Fiat 500e - How bad?

[moemoney]

Wow, such ignorant comments. I used to think this forum was better than this.

Really smart to judge a new car based on experiences from 45 years ago.

As far as rusting quickly, the cars are made with galvanized steel and don't rust any more quickly than any other modern car. Fiat took care of their rust issues decades ago and in Europe are considered among the more rust resistant cars.

As most of the commenters drive boring camry's and clapped out old pickup trucks, I'm not surprised. People that drive sporty, interesting cars don't rely on the biased reporting from rags like Consumer Reports or someone like Scotty Kilmer, who irresponsibly recommends his viewers fix their brake lines with compression fittings.

Anyone with an open mind should go to a Fiat Forum and you'll find owners that love their cars and get the full story by people who actually have first hand knowledge and don't regurgitate hearsay nonsense.

 

[Skippy722]

Originally Posted by moemoney
Wow, such ignorant comments. I used to think this forum was better than this.

Really smart to judge a car based on experiences from 45 years ago.

As far as rusting quickly, the cars are made with galvanized steel and don't rust any more quickly than any other modern car. Fiat took care of their rust issues decades ago and in Europe are considered among the more rust resistant cars.

As most of the commenters drive boring camry's and clapped out old pickup trucks, I'm not surprised. People that drive sporty, interesting cars don't no to rely on the biased reporting from rags like Consumer Reports or someone like Scotty Kilmer, who irresponsibly recommends his viewers fix their brake lines with compression fittings.

Anyone with an open mind should go to a Fiat Forum and you'll find owners that love their cars and get the full story by people who actually have first hand knowledge and don't regurgitate hearsay nonsense.

Be careful pointing out the issues with the sacred text and prophet and telling them to go to a forum dedicated to a particular car, which, by nature, likely has more members who actually own the cars in question than consumer reports got responses for.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by nthach
Me and The Critic replaced a battery pack in a 06 Prius that lived in AZ, the car was barely at the 60K mark.


Umm, the Prius is a hybrid. The Fiat an EV.

Still. Batteries are batteries. A Prius battery is small compared to the ones on full-electric cars.

My point was to illustrate that AZ is hard on batteries and an air-cooled or convection cooled(Leaf) design might not survive in a place like AZ.

 

[wdn]

Fiat 500 pulled out of the US market. Orphaned

12 cars with the worst one-year depreciation. Two of the twelve are Fiat 500s: the 500 and 500L. That is used car marketplace speaking loudly about the Fiat 500. And that was while they were still in production, wait until next year.

http://www.realcartips.com/news/1305-cars-worst-depreciation.shtml

Not only is it a stinker with 0 out of 100 reliability score from over 1,200 Fiat 500 cars tested, it also has among the worst resale in the market.

1,200 cars evaluated does not sound like enough of a sample size? Well, only 2,500 Fiat 500s have been sold in all of 2019.

Total 2018 sales: 5,370

Sure a feller can go to a fanboi enthusiast site and bond with fellow Fiat lovers.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by wdn
Fiat 500 pulled out of the US market. Orphaned

12 cars with the worst one-year depreciation. Two of the twelve are Fiat 500s: the 500 and 500L. That is used car marketplace speaking loudly about the Fiat 500. And that was while they were still in production, wait until next year.

http://www.realcartips.com/news/1305-cars-worst-depreciation.shtml

Not only is it a stinker with 0 out of 100 reliability score from over 1,200 Fiat 500 cars tested, it also has among the worst resale in the market.

1,200 cars evaluated does not sound like enough of a sample size? Well, only 2,500 Fiat 500s have been sold in all of 2019.

Total 2018 sales: 5,370

Sure a feller can go to a fanboi enthusiast site and bond with fellow Fiat lovers.


Maybe get your facts straight before posting an argument that has no merit. Fiat has not pulled out of the US market at all. It still sells SUV's and Spider convertibles. By that argument, you could say that Ford has pulled out of the US market as well after having killed off most sedans. Fiesta, Focus, Taurus, CMax, etc. Were they junk also? Apparently few people were buying them too.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted by atikovi

Maybe get your facts straight before posting an argument that has no merit. Fiat has not pulled out of the US market at all. It still sells SUV's and Spider convertibles. By that argument, you could say that Ford has pulled out of the US market as well after having killed off most sedans. Fiesta, Focus, Taurus, CMax, etc. Were they junk also? Apparently few people were buying them too.


Will 2 niche vehicles carry them until they can get new product here?

 

[blueglide88]

Originally Posted by Nick1994
I see these things for sale really cheap, the Fiat 500e (electric) model, cheap as in a 2015, 26k miles, for $6k.

