The Fiat 500 is a car that may look small from the outside, but it's actually a quite spacious cabin on the inside. When you sit behind the wheel, you won't feel tiny - there's plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy your drive. The only thing you might notice is that with a non-telescoping wheel, you'll find yourself sitting a little too close to the pedals or reaching for the steering wheel.

The Fiat 500 comes equipped with a powerful 1.4-liter multi-air turbo engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission. However, if you opt for the six-speed automatic transmission, you'll be giving up three horsepower but gaining 13 foot-pounds of torque. On paper, this might seem like a lackluster power figure, but when you consider that the car weighs in at just over 2500 pounds, it's actually quite respectable.

The Fiat 500 is designed for back roads and twisty turns - it's meant to be taken on these types of routes with confidence. The sport button unleashes all 160 horsepower, stiffens the steering, tightens the throttle response, and adjusts the shift schedule on the auto transmission. While this car won't put down the best lap times, it will take you through tight turns like a pro. Power comes in strong in the mid-range, but you'll need to give it some time to get there - turbo lag is very exaggerated, even off-putting to some.

One thing to note is that the Fiat 500 struggles with downshifting at higher RPMs, especially when driving downhill or on a steep incline. But if you keep the power band and avoid downshifting too aggressively, you'll be rewarded with plenty of boost. The steering can feel a bit on-center play, but on roads like this, it generally feels confident and secure.

However, turn in can sometimes feel a bit loose - that being said, the car tends to pull itself out of turns without drama. When hitting the brakes, you'll notice the back end gets a little squirrely if you brake too hard or aggressively. So, definitely break early and avoid over-braking.

One thing to note is that this is a manual transmission review, as the author mentions in the comments section - it was a daily driver in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Chicago for three years before they made their way out to the mountains for back roads like this one. The auto transmission is pretty solid, with shifts that are a little slow but programming on point. Heavy braking leads to preemptive downshifts and holding gears for you to accelerate out of a turn.

The Fiat 500's low curb weight allows you to break hard and easily, but the real bite is lower in the pedal - it just wants you to work for it. One thing that might be expected is great gas mileage, given the car's small size, but unfortunately, that's not the case with the auto transmission. You're looking at 24 City and 32 Highway miles per gallon.

The Fiat 500 is an interesting contrarian - in the U.S., there doesn't seem to be much room for a small Runabout car like this one. As a result, production unfortunately stopped in 2019. However, if you're looking for one of these cars, you might be surprised at how affordable they are on the used market.

