Want a good time? That seems like something you’d see etched into a public restroom stall door. The first time I ever saw something
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
like that it was painfully close to the year this particular car references. Ok, I exaggerate, but it was nevertheless the ’60s, when the original Fiat Cinquecento was most popular. This modern-day 500 1957 Edition actually pays tribute to the first year of Fiat Nuova sales; that would be the pre-Cinquecento (500-cc) model, even predating the 499-cc 16.5-horsepower Nuova era, when a 13 horsepower 479-cc version of Fiat’s air-cooled, two-cylinder engine powered the same basic car.
That mostly-unchanged model sold a staggering 3,893,294 units from ’57 through ’75, which is reason enough for Europeans to have wrapped their hearts around it in similar fashion to the way most everyone adored the original VW Beetle, Mini, Citroën 2CV, Renault Dauphine and so many other post-war mass-volume cars (the
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Beetle was pre-war, but it became popular afterward). Of course, we’re all familiar with retro versions of the Beetle and Mini, both now well established after multiple makeovers, but many here won’t realize that this revised 500 has been a massive hit on its home continent for close to a decade despite only finding so-so sales traction here in North America (it was available in Europe five years before first it came to North America for the 2011 model year).
Fiat should be celebrating its overall Canadian success, however, as the brand’s lineup of city cars beat the much better known Mini brand on the sales charts during each one of its first four calendar years, from 2011 through 2014, with only last year’s sales and the first quarter of 2016 sliding somewhat. That’s an impressive
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
feat, and the brand’s bestselling 500 is the key reason for its popularity. This 1957 Edition will no doubt continue to grab headlines, although it’s classic styling cues won’t be for everyone.
I couldn’t help falling head over heals for it, mind you, no doubt at least partially due to my 50-something age, an impressionably early-childhood summer spent in Italy and other parts of Europe, a father who lovingly lectured me about the history (often with personal anecdotes) of any and all old cars (not to mention go-karts, motorcycles, trains, planes, dirigibles, power boats, outboard engines, chainsaws, power generators and all other things motorized), a longstanding love affair
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
with European cars, and a deep fondness for this retrospective Fiat. If given the choice I’d be driving the 160 horsepower 500 Abarth, but I could certainly understand why someone would want this lovely little powder blue modern-day classic.
Celeste Blu (light blue) isn’t the only colour on offer, incidentally, the 1957 Edition available in period perfect pastel Verde Chiaro (light green) and Latte Menta (milky mint green), while the interior is finished in Avorio (ivory) and Retro Marrone (brown) for the seats and trim. Typical of the era, ivory covers much of the steering wheel, although it’s now wrapped in leather, while this model gets a brown leather insert to spiff it up a bit. The gearshift knob would’ve previously been hard ivory-coloured plastic as well, although it’s finished in chrome instead, whereas
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the boot is brown leather. Most of the instrument panel is ivory, while attractive ivory door inserts surround brown leather-wrapped door armrests; the same brown leather used for the individual seat-mounted flip-down inner armrests. Lastly, brown leather seat upholstery gets ivory stitching to match the ivory headrests for a look that’s 100-percent classic unless you’re comparing an actual ’57 Nuova side-by-side and witness how thoroughly modernized the new 500 1957 Edition is.
The exterior, incidentally, gets classic “FIAT” badging, some nice chrome detailing up front, in back and on the near-solid alloy rims, these painted body-colour or Bianco (white) with chromed hubcaps sporting big Fiat logos as well, while the side mirror housings and rooftop get standard bianco paint.
At
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
$25,995 plus freight and dealer fees, which is $7,000 more than the $18,995 base Pop model and just $2,000 more than the 500 Lounge that it sits above in pecking order, the 1957 Edition represents a lot of style for the money, while along with all of its eyeball grabbing idiosyncrasies it comes with a few more features than that already well-equipped version just below. For instance, those unique wheels are 16 inches in diameter instead of 15 and wrapped in sportier 195/45R16 rubber, and the front seatbacks get map pockets, while Fiat even finishes the car’s switchblade-style key fob with unique brown colouring and a “1957” graphic.
Along with these special details the 1957 Edition gets everything the upscale (for a 500) Lounge trimmed version receives including fog lamps, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, heatable front seats, a seven-inch customizable high-resolution colour
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
multi-information display within the large single-dial primary instrument cluster, automatic single-zone HVAC, a large glass sunroof, upgraded Alpine audio with satellite radio, a security alarm and more, while items pulled up from base Pop trim include bifunctional halogen projector headlamps, heatable powered side mirrors, powered windows, remote powered locks, a tilt steering column, steering wheel-mounted audio and cruise controls, USB and aux inputs, 50/50 split-folding rear seatbacks, a rear cargo shelf, an engine block heater, tire pressure monitoring, four-wheel discs with ABS, and all the usual active and passive safety features including a driver’s knee blocker airbag (it gets a 4-star NHTSA crash rating, by the way, with 5 stars for side-impact safety).
The
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
leather-wrapped steering wheel looks and feels great, while as noted earlier there’s no shortage of ivory plastic. If your take on automotive luxury requires soft-touch surfaces you’ll be pleased with the nicely padded leather armrests, but other than the leather shifter boot and fabulous leather seats, which are incredibly comfortable as well as very supportive with good bolstering, not to mention the high-quality cotton-like cloth roofliner (that’s also ivory), there’s not a trace of pliable plastic anywhere. Personally, I don’t care one iota as the original Nuova was about as spartan as four-wheeled appliances came, so it only seems fitting that this comparatively large as a barge luxury saloon cuts a few corners.
