NF500 / 500 Opinion

In January Fiat UK Managing Director Andrew Humberstone made a pledge that he would be taking a hands on approach to bringing up the standard and reputation of the UK Fiat dealership network. Well, if a survey of around 32,000 UK motorists recently published by magazine Auto Express is anything to go by, he’s going to have his work cut out.

The Driver Power Dealer Survey canvassed the car buying public’s opinions on a range of criterea to paint a balanced picture of people’s overall dealership experience, and Fiat came a lowly 29 out of 30 overall.

This probably comes as perplexing, and certainly challenging news for new Fiat Group UK Sales Director Andrew Sproston, who took up his new position at the company this past Monday.

The broken down results show Fiat dealers as coming in the following positions:

• 20th for Value for money
• 29th for Standard of Workmanship
• 30th for Technical knowledge
• 30th for helpfulness and attitude
• 29th for Communication
• 30th Cleanliness and Atmosphere

It appears to us at NF500 that only the 20th place for “Value for money” saved Fiat’s dealerships from receiving the wooden spoon in this particular survey.

The Fiat 500, as the European wide “500% Fiat” marketing campaign reminds us all, is indented to be the embodiment of a completely fresh and revitalised Fiat. If these results really are anything to go by, along with some recent worrying reports from Fiat 500 owners and would-be owners on the new Fiat 500 forums, Fiat could do with taking a serious look at the dealership network and find out what they can do to improve their reputation “on the street”. If customers are being treated well by dealerships, word gets around, no matter how slick and polished your promotional work may be.

Credit to James on the forums for pointing this one out to us.

We knew it wouldn’t take long. Last night’s Fifth Gear show, featuring a head to head with the Fiat 500 Sport and MINI One has appeared on YouTube.

To save you some time searching for it, here it is:

LeDorga have voted the new Fiat 500 as the European Gay Car of the Year.

For the very first time in the history of the election of the Gay Car of the Year, the winner was not a soft top. The Fiat 500 has won the election hands down, fending off more prestigious contenders such as Aston Martin or Alfa Romeo by quite some margin.

Apparently your author here has a very gay taste in cars, because the top five are all, in my opinion, cracking cars:

Fiat 500: 122 points
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione: 83 points
Volvo C30: 53 points
Aston Martin DBS: 42 points
Aston Martin V8 Vantage: 37 points.

As you can see the Fiat literally swept the competition away, more information the LeDorga website.

Auto Express have given the new Fiat 500 a nice balanced first drive review, and it’s now up on their website for all to enjoy.

The short piece goes over many of the strengths and weaknesses of the new 500, making the obvious comparisons between the baby Fiat and the baby BMW aka MINI One. The conclusion seems to be the same as many have drawn, maybe not so sporty to drive or as quality overall, but better value for money and, certainly at this stage, more quirky and individual.

A pretty much glowing report from start to finish has been published by VerdictOnCars, here’s their summary.

Highly recommended. One of the most interesting, desirable, charming, best value, fun city cars on the market. It’s not the most dynamic to drive, but the forthcoming Abarth version could resolve that. Fiat’s got the basics of its modern Cinquecento absolutely right - it earns a rare five stars.

There’s an interesting article, more of an opinion piece, on the new Fiat 500 and the “retro car craze” (if indeed there really is such a thing) of the MINI, Beetle, and now the new Fiat 500. Written by author Giles Smith the report includes some articulate observations about the new 500, as well as the draw of cars taking inspiration from the past in general.

The Fiat 500 is European Car of the Year 2008, and little wonder. It is smart, sassy and, for what is basically a small, soft blob of metal, enormously covetable. But it is also, essentially, half a century old.

Worth a read we think, and available online at the Guardian website.

No surprise to see the Fiat 500 feature from this weekends Top Gear television show hit YouTube pretty quickly. For those unable to see the show first time around, here’s your chance: