Off Topic What kind of drivers does the Fiat 500 attract ?

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Off Topic What kind of drivers does the Fiat 500 attract ?

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Been on the alfa forum recently with my hunt for a replacement for the Pearlescent baby and given that you can’t ‘see’ who you’re dealing with I’ve had a very pleasant experience to-date (y). Do miss some of the techie and black humour responses that I get on here.(y)

On the Leisure section recently – don’t normally go in there – a 19 year old looking for a ‘daily drive’ but clocking up 20K a year and was looking for a bit of ‘street cred’. Anyway I flew the flag mast high for the 500 and then I realised why Fiat did their Ferando Alonso Twin Air ad (it’s currently up on www.fiat.ie) to attract the young male. Jennifer Lopez was on free-to-air last night and I asked the OH what did you think of the ad. She commented that it was good and Jennifer Lopez was ‘hot’. Bit of a marketing dilemma with this since that ad kills ‘all the good’ that the Ferando Twin air had done.:confused:

Quite a few of you mentioned that you got into 500 ownership because of the scrappage deals that the government brought in. I would be one of those after tiring of the german engineered 323i that blew a gasket at 79K (n). Replacing a six cylinder engine was major surgery since they don’t respond well to having their head skimmed so that was off loaded very cheap to a guy whose brother was a mechanic.

So I wanted something that started, ran cheaply, looked cool and was the start to a eco relationship. I got a little worried sitting in a pristine ’06 ‘new shape’ Boxster S yesterday blipping the throttle to hear the rasp and bellow of the engine on a car costing €20K with only 17K on the clock and a annual road tax of €1,500. Tempting proposition with 30mpg + on the open road with a typical 18mpg if your were playing with the horses. Not something that would be easy to off load when the time comes but I can always dream. I didn’t ask the poor salesman for a go in it but he mentioned that I could read all about it on Top gear.:)

They had a similar one in the garage that was owned by another guy ‘my age’ who drove a Smart. He used the Smart so much that he never bothered to use the Porsche and decided to sell saying that it was a waste of money since it was not being used.

So getting back to the ‘title’ I bought my first 500 with my head and heart. I would describe myself as not of the ‘shy and retiring’ type and quite confidant to drive something different. Like something with a ‘bit of get up and go’ and has a bit of character. I like to know what’s under the skin and would like to dabble a bit in tweaking the bhp of the car if it was needed.
 
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The Fiat why I bought it? (as a 23 year old bachelor male)

It looks good, it is decently cheap, I like the italian way of doing cars as in the gearshift is near the driver, you push forward to go down gear and pull to go up (duallogic), the brakes are good meaning that they know that people will drive this car fast in the town as Italians love doing (the german vw polo which has the same price tag has rubbish handling and brakes in my opinion, it loves to understeer, maybe the new one is better i was talking about the up to '10 version, tbh i think the polo is designed for granny driving while the Fiat is made for in-town 'racing').

Italians like looking good unlike Korean cars (although they seem to have improved it after realising that cool people werent buying their cars, before anyone criticises me i know korean cars are getting better but i still wouldnt buy one)

Reliability seems to be no longer an issue with Sergio at the helm.
Parts are cheap, and well it just looks good.
I was thinking of the Smart fortwo (rented it for a week in London and loved driving it around town and parking wherever i wanted), but realised that the Fiat 500 is more of a car meaning its faster so better for long journeys and has 4 seats just in case.

Fiat's afterservice seem to have a typical mediteranean civil servant attitude meaning they are completely useless, so they can keep their service, i can always source original parts and get it fixed by a good mechanic, Fiat's are not complicated cars they are easy to fix. Its not BMW computer engineering! Fiats warranty barely lasts 2 years anyway so not like i will be going to their service place often hopefully!

So for less than 20,000 euros, i cant think of a better car overall than the Fiat 500. Options are cheap so i have leather seats and a glass roof without breaking the bank German style. If i want an Audi a1 with similar specs i wouldnt get much change out of 30,000 euros!!!

(the mini cooper S in greece is 35,000 euros with acceptable levels of options not just the steeringwheel and a seat so no thank you. If i was living in England i may have stretched the budget for a Mini Cooper S but I am happy with my decision).
 
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To answer your initial question, I think the 500 attracts a whole load of different drivers - arguably more than most other cars on the market.

You will often hear non-500 drivers referring to it as some sort of fashion statement - in my opinion I think there are very few 500 drivers out there who bought one to be fashionable. People just like the 500 because it has a bit of character to it and it is aesthetically pleasing.

However - with the byGucci car and the new J-Lo advert, to me it's seems that Fiat want to attract more "fashionistas" to buy 500's. Whether that is the right way to go remains to be seen - however with prices creeping up all the time I do think that Fiat need to be careful that they don't lose the originality of the 500.
 
To answer your initial question, I think the 500 attracts a whole load of different drivers - arguably more than most other cars on the market.

You will often hear non-500 drivers referring to it as some sort of fashion statement - in my opinion I think there are very few 500 drivers out there who bought one to be fashionable. People just like the 500 because it has a bit of character to it and it is aesthetically pleasing.

You should have been around back in 2008 on here. Some of the people were very much purchasing the 500 as a fashion statement. There was constant talk of others being jealous of 500 owners and so on and so forth. It really was cringeworthy. It's one of the reasons why when I went shopping for a car on scrappage the Panda was the car I originally went looking for. The wife didn't fancy a Panda so we met midway and got a 500.
 

