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

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.....

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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.