Fiat 500 Hatchback 1.2 Lounge (Start Stop) 3d Auto (2010/10) Owner Review

What does this car say about you?

I don't Know, nobody heard it talk.

What do your friends / family / neighbours think of the car?

Should have thought a bit harder.

Would you buy this car again and why?

No this was a desperate attempt to enable my wife to drive again, we pinned far to much faith on the cars "city button" This was at the expense of other important things for a disabled person, such as comfort and ease of access.

What are you likely to buy next?

Peugeot 3008

Type of dealer you bought from?

Franchise

Did you buy this car new?

Yes

What price did you pay?

£11,500

When did you buy the car?

June 2010

Did you get a good deal and why?

Got 10% discount by buying on Mototbility finance.

Is there any special reason why you bought this car?

My wife has chronic upper body pain, and found she eventually couldn't drive her Micra due to the weight of the steering. We hoped the city button fitted to the car might be able to help.

What was the dealer like?

Very average, the dealer took us out in a three year old panda to demonstrate the auto-box we would be getting, and so my wife could try the city button as she has chronic upper body pain and finds most cars too hard to steer. We were allowed out in a 500 which I drove whilst my wife sat in the passenger seat. This was a showroom model as they didn't have a demonstrator and we got to drive approx 2 miles in the vehicle "as they didn't want to put to many miles on the car" we didn't do much more mileage in the Panda either. Certainly from this experience I will never buy another new car based on such short test runs. When we asked the dealer if we could sell the car back to them they didn't want it. We sold it in the end and lost £2,700 in two months.

What's it like to drive?

Unfortunately not as good as the Micra it replaced it was noisier, bumpier and more cramped. So why buy it? well the steering was too heavy in the Micra for my wife to drive and we hoped that the city button would do the trick, as on the test drive it seemed to make the steering lighter up to about 35 mph & Parkers quote about 40mph. As we live in the Highlands and mainly drive on single track roads 40mph would be enough, however when we got the car Fiat had cut this to 20mph and my wife only managed to drive two short journeys in it before having to give up driving again. The auto-box is a bit crude and when combined with the stop/start is annoying when parking. The rear seat looks O.K. it's not until you sit in it that you realise that it's an illusion and that it is a 1:3 scale mode

What's it like to park?

If you have remembered to disable the stop/start (default is on) very good, the mirrors are big and give a good view, the steering with the city button on is very light. However if you forgot to disable the stop/start this is what happens! Pull up to park engine stops, engage reverse take foot off brake alarm sounds dash tells you to select neutral, curse car (this is important), put foot back on brake engage neutral press stop/start button, engine starts, engage reverse take foot off brake and try to park like a normal calm person because that's a £30,000 BMW your backing up to.

Have you had any problems with the car?

The car had an occasional rattle from the back which was possibly the parcel shelf.

What's most practical about your car?

Fuel economy at 53mpg, good door mirrors.

Favourite gadget, option or accessory?

Air-con.