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I owned a Fiat years ago and it was a money pit. Cute and fun, but a money pit. I wouldn't buy another Fiat unless it had years of good reviews and proven reliability. My mechanic told me FIAT stood for Fix It Again Tony and that was my unfotunate experience with the brand.
3) Much more boring looking than the Fiat Nuevo 500s that my friends have imported from Europe.
How can your friends justify spending a significant percentage of the econobox price to get them US ready? These are cheap, basic cars, like anything we have here. And you know multiple people that have done this?
Quote:
Originally Posted by minibrings
Its outselling MINI and SMART, its main competition:
July 2011 Sales
Fiat 3038
MINI 2753
August 2011 Sales Fiat 3106
MINI 2003
September 2011 Sales
Fiat 2773
MINI 2331
What makes this even more impressive is that these figures where achieved despite the delays getting Fiat Studios open and the national advertising campaign beginning in August and not March or April.
Although this is a good performance, Fiat 500 sales did take a dip last month and may fall below initial first year sales estimates.
I owned a Fiat years ago and it was a money pit. Cute and fun, but a money pit. I wouldn't buy another Fiat unless it had years of good reviews and proven reliability.
They do in Europe.
Quote:
My mechanic told me FIAT stood for Fix It Again Tony and that was my unfotunate experience with the brand.
FIAT stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (English: Italian
Automobile Factory of Turin), and acting like it really means Fix It Again Tony is like believing Ford isn't the man's name, but means Found On Road Dead, or Camaro actually stands for Came After Mustang And Remains Obsolete. It's a retarded old joke that wasn't funny the first time.
Here was my last Fiat, a wonderful fun car:
Had it for 5 years ('02 to '07) and stupidly sold it to move on to another project.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vmaxnc
They're new. The hipster buyers will dissipate quickly, and then the car will have to survive on it's own merits.
It's still doing well in Europpe after years of being sold there.
But, it will HAVE to be joined by other more mainstream Fiats here in order to do well. As MINI has shown, you can't survive on one model.
They need to bring over other more traditional small cars, like the 2 box Panda 100 (a fun little performance car):
How can your friends justify spending a significant percentage of the econobox price to get them US ready? These are cheap, basic cars, like anything we have here. And you know multiple people that have done this?
They're new. The hipster buyers will dissipate quickly, and then the car will have to survive on it's own merits.
LOL I know several that have bought them and not one I'd consider a hipster.
I don't think the Fiat 500 buyers are any more hipster than a MINI buyer.
Really? Enjoy the following videos from Top Gear Australia. They used it and a SMART as a postie (postal) vehicle in the rugged roads of the Outback. The SMART had a tire failure and could not complete the run. As a former South Australian, I am very familiar with these roads and I would not have dared taken my Toyota on these roads. If the 500 can deliver a heavy load outback, I'm not worried about its durability:
The dealership next to my work just went through it's entire allotment of Volts. The article you posted fails to take into account that the dealerships were not allowed to sell their demo units yet (they are now) and that production hadn't ramped up completely. They are selling every one they can build now, and the dealerships are being allowed to sell their demo units. They were also only sold initially in limited markets, not nationwide. By the end of the year, they will be set up to sell nationwide.
See your article was from back when the Volt was barely being built yet. So only 723 were sold in septemnbler. In October, that figure jumped and GM sold 1108 units in October alone. And November is on track to outsell October. As long as gas prices stay down cars like the Leaf and Volt have a hard sell ahead of them, but they ARE selling, and increasing in sales all the time.
The point? You simply don't have a clue and your bias is leading you to make flawed conclusions. Same as your "logic" in trying to judge a modern Fiat by ones you supposedly wrenched on back in the '60s (and you still haven't responded how you reconcile that with your support of modern Hyundai cars when they were WORSE than those '60s Fiats just a few short years ago)
15,500 loaded for a pop model is overpriced? For a new car of today?
What's loaded about the Pop model? It's pretty much a standard car. AM/FM/CD/MP3, manual transmission, A/C, bluetooth, 4 wheel antilock discs, cruise control, remote keyless entry, heated sideview mirrors. If you want the Bose stereo, tack on another $1,250.
For ~$15,500 you could pick up a similarly equipped Ford Fiesta Hatch, or a more equipped Ford Fiesta Sedan. You could also get a Ford Focus Sedan with similar equipment. There is also the Mazda 2, Hyundai Elantra and Kia Forte, not to mention that you could get a decently equipped Yaris, Versa, etc. and a few I'm not mentioning. These other options also get equal or better MPG on regular gas.
I "get" the 500, but it's not something one can make a value argument on, just like you can't make a value argument with the Smart. I think the 500 is cool, but the people who buy it are choosing cool over practicality and these days in the demographic the car is targeted at, practicality rules.
How can your friends justify spending a significant percentage of the econobox price to get them US ready? These are cheap, basic cars, like anything we have here. And you know multiple people that have done this?
My friends have 12-15,000 square foot garages/ car parlors and spend megabucks on their hobby. They had the European versions of the Smart Car a couple of years prior to its introduction to the US market.
But they could still sell the 500 for years like they have in Europe and like the New Beetle and MINI have been.
This isn't Europe. We don't appreciate small underpowered cars like Europe does. Eventually the cool factor will wear off, IMHO, and sales will level out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01
My friends have 12-15,000 square foot garages/ car parlors and spend megabucks on their hobby. They had the European versions of the Smart Car a couple of years prior to its introduction to the US market.
Everybody makes mistakes. Even your multiple wealthy friends who all have huge garages.
My friends have 12-15,000 square foot garages/ car parlors and spend megabucks on their hobby. They had the European versions of the Smart Car a couple of years prior to its introduction to the US market.
I'm assuming your friends imported classic 500's, hence bypassing all of the BS associated with doing it on a newer car. The Euro Smart is/was easy to import since it is on the NHTSA pre-approved list. The 500 and in fact, no FIAT cars, are on the pre-approved list, so getting anything other than a classic into the US is virtually impossible.
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