LA Times article about the new Alfa and Fiat

[So Cal Mark]

here is the link;
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/traff ... 9101.story

[pleiades]

I want a 500 bad!

[So Cal Mark]

me too!

[SpiderHead]

I think I'd rather have an original 500, but that Alfa is Cool!

I may have to learn Italian, I'm getting a hankering for an X1/9, and a 131. I'm gonna need a bigger Garage.

-Ryan

[pleiades]

I'd love an original 500 as well, but I mean a new one for a nice daily driver that doesn't give the fits of an older car.

If this comes: http://jalopnik.com/363972/fiat-500-aba ... ded-wicked - I will be selling my Impreza STi for one!

[Spiddy]

I'm getting a little concerned about you guys You do realise the 500 was designed to appeal to the "young GIRL about town". Take a look at the marketing, that's exactly where it's aimed - well, in Europe anyway It'll be interesting to see how it's pushed in the States when you finally get it.

I saw a white one in the UK when I was there a couple of weeks ago. It was getting a lot of attention but I think that was mainly due to the 2 gorgeous girls in the front seats.

Prices in the UK start at £8k for the cooking model and go to £10.7k for the 1.3 MJ Sport. Mmmm, sounds good.

Retro can be awful (just look at the mustang) but with the cute little 500 it's all good......apparently.

[So Cal Mark]

I want the Abarth version, but maybe we can use it to attract young girls

[pleiades]

I want the Abarth version, but maybe we can use it to attract young girls

And that was exactly my thinking - OUCH (Wife just whacked me over the head)

[adrians]

News for us down here in Oz is that we will see the Abarth version of the 500 for sale by the end of the year.
There is 25 or so in Australia that were used during the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix - for the Celebrity race. The cars were sold via dealers to Fiat Club members then the general public, after the race, one a bit damaged after going over on it's roof !

One or two are still forsale.

Check out the Fiat 500 Incubator

http://www.fiatcars.com.au/default.asp? ... e&ID=21778

[racydave]

With the increase in gas prices, the urban go-cart idea sounds good! That would make my Spider the big car in the garage!

[pleiades]

News for us down here in Oz is that we will see the Abarth version of the 500 for sale by the end of the year.
There is 25 or so in Australia that were used during the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix - for the Celebrity race. The cars were sold via dealers to Fiat Club members then the general public, after the race, one a bit damaged after going over on it's roof !

One or two are still forsale.

Check out the Fiat 500 Incubator

http://www.fiatcars.com.au/default.asp? ... e&ID=21778

That link shows they really are kind of marketing this thing like the Mini. Maybe that's a sign we'll see it on US shores, since everyone ate the mini up?

[mdrburchette]

Well fellas, eat your heart out. I had the pleasure of actually sitting in the new Fiat 500 this weekend at FFO. It's been over 20 years since I've bought a new car. My way of thinking is if I can't pay cash, I don't need it so my cars hardly ever cost more than $3k, but I would definitely consider buying one of these. The seat was comfortable, with a handle on the side to actually manually pump air into the lumbar support and seat bottom. It raised me up enough to see over the steering wheel. It also could accomodate someone twice my height and had plenty of room even for Ron. The rear seats fold down to make room for plenty of shopping trips but the space behind the seat was actually plenty roomy for a jaunt to the grocery store. I didn't get to drive it though. I gave up my opportunity to the fella I bought my 71 Fiat Spider from and he enjoyed it immensely. Sometimes I could just kick myself in the butt.

[spidernut]

The Alfa is beautiful. I'll take two...turbo diesel if you please! With gas mileage and torque like that, how could you pass it up?

[Leesfer]

I'm a little dissapointed with the 0-60 time though. This is the Abarth we are talking about and it takes more than 8 seconds to get to 60?! It's been a long time since I've seen a car with such a high 0-60 time, I mean even Suburbans hit 60 under 8 seconds...

[Tony]

I'm getting a little concerned about you guys You do realise the 500 was designed to appeal to the "young GIRL about town".

I'm reminded of a man that cruises the area in a powder pink Eclipse Spyder with a sticker that reads "What's so bad about pink? The girls love it!" or the Toyota Rav-4 commercial about it being a chick-car.