Sunday November 8, 2009
Small size, big punch
Review and photos by AUDREY EDWARDS
What’s that they say about little packages? It’s all true.
YOU know how, sometimes, you make an instant connection with someone you’ve just met? Well, I believe that can happen with cars, too.
Sometimes, you look at a car for the first time and you know that this is “the one”; just by feeling the sleek body and sitting in it before you even take it out on the road.
The cute and rather cheeky looking Fiat 500! Of course, when you do eventually get around to doing that, the attraction might fade after an initial spin because of a less than perfect interior, perhaps, or because the car seems to “fight” you and leave you with the feeling that it just doesn’t want to be “friends”.
And then there are those cars that might not impress at first sight, but then you gradually discover you actually do feel so comfortable in them and are such fun that you could keep driving for hours....
Such is the feeling I get from my first time behind the wheel of the Fiat 500. Sure, at first sight I think, “Eh? Tiny car, wei. What can it possibly do?” But then again, I believe, the Fiat 500 hasn’t survived all these decades without bowling over drivers, so I give it a closer look.
This version of the little Italian miniature car is slightly less boxy than usual – it definitely has some nice curves in its 3.5m by 1.6m body. And a sun roof, to boot.
I wonder for a moment if my height, a mere 1.5m, has anything to do with the motoring editor assigning this car to me.... But, hey, I don’t care, I’m just happy to take the car on because, over the next few days, every journey in the four-seater, three-door hatchback is pure fun.
The 1.4-litre petrol engine car, equipped with Fiat’s five-speed semi-automatic gearbox, feels the most fun to drive when I start “playing around” in manual mode. The next best option is going into the automatic and sports modes.
For a small car, the rear seats are surprisingly generous. And, oh, the fiendish delight I have when the 16-valve engine proceeds to zip me past bigger vehicles on the road! Drivers of bigger cars make moves on me, probably thinking my little car can’t do much about it, and then get left behind – probably with a bitter taste in their mouths! – when the Fiat 500 speeds away.
Another reason I’m grinning is that I can take corners much faster than when I’m in my Perodua MyVi. Indeed, the Fiat 500 has a maximum power of 100bhp at 6,000 rpm and a peak torque of 131Nm at 4,250 rpm.
The drive is much easier with the comfortable to-die-for seats while the air-conditioning – always an important factor for me in this tropical country of ours – is cold enough to make everyone else but the nephew complain.
One quirk that the Fiat 500 has is a single dial on the dashboard for both the speedometer and tachometer. Other information available includes time, which mode the car is in, petrol gauge, temperature indicator and odometer.
Besides this, the model comes with a Blue&Me infotainment system, which is Windows mobile-based, offering hands-free communication with voice recognition that does not need priming; it also works with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones.
One can scroll through the phone’s address book by using controls on the steering wheel or it can be fully installed in the system and updated whenever the phone is detected.
The system also allows up to five different phones and their contact books to be registered on the system at any one time. There is also a USB port that allows playback of music.
Among the safety features are seven airbags, anti-lock braking system, electronic brake force and anti-slip regulation.
Imported by Torino Motor Industries (M) Sdn Bhd, the on-the-road price without insurance for this iconic car is RM135,000.
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