Fiat 500: If This is Chrysler's Future, There is None

Saw the pics and specs on this car. Another Mini clone. No four door
model, no room for more than probably two people, where is the family
going to sit? Load of groceries? That is what is wrong with this car:
This is not the car for Americans. I am a loyal Chrysler owner and the
2007 Caliber is just enough car for the job. These damn mini-cars are
great if you have a Durango/Aspen around to haul the family and
everything else. Just keep the PT Cruiser.

 

They're jumping into a very crowded market with that idea, if they
bring the Fiat 500 to the US. Toyota has the high end of it with the
Prius (Overpriced IMO) while Honda has the stalwart Civic and Ford has
actually gone pretty solid with their own smaller cars. Chevy is also
angling for Toyota's "high end small car" market share with the Volt.

If Chrysler can stay "bad boy" with the muscle cars, there's an
opportunity for "counterprogramming" with an old school rebel image.
Also, they ought to be getting more manual shifters if they can if
they want that image, and offering both manual and auto versions
(maybe an auto stick?) on their sporty rides.

 

"Bad boy" image, yeah, bring back the Dodge sheriff with the sunglasses!
I think he was the inspiration for Jackie Gleason's character, Sheriff
Buford T. Justice. I remember the old Dodge commercials, I think that
they were using the Charger? Certainly not the Coronet!

 

When I was stationed outside of Naples, Italy in the 1970's we were
always amazed at how many folks would ride around in the Fiat 500, or
"Cinquecento" as it was called. The locals would routinely get 5-6
folks in one of them!

 

Yes, but were they coming up through a trap door in the bottom like a
clown car! It is like the French Citroen CV-2, cute, but completely
unacceptable for American roads.

 

Umm... The NHW20 (2004-2009) and ZVW30 (2010-...) Prius are both classed as
midsize cars. The NHW11 (2001-2003) was a compact however. The vaporware
Volt is a compact car too.

 

Italians are usually of a smaller body form. <

 

The Prius is mid sized in interior VOLUME only.
Much of that volume is forward of the dash, useless for passengers.
I've been in many Prius, both owned by a relative and taxis. Here in
Vancouver many (maybe the majority) of taxis are the Toyota Corolla,
Pruis and Camry. I listed them starting at the most common.

IMO the Prius is a smaller than mid sized car, actually a bit smaller
than the Corolla for both passengers and luggage.

 

The Fiat 500 is not a competitor for those cars. It's Toyota Yaris,
Nissan Versa, Honda Fit, new Ford Fiesta, Chevy Aveo (and maybe
Cruze), and yes, Mini.

The problem is, the sales are often too low to justify the emissions
certification expense. But since Fiat sells most of its cars with
manuals, maybe you'll see that here.

 

No, interior volume is calculated from measurements of leg, head, hip,
and shoulder room. Room above the dash isn't included.

The range for mid-size is rather large, as for full-size (the Honda
Accord and the Lincoln Town Car, for example, are both full-size).

 

It is in the measurements I've seen in a Toyota document.

 

Just curious. Why would a 2CV be unsuitable for American roads?

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"

 

Would you like to be on an Interstate Highway, with everybody going 70, huge semi-trucks, etc. I would feel very
unsafe in that car.

 

wikipedia.... top speed finally achieved 71 MPH in 1981, 33 years after
it was introduced. So let's say it was almost as unsuited for American
roads as for the German Autobahn. Then dial in the fact that the state
I live in is just slightly smaller than the entire country of Germany.

I'm sure people drove 2CVs all over Europe without being killed by an
oncoming Mercedes that failed to notice them. People managed the same
feat in the US in the original postwar VW Beetle. Neither one was even
marginally suitable for those roles.

 

Now that's slow acceleration - 0-70 mph in 33 years!! bada-boom

 

Ooooooooohhhh.....

{<HUGE (but appreciative) GROAN>}

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"

 

Interesting. There seems to be an implication that in Europe we don't have
high-speed roads with large lorries on them. Even in lil' ol' Englande we
have them.

And under certain conditions the (non-commercial) traffic moves
bumper-to-bumper at 80 miles an hour or more, despite a lower speed limit.

I would suggest that the 2CV is not suited to any such road, American or
otherwise, and, I suggest, it was not meant for them. More a post-war
low-cost transport for rural and urban roads.

The fact that a US state might be bigger in area than Germany implies that
there are no motorways criss-crossing the Continent. Another US prejudice,
it seems.

For decades now there has been a Europe-wide system of road numbering (green
E numbers....) that covers all major routes, similar to US Interstates, so
one can cover hundreds of miles and cross a border or two (now as trivial as
crossing a US state line in most places of the EU) and still see the same
road number, in addition to the national one. Different countries have
shown different degrees of enthusiam in displaying these numbers, but they
exist, and some of the motorway-construction plans are
internatioally-coordinated.

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"

 

I think its also a consideration of what percentage of its life a car
will spend at high speeds. There are parts of the US today (urban areas)
where high speeds rarely apply- and things like Smart cars are getting
fairly common in some of those areas also.

But out in the open areas, almost every time a car gets on the road it
travels many miles at high speed. A 2CV just wouldn't hold up to that
*mechanically*, never mind safety. Maybe a Smart would hold up
mechanically, but with that short wheelbase and tall cab, I don't think
I'd like to ever drive one over 50. If I were in the market for a truly
tiny car, something with a better overall aspect ratio- like Mini or
Yaris, would be more to my liking.

 

Well, in my post I did say it was as unsuited to US highways as to the
Autobahn.

This may indeed be just a US misunderstanding, but I do have a sense
that I'm much more likely to hop in the car and visit my daughter 225
miles away (or vice versa) than a European does of making the same
drive. The European automatically thinks in terms of taking a train
that distance; no passenger train between here and Albuquerque even
exists.

 

Yes, and probably going 140 km/hr at that.

And spending less for that train ticket than you'd be spending on gas,
even at US prices.