Finally, when it comes to safety, the Fiat 500 is old school - there's no driver assistance tech here. You'll get a standard seven airbags, including a front side curtain and knee airbag, but remember to keep your eyes on the road like they did in the good old days. For those who are wondering why someone would own one of these cars, it's because sometimes more performance doesn't mean more fun - this car is an absolute riot, and for the price, you'd be hard-pressed to find a car that brings as many smiles per mile.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign let me out of the editing Bay today to bring you this this is the 2018 Fiat 500 abart and now you might be asking yourself what's a spunky Little Town Car doing out here in the land of Subarus and forerunners or why I'm reviewing a four-year-old car well while Colorado is home to some of the most rugged and beautiful terrain it also happens to have some of the best canyon roads and that's what I think this car is designed for this also happens to be my car and my home but before we get ahead of ourselves let's see what makes this car deserving of the Scorpion badge while the Fiat 500 in America is no more its long-standing Heritage remains strong from across the pond but what the heck is an Abarth or uh abart or a Barto as our Italian friends call it well that's fiat's in-house tuning division like what AMG is to Mercedes let's quickly talk about what separates the regular Fiat 500 from the obarts version you get the same four-cylinder engine but this one's been turbocharged bringing your total output from 100 horsepower all the way up to 160. you'll notice a scorpion batch up front that is significant of Carlo Albert's astrological sign standard from the factory you'll get 16 inch lightweight alloy wheels though this one is equipped with the optional 17s both of those come with red calipers you'll notice the Albert sits a little bit lower than the standard 500 about a half an inch and in the front you're riding on Mcpherson front strut setup and in the rear you're looking at a solid twist beam axle continuing in the looks Department you get a more aggressive front fascia with functional venting for the two intercoolers lower rockers on the sides a diffuser in the rear sporting dual exhaust and a spoiler all standard optional extras include a power sunroof this Perla tri-coat paint black house headlights and taillights the previously mentioned 17-inch forged alloy wheels that come equipped with P0 Nero three season tires and an appearance package which includes the contrasting gray roof mirror caps and stripe side real quick um the Fiat did a lot of things right in here there's a two-tone paint matched Dash piece this would match whatever your exterior color is that it just really breaks up the interior I think gives it a really nice flare the circular theme is carried throughout the cabin really giving you a lot of character I think that for a base price of just over twenty thousand dollars they did a lot in here I think they did a really nice job you get a nice digital gauge cluster this gives you all the information you could possibly need including you know your trip information tire pressures and my favorite is the sport sport accelerometer which shows you just how hard you're you're throwing your little car through corners you get a very nice steering wheel with a flat bottom it's quite chunky though so just keep that in mind if you have small hands this might be a little bit large I say that and I understand this is a very small car but it is quite a chunky steering wheel even for a uh even for a normal sized car over here you'll notice these optional leather seat eats with some red stitching pretty tasteful not too overdone bolstering could definitely be a bit better these have a hard time holding you in place when you're you know going around turns build quality is all right elements of the car feel better than others you'll notice a bit of creaky Plastics some kind of mismatched materials but overall I mean it feels like it's not going to fall apart it's just maybe not very luxurious some you know some scratchy Plastics here and here the door card is probably where you'll notice it the most it's basically one giant piece of plastic and these door handles feel like they're Fisher-Price toy one thing quick to note is that the stock infotainment system lacks any real modern smartphone connectivity it has Bluetooth audio but it lacks a car play or Android auto so this one has been swapped out for an aftermarket radio to bring the tech up to date but just know to that if you get this car that won't be what you will be getting foreign back here let's look at this comically small back seat this was not meant for adults I'm actually not even really sure why they included it it's probably just more of a shelf to put groceries um maybe a child could get comfortable back here but I mean you're looking at literally four inches of space it's there's not much and sitting behind myself there literally is no room I'm just jammed into the front seat um to put an adult back here you definitely have to give up some leg room up front with that being said you know you do get the same red stitching back here you do get some uh little uh headrests they had basically just touches the ceiling um and hey you get cup holders so like there's that I'll quickly note that I've had four adults in this car before and none of us were happy rear trunk space is tiny as to be expected but the real problem here lies with the slope of the back hatch anything with any height will get caught up at the top of the cargo area with that said folding the seats down can give ample space for a weekend camping trip getting this thing out on the road the first thing you'll notice is the exhaust it's infectious straight pipe from the factory it gives you the sense you're driving something with a lot more power the second thing you'll notice is the driving position you sit up quite high it's a very italian-like driving position and you know that might be bothersome to some people but for me I you know I just don't mind it I think it sort of adds to the playful-like demeanor of this car you know it makes it feel even more go-karty you get plenty of head hip and leg room to stretch out a bit I've driven cars like the Smart car or the Miata this car does not feel like that you know from the outside it looks tiny but you get quite a bit of cabin room here to stretch out not a big issue there the only thing I will note is with a non-telescoping wheel you'll find yourself sitting a little too close to the pedals or reaching a bit too far for the steering wheel power is transmitted via a 1.4 liter multi-air turbo engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission opt for the six-speed Auto and you're looking at a drop of about three horsepower but adding 13 foot-pounds of torque while the small power figures look lackluster on paper this car weighs in at just over 2500 pounds giving you a decent power to weight ratio so I brought you to Golden Colorado to show you what I think this car was designed for back roads and it's a part of your startup procedure you'll be hitting this sport button every single time that'll unleash all 160 horsepower it will also tighten your throttle response it will stiffen your steering and adjust your shift schedule on the auto there is no fooling anybody this car will not put down the best lap times but what it will do is take you tight twisty roads like this with a smile the entire time power comes in strong in the mid-range but you'll have to give it some time to get there turbo lag is very exaggerated even off-putting to some I will note that here in Colorado at a mile above sea level this leg is accentuated even more miss a downshift and you'll find yourself getting a little bogged down in the lower RPMs but keeping the power band and you'll be rewarded with plenty of boost you'll notice some on-center play in the steering but on roads like this it generally feels pretty confident where you'll lose some of that confidence is at higher speeds when this short wheelbase becomes more apparent that being said turn in feels strong and even though the Body Rolls a bit this car tends to feel like it can pull itself out of just about any turn without too much drama hit the brakes a bit too hard though and you'll notice the back end gets a little squirrely so definitely break early speaking of breaks this car's low curb weight allows you to break heavy and hard but you'll find that the real bite is lower in the pedal Fiat just wants you to work for it now let's address the elephant in the room this is the auto and before the comment section explodes let me explain that this was a daily driver in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Chicago for three years before I made my way out to the mountains out here in the back roads the manual would definitely be the way to go but here we are with that out of the way I will note that the auto is pretty solid shifts are a little slow but the programming is on point heavy braking leads to preemptive downshifts and hug a tight Corner in your trusty computer co-pilot will hold gears for you to accelerate out of a turn in addition the manual mode here works well holding gears for as long as you want the abart will bounce off the rev limiter before nannying all this talk of drivetrain has me thinking being so small this car must get great gas mileage right well not really with the auto you're looking at 24 City and 32 Highway and I can tell you from experience that you'll struggle to get 32 if you're doing anything over 65 on the highway throw in a headwind and that becomes even more apparent unfortunately our ideology of what a car should be here in the U.S doesn't leave much room for a small Runabout car like the Fiat 500 thus production unfortunately stopped in 2019. with that being said if you march to the beat of Your Own Drum and you want a Fiat 500 check the link in the description to see how much you can get one for in the used Market you might be surprised about how affordable these things are when talking about a vehicle this size naturally safety comes to mind this car is old school when it comes to driver safety features you'll get a standard seven airbags including a front side curtain and knee airbag however there is no driver assistance Tech here so remember to keep your eyes on the road like they did in the olden days ugh boring so you may be asking yourself with all of the shortcomings why do I own one of these cars well this car is a constant reminder that sometimes more performance doesn't exclusively mean more fun this car is an absolute riot and for the price I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a car that brings as many Smiles per mile so if you're looking for a car that doesn't take itself too seriously and you're willing to do the same for yourself check out the Fiat 500 top art\n"