You’re telling me I’m about a year late and a lire short? Forget about it . . .
That’s essentially that Fiat is asking Americans to do because, candidly, its first attempt at launching the Fiat 500 here didn’t work too well. I won’t go into all the gory details. Instead, let’s talk about the good news. At a recent press event in Los Angeles, Tim Kuniskis, Fiat’s US sales chief spoke about brand awareness. It was at 9 percent after six months. Then they introduced the somewhat controversial J Lo commercial, and that raised awareness to 30 percent in 60 days. Now it’s at 45 percent. That’s progress.
Progress has also come in the form of more sales outlets. For a long while it seemed as if you needed a special Guido decoder ring to find a Fiat dealer. I’m not even sure they had one at the Jersey shore. Now there are 142 stores and counting. More progress.
And despite all this, Fiat somehow managed to sell around 20, 000 500s it’s its first year on the market. In March 2012 Fiat expects to sell 700 500s in California alone. So the car has upward momentum.
2012 Fiat 500 Abarth
So what is a 500? It’s a retro model along the lines of the Mini. The original 500 was manufactured from 1957 to 1975. And some of these 10 footers (They were actually 2-feet longer than the original Mini) with their 479-cc, two-cylinder, air-cooled engines actually made it to America. A perfect city car, but not a great highway car. They were affectionately nicknamed Cinquecento (the Italian word for 500, which represented the engine displacement of 500 cc (okay, okay, actually 479 cc). The Fiat’s inline twin was mounted at the rear of the car (like the original VW Beetle) and produced 13 (correct) bhp. There was also a Sport version with the engine bored out to 499.5 cc, which resulted in a 50 percent increase in power up to 21 bhp. That 499.5 figure allowed the 500 to compete very successfully in the under 0.5-liter class, which was popular in European motor sports at the time.
Fiat Abarth Advertising 1965
In 2007, 50 years after the launch of the 500, Fiat introduced its spiritual successor with styling inspired by its predecessor. The new car is about two-feet longer, more than twice as heavy (2360 lb curb weight vs. 1100 lb) and is powered by a 1.4-liter, water-cooled, 4-cylinder producing 101 bhp and 98 lb-ft of torque. Like the New Beetle, this latest 500 has a bass ackwards configuration: front engine with front wheel drive. MSRPs start at $15,500 for the base 500 and range up to $23,500 for the limited edition Gucci Cabriolet, which, currently, is the fastest selling model.
The 500 also has its counterpart to the British tuner, John Cooper, for whom the hot version of the Mini is named: Carlo Abarth. As a kid growing up on Long Island in the 1960s, and with a love for all fast things with four wheels, I picked up the pronunciation of Abarth from more knowledgeable adult enthusiasts. They said A (long A)-barth. Now Chrysler-Fiat wants us to say R-bart. Adding insult to injury, they also use the first name Carlo went by before moving from his birthplace in Austria to Italy: Karl.
I’m sticking with Carlo Abarth, and since I’m writing this and not saying it, you can use whichever names and pronunciation you choose. But I’ll add an interesting bit of trivia here. Abarth and Ferdinand Porsche were friends in Austria. When Abarth moved permanently to Italy in 1934, he met Porsche’s son-in-law Anton Piech and married his secretary. And if you think Abarth is hard to pronounce correctly, try Piech. Hint: The German spelling has the two eyes of a happy face above the “e.”
Carlo Abarth and some of his bambinos, 1965. Obviously, they were the apple of his eye.
But I digress . . . Abarth used his automotive design and racing skills to great effect in Italy, creating very fast Fiats and other small cars that won hundreds of races. One of these was the Fiat 500 Abarth. And Fiat circa 2012 has added this model to its US lineup. This one has a 4-cylinder cranking out 160 Italian ponies and 170 lb-ft of torque, compliments of a turbocharger, twin intercoolers and Fiat’s MultiAir variable camshaft system.
