Fiat 500

You are likely to be fighting your way through the crowds to get into one of the 176 Fiat dealerships across the UK at the moment. The arrival of the 500 has seen the firm re-evaluate its entire strategy, as customers who would never before have considered a Fiat make a beeline for its sites.

They’re being drawn in by the fact the 500 is one of the cutest cars to have been launched in the past decade. Even in a plain showroom, its bubbly personality brings a smile to your face – in comparison, the MINI seems a bit bulky. Now, imagine driving a 500 every day. It’s an appealing thought, isn’t it? The little Fiat is also very attainable. Prices start at £7,900 for the entry-level 1.2 Pop, and even the top-of-the-range Sport and Lounge variants – available with the 1.4-litre 100bhp petrol or 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engines – weigh in at a reasonable £10,700.

But not many people buy cars outright for cash these days – and who can blame them when some lease deals look so tempting? We’ve seen several firms offering new 500s for £130 per month. OK, so kit is a bit thin on the ground if you go for the base 1.2 Pop, but don’t forget all models have a five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating. And if you can dig a bit deeper, there’s a huge range of affordable options which allow you to personalise the 500 to your heart’s content.

Do you need to be aware of anything? Well, the little Fiat isn’t as well built as a MINI, nor does it have such polished road manners, while the 1.2-litre petrol engine is gutless out of town. If you’ve got the money, we reckon the diesel is the pick of the range.

And it’s not too late to find one. Some dealers we called have unregistered 500s available right now – provided you’re not too fussy about spec, that is. If you want to go the whole hog and order one, then delivery from the factory is taking about three months. This is no surprise given that out of nearly 8,000 advance orders in the UK, 4,850 of them are still waiting to be built at the Tychy plant in Poland. Fiat hopes to sell 18,000 in Britain this year.

If you don’t mind buying second-hand, there are a few cars being sold off by speculators. But in our opinion, the premium prices are simply too high to justify, and will soon soften.

What are the dealers like?
Here’s the rub. Fiat has a great little car on its hands, but its garage network is viewed as one of the UK’s worst. In our Driver Power 2007 dealer survey, the brand finished 31st out of 32 –only a middling score for value for money kept it off bottom spot. Fiat appreciates that the 500 will attract customers who won’t tolerate poor service, so improving the network is its top priority. We’re not expecting the brand to finish in first place in Driver Power 2008, but we hope to see a major improvement.

Can I get a discount?
No chance. We tried every avenue – Internet auction sites, importers, car supermarkets – but nowhere could we find a 500 for less than list price, unless you go for a left-hand-drive import. However, the news may be better if you’re prepared to wait. All the Fiat salesmen we spoke to very politely told us there was no question of money off “at this stage”. Those three words are crucial, because they show the company is realistic enough to know that the good times won’t necessarily last.