My Trip to the Fiat Dealership

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:01 am

I decided to check out the 500 in person and give one a spin the model i drove was the sport automactic
it seems pretty tight on the road no leg room in the back seat area comfortable for its size up front the only
exception i want or wanted a sun roof but the headliner is modified for the sunroof tracks that makes it
lower then the none sunroof models my head hits the headliner errr .

The Dealership i went to was in DownTown LA the one on Figueroa St. this place was cool for a car dealer
building i really liked the lay out .

My Spin on the Bose Sound System was not very good for 1,200 bucks you can add a after market stereo
system that would sound much better . Other then that i liked the car and might buy one i find it interesting
the MPG estimates very more then i would of thought between the Auto and Manuel .

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:07 am

That was surprising to me too. What did you think of the automatic? I finally got to test my fuel mileage on the open road last night. I got 43 mpg driving 62 mph. One thing that has never happened to me in all they years of Fiat ownership was oncoming traffic were flashing their brights at me to let me know my bright lights were on. I had a flash a few back to show they weren't! I'll have the dealer check the aim of the headlamps when I take it in for it's 1000 mile oil change.

Ramzi · Post by **Ramzi** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:47 am

We are taking a Hill Country tour this weekend with the TX FLU folks. I convinced the family to come along. So far so good. 350 miles on the clock and ~32 ave mpg. We drove 4 1/2 hours last night and our PE did great. I thing the Camero I passed was a little confused though.

I noticed the same thing with the headlights. I got a few h/l flashes from oncoming traffic as well.

Ramzi

Exit98 · Post by **Exit98** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:52 pm

Tomorrow's New York Times has an extensive review of the new 500. As a matter of fact the whole auto section is devoted to it. The reviewer liked it a lot. He even flew to Italy to drive the Euro version for comparison. He said the US one is far superior. He said many of the US improvements will find their way to the EU version in the future.

I understand the sun roof only vents, it doesn't slide open. I've had sunroofs on my modern cars and I find I rarely open it. Just me maybe, but if I was getting a new 500 I'd skip the sunroof, especially since it does restrict headroom.

Here's the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/autom ... .html?_r=1

In my 08 TSX I get headlights flashed at me with some frequency. They are bright, and the upper cut off is very sharp. They are fine on a level road, but up an incline or on a choppy road they seem to really bug the guy coming at me. Dealer says they are in spec. Just the way it is with the modern high intensity lights I guess.

In the review they said that FIat had to change the orientation of the high and low beams on the US version for DOT reasons. High beams have to be inboard of the lows or something like that. Maybe they didn't get it just right.

By the way you can post your Spider's picture and a little write up on the NYT's collector car page. Mine's there. Check here:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/automobile ... index.html

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:06 pm

Re: My Trip to the Fiat Dealership
by mdrburchette on Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:07 am

That was surprising to me too. What did you think of the automatic? I finally got to test my fuel mileage on the open road last night. I got 43 mpg driving 62 mph. One thing that has never happened to me in all they years of Fiat ownership was oncoming traffic were flashing their brights at me to let me know my bright lights were on. I had a flash a few back to show they weren't! I'll have the dealer check the aim of the headlamps when I take it in for it's 1000 mile oil change.

The Automatic is smooth and percise i lked it , it's interesting that you bring that up the Head light issue Denise I have been guilty a few times myself of flashing high beams on newer cars only to find out they weren't on high

i'm a
lot less trigger happy on the high switch these days . On my spider i remember more then a few times people would have there highs on and if i did mine in return i think they laughed at my candle sticks .

Hey Exit98 i looked for your car where is it ? or how can we find the write up ...

Daniel

baltobernie · Post by **baltobernie** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 6:09 pm

Exit98 wrote:Tomorrow's New York Times has an extensive review of the new 500.

I had dinner at a table with Jerry Garrett at a press association a few years ago, and he was either a good faker, or genuinely interested in my experiences with Fiats, past and present. Even in September, 2009, he was very knowledgeable about the brand in particular, and Italian cars in general. A great contrast to most automotive journalists, I'm sorry to say.

spiderrey · Post by **spiderrey** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:03 pm

Found the car first try. There are three Fiats there. Used the search menu at the top.

bobplyler · Post by **bobplyler** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:53 pm

I found this on the NY Times site
http://collectiblecars.nytimes.com/View ... COL8101617

hang on.

spiderrey · Post by **spiderrey** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:58 pm

There have been a few done up like that. One done extremely well a while ago. It was a very nice set up car, havent seen another done as well but dont have pics anymore.

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:52 pm

ok found them nice write up on a few Fiat Spiders another V8 Spider I've never driven something like this
(350 to 400 HP on a 2300 LBS Chassis ) but it would be nice to try one out sometime lol . I wonder what
this Car's 1/4 times would be he would have a hard time not spinning the tires when launching for sure .

This blue 72 124 looks good
http://collectiblecars.nytimes.com/View ... COL1003187

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:03 pm

Exit98 which spider was yours on the NYT Classic Car write ups i found 10 Spiders 124s .

Exit98 · Post by **Exit98** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:02 pm

Hi Daniel,

This should work:

http://collectiblecars.nytimes.com/View ... COL1004141

If not, it's the yellow one from NJ.

Kent124 · Post by **Kent124** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:33 pm

@Exit: from the yellow and green scheme the PO must have been a big fan of lemons and limes

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:47 pm

That is a nice looking ride you have there not many cars can pull off a color like that but Spiders can ! you
should post some pictures on here ...

Exit98 · Post by **Exit98** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:58 pm

Thanks Daniel,

Look here:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... a&start=75

Didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Kent, don't know about the limes but she's named Bella Limone.