Road Test
Fiat 500 1.4 Lounge
Test date Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Price as tested £10,900
For Adequate space, well-executed styling, cabin materials, afordable pricing
AgainstUnrefined engine, limited rear headroom, bouncy ride, not enough fun
First the Beetle, then the Mini and now, 50 years after the launch of its antecedent, the Fiat 500 is ripe for reinvention. The script is the same as it was with the Mini and Beetle: the small, cheap, utilitarian car that became iconic through its engineering purity and brilliance is relaunched as a heavily styled object, with the emphasis on premium build and desirability.
The original Nuova 500 was so basic that it was conceived partly as an alternative to a scooter; there was one engine option and it had just two seats (at launch), plus suicide doors. Pore over the options list of the latest 500 and you’ll find up to 549,396 different ways of specifying the car.
But despite the obvious emphasis on novelty and design with this type of car, done properly the appeal need not necessarily subside. Because it’s solidly built and great to drive, the latest Mini has morphed successfully into a second-generation car in a way that, say, the less capable Chrysler PT Cruiser has not. And once the initial gloss wears off, the 500 will be expected to compete as a car, too. The question is, does it have the substance to match the style?
The most famous 500 was rear-engined but it wasn't the first to bear the '500' name; that was the Topolino of 1936. It was replaced in 1957 by the Dante Giacosa-designed 500 Nuova, Giacosa having convinced Fiat with his 1955 600 that a rear engine was best for packaging.
The 500, or Bambino, stayed in production until 1975 (3.6m were made) and was replaced by the 126. The Cinquecento tag (that's Italian for 500, by the way) returned in 1993 as a front-engined front-driver. And a debutant at the 2004 Geneva motor show, the Trepiuno concept, formed the design basis for the new 500.
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