Fiat 500 Review: 2014 Pop, S, Lounge And Abarth
August 7, 2014
What’s hot: Great style, inexpensive entry models, all fun to drive, the Abarth is a pearler
What’s not: Upper-spec models are pricey, interior a tad underdone
X-FACTOR: The retro-style that works. The latter-day 500 best preserves the ‘feel’ and fun-factor of the 60’s original.
Vehicle style: Micro city car
Models:
500 Pop - 51kW/102Nm 1.2-litre
500 S - 74kW/131Nm 1.4-litre
500 Lounge - 63kW/145Nm 0.9-litre TwinAir Turbo
Abarth Turismo - 118kW/230Nm 1.4 Turbo
Abarth Competizione - 118kW/230Nm 1.4 Turbo
OVERVIEW
The Fiat 500 range might look like one story, but it’s not. It’s many.
It’s a city car, like the 1.2 litre 500 Pop; a style statement, like the twin-cylinder TwinAir Lounge; and a rorty, snapping hot-box like the 1.4 litre 118kW Abarth 595.
And more in-between. Whichever you choose, the 500 is as appealing as a fresh puppy and undeniably cool. As retro lines go, the little Fiat nails it.
Now there’s an updated 500 range - the Series III - and, though the prices at the bottom end have been given a lift, the little Fiat remains reasonably priced at the entry level, well-configured and still a vastly superior drive when compared to most in the micro-car segment.
Fiat now quotes drive-away pricing deals from top to bottom. The 1.2 litre 500 Pop is now $17,000 driveaway; the 1.4 litre S, $20,000 drive-away; the 0.9 litre MultiAir turbo Lounge (with standard dualogic auto) is $23,000 drive-away.
The dualogic can be specified for the Pop and S, adding $1500 to the driveaway price.
2014_fiat_500_australia_03