I never expected the new Fiat to match the verve of the Italian cars of old as we are saddled with WAY too many newer regulations and safety add-ons, but from what I've seen from a quick test drive it has more soul than the Mini or the 2.
I too think that most of the 500's faults can be …
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The Cinquecento has been in Europe for some time, but it only recently made its way to the U.S. Thank the auto bailouts that resulted in Chrysler being absorbed by Fiat, giving the Italian carmaker access to a dealer network in the U.S. Under its adorable skin it's fairly standard compact-car stuff: a small four-cylinder engine, strut suspension in front and a twist beam under the rear.
The Sport trim gets revised springs and shocks, and ours came with a navigation system, too. We've been waiting oh so long for a manual-transmission model of this hip little thing to come our way, and we finally got it.