USA -- Tennessee - 2015 - 500 Pop
Recently took delivery from a private seller locally on a 2015 - 500 Pop. Rame Copper (I think) and gray/black interior. My spouse is the primary driver. We really love the color and the looks of this little car . It's got 41,300 miles, so 8,700 more miles tilll the end of warranty. It's got the naturally-aspired version of the engine. It's got the 6-speed auto. Everything works; it's got rocker panel dents on both sides under the door where someone, sometime jacked it up or kept it stood up improperly. Seller replaced driver's seat cushion cover with a stock part and had a professional install the cover . New tires on the rear and different tires on the front, so that's sort of strange; maybe uneven wear, or a damaged tires somewhere along the way, but we're going to get two new tires and check the alignment, so that we can rotate the rear to the front before they start wearing prematurely. Other than that, it's perfect with normal 2 1/2 yr wear.
Impressions. Like the way the car handles and moves for what we need; liked the price we got on a two-and-a-half-year-old car ($8K). Like the price for replacing P185/55R-15 tires going forward. Driving nomally in traffic, I love the way it has that little bit of engine braking, which is sort of unexpected for such a small engine, and like how quickly it responds to accelerator inputs, unlike our current Saturn Aura 4 cylinder that has that GM software that tries to keep the car in too high a gear all the time; even ascending grades. The 500 is a nice change in that regard. Like the paddle shift for downshifting only, but personally, I'd want a 5-speed if I were the primary driver. When we really try to get on it though, I don't notice anything more in the way of performance, just alot of grunt and fuss and vibration, but that's okay. We didn't get it for sport. We're not city dwellers. We live in a rural area but commute and shop driving along state highways, so we'll rarely need to go interstate speeds; more like 45-65 mph, and we think the car really likes limited highway speed driving.
Due to the good price one can get for some of these models only a few years old, and my favorable impression of the power train, and the handling; I'm now looking at either a 500L or X in just a pop trim, with a manual transmission and same engine, but of course, with turbo. Maybe in about one year. It worries me that every manufacturer of virtually every model car, are eliminating manual transmissions.
Any opinions about choosing one over the other; 500X and 500L? I'm a little confused on all of the differences in these two vehicles. The manual shifts are more plentiful for sale in the X it seems; and is discontinued for the L from 2017 I think. But I'd probably be looking at a 2016 and older when I shop. Manuals are few and far between though for any of these cars, and that explains why all manufacturers are eliminating them except for true sports cars, but I'm not interested in a sports car.
