfa, Maserati etc

They aren't, Lancia has been trading in Italy and other parts of Europe for ears just haven't got a dealer network in the UK

[davidstone28]

Interesting that about Lancia - I thought they had died.

Still not sure what segment or market Fiat are trying to target with these sorts of cars.

The Ypsilon(?) seems to be a Fiat Punto / Brava etc but with smarter clothes. Seems a bit too old fashioned for the small city car brigade though. And whatever small market share it does have is going to get blitzed when Fiat bring out the Baby Alfa below the 147.
http://www.lanciaypsilon.com/ypsilon/eng/home.html

The Thesis seems to cut right into Alfa 159 territory and gives the impression that its simply an Italian version of the Rover 75 but less reliability. There must only be a handful of people in Europe that would want to a buy a 3.2litre V6 Lancia saloon as opposed to say a 3 series, A4, 159, X-Type, or even Mondeo. It seems that the Thesis exists only because the other car manufacturers can't be bothered penetrate whatever National market the Thesis sells in - no doubt because the market's too small and not worth the expenditure.
http://www.lanciathesis.com/eng/home.html

I just wonder whether Fiat are keeping Lancia alive just for the sake of it, because there's simply no significant market for that brand or the type of cars that the brand represents.

[badass]

What do we think of Fiat's latest effort ?
With a proper engine, I think it could be quite fun and certainly a good alternative to the Mini One.

The Mino One is aimed at a completely different market and is about twice the size!
Plus it costs a lot more.

[Zak33]

I'm a bit of a closet Panda fan actually.



And having now smoked one of these around for 15 minutes....I'm right too.

So if the 500 turns out to be a much fun, it deserves to beat sevenb shades of exrement out of the BMiniW

[behappier]

Tho my favorite itailian car of the mo the new prototype Lancia fulvia

If that one is confirmed (far from certain ATM) 95% chance I'll buy one!