Oh boy I'm enjoying this little Fiat...

Rick Vestal

Have a nice day and duck!
I've been looking for a daily driver for some time. I currently have a very low mileage 328 that I wanted to keep low mileage and drive on the days where there's no hail projected. So after a while of looking, I remembered that Ramblin' had gotten a Fiat.

Well fast forward to a month ago, I came across a manual 500 in Denver that looked too good to be true. Manual trans, bunch of go fast goodies installed by the dealer, new tires, new brakes, premium audio and a BOOK of service history.

I present to you, the Bean!

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I have owned a LOT of vehicles. Audi's, BMW's, Scircoccos, Jeeps... And this is the most fun I've ever had in a vehicle. It's bouncy, small, unique and I love everything about it. I can honestly say that if this car died tomorrow, I would buy another without hesitation.

Jeez what a blast. I never expected to love a new(er) Fiat...
 
Looks sweet.

A friend bought his wife an Abarth and she loves it

When I was shopping I got into that "well, if I just spend this much more, I can get an Abarth..." and I had to stop myself as that broke my shopping rule. But now, an Abarth is certainly a possibility.
 
We in north America are still resisting small cars .I will never get rid of my truck but I'm seriously thinking about a little bomber.Right now Hyundai accent hatchback is leading the way.Its a Canada only car.2018 model.Theres a few 500,s around town ,they look like fun but I wonder how they would be on a cross country trip?I feel its more of a city car?
 
Exactly....

The Fiat would be great for living out in the country where there are many tightly curved roads and racing around town.
 
Good looking little car.

I feel the same way about the Chevy Sonic LTZ Turbo we bought for my daughter 2 years ago. That little thing is a blast to drive...good ride, decent handling (probably not as good as the Fiat) and very quick, with a well-done turbocharger. It's been perfectly reliable, too. I was shocked about how nice the interior and dash layout is, and how quiet it runs (though it does produce a nice exhaust buzz when you get on it).

It's been such a good car, daughter number two got the 2018 version. I drive it whenever I get the chance (not often!).
 
Have fun and great colour as you want to be seen! I had a 89 charcoal black (almost black) Festiva 1.3L 4 sp std. with the color being a mistake in that people didn't see me even with the lights on, but anyway was a fun car! I drove to all over NA and it was great even in the cross winds. Extremely stable at high speeds and the only negs were road noise and a rougher ride on bad roads , but slowing down helped on rough pavement.
 
Totally jealous. I've been trying to buy an electric version (500e) for grocery getting. Congrats man!
 
Nice car Rick! I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I’ve got 62k on mine now and it’s been running like a clock. Over the past few years I’ve deleted the muffler and added an SRI. Both for the sake of more exciting noise. It’s been fun to bomb around in it WOT. This winter I put snow tires on it and it was even fine in the weather.

This spring or summer I’m probably going to buy the EuroCompulsion Euro+Drive Phase 2 flash tune and add some horsepower.

What I noticed years ago now test driving the Abarth was that, even though it’s not the fastest thing in the world you still need some space in front of you to wind it out. The naturally aspirated cars however can be beat on in traffic and you’re still having fun. My commute has shortened dramatically, now it’s zero highway and all traffic. If I had bought an Abarth I’d never get to WOT throttle as much on a daily basis as I do in this car.
 
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This Fiat is nice, and should be too much fun. Sometimes I wish I could drive stick. My idea of an ideal city bomber is a Ford Transit Connect with tie downs in the back for my chair or maybe a Honda Fit pre CVT.
 
Sorry. Double post. Bad internet here.
 

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I really enjoyed my one and only Fiat, a 1970 124 Spider. The "Bean" looks awesome!
 
How much ground clearance does it have? Living in the real country means being gravel-road-worthy. Our 2006 Scion XA actually manages that sort of thing pretty well, but longer vehicles with only 6 inches of ground clearance might not.
 
I'm getting 36-37 city to and from work. Plus it does REALLY good in the snow. It is SO MUCH fun to drive. At this point, if it blew up today, I'd buy another, (cough Abarth cough.)
I usually get 29. I have a really short commute that never sees a highway so I just drive it like a goon.

I wouldn’t turn down a cheap 500 Turbo. It’s an ECU reflash away from Abarth power.
How much ground clearance does it have? Living in the real country means being gravel-road-worthy. Our 2006 Scion XA actually manages that sort of thing pretty well, but longer vehicles with only 6 inches of ground clearance might not.
They’re low from the factory. I’d be wary of taking it off pavement. I don’t imagine you could negotiate ruts all that well.
 
Hey Ramblin. I normally don't drive dark roads too often, but I noticed last night the the drivers side light seems to be "weird" Difficult to explain but it the light pattern seems like there's a hole in the middle and almost looked like it was pointing way to the left. I looked at the projectors and they're both aimed forward, I'm not sure if it's something that I just haven't noticed before or if there's something wonky. Do you get a weird pattern too?
 
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