True to the Abarth name, this latest version has a well tweaked chassis, including a 0.6-inch lower ride height, a 40-percent increase in roll stiffness front and rear, an increase in front negative camber, the addition of a rear anti-roll bar, unique valving for the Koni shocks, and fat 195/45R16 tires on 16 x 6.5-inch aluminum wheels. Fiat offers an even more aggressive 17-inch wheel/tire package, featuring 7-inch wide rims and 205/40R17 Pirelli P Zero Nero radials, which were fitted to the Abarth model I sampled.
Not enough? Abarth models are also equipped with larger brakes up front, semi-metallic linings and pads, stiffer cast iron rear control arms, equal-length half shafts, and a 10-perent faster steering gear. And did I mention the rear diffuser provides 20 lb of downforce? Well I just did!
The surface streets around Los Angeles airport where I was introduced to the 500 Abarth are not conducive to maximizing the aggressive acceleration and cornering grip this topolino of a Fiat is capable of producing. A race track would have been far more appropriate. Abarth engineer, Dan Fry, describes all these performance enhancements as making the 500 “wicked fast.” He’s not the first to have used the word wicked. Carlo, himself, coined the phrase “small but wicked” to describe his legendary 500 Abarth’s completion of a 7-day, 7-night marathon, which covered 18,186 km at an average speed of 108 km/hr, breaking six international records back in 1958.
Fiat 500 Abarth racing 1965
Suffice to say that the 500 Abarth, on road or track, exhibits enough grip, stick, turning, stopping and acceleration to provide excellent bang for the buck . . . or lire. In fact, Fiat refers to the 500 Abarth as the most affordable high performance car in America.
Crank the engine and it comes to life with a roarty bark that results in wide grins all around. And Fiat managed to meet noise drive-by (this is LA, remember) decibel limits without the need for a muffler. The catalyst and the turbo are all that’s required to meet the regs. Of course, the regs don’t require a burst of wide-open acceleration. Your neighbors will have a hard time figuring out how something so small can sound so big. It’s all part of the Abarth driving experience. Call it the mouse that roared. I call it fun.
Front-wheel-drive cars stuffed to the gunnels with power have tendencies toward understeer and torque steer. The Abarth has cures for both of these maladies: equal-length half shafts, along with a high-tech active locking differential that’s tied into the new three-mode electronic stability control program. And while understeer is the overriding handling characteristic, Dan Fry has seen to it that the Abarth can be coaxed into either predictably tail happy or neutral behavior—tossable is probably a better description—as a function of lift throttle or a quick jab of the brake pedal.
Base price for this well equipped 2012 Abarth model is an even $22,000. The one I drove rolled out the door at $26,050, which included a $700 destination charge and several options, only one of which I would have paid for: the wider wheels and Pirellis for $1000.
Following the successful Mini formula, several other versions of the 500 will be rolled out. Included are a larger, 4-door, 5-seat (It will have a real back seat.), high roof version, a 500 EV and a crossover that will offer all-wheel drive. There’s already a double bubble Zagato version of the 500 in Europe that could also find a home over here. But if I were the product planner, I’d be aiming more in the direction of the original Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato double bubble sports car. That design is a real keeper.
Fiat Abarth 750 GT Zagato
1959 Abarth Zagato
Abarth Zagato
Abarth Zagato
2012 Fiat 500 Abarth
2012 Fiat 500 Abarth
2012 Fiat 500 Abarth
2010 Fiat 500 Abarth
Fiat 500 Abarth
Nuova Fiat 500 1957
Fiat 500 L (Lusso) 1968-1972
Fiat 500 Topolino--manufactured from 1936-1955. In 1955 the rear-wheel drive Fiat 600 was launched and became the design basis for the new Fiat 500, the Nuova 500. The Nuova 500 is often thought, mistakenly, to be the only model 500 Fiat.