Only in the minds of those with limited intelligence who see something with a long bonnet as being reflective of their genitals.

I prefer to pick my friends from those with slightly better imagination. I also find that most women (or at least the sort of women I might want to know) take the view of "big car, small willy" and don't see it as a female car at all.

As for what other men think? I really couldn't care less.
 
We bought our 500 on scrappage having originally gone out to buy a Panda. The £2K discount (effectively £1600 as the car we scrapped was worth £400) made the 500 a no brainer considering there was absolutely no sniff of a discount on a 500 without it. At 2 1/2 years and 18K miles I was recently offered £6500 as a trade in on the car and could probably get nearer £7000 for it privately, so it's retained 80 - 85% of it's £8300 purchase price over this period. Obviously the VAT difference and price rises over the last couple of years have helped this. In combination with low road tax and relatively inexpensive servicing it has been a cheap car to run.

However despite the economics it has proved to be a useful family run-about with my wife using it for her daily commute and the school run (with two teenage children), and still puts a smile on my face everytime I drive it. In fact I prefer driving it to my Volvo XC60 daily drive. All in all it's a stylish, relatively sensible and fun car to drive and with the numbers you now see about, lots of other drivers (of all ages) seem to agree!
 
tbh with all the new J-LO ads and gucci endorsement it is only going to reinforce the whole this is a gay car for a man and only a womens car even more than before.
 
tbh with all the new J-LO ads and gucci endorsement it is only going to reinforce the whole this is a gay car for a man and only a womens car even more than before.

Only idiots listen to J-Ho and buy Gucci. It's nothing to do with wimmin.
 
I got a little worried sitting in a pristine ’06 ‘new shape’ Boxster S yesterday blipping the throttle to hear the rasp and bellow of the engine on a car costing €20K with only 17K on the clock and a annual road tax of €1,500. Tempting proposition with 30mpg + on the open road with a typical 18mpg if your were playing with the horses.

That is a phenomenal amount of car for the money. Sadly I'd expect the running costs to be equally phenomenal & as you've said, just how practical would this be as a daily drive?

IMO fast cars have much in common with fast women - heaps of fun, but when you do the sums, you're better off renting than owning.
 
coming from a design background always liked the new 500 as they always made me smile, also the TA meant i could be perceived to a bit greener and was a bit more client friendly, it also means a can go a bit further on the modifications to the new arrival as its not a daily hack
 
Here in the US, it seems everyone has a short memory - the Mini Cooper debuted to almost identical criticisms by the general public. Too small to be safe, gay, under-powered and over-priced. A friend with a Mini told me I should have gotten the Mini because the Fiat 500 was "Gay Car of the Year" on some web site; he was flabbergasted when I sent him a link to the same web site showing that the Mini was the first car ever picked "Gay Car of the Year" two years prior. :D

I'd say this century has seen something of a car design renaissance - people are discovering that regular cars can be distinctive, not just supercars. Retro updates like the Beetle, Mini, and 500, appeal because until they arrived, to have a car with character you had to buy an exotic or buy something vintage. But the lesson behind them is that there is room in the market for distinctive cars. There was a time when cars like these, colors like these were common - when we weren't drowning in silver, black, and white bland econo-boxes.

These cars being popular and accepted are why we're getting more daring modern designs like the BMW X6, Mercedes-Benz CLS, Audi TT, Honda CR-Z and Hyundai Veloster. Cars with character are in again.
 

fair point by one of the comments:

Gay cars??? With what right they claim a car is gay?
I always thought cars like the beetle or the 500 were more directed to female consumers but stamping them as homocars? thats just stupid and an insult to women, obviously ledorga is run by retarded. Next thing to do is to stamp Monster trucks and mustangs as lesbo vehicles.
 
fair point by one of the comments:

Gay cars??? With what right they claim a car is gay?
I always thought cars like the beetle or the 500 were more directed to female consumers but stamping them as homocars? thats just stupid and an insult to women, obviously ledorga is run by retarded. Next thing to do is to stamp Monster trucks and mustangs as lesbo vehicles.

Lesbians absolutely rock....
Monster tucks absolutely rock....
Mustangs also rock....

Therefore we have lots of rocking out lesbos.... which is 100% awesomeness :slayer::slayer::slayer:
 

The four are the Alfa Romeo Spider (2007), Fiat 500 (2008) and Alfa Romeo MiTo (2009). For this year, as you already read in the title, the award goes to yet another Fiat, the 500C.

I was going to point out that you missed the C in the 500 so it should read 'Fiat 500C was voted the Gay car of 2010' but that would be a little bit bitchy of me.:D
The Spider is a bit of surprise and it doesn't look in any way effeminate but then I see a lot of woman driving them with the roof up even on sunny days.:confused:
Before looking at the Mito I did contemplate getting a 500C :cool: but after I wasn't prepared to pay the money being demanded for 'landed' Abarths :( I'm now looking at a mito so I must be really gay :p.
I did notice that I get a great responsive service from the male stewards on long haul flights where they will willingly rob the pillows from other female passengers so that I have a comfy flight. So maybe it has it advantages after all.;)

So that's another trait of 500 owners. We don't give 2 f**** what other people think of us.(y)
 
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