Did Fiat Ruin It's Image By Creating Four Door Ugliest Car In The World Contenders?

[BugsyPal]

Originally Posted by minibrings

If you drive a Lexus or MBZ on the streets of Manhattan.. doubt they would be bullet proof as well. Probably only hummers will last but even they will have some damage. I've lived and owned a car in Manhattan.. I know what the roads are like.

No, the Fiats were totally in a different class to themselves.

Spoke with someone at Hertz a week or so ago about where all the Fiats went to and his reply was that they were removed from the hourly fleet in NYC because they just didn't hold up even by car rental standards.

When you consider these were all newly purchased and equipped just for "Hertz on Demand", within <one year they all were tore up, beat up and had multiple repair problems like failure of batteries to hold charges, etc..

Yes, NYC streets can be hard on vehicles. But most of that damage shows up in the alignment, on tires, and so forth from potholes and so forth. You do not expect bits of the interior to fall off, pop out, break off. Batteries that will no longer hold charges and so forth.

In an odd but interesting twist the Toyota Yaris seems to give less problems, or at least they remain in the fleet.

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by WiseManOnceSaid

Ok just so you know, I like Fiat, I think that it's a wonderful brand, I'm not opposed to smaller, inexpensive, euro imports. There's a definite niche that suits a need for these vehicles. But, now that Fiat has come out with this hideous 4 door. Do you think that they've turned off their base? OR added to it?



How does it compare to another small version vehicle that was most certainly "hip" in it's days..




When I compare the Fiat 4 door with what BMW did with the Mini, the design of the 4 door Cooper is a lot more reasonable looking, the Fiat looks like a deformed pumpkin on wheels.

I know that as a growing company, Fiat, you're going to try to please everyone, but do us a favor and stick to what made you popular: Building quirky, Italian, hipster-mobiles that sip gas and that everyone can afford.

Not like it had a good reputation to start with.

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by ramkobe

Would never buy one because it's too "buggy" with questionable reliability.



Yup, it actually broke down during filming of the J-Lo commercial....

LOL.. Fix It Again Tony.. We joked about that a lot back in the day when I had my 1978 Fiat X-19, this was in late 1984.. and it definitely spent more time in the shop than on the road.. The body was made by Bertone, which has some share in making Ferraris. I wouldn't buy another one even if you gave me a million Dollars.

I'm not sure if they improved the newer models, like the 500 and for their sake, I hope they did.

On a side note, the photo below was taken at my parents' house and their neighbor across the street at the time had a Fiat sedan model, I'm not sure what model it was (a 128? ) . You can also see a restored mid 1950s yellow Chevrolet that was in the carport of their next door neighbor's.