"Pop" for a Fiat 500?

So, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?  I’ve been busy battling ice dams (a chunk of the ceiling in my home office came crashing down thanks to that particular Minnesota menace), and shoveling snow, of course.  Also, I just haven’t felt like blogging.  I’ve felt kind of down lately.  I miss driving my Mustang, which has been sitting in its garage stall for all but two outings since its unfortunate run in with that Honda Civic a month ago.  I’ve been borrowing vehicles and making due without it since then.
   
I’m tired of this winter -which is saying a lot, because I normally really love the cold season.  More than the weather, I think I’m despondent because I miss my dog, Aesop.

Today, I dropped off my Mustang at the body shop to have it repaired.  I keep my car pretty clean for the most part, but since my dog died in October, I haven’t lint rollered the fur off the headliner over the back seat where Aesop’s head and back used to brush against the ceiling when he would stand or move around.  I don’t want to remove the fur, because it reminds me of taking him on car rides, which he and I both loved doing.  I started to worry that the shop might clean out my car and I didn’t want them to touch that part of it.  It felt like such a silly thing to ask or bring up, so I just didn’t say anything about it to the guy at the shop today.  Besides, I’m pretty sure this auto body repair shop isn’t going to clean out my car’s interior like the one run by my  friend (I would have had his shop do the work if it wasn’t over 200 miles away from where I am).  I’m still fretting about it a bit, but I’m sure it will be fine.  If the shop is more thorough than I predict, and Aesop’s fur is gone from the rear headliner, I don’t really know what I’ll do… probably cry.

I wish I could trade my Mustang in exchange for having my dog back… I’d do it in a heartbeat.  But to be deprived of two of my most favorite things in the world; to be Aesop-less and Mustang-less really sucks.  I can’t have my big, old dog back, but I still have Pavlov, affectionately referred to as “mommy’s little asshole” (his latest charming hobby is eating poop, and yes, I‘ve tried pretty much everything to nip that in the bud -to no avail), so that’s something.    

On the automotive front, I should have my Mustang back within a week, so you know, there’s some consolation -there will be no rides in the Mustang for Pavlov until he’s changed his snacking preferences.

In the meantime, there’s the rental rocket.  In this post, we’ll explore whether this is a point of consolation or a nasty little turd, the likes of which Pavlov would gobble up before attempting to bestow kisses on everybody he meets.

I present to you, my rental car for the week.  A 2013 Fiat 500.

I’ll be honest about the Fiat… I don’t care for the styling.  I feel a bit resentful that the US car market got hit with Fiats before Alfa Romeo could make its comeback.  Alfa makes an itty bitty car called the Mito (a combination of Milan and Turin) which I prefer over the Fiat’s appearance.  I also have a thing for Alfa Romeos, and have wanted one since I was a kid and the Dodge dealership used to sell Spiders, so I’ll admit I may be biased.  Never seen a Mito?  That’s because we don’t have them here in the states.  So, it’s probably mostly some bitterness and resentment.  I’m not wild about the design of the Fiat 500, though I can appreciate its history.

Let’s take a closer look at my particular 500, though.  I went to Fiat’s website and built and priced the same exact car I’m driving.  Being a rental, it’s not much of a shock to know that this is the base trim level we’re dealing with.  Of course, saying it’s a stripped down basic vehicle lacks panache, so instead, the basic package is referred to in Fiat-land as the “Pop” edition.

Incidentally, “pop” is the same sound that the rear suspension of my 500 makes anytime it rolls over a bump in the road.  If you ever played a board game called “Trouble” that features dice encased in a little plastic dome that you push down so it pops back up and jostles the dice, you’ve heard a sound nearly identical to the troubling pop the 500 “Pop” makes.  It would seem that Fiat did not take into account that their little 500 might have to deal with Minnesota’s winter roadways and infrastructure literally chipping apart beneath the wheels of the cars that traverse the streets.

The “pop” sound was kind of alarming at first.  I worried the little 500 was going to just snap apart.  Then I remembered that it’s not my car, so who freakin’ cares?  I’m not on the hook for the underpinnings of this machine.  As long as I return it to Enterprise with no dent bigger than an Oreo cookie, and no cracks in the bumpers, I’m good to go!