How bad could they be? Seems like it would be a decent little run around car. Finding a mechanic if it got some gremlins would probably be a little difficult.


The fact that it's a Fiat should tell you it's bad....really really bad

 

[blueglide88]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by Nick1994
..... How bad could they be?

Bad enough they gave up on trying to sell them here.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/fiat-500-discontinued-2020/


Fiat didn't gave up on trying to sell them here because they were bad but because Americans would rather drive gas guzzling large pickups and SUVs.


That's pure BS. There are plenty of small cars being sold by all the manufacturers. Fiat cannot sell because they cannot not compete. They are junk. There are far too many good vehicles out there, why would anybody buy a Fiat? Sales don't lie. With your logic Toyota shouldn't be able to sell a Corolla or a Prius. Honda shouldn't be able to sell a Civic. But they sell them like clockwork. Now again, explain to me why Fiat cannot sell a car in the USA?

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by blueglide88
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by Nick1994
..... How bad could they be?

Bad enough they gave up on trying to sell them here.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/fiat-500-discontinued-2020/


Fiat didn't gave up on trying to sell them here because they were bad but because Americans would rather drive gas guzzling large pickups and SUVs.


That's pure BS. There are plenty of small cars being sold by all the manufacturers. Fiat cannot sell because they cannot not compete. They are junk. There are far too many good vehicles out there, why would anybody buy a Fiat? Sales don't lie. With your logic Toyota shouldn't be able to sell a Corolla or a Prius. Honda shouldn't be able to sell a Civic. But they sell them like clockwork. Now again, explain to me why Fiat cannot sell a car in the USA?


Best selling vehicle in the U.S. is a pickup. Ford dropped the Focus and Fiesta. Chevy dropped the Cruze. Chrysler dropped the Dart. All small cars. Explain to me why they killed those off the USA. Joe 6-pack would rather drive a F-series and Jane a big SUV.

 

[Alfred_B]

Among the tiny cars on the market, I would only consider a FIAT 500 Abarth. But will never buy one simply because I don't think it's a safe enough vehicle when the roads are dominated by semis and large trucks or SUV-s.

 

[blueglide88]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by blueglide88
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by billt460

..... How bad could they be?

Bad enough they gave up on trying to sell them here.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/fiat-500-discontinued-2020/


Fiat didn't gave up on trying to sell them here because they were bad but because Americans would rather drive gas guzzling large pickups and SUVs.


That's pure BS. There are plenty of small cars being sold by all the manufacturers. Fiat cannot sell because they cannot not compete. They are junk. There are far too many good vehicles out there, why would anybody buy a Fiat? Sales don't lie. With your logic Toyota shouldn't be able to sell a Corolla or a Prius. Honda shouldn't be able to sell a Civic. But they sell them like clockwork. Now again, explain to me why Fiat cannot sell a car in the USA?
[/q

Best selling vehicle in the U.S. is a pickup. Ford dropped the Focus and Fiesta. Chevy dropped the Cruze. Chrysler dropped the Dart. All small cars. Explain to me why they killed those off the USA. Joe 6-pack would rather drive a F-series and Jane a big SUV.


Because they make more money on trucks, and those cars cannot compete against the small Japanese cars. Which as I pointed out, the Japanese sell a lot of.
And realistically, those are two different markets. If you are in the market for a small car, you don't end up with an F-150. If you are in the market for a small car, you don't buy a Fiat if you want a reliable car. You might buy a Toyota, or a Honda, or ANY other make. Talk about pickups and SUV's all you want it does not change the fact that Fiat cannot sell small cars and other manufacturers sell a lot of them.
So again fanboi tell me.....if the Japanese can sell a lot of small cars, why can't Fiat? Because they are JUNK pure and simple. Just looking at the super small amount of cars Fiat sells.....people are not stupid. Good cars sell, bad ones do not. And judging by sales, people are voting with their wallets and buying Japanese small cars.

 

[atikovi]

Different type of buyer and different market. Most people buying Corollas and Civics view cars as appliances and don't particularly enjoy driving and view it as just another daily chore. Fiat buyers view driving as an enjoyable pleasure and can overlook minor inconveniences that those other drivers wouldn't stand for. Having owned over 700 cars the last 40 years including a half dozen Fiats, I have to wonder how many of the detractors of a car have actually owned that car, or are just regurgitating internet opinions.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by Alfred_B
Among the tiny cars on the market, I would only consider a FIAT 500 Abarth. But will never buy one simply because I don't think it's a safe enough vehicle when the roads are dominated by semis and large trucks or SUV-s.