Whenever I have a particularly vexing automotive market research issue, I typically turn to my long-time friend, George Peterson, of Auto Pacific for an answer. Such was the case recently after I spent a week in a 2012 Kia Rio SX GDI 5-door hatchback. (more…)
Not a company to pull punches, here is what BMW had to say about the second-generation X5 when it was launched last year:
“BMW will write the latest chapter in the story of the world’s first Sports Activity Vehicle®, the BMW X5. Originally launched for the 2000 model year in late 1999, the BMW X5 permanently changed the automotive landscape. It proved that the driving dynamics, responsiveness, and linear control signature to every BMW could be compatible with utility, versatility, and other-roads capability.”
This article was originally published on July 4, 2007 in my “In Gear” column for SouthCoast Auto Today
It could have been Rainier Blue, Verde Green or one of 17 other authentic paint colors that Buick used on its 1941 vehicles. But one handsomely restored ’41 Buick “woodie” station wagon that made its way through the west end of New Bedford last week is finished with a shade the automaker officially described that year as Royal Maroon.
Owned by Yarmouth Port’s Bill Bergstrom, a man who knows the palette of official Buick colors like most people know their children, this mammoth vehicle dubbed the Estate Wagon by Buick wears its spiffy maroon fenders as if they were pants that had just been put on for the first time.
Bill has meticulously restored the car to be as authentic as possible. That’s no small task considering that once you get past the front fenders, the remaining three quarters of the body is made of wood.
That’s right. They don’t call these wagons woodies because of a splash of wood on the dash or side panels. There’s fine northern white ash and laminated mahogany inside and out from the windshield to the tailgate. The entire roof is made of wooden slats running front to rear.
You would think a car like this hardly ever saw pavement or a chance of rain anymore. But Bill has a different mind set about what he wants to enjoy now about this Buick.
“I’ve got all my awards,” he said. “I’m just enjoying driving it now.”
A few dark thunder clouds that loomed nearby to the northwest that night did not send Bill scrambling for cover.
Bill spent 15 years restoring the car. Who’s to argue if he wants to drive it around a bit.
“It’s soon going to turn over 50,000 miles since I restored it,” he said.
Most classic Buick owners will tell you that their cars were made to be driven. Get one on the highway and it’ll go forever.
“I’ve driven it to California,” added Bill.
While traveling cross country may not seem like such a big deal to most of us anymore, there are not too many people who can say they’ve done it in a car like this. There were only 838 of these Buicks made and precious few are still in existence.
The classic woodie station wagon earned its name in two ways. The woodie part is obvious. But the station wagon part is a little more obscure.
According to Bill, the name came about because big wagons like these were the vehicle of choice to make passenger and luggage runs to the train station.
Later in the ’60s, when many of these wagons from the ’40s were nearly ready for the junkyard, surfers scooped them up because they were big enough to load in their surfboards.
If one finds a woodie these days that hasn’t already been restored, chances are it’ll need a lot of care. It’s the rare aficionado like Bill who’s willing to take on the task of bringing one back to its true glory.
“It was just a body and a frame,” explained Bill. “Now it’s just a matter of maintaining it.”
Lift the tailgate on his woodie and you’ll see two buckets. One has spare parts, the other has an assortment of body polishing products.
The 2011 Jeep Patriot may be no Wrangler, but it represents the direction the brand MUST take to stay relevant. For the consumer, it means a crossover that does many things well, especially for those who want versatility that will pay dividends in EVERYDAY driving, rather than those few moments on the Rubicon trail.
When the Patriot was introduced along size the Compass, it resulted in a collective groan from Jeep enthusiasts, watching the brand’s iron-strong off-road reputation being smelted right in front of them.
As hard as it was to hear for those who loved the unrivaled capabilities of the Wranglers and Cherokee’s of the world, Jeep needed the Patriot and Compass to survive. As the SUV craze turned into the crossover land grab, Jeep needed an entrant. It found two, actually, in the Patriot and Compass. These two 5-passenger crossovers that share more DNA with the Dodge Caliber hatchback then they do a Wrangler.
