After my continued Fiat 500 sport ownership, ive noticed a few more disappointing things, sorry. The hard "pop" steering wheel, with leather trim, (theres no padding). How noisy the sun roof is (when open) I carnt hear the radio. Plus while moving along, the windows upon closing jump when nearly fully closed... Theres no separate switch for the heated mirrors, why are they wired up to the heated rear window? Theres room on the dash for a switch... Theres no vehicle identity on the rear, eg, pop, sport or lounge with engine size, just a horid sticker on the driver door jar...? Finally, I find the 3 doors on my 500 sounding more and more like a old van when closing and opening... really rattley and cheap... Is it only me thats noticed these? Cheers. :bang:

>The hard "pop" steering wheel, with leather trim

Leather wheel on the lounge feels pretty good to me. Are they different?

>How noisy the sun roof is (when open) I carnt hear the radio.

Noise in general is a problem in these cars, IMO.

>The windows upon closing jump when nearly fully closed

Mine don't.

>Theres no separate switch for the heated mirrors, why are they wired up to the heated rear window?

Standard in every car I've ever owned. I don't understand why one would really care?

>Theres no vehicle identity on the rear, eg, pop, sport or lounge with engine size, just a horid sticker on the driver door jar...?

Should have bought an XR3i

>I find the doors sounding more and more like a old van when closing

Don't understand that, mine are just great Citroen C4P doors, despite weighing a tonne each, sound rubbish though :yuck:

HTH

I too have a Sport (1.2) so here you go:

The hard "pop" steering wheel, with leather trim, (theres no padding).
I like the feel of the steering wheel - each to their own I guess

How noisy the sun roof is (when open)
Can't comment, haven't got one

Plus while moving along, the windows upon closing jump when nearly fully closed
Not noticed this

Theres no separate switch for the heated mirrors
I would suggest it's one of the cost cutting measures in unimportant areas (such as only one switch for front & rear fog lights & no glove box etc). It's a cheap car with an overall pretty high spec. Can't say it bothers me at all (one less button to press)

Theres no vehicle identity on the rear
Oh - can't see why it's needed. In fact, most Fiats don't have it (& many more cars are going this way)

Finally, I find the 3 doors on my 500 sounding more and more like a old van when closing and opening
Mine sound & feel heavy & solid

The Pop steering wheel is hard.

There has been mention of the sun roof being noisy since the 500s were launched; it really is only any use at low speed around town. Better to use A/C and not bother with it.

Why does not having a badge matter: smarter without, surely?

Heated mirror switch?

Doors: do they need adjusting? Probably you will get more clang if the roof is open; no pressure to push against.

Door glass: dunno.

And are 500s really so very noisy for a small car, the Panda is fine?

These annoyances could mostly have been spotted during a test I'd have thought, and in the great scheme of things certainly the badging and mirror switches are just not an issue, are they?

What about the good bits!

well, ive no complaints with the styling, inside and out... thats "the" reason for my purchase... there gorgous!

How noisy the sun roof is (when open) I carnt hear the radio. - all sunroofs I have had are noisy, in the 500 half the roof opens, so you are bound to get wind noise - surely you didn't expect silence?

Plus while moving along, the windows upon closing jump when nearly fully closed - doesn't happen on mine

Theres no separate switch for the heated mirrors, why are they wired up to the heated rear window? my multipla is the same, don't know why it needs to be separate, it keeps it simple!

Theres no vehicle identity on the rear, eg, pop, sport or lounge with engine size, just a horid sticker on the driver door jar...? and your point is????

Finally, I find the 3 doors on my 500 sounding more and more like a old van when closing and opening... really rattley and cheap - mine are fine, make a good solid clunk.

I am VERY pleased not to have any unnessasary information(IMO) on the back of my car. I can't abide car stickers or spec information, the make and model is more than adequate.

Bhindi said:

I am VERY pleased not to have any unnessasary information(IMO) on the back of my car. I can't abide car stickers or spec information, the make and model is more than adequate.

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Same here, I remember reading somewhere that the 500 purposely did away with all badges so that nobody was put off buying the cheaper models for fear of being mocked. Everyone can be happy with their choice this way!

