Price Car Fiat 500c

Fiat 500c Design

This 2012 Fiat 500 Sport is a cute little runabout, with marginal performance but a high fun factor for the money.

I've done the mental comparison to the Mini Cooper, but that no longer seems apropos. The better measure might be against the Smart Fortwo, another cute little runabout with marginal performance but a high fun factor, or the Chrysler PT Cruiser (ditto). Styling, bringing colors from outside to inside trim, low power output, good fuel economy, softened ride, kind of rubbery shifters or balky transmissions are some of the common traits of cars in this category.

This 2012 Fiat 500 Sport is too cute by half, perhaps, and you really have to stand on it and just row the gearbox to keep the thing moving. That can be fun though, and it's definitely flingable.

Fiat 500c Interior

One thing that stood out to me was that the car was actually a nice freeway cruiser--way quieter than I thought it would be, with minimal tire noise. I thought it would be buzzy and noisy but I was wrong.

Fiat's strength, in my opinion, has historically been its small cars like the Topolino, the first 500s, etc., and this car carries on the tradition. It's a Panda underneath, doesn't feel quite as sharp as a Mini, but is still great at zipping around the city.

I had one of these out in Los Angeles for a week. Everybody told me it was cute. I'm not in the demographic that wants a cute car. I'm not against cute by any stretch, I just don't want to drive cute. A burly construction worker said from his pickup truck, "That's a cute car." I told him: "It gets good mileage. High 30s."

The big question, is, is it fun to drive? It is once you find that sport button on the dash. That really livens things up. The manual transmission isn't bad to operate, either. It helps with the fun factor. But the question is, is this more fun than other cars for this price and of this size? Of course the Mini is much more fun to drive but it doesn't count, since it costs more. The Smart shouldn't even be considered a car. I don't know what it is but it's tied with the Hummer H1 for most awful contrivance in my personal driving history. The Fiesta shares a price range but it's far more practical, with all those doors and all. Maybe the Scion iQ, but that's not out yet.

Fiat is hoping to distinguish the 500 further with its equipment. The base trim level, the Pop, includes power windows, locks, and mirrors; seven airbags; air conditioning; and cruise control. It’s not a ton of stuff, but neither is the $15,995 price. The company expects most of the sales volume to come from the middle trim level, the 500 Sport. For $17,995, the Sport adds 16-inch wheels (in place of the Pop’s 15s), unique fascias front and rear, a Bose sound system, and red brake calipers. At the top of the line sits the Lounge, at $19,995. It adds a six-speed automatic, a fixed glass roof, an alarm, satellite radio, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. On Pop and Sport models, the automatic is a $1000 option. For reference, Honda Fit base prices range from $15,850 to $19,990, and the Nissan Cube’s, from $15,070 to $21,970.