The largest car in my garage is a 2er; I don't want anything larger, so I guess I'll just have to continue to keep cheating death...

 

[wdn]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by wdn
Fiat 500 pulled out of the US market. Orphaned

12 cars with the worst one-year depreciation. Two of the twelve are Fiat 500s: the 500 and 500L. That is used car marketplace speaking loudly about the Fiat 500. And that was while they were still in production, wait until next year.

http://www.realcartips.com/news/1305-cars-worst-depreciation.shtml

Not only is it a stinker with 0 out of 100 reliability score from over 1,200 Fiat 500 cars tested, it also has among the worst resale in the market.

1,200 cars evaluated does not sound like enough of a sample size? Well, only 2,500 Fiat 500s have been sold in all of 2019.

Total 2018 sales: 5,370

Sure a feller can go to a fanboi enthusiast site and bond with fellow Fiat lovers.


Maybe get your facts straight before posting an argument that has no merit. Fiat has not pulled out of the US market at all. It still sells SUV's and Spider convertibles. By that argument, you could say that Ford has pulled out of the US market as well after having killed off most sedans. Fiesta, Focus, Taurus, CMax, etc. Were they junk also? Apparently few people were buying them too.


So funny, you even managed to quote my entire post and still not get it right. Yet everyone else reading his thread now agrees with me and is now laughing at you. I said "Fiat 500 pulled out of US market" which is correct. The Fiat 500 has been pulled out of the US market. Period.

 

[Vincenze]

Originally Posted by wdn
Fiat 500 pulled out of the US market. Orphaned

12 cars with the worst one-year depreciation. Two of the twelve are Fiat 500s: the 500 and 500L. That is used car marketplace speaking loudly about the Fiat 500. And that was while they were still in production, wait until next year.

http://www.realcartips.com/news/1305-cars-worst-depreciation.shtml


I just bought a brand new Fiat 500 for $16,000 with all fees before the tax. Its MSRP was $19,500.

According to your article, it will lose $11,106 in one year and it will cost $5,000 with 5,000 miles on the odometer in 2020.
For some strange reason, I can't find such bargains anywhere.
For $5,000, I can only find 2012 models with 80k.

The next model of the Fiat 500 will be introduced in March, but the current model is still arriving at dealerships.
I expect that the current model will actually appreciate in value when petite ladies will realize that the next model won't be as cute.

 

[Vincenze]

Originally Posted by blueglide88

That's pure BS. There are plenty of small cars being sold by all the manufacturers. Fiat cannot sell because they cannot not compete. They are junk. There are far too many good vehicles out there, why would anybody buy a Fiat? Sales don't lie. With your logic Toyota shouldn't be able to sell a Corolla or a Prius. Honda shouldn't be able to sell a Civic. But they sell them like clockwork. Now again, explain to me why Fiat cannot sell a car in the USA?

So, what are these small cars the size of the Fiat 500 produced by other manufacturers?

Toyota can't design and sell a subcompact car anymore.
Honda discontinues the Fit and has no plans to bring the next Fit to the USA. The new electric Honda E is also not for the USA.

By the way, Fiat produces in Italy and sells tons of Renegades and Stelvios in the USA.

 

[paoester]

"The 500e is also a hoot to drive. Credit the electric motor's 147 lb-ft of torque that's available the instant the go pedal is pushed, as well as the battery pack that's mounted low in the body, keeping the center of gravity down—a boon to limiting body roll. Quick steering and a firm brake pedal are icing on the 500e's dynamic cake." ----- Car and Driver

Autocross anybody!!? Low CG, instant torque, means Fun. Practical for running errands, getting to work. Cheap $$$. 8 year original battery and electrics warranty.

 

[Vincenze]

Originally Posted by Yah-Tah-Hey
Not quite as bad as a Yugo or a Skoda but a POS for sure. Worst repair record of any vehicle on the road in US according to Consumer Reports.

Could you describe the problems with the gas Fiat 500 in detail?

Are they with:

• the Aisin auto transmission
• the Garrett turbo
• the FIRE iron-block engine that has been produced for 30 years, has no unreliable Direct Injection components, and easily runs for 300,000 miles
• the Microsoft audio that has been long ditched and replaced by a standard Chrysler audio

 

[aquariuscsm]

I always liked the Fiat X-19.

 

[BrianVT]

We have a 2015 with just about 40k and love it.
It's strictly our commuter car and saves us a ton of money in gas.
The drive-train was built in a joint operation by Bosch and Samsung.
Everything else is from Fiat, so expect that to break.
We get 80 miles range in summer, but that drops to 60 in VT winter.
Not a single problem with it yet.