Some how feel that you don't fall into the typical stereotype...
I've had the Sport 500 (Black) and the Lounge 500 (Funk White) and I preferred the Lounge with the white ambiance and extra light from the Fixed sunroof. The Sport was faster than the Lounge since one with a Opening sunroof is supposedly carrying a weight penalty of 100kgs - unsure of the weight of the Fixed glass roof. I also preferred the Sports seats of the 500 Sport (although mine had the leather ones - very similar seat) - the Lounge ones became a little uncomfortable on long journeys and I seemed to move about in them a bit in the twisties. In both cases it was in the 1.4L. If you're doing 15K p.a. seats are important.
Normally drive a MiTo Multi-jet around 2-3 days per week during the day (off the road at the moment) and a MiTo Turbo petrol (same engine as the A500) for my own personal car. There's no comparison in the 2 with the Petrol being much quieter and smoother. Fuel consumption wise it would be 50mpg verus 35 mpg but I can squeeze 40mpg out of the petrol if I'm a little more sensible. If you are doing 15K miles per year IMHO the multi-jet is not a contender. In the 500 the MJ is in a specialist category of it's own where it can excel on the motorway but with the weight in the nose it not that well balanced on the back roads plus it's noisey. The MJ does better in a bigger bodied car (more sound insulation) and even then I would hesitate to recommend it in the likes of say a MiTo.
The 1.2 Petrol engine serves many well, and with only 2 kids in the car whilst delivering decent mpg it should have enough bhp for the motorway and the back roads. It the right hands the Twin Air can deliver decent mpg but you have to slug it in the higher gears. Mpg can drop to the mid 30s in the wrong hands. It excels in Stop start traffic when the S/S is working. TA can give great performance but on the other hand great economy but not at the same time. Looking at the APR rates on the Finance deals Fiat are offering 3.6% on the Lounge TA (£179) whilst on the Lounge 1.2 (£159) it's 6% (Click
here). Have no figures for the 500S.
If you did decide to spec up the TA you would be touching on Abarth 500 money and on a Finance deal they have tried to keep the
monthly payments down to £199 (6.9% APR) but that's over a 4 year period as opposed to 3 years on the F500. It has a higher excess mileage of over 10K as opposed to 6K on he F500 with 6p per mile charged. Unsure of the reliability of the A500 compared with say a 500 1.2 particularly in Year 4 when it's out of warranty. But if you like the 500S and you're looking to drive the car that you would have as a 19 year old then I wouldn't discount a stealth (no stripes) basic BNW A500 with 16 inch alloys. It should return around 40mpg and it will be fun to drive. From a safety point of view it has ample power for overtaking, better brakes, ESP as standard, fog lights, etc. Also on the new A500 comes with Koni FSD (more comfortable) front shocks as standard. It will be a better overall handling car. But you would have to negotiate even harder on servicing costs.
For comparative purposes the above examples have a balloon payment of c.£5.5K in year 3 for the F500 & year 4 for the A500 to keep the car or you can hand it back.
Gut answer (to keep costs down) is a 500S 1.2 standard 15 sporty alloys in BNW with Climate control.
P.S. Recent thread on here where one individual negotiated a rate of £129 per month for a 1.2 Lounge which in hindsight was an excellent.
