Purchased a Fiat 500 for my daughter - 1st car..

[163mph]

Hi all

Just purchased a Fiat 500 for my daughter, her 1st car, it has a couple of minor issues that I'm looking for help & advice on, but over all she is over the moon with the car;

2008 - 1.2
1 owner from new with FSH
68k but was only driven 2k per year over the last 4 years..

I'm looking to sympathetically help her to up grade & would welcome the advise & lessons learnt from owners & enthusiasts;

Front & rear lights - Can you fit later model lights or after market upgrades?

Head unit, the LCD display is broken, simple fix / replacement or can the unit be changed to a double din OEM or after market?

Wheels: Any issues with off sets I need to be aware of to change from 14" to 15" or 16"?

Any other suggestions on known upgrades or improvements?

Thanks for your help & support

 

[portland_bill]

Firstly, as this is her first car, it is not recommended to make any modifications to the car. Every modification, no matter how insignificant, should be reported to the insurance company, as such things are used to assess their risk. A replacement radio unit will not be an issue, but changes to lights and wheels might raise the premiums.

No idea if later lights will fit, typecastboy might be able to advise, but the standard ones are fine from my experience.
These little cars tend to ride quite firmly. If you have 14" wheels, I'm thinking they will be the steels, on a Pop? These actually give the most comfortable ride. The Sport and Lounge models with alloys, and lower profile tyres, tend to be harsher, and the difference in grip/handling is negligible, and being her first car, she shouldn't be testing the limits of these anyway. They stick to the road well, even with the steels.

My advice is to concentrate more on making sure it is all good.
Front suspension arm bushes wear, leading to clonks, and tyre wear, but replacement is not difficult. Minor rattles on the front are usually the anti-roll bar links, a cheap and quick fix.

A replacement radio will need an adaptor surround, easy to find. Be careful with the wiring. The car talks to the original radio with data wires, so does not have the usual number of wires. These data wires must not be connected directly to a repalcement analogue head unit.
The car wiring has just permanent live, and earth, plus the two data wires. (Called Canbus) The replacement will want a switched live, and may benefit from additional feeds such as lighting, to dim the display when the car lights are on. It may also require an output from the radio to the aerial, as there's likely to be an amplifier in the aerial base. This will come from the electric aerial output of the head unit. (usually blue)
Some people take a switched feed from the 12v socket. The 'correct' way is to fit a canbus adaptor between the radio and car. This interprets the data signals and converts them to analogue for the replacement unit.
Fascia plate:
https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CT24FT17
https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CT24FT16
Canbus adaptor:
https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CAN-02
Have a browse of their website, as the canbus has options, if you have steering wheel controls.

 

[typecastboy]

The new style rear lights physically fit but the plugs are different. Plenty of people have changed them however the issue is they need to be rewired with the existing plugs. Also the new lights don't have a reversing light as the reversig light is in the rear bumper on the later models so a wiring mod would have to be done here too ad ideally with a new style bumper too. Not worth the hassle in my opinion but do look better.

With a 2008 car your better off, as Portland Bill says at making sure it's in sound order. With a 12 year old car as well as the usual struts/top mounts, possible hatch wiring issues and without doubt a probably rotten back axle/beam, you'll have plenty to spend your pennys on.