Thanks for the correction RobinPJ - I think this is one of those differences for the NZ market, as all Sports here came with 16" multi spokes in that time period
I'm open to other corrections as well, just thought I'd kick things off with what I was aware of.
Seems to me that the Lounge offered better value - Lounge and Sport were both the same price, both had climate control and Blue&Me, but I feel the cosmetic changes on the Lounge suit the character of the 500 better and differentiate it from other small cars. Just my opinion having owned a Sport
The current 500 range here is different. Now we also have Pop with 1.2 engine and steel wheels (cheaper than ever!) with aircon and Blue&Me, and we have S with the 1.4 engine (which otherwise looks like a bit like a Sport) and the 500C Lounge, 500C Lounge with Twinair - Twinair finally came to NZ this year! - and the Abarth.
We don't have, for example, a not-C Twinair Lounge - probably the model I'd choose
See
http://fiat.co.nz/media/pdfs/Fiat Pricelist (incl Prof).pdf for the entire FIAT range available in NZ this year - 500 or Ducato, and one model of Scudo - that's it!
-Alex