Overview & Reviews

Fiat is one of the earliest and grandest names in automobiles, dating from the establishment of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino ("FIAT") in 1899. During the early years, its racing cars were the envy of every nation. Later on, the Fiat Topolino ("Little Mouse") was as famous as the Volkswagen KDF (subsequently known as the "Beetle") in the 1930s and '40s. The 1950s saw Fiat put much of Italy on wheels with the hugely popular 500, sparking the "Italian Miracle," a renaissance of European consumer products.

Sadly, the company's fortunes in the United States were mixed. Here, the Fiat 1500 won over a fair share of enthusiasts in the mid-'60s, and the early-'70s saw the Fiat 850 (Spider and Coupe) become popular among college students. Yet the Pininfarina-designed Fiat 124 sports car did the most to keep the Fiat image alive in America, as cars like the front-wheel-drive 128 and midengine X1/9 ultimately failed. Even Lancia, Fiat's premium brand, withered quickly after an introduction in the mid-'70s. Ultimately, Fiat's poor reputation for quality and its inability to cope with ever more stringent emissions regulations led the Italian company to pull out of the U.S. market altogether in 1984.

In 2000, General Motors acquired a stake in Fiat as part of a joint venture to create a new generation of small, affordable cars for Europe. GM's financial troubles led to the unraveling of this agreement in 2005, but Fiat had invested the GM money wisely in new air emissions technology. When the bankruptcy of Chrysler took place in 2008, Fiat saw an opportunity to return to the U.S. In 2009, Fiat acquired a controlling interest in Chrysler.

The Fiat 500, debuting for 2012, was the first of Fiat's new generation of cars to come stateside. Staying true to its lineage, the new 500 is very small, nimble and stylish. In addition to the 500 coupe, there are also the 500 convertible and hot-rod 500 Abarth to further tempt those looking for a small car with plenty of personality. More recently, Fiat has expanded its lineup with the fully electric 500e and the family-friendly, four-door 500L.

User Reviews:

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  Cute car, shifty car - 2016 Fiat 500x
  By kim - October 21 - 9:26 am

  If youre looking for something cute and stylish then Fiat 500x is the way to go. Not a good car when it comes to handling traffic! So much shiftiness, its definitely disappointing! On the highway though, great car! It feels safe and pretty smooth For the most part. Doesnt handle little bumps on the road too well. Overall, not the best car, but at least its cute?

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  Cute little car for pasta lovers - 2012 Fiat 500
  By Ed - July 27 - 10:56 pm

  Fun little car

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  Fun to drive - 2014 Fiat 500L
  By Firas Musleh - April 23 - 11:13 pm

  Little beast. Fast small engine. Great fuel economy. Amazing handling and traction. Fun to drive. I love it.

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  Overall ok, now that we learned more - 2014 Fiat 500L
  By Jeremy Stewart - March 19 - 2:36 am

  Overall this has been a decent car for us. Weve taken a number of long-ish trips (3-8 hours in the car), and weve never had an issue. Its a comfortable ride (Im 510, my wife 54 and we both fit comfortably in front or in back. We now have a son who is almost 1 and hes spent his entire life thus far riding in this car. With the car seat in the middle, its a little cramped in the back, but nothing bad. The trunk doesnt fit the jogger stroller very well, well just enough for the stroller and nothing else. It will fit in the front seat (upside down), but it makes reaching the shifter a bit awkward. We really should have gotten a larger car, but my wife LOVED the unique look of the car and the fact that you just dont see many of them around. The Navigation is acceptable, though I wish it had real time traffic updates and I wish the head unit had CarPlay (by Apple) support, it would make things noticeably easier for us, but after a few software updates the bluetooth connects to Siri and now we dont have the terrible default voice recognition software. Plugging your iPhone into the USB port gets you a few different experiences, but the bluetooth pairing has been pretty good now. The only thing I havent liked about the car is the transmission, and probably more about the lack of education about it. When we bought the car, we were told about the different transmission, but never how it meant we had to treat the car differently than any other automatic. A few months after buying the car, a drive through Starbucks opened up near our house to which my wife has become a regular at. Sometimes shes had to wait in line quite a while and shed sit in drive with her foot on the brake. After a few minutes shed notice a smell. It smelled like burning coolant or something sweet like that. She tried to figure out the cause, but couldnt. Every time we took it to dealer they could never replicate it. Another time she actually had some smoke coming out from under her car. After some serious google-fu, I was able to track it down to the fact we should put the car in neutral when at a stop for "a while". Theres no documentation that says what "a while" is or anything, so now so long as its not a stop sign we put it into neutral (stop light, drive through, or stop & go traffic). We wish the dealer was more forth coming with this information when buying the car, in fact my wife may have actually changed her mind on the car with that information at hand, but all said she loves the car, just wishes it was a LITTLE bit bigger in the trunk. Update: 2/4/2017 - weve added another child to our lives and this makes the car feel even smaller. A double stroller will fit in the trunk but it takes some Tetris skills. Theres no fitting an adult in the back with the 2 car seats. Maybe a super thin adult. When it comes down to it, when we are done with the payments this car will go to me and my wife will get a larger car to drive the kids around in. We should have gotten a larger car from day 1 unfortunately. If this car were larger it would be great. Repair wise its been pretty trouble free, which is good considering our local dealer stopped servicing FIATs and we now have to go 30 miles to get dealer warranties. Update 2/6/2018 - December 2017 the car had transmission issues with a lack of power. Could force it into lower gears via manual selection and go but it was tough moving from a stop. Took it to the local dealer (who never stopped servicing fiats even though they told me they were going to) and had them look at it. They thought it was one thing. 2 weeks later they still had it and it wasn’t fixed so they had to replace the entire transmission. That fixed it. But a new transmission at 30k miles is ridiculous. It was outside the warranty but we had our extended warranty which covers it for 10yrs or 100k miles, so out of pocket for us was $100. Would have been roughly $10k without the warranty according to the service rep. I can’t with good conscience recommend this car. I know with the 2014 or 2015 model they redesigned the transmission (pretty much standard instead of some double dry clutch monstrosity), and maybe that will improve the reliability of the car for those models.

