Well, with the Ka going and the platform being 11 years old now, Fiat are going to have to do something at some point. Mini didn't stand still.....
Styling This Renault looks familiar...
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Styling This Renault looks familiar...
Mind you Mini have produced some horrible derivatives, the big bulky Clubman yoke and that weird looking coupe thing that looks like somebody sat on it! I think a revised 500 has to come, it needent look any different but they need to upgrade what's underneath, presumably based on the current panda, improved interiors and a wider choice of engines. The 1.4 multiair would be nice methinks and even better if it was hooked up to a TCT box.
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I would imagine the 500 would've been more thoroughly renewed by now had it not been such a massive sales success. Even now I don't think Fiat need to do much, if anything to the exterior.
Where they need to look at is making the interior feel more upmarket (at it's originally list price the interior was fine, but with top models now going for circa £15k, it needs to feel nicer). Their biggest task is underneath. It's fun to drive, but not that good to drive. The amount of road noise on rough surfaces is too high, the steering doesn't weight-up enough at speed and the worst offender is the suspension - I've never driven a car which needs you to slow down for speed bumps as much as the 500 - even at under 20mph it still rocks back and forth violently as you drive over.
The new Twingo certainly looks more interesting than the other new contenders - Aygo/108/C1 & Up/Mii/CityGo, but I dunno if it's overall as nice a design as the 500. The 5 door in particular looks awkward in profile to my eyes. The Renault TCe's are good engines though, and rear engine, rear wheel drive is certainly quirky, especially in this class of car.
Where they need to look at is making the interior feel more upmarket (at it's originally list price the interior was fine, but with top models now going for circa £15k, it needs to feel nicer). Their biggest task is underneath. It's fun to drive, but not that good to drive. The amount of road noise on rough surfaces is too high, the steering doesn't weight-up enough at speed and the worst offender is the suspension - I've never driven a car which needs you to slow down for speed bumps as much as the 500 - even at under 20mph it still rocks back and forth violently as you drive over.
The new Twingo certainly looks more interesting than the other new contenders - Aygo/108/C1 & Up/Mii/CityGo, but I dunno if it's overall as nice a design as the 500. The 5 door in particular looks awkward in profile to my eyes. The Renault TCe's are good engines though, and rear engine, rear wheel drive is certainly quirky, especially in this class of car.
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What I'm saying is people who want 5 doors will look at Twingo, while people who want 3 will go with the 500.
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Twingo is only available as a 5 door though.
Quite agree Liam - I think Fiat have milked the 500 for as long as they can, and really who can blame them? It's worked up till now and sales are still incredibly strong.
I just hope they have got something really good up their sleeves. All of the competition has got better this year; the C1/Aygo/108 models look like a big improvement on their predecessors. And of course they all offer the five-door alternative which is really useful if people want the extra two doors without having to buy a large coffin on wheels
I guess Fiat are hoping the brand loyalty to the 500 will take care of things until the new model comes along, whenever that might be...let's hope they do get it right.
Just had a nose on the Renault website and the prices are up now.
Entry level model will be the Expression SCe 70 at £9,495, then the Play SCe 70 at £9,995. Top of the range is the Dynamique starting at £10,995 with the same engine (although you can choose extras of course with all of them).
Pretty competitive prices. Of course it's hard to compare like-for-like with the 500, but it would appear to be around £1000 cheaper than an equivalent-ish 500. Although that's just looking at prices, I don't know what the finance deals are going to be like.
Will be very interesting to see (a) how the Twingo sells and (b) whether Fiat are going to take it on price-wise or just keep going as they are.
Entry level model will be the Expression SCe 70 at £9,495, then the Play SCe 70 at £9,995. Top of the range is the Dynamique starting at £10,995 with the same engine (although you can choose extras of course with all of them).
Pretty competitive prices. Of course it's hard to compare like-for-like with the 500, but it would appear to be around £1000 cheaper than an equivalent-ish 500. Although that's just looking at prices, I don't know what the finance deals are going to be like.
Will be very interesting to see (a) how the Twingo sells and (b) whether Fiat are going to take it on price-wise or just keep going as they are.
I don't think it will be very long before it'll be possible to get substantial discounts on a new Twingo.
I doubt it'll make a lot of difference to the 500- the 500 is virtually in its own little bubble. Might hit the panda more.
I'm not sure you know. I honestly think the Twingo is going to be a real challenger to the 500 - more so than anything else that's been on the market to date.
But it is the new kid on the block and it will have to prove itself. That could be difficult given how strong loyalty has been - and continues to be - to the 500.
Part of it could be how renault decide to push it:
A move upmarket from the old twingo; hold list prices and don't discount whilst emphasising looks, quality interior etc = take on the 500. Hard job.
A more direct replacement for the old twingo; discount early on, emphasise space improvements with the RR layout, ease of access, practicality etc = take on the panda. Perhaps easier but smaller margins.
The thing is, the 500 is "directly" retro in that it's aping the old 500 to some extent. The twingo is perhaps "indirectly" retro in that it's vaguely capturing the R5.
In any case, as you say Uwe, the 500 is very much entrenched even 6 years after launch on a more than 10 year old platform. That the 500 has survived this well for so long is impressive.
A move upmarket from the old twingo; hold list prices and don't discount whilst emphasising looks, quality interior etc = take on the 500. Hard job.
A more direct replacement for the old twingo; discount early on, emphasise space improvements with the RR layout, ease of access, practicality etc = take on the panda. Perhaps easier but smaller margins.
The thing is, the 500 is "directly" retro in that it's aping the old 500 to some extent. The twingo is perhaps "indirectly" retro in that it's vaguely capturing the R5.
In any case, as you say Uwe, the 500 is very much entrenched even 6 years after launch on a more than 10 year old platform. That the 500 has survived this well for so long is impressive.
Some more meat on the bones regarding finance offers for the new Twingo:
http://offers.renault.co.uk/cars/twingo
Looks very competitive indeed, especially with a 4 year warranty and 4 years servicing included.
Am definitely keen to test drive one to see how it fares against the 500 (and to a certain extent the Panda as well).
http://offers.renault.co.uk/cars/twingo
Looks very competitive indeed, especially with a 4 year warranty and 4 years servicing included.
Am definitely keen to test drive one to see how it fares against the 500 (and to a certain extent the Panda as well).