Then again the 500’s primary instrument display is a cut above anything else in this class. The single circular cluster features a gorgeous TFT display at centre, a large
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
digital speedometer readout being the default graphic other than the back end of a nicely animated 500 that acts as more of a distraction than anything helpful (but I like it), while the tachometer is a racing graph-style digital gauge to the left and the regular speedometer (if you can call it that) an identically digitized strip numbered from 0 to 100 opposite the tach on the right. A narrow temperature gauge sits just right of the tachometer next to the inner chrome ring, whereas the opposite right side is filled with an equally pint-sized (albeit litre-measured) fuel gauge. It’s a visual delight that I’m sure most will like.
The centre dash-mounted infotainment system is small at five inches and simple, including
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
relatively good graphics and a decent sounding stereo, although if you’re an audiophile I recommend upgrading to the $495 BeatsAudio system. The excellent TomTom navigation system was also optional and priced at $495 as well, but the ability to hook up your phone and feed media via Bluetooth is standard as noted. The single-zone auto HVAC system was easy to figure out, while the seat heaters warmed up more than adequately despite being one-temperature on and off. I imagine this single temperature might not suffice for those who want more warmth or others than can’t stand the heat, so multiple temps would be better, while my only other complaint is a steering column that can’t be adjusted telescopically.
OK, the rear seats are pretty small too, but that should be expected in a city car. They’re certainly more accommodating than those in a Scion iQ (RIP) or the lack of
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
any at all in a Smart ForTwo, but they’re best kept for smaller adults and kids. This said even the smaller set can find the protruding headrests uncomfortable, so I simply remove them when required.
Then again, the first rule of Italian driving according to Franco (Raul Julia, a Puerto Rican, but nobody seemed to care) in Gumball Rally (1976) was, “What’s-a behind me is not important!” Fiat will be happy to know I didn’t break off my 1957 Edition’s rearview mirror and throw it behind me as I exited my driveway (watch the movie), but the little 500 certainly put a smile on my face. It does every time I get behind the wheel, especially when the powers that be choose to equip my tester with a five-speed manual gearbox, the proper choice for spicing up the action.
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
After all, there’s only 101 horsepower going down to the front wheels, and while that’s 88 more than the original ’57, the new 500 is more like a well-fed Danny Devito than a lean and lithe Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori (for those not into horse racing, Dettori is an Italian-born champion jockey with more than 500 Group race wins to his credit; numerically fitting I thought). Still, it’s one of the lightest cars on today’s roads so it’s even spirited with its optional six-speed automatic, albeit all 98 lb-ft of torque is needed, plus Sport mode engaged to make the most of it.
You’ll want to turn Sport mode off and apply the throttle more gently if you want to achieve the car’s five-cycle fuel economy rating, however, but once you do you should be pleased with 7.6 L/100km city and 5.9 highway as-tested or 8.7 and 6.9 with the automatic.
The
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
five-speed shifter installed was excellent, slotting into each gear exactly the way I like, while clutch take-up was just about perfect. The wee little 1.4-litre four pulls well from the nether regions, but it really loves to rev, and when you get it up into the spin cycle it produces a nice high tenor ring. It makes great noises all the way up too, and the resulting acceleration feels quicker than it probably is thanks to its diminutive size. First I recommend pressing that just-noted Sport mode via a dash-mounted button, at which point the engine and exhaust give off an even nicer tone while the whole car feels more reactive. The 500 loves to be flung into corners, while it remains stable and steady even at high speeds, and is therefore much more confidence inspiring than most would expect a small and somewhat tall car to be. Really, if you love to drive then you’ll appreciate the 500, the little Fiat making me wish FCA would bring the entire Fiat lineup to North America.
As
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
a short aside, it now seems like the perfect time to consider such options. As some will already know, FCA has chosen to pull its Dodge and Chrysler brands out of the small to mid-size car market (at least temporarily), the Alfa Romeo Giulietta-based Dart and 200 models planned for elimination. I’d certainly love to see the former car’s gap filled with something by Fiat; say the Punto? I drove the Punto’s predecessor, a first-generation Uno, from Amsterdam to Cannes and then back up through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands a few decades ago and enjoyed it tremendously, although it was a tad slow on the various autoroutes, autostradas and autobahns. I’d guess the new Punto is a lot quicker, especially the Abarth version. The timing might also be right because today’s crossover craze is starting to turn American buyers on to the benefits of hatchback designs, causing companies like Honda and Toyota to respectively bring back the Civic hatchback and keep the Corolla-based iM in the family despite the upcoming
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
demise of Scion, so a car like the Punto might fit well into our changing North American automotive market, which of course would benefit Canada as we’ve always been fonder of three- and five-door liftgate designs over traditional four-door sedans.
Until then we’ll happily continue forward with the fun-loving 500 in its many guises, not to mention its oddly proportioned but fabulously utile 500L sibling, and the all-round impressive 500X compact SUV, a lineup that’s quickly endeared itself to those that march to the beat of different drummers. I happen to belong to that band of syncopated triplet-filled offbeat percussionists and therefore especially like this little 500 1957 Edition.
And I’m certainly not alone. This modern-day classic immediately pulls eyeballs from passersby and leaves most of them pointing and grinning, as if it’s a magnet for positive energy, while I found myself smiling most of the time anyway, whether reacting to onlookers or just motoring around on my own; it’s such a fun car to live with. How do you put a price on that? Fiat has, of course, but the 500 1957 Edition’s overall value seems much greater.
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