AC43 said:

Thanks Piccolo. Out of interest, roughly what did you pay for the install?

I liked Sports too and would have gone down that route. Luckily my wife was having none of that (too "boy racer" lol)and insisted on the cream wheel/binnacle set and some form of non-black seats. So that pointed me at Lounges.

I was worried that the whole thing (Epic Blue + brown leather + cream + black) would clash but, no, it all works swimmingly together. That and the sunroof makes it a really cheery place to sit, especially as we enter the dark months here in the UK.

Even though my Merc has very pale ivory leather it doesn't have a sunroof and the dashboard now looks like a monolithic slab of blackness. It now feels claustrophobic compared to the 500 which I was NOT expecting!

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Guessing now (it was seven years ago!) but I think it was around $200, about £100. It was arranged through the accessory shop where I bought the subbie. The last fact saved me a lot of grief because they accepted responsibility and were happy to pay for a (cheap) hire car when I needed transport on the weekends - as well as storing my car in their workshop as it was more or less disabled and in 'limp' mode as I understand it. They got it fixed and we were all friends at the end.


My 500C Lounge Twinair has the red leather and cream wheel/binnacle and it was these features that 'sold' the car - I was so fed up with black/grey interiors. It's light and airy and, especially with the roof down, just a great place to be.


If I'd had a choice I'd have liked the blue but I had to settle for a black car as it was the last available manual at the time. I've since added lashings of chrome and colourful decals to make it stand out from the crowd!

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

Guessing now (it was seven years ago!) but I think it was around $200, about £100. It was arranged through the accessory shop where I bought the subbie.

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Thanks - that helps. I've had a ridiculous quote from a large installer near me but they do all manner of super top-end stuff. Need to find a smaller one.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

The last fact saved me a lot of grief because they accepted responsibility and were happy to pay for a (cheap) hire car when I needed transport on the weekends - as well as storing my car in their workshop as it was more or less disabled and in 'limp' mode as I understand it. They got it fixed and we were all friends at the end.

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That must have been so frustrating at the time......

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

My 500C Lounge Twinair has the red leather and cream wheel/binnacle and it was these features that 'sold' the car - I was so fed up with black/grey interiors. It's light and airy and, especially with the roof down, just a great place to be.

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Yeah, a mate of mine has a black/black 500C and it's not as interesting as one with a different colour of leather.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

If I'd had a choice I'd have liked the blue but I had to settle for a black car as it was the last available manual at the time. I've since added lashings of chrome and colourful decals to make it stand out from the crowd!

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Nice. Worth hanging out for the manual. Although my other car's an auto it's a barge. I think the manual suits the 500 and it's a great gearchange.

AC43 said:

Thanks - that helps. I've had a ridiculous quote from a large installer near me but they do all manner of super top-end stuff. Need to find a smaller one.

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A mobile installer might be a good option, if you can find one with a decent reputation. Fitting a subbie is a reasonably straightforward operation (says he, who got someone else to do it!)

I only have one gripe about the FIAT's manual and that is that it won't let me redline in first, otherwise it's brilliant. I've been a Mazda man for fifty years and I love 'em but I've never had such a smile on my face as this little FIAT provokes.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

A mobile installer might be a good option, if you can find one with a decent reputation. Fitting a subbie is a reasonably straightforward operation (says he, who got someone else to do it!)

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I'd rather get someone who knows what's he's doing TBH. There used to be a small outfit round the corner that put a sub into one of my cars years ago but most of them shut a long time ago. I'll see if I can find a decent mobile guy.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

I only have one gripe about the FIAT's manual and that is that it won't let me redline in first, otherwise it's brilliant.

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Well that's not very Italian! TBH I hadn't even noticed. Showing my age and the fact that I live in Zone 2 London.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

I've been a Mazda man for fifty years and I love 'em but I've never had such a smile on my face as this little FIAT provokes.

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I've gone through a series of phases; 2 x Mini's when I was very young, then 3 x Alfas & a 128 3P (Italian Phase 1), then 2 x Nissan 200SX's when I went RWD/turbo and then 4 x V8 Merc's when the family came along.

In the background my wife ran a Clio 1.6 for 16 years until it died recently. It was good for what it was at the time (leather, air con, sunroof, etc) but it was a bit limited (thrashy engine & rubbish brakes being the most annoying features).

And now we have the 500 as a replacement for that but it's such a great package that I want to drive it all the time. It's much closer to the concept of the original Mini than the BMW MINI. It's fairly slow but is still as much fun to bomb around in as my Italian hatches from decades ago. And it's also got a 5* NCAP rating and all the kit.

Result!

And it's also got a 5* NCAP rating and all the kit.

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That's not necessarily a blessing. The rating is due to all the airbags. However, one small bang, half the airbags go and the car is a commercial writeoff even if it's only a fixable dent otherwise.
Try to get one of these nice leather seats repaired when the inbuilt airbag has gone off. Some clever people in this forum have done that kind of stuff, but a repair shop will replace the whole seat + airbag and charge half the value of the car for it.