The major setbacks for the Patriot were not its off-road prowess (or lack thereof). Rather, its sub par interior and rough ride (especially for such a road-borne SUV) were its major hindrances. It was a common thread for almost all Chrysler products going into the recession and when the auto industry took a nosedive, people favored well-designed import brands like Kia, Hyundai, and Subaru. The Patriot and Compass were no different, and sales suffered as a result.
Since the bailout (and Fiat’s new ownership of the Chrysler brand) Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler models are quietly and quickly being improved, starting with the interior. The Patriot that we tested is no exception. The once clunky, and ill-fitting panels of the earlier Patriot have been replaced. This new cabin doesn’t blow it away from the competition, but finally puts it on an even playing field. (that competition includes the Kia Sportage and Subaru Forester). The layout of controls has not been changed, rather the fit, finish, and actual design of the new dash, instrument cluster, and center stack blend for a cabin that’s easy on the eyes, and an easy place in which to spend the daily commute.
Trims for the Patriot are the Base($15,995), Latitude ($19,695), and range-topping Latitude X ($22,195), which we drove. Complete with the $3,700 customer preferred package, that featured heated seats, a leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel, and a trip computer with compass and ambient temperature readouts within the gauge cluster. IPod-toting drivers should get a lot of use out of the standard audio input jack and the center-stack located 115-volt wall-style power outlet is great for anyone looking to charge a laptop on the road.
Our test model also featured the optional $650 Media Center 430- CD/DVD/MP3 player, complete with 30GB hard drive (which can store up to 6,700 songs), all operated via a 6.5-inch touchscreen display. Match that with the $375 Uconnect package, featuring Bluetooth, USB input jack, and 1-year Sirius subscription, and you have a crossover highly routed in real-world utility.
The rear pop-out flashlight is something of an easter egg, and will prove useful when camping or tailgating. I don’t suggest trekking to the Rubicon Trail to camp, though- that’s where the Patriot runs into trouble.
Base power for the Patriot is a 2.0-liter inline-4, making 158 horsepower, while the uprated Latitude gets a 2.4-liter inline-4 putting out 172 horsepower. That smaller engine will get you the better fuel economy, but you’ll be struggling to make it up to highway speed. If you want any semblance of power, go with the 2.4-liter.
The Patriot is available in both front and all wheel drive forms (Jeep calls it 4WD, but lets be serious, people). A FWD Patriot is a great choice if its space and fuel economy you’re after. If you live in an inclement region, one of the two all wheel drive models would be advised. To be precise, its two AWD-to-transmission combinations. Power is sent through either a 5-speed manual, and two continuously variable transmissions. The CVT II is an $1,100 option, while the CVT with off-road crawl ratio we tested is a $1,050 option. The latter setup gets the “Trail-Rated” accolade, and works simultaneously with the downhill descent control to bring some actual off-road chops to the Patriot.
For when Patriot meets an obstacle in the road or a seriously degraded dirt road, Off-Road Crawl Mode is engaged by putting the CVT into “Low”, and lifting up on the lever located at the bottom of the center console. It won’t turn the Patriot into a Wrangler Rubicon, but it WILL get the Patriot through some relatively rough terrain that some other road-going crossover drivers may have to think twice about. It is Trail Rated, but I would say just barely.
That moderate off-road prowess comes at a cost. The all wheel drive CVT Patriot gets 20 miles per gallon city, 23 miles, highway. That’s not very impressive. The best performer in terms of MPG’s is the base 2.0L with front wheel drive and the 5-speed manual gets 23 miles per gallon city, 29 highway. Nothing to write home about, but still, near 30 MPG’s is respectable.
So, its clear that the Patriot is not a rugged example of a long line of sold off-roading machines. Traditional Jeep? No, but the Patriot is, a capable everyday runabout that has what it takes to trudge through inclement road conditions. Fact is, those likely to look at the Patriot will never push it to the bounds of its soft-roading capabilities. Taking that into consideration may not ease the gripe of those diehard Jeep enthusiasts.
What should ease the pain is in knowing that the Patriot is a competent vehicle, and fully capable of selling well. The Patriot, and for that matter redesigned Compass, and Grand Cherokee (all vehicles that Jeep diehards would argue water down the brand) all must do well to ensure Wranglers will keep being built for decades to come.