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  When you need a simple and efficient car - 2014 Fiat 500e
  By Eric - March 13 - 10:13 am

  Having originally leased a 2016 FIAT 500e, when it came time to find a new vehicle due to high mileage driving, I did not hesitate getting a previous year model, since electric is the way to go, and I have enjoyed good reliability and efficiency with the Fiat 500e. When looking at previous vehicles, you just need to factor technology and bluetooth as upgrades needed.

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  Loaded 500L White - 2014 Fiat 500L
  By bill crockett - January 7 - 10:04 am

  Very reliable- I have driven it R/T to New Orleans from Memphis numerous times with not one problem.

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  Poor service, good car - 2012 Fiat 500
  By Jeff L - September 27 - 3:48 pm

  While the electric car is great, we broke a windshield badly. The car hasnt been drivable for 6 months and we are expected to pay our lease. Not very customer friendly. Things still arent resolved so we still dont have a car and Fiat doesnt give a darn.

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  Surprisingly adequate and just a little fun too - 2016 Fiat 500
  By libero1@earthlink.net - August 22 - 9:36 am

  Spouse and I found ourselves in a rush and needing a rental car. The only car immediately available was a Fiat 500 with automatic. We took it. On a 100 mile road trip to the event venue, the car proved to be more than adequate to the task. While acceleration was slow, once at speed the car maintained interstate speeds without trouble. We drove 80 and even 85mph, passing many more powerful cars. If you know how to drive a small engine, this thing will do the job. It was comfortable for two and luggage space was adequate for a long weekend trip.

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  Zippy Electric Vehicle - 2016 Fiat 500e
  By Califas - August 17 - 10:59 pm

  The 500e has a better response than the gas-powered version. It handles better, has the best pickup and go, and is so fun to drive. I wanted to lease an electric vehicle so I wouldnt have to pay for parking in my citys parking meters and garages (my city has an incentive to lease/purchase EVs) especially as I work downtown and must pay to park. Its a dream to drive and park, and recharges when you break, so it becomes a game to get as much mileage from a charge as possible. So far, Ive had no problems with the car at all. The lease is up the end of the year, and Ive become spoiled with having an EV; its wonderful not to pay for gas, oil, or smog check! I hope to continue with either leasing or owning another EV. At least in California, this is the way to go especially as the state has a pay back money incentive to own/lease an EV.

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  Great Vehicle for What it Is - 2012 Fiat 500
  By Troy - May 13 - 3:02 pm

  If you are looking at a vehicle large enough to haul the family or a trendy sports car with lots of power then the FIAT 500 Pop is not your vehicle. But if you are looking for a small, comfortable, affordable ride for you and your significant other then the 500 Pop is a perfect purchase. The 500 Pop is surprisingly powerful off the line, shifts smoothly, rides quietly even at 85-90 MPH, and gets great MPG. It is more roomy and comfortable up front than expected. It is, obviously, a little cramped in the back. While the hatch allows you to fit most anything you need, keep in mind that it is not the perfect vehicle for packing all of your worldly possessions. Just know understand what you are buying and you will not be disappointed.