Italia Cinquecento Fiat 500 Testdrive

“Eeee…so cute!!!” shrieked a female colleague of mine the moment her eyes glued onto the bright yellow bug-like silhouette. That oughta sum up what the 500 is all about. Yep, apparently it’s the Italians’ turn to launch an old-favourite. Much like the VW’s Beetle and BMW’s Mini, the wave of retro rides is at yet another milestone with Fiat’s 500.

Now for those not clued in, Fiat’s tiny 500 was created during the post-WWII days of 1957, back then the car proved to be a resounding success due to its compactness and price tag. In fact, so popular was the lineup, the Italians continued making them well into the mid 1970s.

Well, the wait is finally over, after a one year waiting period, the 500 is finally on our shores and I got a taste of that simplistic charm that made its predecessor such a…knockout?

Styling
Well let’s be honest, the original Cinquecento (Italian for 500) wasn’t a very big car to begin with and with the modern installment, size takes a back seat while style reigns supreme. At just 3.55m in length and with a girth of 1.65m, the miniature Fiat gets easily dwarfed by a fair share of the vehicular populace.

Right, back to the outlook, the front is still very much the 500 of yore, complete with chrome garnishing and the circular eye-lamps giving this Fiat the demeanor of a hamster. Going a wee bit further and you’re greeted by the two huge doors which take up nearly two-thirds the length of the actual car.

The car’s shape is decidedly rather R1/R2-ish with a dome roof sloping down and merging with the rear bumper. (Seated at the rear, I couldn’t help but wonder that there’s roughly about 30cm of car comprising of the tiny little rear windscreen, the boot cover and the thin fabric rear bench separating my spine from the back of a truck.)

Of course the driver and front-seat passenger have it good, ample leg/head/shoulder room give the 500 cabin, or at least its front a sense of airiness that betrays the car puny proportions. Though I must add, the roundish looking headrests maybe a little too stiff to the touch but do an excellent job in cushioning your cranium. The dash is inlaid with a body-coloured centre piece that looks great with the integrated headunit and the retro knobs and buttons.

Staring right back at the driver is a singular meter that encompasses the speedo-tacho combo as well as other vital signs and even the built-in Bluetooth car phone. But wait where have we seen this before? Doesn’t the Mini have a huge centre console mounted clock-like speedo that functions as the audio control as well? The only difference here is that only the driver gets to enjoy watching the speed dial play tag with the rev counter.

Driving
Okay, if you can look past the cutesy bit, drivers will be rewarded with a pleasantly well thought out ride. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much out of the Panda-derived chassis nor the 1.2L 68hp 4-cylinder. Boy was I wrong. Fiat is truly in their element here when it comes to really tiny cars. Banish all thoughts of the Grande Punto now and stay with me!

You might chuckle that a sub 900kg car with a little over 1000cc might do the century in under 13 seconds, but I kid you not, in fact, I would believe the Cinquecento is a whole lot faster than what the papers say. For the record, I tested the manual 1.2L, probably as basic as it can get, though there’s also a higher specced 1.4L available.

Anyway back to the topic. Acceleration wise, the rev-happy engine was eager to please, gear ratios were neatly stacked making short work of expressway sprints while the cue-ball sized gear knob mounted below the headunit and situated just left of the steering ensures your hands don’t stray too far while *ahem changing gears. (ala Honda Civic Type-R EP3) Gear shifts were actually rather direct and precise with none of that dodgy nonsense that I encountered with the 500’s larger cousin.

However steering response did take a nosedive the moment you send the little 500 into a high speed corner, a city car this is and the high CG body throws its weight about making for a rather unsettling ride. But truth be told, Cinquecento drivers will probably never take their quirky cars anywhere near its limits and would almost definitely be contented cruising leisurely at city speeds.

Verdict
Like I said earlier, this is one for those who haven’t had enough of the previous 500 or are in a retro-crisis. Truth is you probably won’t be ferrying anymore than one of your gal-pals or a canine companion if you’re seriously eyeing the 500. Also the stiff price tag might scare off some too. But in all fairness, for the die-hard Cinquecento fanatics, Fiat delivered. The car’s simplistic charms somehow grew on me making for a thoroughly enjoyable testdrive.

Facts & Figures
Testdrive: Fiat 500
Type: 3-Door Hatchback
Layout: Front-engined; Front-wheel drive
Engine: 1242cc 4-cylinder, 68HP, 102Nm
Tranny: 5-Speed Manual
Performance: 0-100 12.9secs, Top speed 160km/h
Price: S$76, 900 with COE
Availability: Now, from TTS Eurocars

Updates

Just a quick fix, my bud, Tom's soccer blog is up and running, you can check out the link on the side bar or just click on here. If it's the beautiful game you're after, then this is the webspace to go to!