We should discuss specifications.  Back to the Fiat site, where I built a 500 identical to the one I’m driving -2013 model even (which gets you a $2,000 cash allowance as an incentive to clear out last year’s models).  The 2013 500 Pop has a base MSRP of $16,100.  The “Verde Oliva” (Olive Green) paint is no extra charge.  Mine does have a $1,250 option for the 6 speed automatic transmission that can be switched over to an auto-stick type of set up where you can treat it like a stick shift without having to mess with a clutch pedal.  My 500 also has the $500 optional 15” aluminum wheels, bringing the total sticker price for the car I’m driving to $17,850, or rather $15,850 after that $2,000 cash allowance.

That’s pretty cheap for a brand new car, actually.  And the Fiat is kind of fun to drive.  It’s not fast, but it screeches and yowls through its revs enough to give the impression you’re going faster than you are.  Redlining it produces a caterwauling whine that’s not anywhere near as satisfying to the ear as the custom tuned exhaust note my Mustang can make with its V8.  It sounds fierce, though -not fierce like a roaring lion.. Fierce more like a really pissed off feral kitty cat.  The 1.4L inline 4 cylinder that sits under the hood, covered in a plastic cowl is only good for 101 HP and 98 lb ft of torque.  Of course, with a subcompact car, that’s not too bad.  Still, the takeoff leaves much to be desired, even in “sport” mode which doesn’t really seem to differ than much from non sport mode on my 500 rental.

One can boost those performance specs if boosting the price of the car isn’t a problem, though.  Jump up to a base price of $19,500 and a turbo variant of that 1.4L engine can be had with 135 HP and 150 lb-ft of torque.  But why stop there?  Boost it up to a base price of $22,095 for the Abarth model ($22,000 for the 2013 rather than the 2014).  A 2013 model year car will also impart a $3,000 cash allowance, knocking it down to $19,095.  The 500 Abarth has an amped up version of that same 1.4L engine that blasts out 160 HP and 170 lb-ft of torque and comes with a 5 speed manual transmission and performance tuned suspension (which I would hope will do away with the “pop“ jostle that the lesser 500 has).

Just for the fun of it, I built and priced a 2013 500 Abarth.  Mine was red and I added the comfort group package for $900, which gained me heated seats and auto temperature control along with Sirius radio.  I then added the Beats Sound package for $700 just in case I get tired of hearing the high pitched yowling of the 500.  That brought my total to $23,600, but that $3,000 cash allowance knocked it back down to $20,600.  That doesn’t seem too bad.  Of course, for that same amount for the brand new Fiat 500, I’d probably rather buy a used something else that’s bigger, more powerful, and perhaps has AWD, even.  I don’t need another Mustang at the moment, but if I did, that would also be something to consider, as there are plenty of used Mustangs to be had for that kind of money.

The little Fiat 500 isn’t a turd, and that’s my honest assessment.  Scooting around town with it today, I found myself giggling and grinning a lot… mostly because I felt ridiculous, like I was in a little clown car  -but also because I was having fun.  At one point, I pulled up next to a Ford Fiesta at a stop light and dropped it into neutral to rev up my engine, then scooted away when the light turned green.. I totally won that race! Though, in retrospect, I’m not sure the guy in the Fiesta ever knew we were racing.  A victory is a victory, so there!

The 500 did polarize my family members.  My parents were in town today because they stayed overnight after going to some great aunt’s 90th birthday party in Redwood Falls the previous day.  Neither was particularly fond of the 500.  My mother hated it, said it was uncomfortable, that looking through the windshield as the car moved induced motion sickness, and even called it “junky” -which I felt was harsh and undeserved.  My dad kept recounting tales of his youth when he owned and drove a 2 cylinder Lloyd.  The fond nostalgia wore off after he tried to squeeze himself into the back seat of the 500 for a lunch outing.  He didn‘t direct as much ire at the little rig as my mother did, but there was no more comparing it to his wonderful little Lloyd after that.

So, the 500 was not a big hit among my retiree parents.  However, I took my brother for a spin in it, and he loved the little bugger.  We didn’t even make it back into the driveway before he was calculating how much it would cost to buy one.  He was thrilled with the head room (he’s a pretty big guy, and in the past owned an Infiniti Coupe that he had to scrunch his neck down to fit into comfortably, so that’s a big deal for him).  He also thought the auto-stick transmission set up was a slick and convenient compromise.

So, there you go.  My take on it is that the 500 isn’t great, but it’s not bad, either.  I’d like to try out an Abarth to see how it stacks up against the little Fiesta ST subcompact I took out on the track last fall, because THAT was a pretty slick little car and definitely beats the pants off the Pop version of the Fiat 500.  I’ll be happy to get my Mustang back all shiny and gorgeous again, but in the meanwhile, popping about in the 500 will suit me just fine.