We're visiting family in Texas. They have bought 3x Kia Sorrentos in the 6years I've been in a relationship with my wife. Upgrading to newer each time.
But they also own a pickup (they leave in Wyoming) and a Fiat 500L they leave in Texas. They are letting us drive the Fiat while we're here.
Fiat is yellow. 2013. 6speed Auto with 1.4L turbo which I've read is good for 160hp and 0-60mph in 8seconds.
This car only has 13,800 miles on it. :mask:
The car and driver review is pretty spot-on:
Pros: lots of space
Cons: slow, hunts gears a lot, steering and handling are so-so.
This thing is TALL. And though wife and I are probably as close together in front seats as we are in Miata, I can wave my elbow around and not touch the door on the driver side. Tons of space on the sides. Tons of space in the passenger seats. Lots of cargo area.
But it's still a tiny engined tall tippy wagon. Although it goes pretty well when you totally mash on the gas.
***
OH and a few quirks:
-I like the cornering lamps which come on automatically when the lights are on and the steering wheel is turned about 10-15% or more.
-there is only one button to lock the doors from the inside, in the middle of the dash. Otherwise you have to use the fob.
-Seeing the double a-pillar is weird.
-It's so huge and tall the sun visors are practically worthless. They should have done something different there.
-backup camera, in-dash nav, and other electronics are fairly intuitive and standard-place.
-cruise control gives NO indication whether it's set or not. Just on or off. Annoying.
-pretty gutless unless you give it lots of pedal- like it will roll back from a stop on tiny inclines.
-But pretty nice for a free car.
:thumbsup:
I've never sat in one. How's the highway ride? Is it noisy and require a lot of course correction or is it reasonably quiet and track straight.
I've never seen these on a rental lot.
It's not very quiet but drives just fine at highway speed.
We rented one in Italy for 2 weeks, you liked it a lot more than I did. It's probably the worst new car I've driven. That transmission is horrid, at best.
Quote from: CALL_911 on December 21, 2019, 03:38:04 PM
We rented one in Italy for 2 weeks, you liked it a lot more than I did. It's probably the worst new car I've driven. That transmission is horrid, at best.
You should try a Ford EcoSport. Horrid little turd.
Quote from: CALL_911 on December 21, 2019, 03:38:04 PM
We rented one in Italy for 2 weeks, you liked it a lot more than I did. It's probably the worst new car I've driven. That transmission is horrid, at best.
Still in it, the transmission is indeed horribly horrible. But all little engined cars I've driven with auto transmissions have felt obnoxiously bad to me. So my bar is pretty low there.
Quote from: CALL_911 on December 21, 2019, 03:38:04 PM
We rented one in Italy for 2 weeks, you liked it a lot more than I did. It's probably the worst new car I've driven. That transmission is horrid, at best.
I think the Italian/EU car have a single clutch AMT, versus the DCT used in this car.
I drove a 6MT 1.4T 500L the other day. I was surprised at to how much I liked it? The engine is spunky and is full of character, it also handles and steers surprisingly well. I was also pretty fond of how airy and spacious the interior was.
:mask:
Terrible cars. Only new car that's worse is maybe a Dodge Journey I think
Quote from: 2o6 on December 22, 2019, 02:26:42 PM
I think the Italian/EU car have a single clutch AMT, versus the DCT used in this car.
I drove a 6MT 1.4T 500L the other day. I was surprised at to how much I liked it? The engine is spunky and is full of character, it also handles and steers surprisingly well. I was also pretty fond of how airy and spacious the interior was.
Yeah it was the AMT. I thought they had that transmission in the American ones too
Quote from: CALL_911 on December 22, 2019, 03:07:54 PM
Yeah it was the AMT. I thought they had that transmission in the American ones too
No, the USA gets a DCT. The EU gets a single clutch AMT with the smaller engines.
I quite liked the 500l I had as a rental in Italy. I found it roomy and spacious for it's size, like 206.
Liked the drivetrain, too (stick diesel)
Manual transmissions are so much better in small engine cars.
I've been many times on taxi 500L and they are total junk POS. BTW build on the same factory from where the famous YUGO came from :thumbsup:
Quote from: AltinD on January 06, 2020, 02:39:04 PM
I've been many times on taxi 500L and they are total junk POS. BTW build on the same factory from where the famous YUGO came from :thumbsup:
The Yugo was based on the Fiat 128, so not that surprising.