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That may be your perception, but a lot of people like JLo (she's not popular for no reason) and it is a pretty slick advertising campaign that could successfully reach the desired demographic. Early success in the first couple of years is based on marketing savvy, not product quality.
And anything that ANYbody advertises is crap, and Derek Jeter or Fred Thompson do not make it not-crap. It's pretty rare for a known personality to turn down a product endorsement if the money is there, regardless of whether it is crap or not.
If you think otherwise, there's one of you born every minute, and you and your money are soon parted.
From my personal perspective I woudl say it is no selling becasue it is not marketed. I have not seen an advertisement for it, I have not seen a dealership, I woudl not even know tha they exist except that i saw one in a parking lot and walked over to see what it was and laugh at it. (I hope that I did not make it feel bad, but it is pretty silly looking).
I can understand the issue with the controls being alien and non-intuitive. I had that problem with a Passat that I rented recently and to a lesser extent the Prius. It is nto fun to discover that the wiper switch is not where you expect it and does not work the way you usually expect them to when it is already raining, or to discover that you need to read the manual to close the sunroof.
If they are going to move things around, they need to mark them plainly not with some cryptic picture that looks like a dinosaur eating a pickle. (If he is eating the pickle it turns on the heat, but vomiting the pickle turns on AC).
The comment about some Japaneses car makers underselling the quality is very true. When Lexis came out they dumped them on the market at a very low price. As they became known and popular, they jacked up the price. Thus, your $30,000 lexus was selling for $45,000 two years later, so the earlier ones were woath $33,000 and Lexis could advertise that their cars held their value better than any other car. However some of them are now relying on reputation and over pricing for their quality, IMO. Honda is a perfect example. Other car makers have caught up in quality, but Honda is still selling smaller or less optioned up for higher prices (or so it seems).
Ok, if you think the car is overpriced, then fair enough.
If you think it's underpowered, then fair enough, but what did you expect from an eggbox ? Breaking land speed records ?
But "my phone won't work with it" ?
" I can't get the playlists to work"
Seriously ?
What are you buying, a car, or a phone accessory ?
You do know that some cars don't even have that facility, right ?
We have a thing called "a radio"
" I can't find the locks"
I don't think the 500 actually has locks on the outside, does it ?
Isn't it keyless entry ?
On the inside, you just push the handle to lock it. RTFM !!
You do know that you can ask your dealer things like that ? You can also ask them to show you how to work the radio.
So far as reliability, FIAT have improved markedly on days of yore.
The car has been on sale in Europe for years, and is no more, or less reliable than it's competitors. No car is without faults.
If you don't like the ergonomics of the car, then maybe you should have considered spending your money elsewhere, on a car you actually liked, rather than buying it and then moaning !?
Didn't you take it for a test drive, or did you just drive it around the dealer's lot ?
A test drive is what you use to decide if you like the car. You should evaluate it fully, and decide whether you can love with it for years, not just go a little tour and buy it because it's a nice colour !!
Fiat is selling slowly because up until recently there was no real advertising campaign. Peopel simply didn't know they were available. Part of that stems from teh head of FIAT USA was sleeping with the head of the advertising agency that was failing to deliver agreed to advertising, and then came up with a hasty last minute campaign that really didn't show the car off well (the first J Lo ads).
That has changed recently so look to see some new advertising coming out, as well as ads for the more masculine Abarth model (the regular 500 undercuts the pricing of the MINI, with similar options, and the Abarth should be undercutting the Cooper S models) Heres an ad for that one:
I have heard a lot of great things about the Abarth.
Again, they've been in Europe for a while now. Pretty quick, well handing cars from what I understand
Quote:
Originally Posted by Merc63
Personally, I love the 500, and will probably be looking at the Abarth when it arrives in the spring.
Looking up sales stats and the 500 is outselling the Mini Cooper model in the US and Canada, and in Canada is outselling the Mini Cooper, Smart FourTWo AND the entire Scion line combined. It hasn't hit it's expected 50,000 per year sales rate, but that's due to advertising, not because it's a bad car.
How do you guys feel about the power? I haven't test-driven one, but 101hp seems super slow. Plus, I live in Denver, and most cars here already feel less powerful because of the high altitude.
101 bhp is pretty low compared to some, but remember it only weighs about 1900 pounds.
The original Mini (not BMW) only had about 40 bhp from the 1.0, and about 70{IIRC) from the Cooper versions, and anyone who's driven one will tell you how it feels like much more !!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboyxjon
How do you guys feel about the power? I haven't test-driven one, but 101hp seems super slow. Plus, I live in Denver, and most cars here already feel less powerful because of the high altitude.
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