On all other point I agree, it is a great little car and I love the leather too
I prefer the rag top, though, even if it is darker inside when closed

Gina500 said:

That's not necessarily a blessing. The rating is due to all the airbags. However, one small bang, half the airbags go and the car is a commercial writeoff even if it's only a fixable dent otherwise.
Try to get one of these nice leather seats repaired when the inbuilt airbag has gone off. Some clever people in this forum have done that kind of stuff, but a repair shop will replace the whole seat + airbag and charge half the value of the car for it.

On all other point I agree, it is a great little car and I love the leather too
I prefer the rag top, though, even if it is darker inside when closed

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Good point; I hadn't thought of the write-off implications. On balance, I'll take the risk, as it keeps the family safer. In London, even though speeds are generally slow, there are plenty of people jumping lights and hurtling around often in very large, heavy cars. I never fancied a serious impact in the old Clio.....

I totally get the appeal of the C - it's a great idea well executed.

One of the things I was worried about (and why I was looking at Pandas) was the effect of having a two-door. Pre-covid, for example, we were picking up my daughter's friend on the way to the tube every school day morning. For that sort of use, having rear doors is obviously much easier.

Well, that arrangement has lapsed and I can happily say that over the last 16 days and 371 miles we've had more than two people in the car on precisely one occasion.

That means the 500 makes even more sense. Assuming it gets used on an average of 3 trips a day that means that something like 98% of time it has had just one or two people in it.

Happy days.

AC43 said:

One of the things I was worried about (and why I was looking at Pandas) was the effect of having a two-door. Pre-covid, for example, we were picking up my daughter's friend on the way to the tube every school day morning. For that sort of use, having rear doors is obviously much easier.

Well, that arrangement has lapsed and I can happily say that over the last 16 days and 371 miles we've had more than two people in the car on precisely one occasion.

That means the 500 makes even more sense. Assuming it gets used on an average of 3 trips a day that means that something like 98% of time it has had just one or two people in it.

Happy days.

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I rarely carry passengers at all and my left seat looks brand new while the driver's seat has that nice 'lived in' leather look.


There's another, less obvious, advantage to two-door cars, well most of 'em anyway, the doors are bigger and getting in and out is a lot easier than most four-doors. An elderly friend of mine has, very occasionally, had a lift in my 500C and claims it's the easiest car to get into and out of that he's experienced with the big door and relatively high seating.


I've never had a four-door car in my fifty years of car ownership (no kids) but I've driven a lot. I like a 'laid-back', straight arm driving position and I often find the B pillar blocks my side view. No such problem with the 500, though the seat-belt can be a bit of a stretch.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

I rarely carry passengers at all and my left seat looks brand new while the driver's seat has that nice 'lived in' leather look.


There's another, less obvious, advantage to two-door cars, well most of 'em anyway, the doors are bigger and getting in and out is a lot easier than most four-doors. An elderly friend of mine has, very occasionally, had a lift in my 500C and claims it's the easiest car to get into and out of that he's experienced with the big door and relatively high seating. .

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Yes, I like the long doors and, much to my surprise, the high seating position. I've always disliked the high seating position in SUV's and crossovers but for some reason it doesn't bother me in the 500 at all. I suspect a lot of it is down to body control and lack of roll.

When I get into my E Class Merc (seat slammed to the floor) it now feels odd dropping in and clambering out again.

What really brought the whole shape and stance of the 500 into relief was yesterday in Sainsbury's car park. Next to me was old Peugeot 306 which looked like it was a foot longer but also a foot lower. No wonder the 500 seems so spacious in the front whilst still having useable back seats.

I remember in the 80's Guigiaro or someone did a project car with high up, relatively vertical seating which was a new idea at the time. IIRC it morphed into the Uno or something mainstream like that

In fact just looked it up - the Megagamma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Megagamma

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

I've never had a four-door car in my fifty years of car ownership (no kids) but I've driven a lot. I like a 'laid-back', straight arm driving position and I often find the B pillar blocks my side view. No such problem with the 500, though the seat-belt can be a bit of a stretch.

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Totally agree with that - love the feeling of space it gives. But hate reaching for the belt once I've moved off....

AC43 said:

Yes, I like the long doors and, much to my surprise, the high seating position. I've always disliked the high seating position in SUV's and crossovers but for some reason it doesn't bother me in the 500 at all. I suspect a lot of it is down to body control and lack of roll.

When I get into my E Class Merc (seat slammed to the floor) it now feels odd dropping in and clambering out again.

What really brought the whole shape and stance of the 500 into relief was yesterday in Sainsbury's car park. Next to me was old Peugeot 306 which looked like it was a foot longer but also a foot lower. No wonder the 500 seems so spacious in the front whilst still having useable back seats.

I remember in the 80's Guigiaro or someone did a project car with high up, relatively vertical seating which was a new idea at the time. IIRC it morphed into the Uno or something mainstream like that

In fact just looked it up - the Megagamma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Megagamma



Totally agree with that - love the feeling of space it gives. But hate reaching for the belt once I've moved off....

