Fiat 500 Brings Cuteness into the Present

I've waited for a while for a chance to drive the tiny Fiat 500. With Fiat's control of Chrysler, the popular European brand is back in the U.S. for the first time since the early 1990's. After a week with a new 500C (convertible), I'm very happy to say it was worth the wait.

The original 500's were popular in Europe from the 1950's until 1975. Like the VW Beetle and the Mini, small cars were the only kind that most people could afford. Now, all three models are enjoying new life in modern configurations.

Like the MINI, today's car dwarfs the old one, and its 1.4-liter, 101-horsepower engine is much more powerful than the .5 and .6 liter originals. But it's a different world now, and the American road is full of SUVs and "midsize" sedans.

Tooling around in the 500 is lots of fun, especially with the five-speed manual transmission. The little engine (for which premium fuel is recommended) feels peppy off the line, and acceleration up to freeway speeds is fairly robust. I drove for a couple of hours on the freeway and it was quiet in the cabin and felt stable despite the short wheelbase.

Fuel economy is rated at 30 City, 38 Highway--good numbers for anything that's not a hybrid.

The interior is awash in circles for everything from the gauges to the vents to the speakers to the headrests. The big black ball shift knob has an inscribed shift pattern. The feeling is retro but not slavishly so. The original car was pretty basic but this one has lots of style.

People asked me for rides to check it out. Yesterday's rider, Rafi, noted that the styling may be better than the MINI's because it is less cartoonish while still being charming. I think he has a good point.

The 500C offers a convertible top that is essentially a giant cloth sunroof. You can open and close it at up to 50 miles per hour and let the light, sound and scents of the world in.

Prices start at about $15,500 for the basic hatchback but my convertible, in the lower level model, was about $21,500. There are some cheaper small cars but none are as much fun to drive or own.

500's old and new recently appeared in Cars 2. That, along with advertising and press reports, will help get the Fiat brand back into people's consciousness again.

Cars 2 - Great Auto Personalities--and a Musical Joke

It's not hard for me to imagine cars as characters--I've followed and identified them since I was a kid. Each make and model has a very distinct personality.

The Pixar geniuses have tapped into this again with Cars 2. Pixar always starts with a good story and adds the technical brilliance on top--as in Toy Story and others.

Cars 2 has an international feel, with British spy intrigue taking Lightning McQueen, Mater the rusty towtruck and others to foreign racetracks.

So much to tell, and I'm not going to even hint at the story or conclusion, but I have a few favorite aspects.

For one, the bad guys are "lemon cars," which, in this case, includes American Motors Gremlins and Pacers as well as Yugos. And while the mastermind of the bad stuff is kept a mystery until the end, the identified lead henchman is a Zundapp--a 1950's German microcar--complete with monacle!

One of my favorite scenes is in Italy, where a bunch of tiny, cute 500's -- old and brand new -- do a stage number together (see photo above). It's either a great tribute to the newly introduced 500 or some nifty product placement.

Musically, the sound track plays a little joke, because it features "You Might Say" by .... the Cars! It's covered very nicely by Weezer in this case, but it's the name of the group, not the subject, that's related to the movie.