The ONE. BMW 130i Testdrive

What’s this you say; a Beemer with three doors and to top it off it’s a hatch? That’s the same reaction I got when I stomped over to the showroom to take the 130i out. Not totally clued in, I only knew it was a hatch. But nothing prepared me for the visual shock the car gave to my retinas.

To cut it short, *pun not intended, BMW has finally addressed the legions of rich boy-racers who have way too much money on their hands, have become bored of the R32 Golf and will not be caught dead in anything but a continental. This car, with its M-lowered suspension, aerokit, steering wheel and scuff plate should fit the bill just nicely.

Styling
The front end is still pretty much Mr Bangle’s handy work, with the fluid lines running the aft of the body all the way to the rear lamps. But below the beltline is where the 130i gets a little bit racier. Most obvious here is the matt-grey rear diffuser which incorporates the exhaust outlet, contrast that against the BMW’s royal blue paintwork and any speed demon will instantly light up.

Inside, you sit in rather grippy leather seats, grippy because they act like enormous gloves holding your upper body in place should the massive 2996cc straight-six decide to unleash all 265 horses in a corner. For me it’s a tradeoff, the side bolsters actually got in the way of absolute comfort; it was a little like having something shafted at your armpits while you drive. So, if you’re a bury kinda guy, take heed, you will never fit in the 130i.

Another point to note are the seats are not electronic and had to be manually adjusted, which means a little bit more inconvenience on the driver’s part, I was told this actually shed some extra pounds off the car – boy racers probably wouldn’t care if they were fitted with stools I guess – a manly thing.

Driving
You can’t please anybody, so I proceeded to fire up the engine. First of, it roars to life, supercar it may not be, but it definitely got attention whenever I revved. The sweet straight-6 delivered extremely linear power in a predictable fashion, but most of that performance was hidden higher up in the rev range. In short, the car requires you to rev it like there’s no tomorrow. Good if you’re on a track, bad if you’re commuting on our streets.

Transmission wise the 6-speed automatic does its job admirably well, except for a slight lag in shifting up when you’re at low speeds and suddenly stomp on the gas. On the roads, the car with its lowered suspension was as expected slightly bumpier than I would envision, but I guess this is all part of that boy-racer experience, feedback through the wheel though was excellent. The car displayed impressive grip through high-speed corners and remained composed even as I took it way above legal limits.

As a measure of the 130’s tenacity, I tailed a souped up Lancer Evolution along the ECP. Outright acceleration, the Evo did pull away, but once the speedo was well into 3-numerals, the straight-6 gained momentum and closed in on the Mitsu with ease. There really is no replacement for displacement. The driver of the Evo did flash me a smile and a thumbs up as well for the brief sprint we did.

Verdict
Okay, now for the pop quiz, is it worth it for that kind of money? In this price range and segment, only the R32 comes close but that’s nearly another 10-grand more. Sure the DSG-box is a lot more advance than the traditional tranny found on the BMW but still as an overall driving experience the 130i wins here. You pay lower road tax too for a car with higher performance figures, drives slightly better and that all-important Beemer badge.

Facts & Figures
Testdrive: BMW 130i
Type: 3-Door Hatchback
Layout: Front-engined longitudinally-mounted; Rear-wheel drive
Engine: N52B30, 2996cc Straight-6, 265PS, 315Nm
Tranny: 6-Speed Automatic
Performance: 0-100 6.3secs, Top speed 250km/h
Price: S$149.000 with COE
Availability: Now, from Performance Motors

Prologue

After a long hiatus of two years, I’m back once again. If you noticed, this Blog’s focus has changed somewhat. It would now be less about me, more about the cars and babes I’ve *ahem “testdriven”… oh and of course everything else in-between.

Anyway, small update if you happen to flip through the rest of the nonsense I’ve blogged about from 2003 till 2006, I’ve jumped ship, and am currently the “Argh-Dee-Tor” of a monthly automobile publication of which I shall not reveal. Ok it ain’t really "HOT"-stuff, but who gives a damn when your daily routine involves waking up at 11am, sundering into any showroom at 12pm and whizzing off in the latest car for the rest of the day?

Heck, I even got my own room now, that’s about the size of my bedroom, not bad at all. Sure beats the crummy claustrophobic environ I had to put up with previously. Well I hope the people who happen to come across this place enjoy the read, I will be as unbiased as possible when it comes to testdrives, which means none of that philosophical crap I do when at work.

Oh there’s supposedly a link here which should direct you to a fellow bud of mine, Tom, whose actually going to do a Football Blog, no word yet from him. Once that’s up, our master plan would be to take this web spaces and go big…REAL big. In the meantime, I’m going to start hammering the latest car I just test drove, the BMW 130i. Enjoy!