Bhindi said:

I am VERY pleased not to have any unnessasary information(IMO) on the back of my car. I can't abide car stickers or spec information, the make and model is more than adequate.

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Spot-on. The 500 is supposed to be classless - it's completely irrelavent.

The engine in mine makes a noise as I'm driving along... there's this pedal thing on the floor and if I press it further, it only gets noisier. Is this normal? There are also these black things on each corner, they seem a bit loose as they turn around and around all the time. I'm thinking of taking it back to see if they can tighten them up under warranty. Also I've found, sometimes when I stop the car, the 500 logo in the middle of them is upside down... this cant be right can it?

oooh you are naughty notts.!... but I like ya!

sounds like you should have bought a dull japanese car instead

grungdog23 said:

After my continued Fiat 500 sport ownership, ive noticed a few more disappointing things, sorry. The hard "pop" steering wheel, with leather trim, (theres no padding). How noisy the sun roof is (when open) I carnt hear the radio. Plus while moving along, the windows upon closing jump when nearly fully closed... Theres no separate switch for the heated mirrors, why are they wired up to the heated rear window? Theres room on the dash for a switch... Theres no vehicle identity on the rear, eg, pop, sport or lounge with engine size, just a horid sticker on the driver door jar...? Finally, I find the 3 doors on my 500 sounding more and more like a old van when closing and opening... really rattley and cheap... Is it only me thats noticed these? Cheers. :bang:

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The steering wheel - Steering wheels can be hard. This should have been picked up on the test drive, I found the stock pop wheel to be squishy actually, most leather steering wheels are fairly hard. Nature of the beast basically.

The sunroof - It's a window! As such noise will come in through it!

Heated mirror switch - Non issue! If you want a seperate switch for the heated mirrors buy yourself a Mk1 Subaru Legacy! Ours has a seperate switch.

Spec badge - Why do you want other people to know what you've bought? If they know 500's they'll be able to tell what sort of car it is by the chrome trim, lack of tints/rear spoiler etc etc but otherwise most people won't know what it means at all.

Doors - As someone said, if the sunroof is open the noise will be different. Check the seals on the sunroof I guess

nottsfiat07 said:

The engine in mine makes a noise as I'm driving along... there's this pedal thing on the floor and if I press it further, it only gets noisier. Is this normal? There are also these black things on each corner, they seem a bit loose as they turn around and around all the time. I'm thinking of taking it back to see if they can tighten them up under warranty. Also I've found, sometimes when I stop the car, the 500 logo in the middle of them is upside down... this cant be right can it?

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nice one notts!!!

nottsfiat07 said:

The engine in mine makes a noise as I'm driving along... there's this pedal thing on the floor and if I press it further, it only gets noisier. Is this normal? There are also these black things on each corner, they seem a bit loose as they turn around and around all the time. I'm thinking of taking it back to see if they can tighten them up under warranty. Also I've found, sometimes when I stop the car, the 500 logo in the middle of them is upside down... this cant be right can it?

Click to expand...

Personally I turn off the stereo and open the windows to hear the noise

And if you can't tell what model a 500 is without a badge you aren't trying hard enough (or am I just a sad car bore?)

Nope, anyone who really appreciates the 500 can tell across a car park which model it is... and usually you can tell what options they've added too.

If this is wrong I don't wanna be right.

Poor blokes just wriiten some observations, give him a break The 500s got its faults, just non of the ones the OP has posted about
If the 500 had its spec badge written on it, owners would be ridiculed... "does that mean it will go pop then?" "lounge, why has it got a sofa in it?" "sport??? youre avin a larf mate, a 1.2!" and such and such...

I think Fiat should have stuck with the old letters from the past...

Pop could have been plain 500
Lounge could have been 500 L like the old Lusso
Sport could have been 500 S... much cooler than the daft names they chose IMO.

from what I see in other sections alot of people want their car debadged...looks like Fiat cant win either way. perhaps the option before build to badge (or not) is the way to go?

T14086 said:

from what I see in other sections alot of people want their car debadged...looks like Fiat cant win either way. perhaps the option before build to badge (or not) is the way to go?

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Maybe Fiat should a "Clot" spec level with 18" wheels, no badges, illegal tints, sunvisor strip etc etc