There’s a new race track in town . . . okay, so it’s not exactly “in town.” But nobody gets permission to build a race track in town these days so let’s just say it’s freeway close. And just so we don’t get hung up on semantics, let’s say that this new track, Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (CVR), is located in Desert Center, California. For those of you not familiar with California or the desert, grab a map of the Southwest showing California and Arizona. Locate Los Angeles and Phoenix and draw a straight line between them. That line will be Interstate 10. Chuckwalla Valley Raceway is 175 miles from LA, 200 miles from Phoenix, 208 miles from San Diego and 230 miles from Las Vegas. This means it is centrally located in the middle of nowhere. Actually that’s not quite true. It’s about 25 miles east of Chiraco Summit and far enough away from any urban or suburban development to assure that it will not be crowded out by urban sprawl during at least the next 100 years. The 1100-acre raceway facility is located right next to a 4200-foot runway (5-23 for you pilots in the audience) with tie downs for 30 aircraft. So the Roger Penskes and the Rick Hendricks of the racing world have a place to land the smaller of their corporate aircraft. (more…)
The fact that Suzuki is hugely successful in every market around the world—except for this one—says much about the fickle nature of the American market and the need for mega dollars to cut through the advertising clutter but nothing about how good Suzuki’s current offerings, the SX4 Crossover/SportBack and the midsize Kizashi 4-door sedan, are at providing fun, functional and affordable motoring.
I won’t spend words on the Kizashi here. If you’ve followed my missives on WheelsTV.tv you know how much I like this new sporty Suzuki sedan.
The SX4, on the other hand, has been around longer—since 2007—and might be considered the Rodney Dangerfield of small cars. Raise your hand if you’ve seen one in the past month. Drop me a note if you’ve actually driven one. It’s almost as if Suzuki has gone into stealth mode in the US, not intentionally, but the result is that when you take the temperature of the typical car shopper, Suzuki typically falls close to absolute zero on the consideration list. (more…)
Hyundai has been selling cars in the US since 1986. And after a bit of a sputtering start, the last decade has seen years of steady growth for Hyundai in this market. Starting at a mere 0.6 percent market share in 1998, Hyundai reached 3.0 percent penetration in 2008 and in 2009, a year in which world-wide recession and plummeting auto sales affected virtually every auto maker in this market, Hyundai sales rocketed to a 4.2 percent share of market.
So what has Hyundai been doing right? Seems like just about everything: Quality products competitively priced. J.D. Power quality and North American Car of the Year Awards. Attention grabbing warranty programs. A job-loss vehicle return program. Depreciation lower than Toyota and Ford. High-tech powertrains. Industry-leading fuel economy. More standard features than the competition. Leadership in active and passive safety technologies. Oh, and did I mention styling? Say hello to the eye-stopping 2011 Hyundai Sonata.
Hard to believe but Ford’s midsize competitor to the likes of the Camry, Accord, Malibu, Altima and Sonata has been around since the 2006 model year. It first appeared in these pages in 2007, November 27th to be precise, in the guise of two 2008 SE models, one with a 4-cylinder and the other with a V6.
Spool ahead to 2010 and we’re got a substantially updated Fusion, one with revised front and rear styling, an even nicer interior and new powertrain offerings including the hybrid model reviewed here.
Ford’s continued evolution of its hybrid technology results in a hybrid system that transitions between gasoline and electric power and back more efficiently and seamlessly. The overall system upgrade allows the Ford Fusion and its Mercury Milan counterpart to operate longer at higher speeds in electric mode. The hybrid vehicles can operate up to 47 mph (I saw 43 mph) in pure electric mode, approximately twice as fast as some competitors. Plus, the city driving range on a single tank of gas is expected to be more than 700 miles. EPA ratings for the Ford Fusion Hybrid are 41-mpg city and 36-mpg highway, better than its Camry, Altima and Malibu hybrid counterparts. (more…)