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My first car was a 1985 Accord 3 door, the two doors were HUGE

John202020 said:

My first car was a 1985 Accord 3 door, the two doors were HUGE

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God I remember them. A mate of mine had one back in the day. He was then subject to Italian brainwashing and ended up in a GTV. Back then having two doors was the thing. I had a Sprint another mate had a GTV6, one mate had a Sud Ti, another a Sud 105 Green Cloverleaf. Yet another had two Sprints.

I'd only buy a five door if I had to. I had a 33 Green Cloverleaf as did several of my mates but that's because there was no choice.

After that I had a 5 door Cavalier as a company car (gah) but really wanted a Renault 19 16V. As soon as I could get out of company cars I did - straight into a Nissan 200SX. My mate with two Sprints went on to have a Scirocco then two Corrados.

There's a reason for them; you can make them rigid but light. The more holes you cut in a shell, the more rigidity you lose and the more steel you have to add back in to make up for it.

Great choice of cars :worship: - I had a Sud as well (4 doors but still rigid as long as the rust had not kicked in ) and the Sprint was always the dream.
The long doors are actually one of the things I don't like about the 500, but then I'm not that tall and would rather have shorter doors that open wider in narrow spaces. It worked somehow in the old 500, but back then they did not have all these safety regulations

Ideal solution would be sliding doors, but then the bean counters start complaining

Gina500 said:

Great choice of cars :worship:

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Thanks - me and my mates loved our Italian cars - there were more; the 124 Sport my mate's dad had, his GT 1.8 & Guilietta, a Beta and a Beta HPE another mate's dad had, the 128 3P I had, two Twin Cam 131's another mate had plus 2 Beta Coupe Volumex's

Gina500 said:

- I had a Sud as well (4 doors but still rigid as long as the rust had not kicked in ) and the Sprint was always the dream.

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I also had a 4 door Sud - great car - as did some of my mates. The Sprints were lovely though. Drove to Italy twice in my mate's Veloce. The second time in convoy with a GTV 2.0. We'd get quite a reception at times as the locals never got to see the top-end Alfa's back in those days.

Gina500 said:

The long doors are actually one of the things I don't like about the 500, but then I'm not that tall and would rather have shorter doors that open wider in narrow spaces. It worked somehow in the old 500, but back then they did not have all these safety regulations

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Nope

Gina500 said:

Ideal solution would be sliding doors, but then the bean counters start complaining

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They're interesting and only yesterday I spotted Peugeot 1007 with them. I think the other problem is that they're heavy or at least the car that Pug built was heavy. The press were a bit meh about it which is a shame as I agree it's an interesting idea for a city car parking in tight spots.

AC43 said:

They're interesting and only yesterday I spotted Peugeot 1007 with them. I think the other problem is that they're heavy or at least the car that Pug built was heavy. The press were a bit meh about it which is a shame as I agree it's an interesting idea for a city car parking in tight spots.

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That's what the sunroof's for...

The drawback to big doors is when you're parked facing down hill or have a stiff breeze from behind - they need a bit of care when opening. Our 1940's sized garage might have been fine for an Austin Seven but you can't fling open the FIAT doors with gay abandon.

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

That's what the sunroof's for...

The drawback to big doors is when you're parked facing down hill or have a stiff breeze from behind - they need a bit of care when opening. Our 1940's sized garage might have been fine for an Austin Seven but you can't fling open the FIAT doors with gay abandon.

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Good point my house had a 30's garage and it was very narrow. It's now an office, so I don't have that problem but it would have been tricky.

Re the wind; a mate of mine in Edinburgh had just spent a fortune respraying his two-door Sud when a blast of wind from behind caught both the driver and passenger doors at the same time and slammed them forward into the wings....

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

Our 1940's sized garage might have been fine for an Austin Seven but you can't fling open the FIAT doors with gay abandon.

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Bit of carpet or rubber mat on the wall saves the door edge?

AC43 said:

Good point my house had a 30's garage and it was very narrow. It's now an office, so I don't have that problem but it would have been tricky.

Re the wind; a mate of mine in Edinburgh had just spent a fortune respraying his two-door Sud when a blast of wind from behind caught both the driver and passenger doors at the same time and slammed them forward into the wings....

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Ouch!

John202020 said:

Bit of carpet or rubber mat on the wall saves the door edge?

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Something like that yeah. I was thinking of a length of wood lined with carpet or similar but for now I have bumpers on the door edges. Takes the 'edge' off when closely parked with other vehicles too.

Another week into 500 ownership and I've realised there's one thing that is really impressive and that's the seat; for some reason I find it massively comfortable.

I actually find it more comfortable that the one in my E Class which cost the think end of £60k new (not to me, I bought it at 7 years old) and has super adjustable heated and cooled electric memory seats.

Who'd have though Fiat would put better seats in a cat that cost a quarter as much new.

I've not given the comfort of the Lounge seats much thought, which probably means they're doing their job well. On the other hand, my wife's Pop, now traded on, had the flatter seats and whenever I drove it my left foot cramped up. Of course that was a Dualogic with no clutch pedal so perhaps it was just bored.