I tried to push my fiat 500 today but the car was perfectly fine having in mind
-10 degrees and snowing (Sweden).

I have ESP and Dualogic, no issues at all with quick starts or panic breaking. The car kept its track and I find the 500 to be very good in these conditions.

I am driving the 500 with winter tires 195/55 15" and the car is really good. I have driven in snowy conditions for more than 20 years and whatever car your driving it will struggel without winter tires.

Well, I live in Northwich, Cheshire, well a little village on the outskirts and work in Warrington and yesterday roads very bad, made it to the main road and this was full of snow, biggest problem was people going too slow.

Anyway, got half way there, about 7 miles from work and traffic stopped completely so waited 10 mins then turned around and came back. hardly any traffic coming back and road a little clearer, had to go up a fairly steep hill so just left room and went up about 25 mph, was quite good, till back end stepped out a bit but I corrected and kept my foot in mostly and it was fine.

Today, bit different, still loads of snow and did keep scraping the bottom over some ruts and getting the front dragging a bit, hopefully no damage but cant see. It was very icy coming home but still coped very well.

My tyres have about 3.5mm grip at front and 4-5mm at the back after 19,700 miles and are the standard 1.4 lounge wheels. I have noticed the traction control kick in a lot though, so maybe that is why it seems OK.

revman5 said:

I tried to push my fiat 500 today but the car was perfectly fine having in mind
-10 degrees and snowing (Sweden).

I have ESP and Dualogic, no issues at all with quick starts or panic breaking. The car kept its track and I find the 500 to be very good in these conditions.

I am driving the 500 with winter tires 195/55 15" and the car is really good. I have driven in snowy conditions for more than 20 years and whatever car your driving it will struggel without winter tires.

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X2! I live in Norway and here it is about half an meter of snow(-20C today). No problems at all with the 500! I use offcourse winterwheels as anything else is illegal and hasardous both for your self and your fellow roadusers

On highway the Bravo is better tough, as it has got longer wheelbase and feels more stabil 500 is better in deep snow tough

The 16" with the Conti's are in the garage where they shall remain for some time. Conti's are poo in the snow. Like having soap wrapped around your alloys. The proxes 4 on 15" alloys are much better.

This morning I left the house at 6:30am to get a head start. Car warmed up for 15 minutes, off with the electronic trickery and head to the end of the street. Pristine snow. No cars around. 3 miles from mine to the motorway, 5 if you go the long way. It was heavenly indulging in my rally drive fantasies. Mechanical ballet. Huge fun. Not quite in the same league as my old gt4 celica of course but for a fwd hatch it was huge fun.

wreckmaster said:

X2! I live in Norway and here it is about half an meter of snow(-20C today). No problems at all with the 500! I use offcourse winterwheels as anything else is illegal and hasardous both for your self and your fellow roadusers

On highway the Bravo is better tough, as it has got longer wheelbase and feels more stabil 500 is better in deep snow tough

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+ 1 Norway!

For all of you who drives without winter tires on snow / ice: TAKE THE BUS!
My 500 is fitted with Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi tires and its just perfect.

Maybe it should be law here to have winter tyres on as I don't know a single person who has winter tyres.

Even all weather tyres would be better

I think it would be okay to have winter tyres if you had somewhere to store them ... was discussing with hubbie where we would store 8 tyres......

Heidi said:

I think it would be okay to have winter tyres if you had somewhere to store them ... was discussing with hubbie where we would store 8 tyres......

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in the shed, outhouse, spare room....

RobW said:

in the shed, outhouse, spare room....

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Shed for us. As long as you store them out of direct sunlight that's fine.

Not so much to do with driving in the snow... but the left sideskirt on my 500 is now coming loose and it seems to have a layer of ice forming between it and the car, and its not going to get any better in due course. And the power steering warning keeps lighting up Both problems, (I'm thinking) have arisen because of the snow/cold weather.

with the thick layer of ice thats formed all over the top of my car you can actually hear the whole structure creak against the ice as you drive....very weird...especially over the rough iced up snow on the road!...

PlopHole said:

. And the power steering warning keeps lighting up Both problems, (I'm thinking) have arisen because of the snow/cold weather.

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car get used or just for short trips.. or has it sat for a few days low battery charge will make the PAS cut out..... so too will a duff alternator or bad battery connections/ bad earths

Andy Monty said:

car get used or just for short trips.. or has it sat for a few days low battery charge will make the PAS cut out..... so too will a duff alternator or bad battery connections/ bad earths

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Hmm.
I make sure it doesn't get used for short trips.
It has not been used at all for about 3 successive days in this week.
Was at the dealer 23rd December for the problem, they should have checked alternator & for bad battery connections/earths.

keeforelli said:

with the thick layer of ice thats formed all over the top of my car you can actually hear the whole structure creak against the ice as you drive....very weird...especially over the rough iced up snow on the road!...

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Is yours a 500c? I have the 500c and yesterday the roof was creaking and groaning like mad when I was driving it along. Must admit I am a bit worried that the roof being frozen for a long period of time is not good for it I have kept the snow off it but even so it is frozen solid poor thing.

I also found that when I put her into reverse the parking sensors shrieked constantly. Inspection revealed ice over the sensors causing the problem!

I have not been out much past few days but during the little local journeys I have made the Fiat has been really impressive, especially getting out of my driveway which is not great. She is far more reliable than the silly old Merc Estate which just slides around and is totally useless!

Not sure I am brave enough to tackle anything but getting to local shops though - am too scared of Fi Fi getting hurt

Fiat arctic test and develop the cars to cope with freezing conditions down to -30ºC or so therefore these conditions are no problem.

RobW said:

Fiat arctic test and develop the cars to cope with freezing conditions down to -30ºC or so therefore these conditions are no problem.

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If they do this, I wonder why the heater is so poor compared to most other cars I have had But it is ok on winter roads, thats true

wreckmaster said:

If they do this, I wonder why the heater is so poor compared to most other cars I have had But it is ok on winter roads, thats true

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my heater works really well, perhaps you aren't following the operator instruction properly?

RobW said:

my heater works really well, perhaps you aren't following the operator instruction properly?

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Trust me I do know how to operate an heather It is not only me, but most people I have talked to here in Norway who has got any experience with the 500 says it is not great I have read on an other forum that other people from nordic countries are not 100% satiesfied with the heater either.
Even car tests in magazines etc says the heater is too poor.
Most cars delivered to nordic countries is delivered with a "nordic pack", which includes better heater, seat heaters, better rust protection, different engine oil etc.. Maybe they just did not upgrade the heater in the 500? Anyway it is not a bigger problem that I can live with it! And I do have heated seats
I dont think there is such a thing as "the perfect car", but IMO the 500 is pretty close. No way I would change it for a little problem as this

wreckmaster said:

I dont think there is such a thing as "the perfect car", but IMO the 500 is pretty close. No way I would change it for a little problem as this

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Nice to hear

I'm finding the car very easy to drive in the ice and snow though I'm trying not to use it unless completely necessary.