I bought a new manual Pop in 2012 and loved it. Lightweight, efficient, and great looking. It served us very well with exactly zero issues in 80k miles. A good friend of mine bought it from us and still drives it today. I would've kept it if I still had to commute.
Like another poster, I cross-shopped the Mazda2. The 2 was fun as well, but didn't get cruise until you got into a higher model. That drove the price $1500+ higher than that of the base Fiat. The Fiat also had standard rear discs, bluetooth, and some other features that cared about at the time so that's the direction I went. The 500 was better-equipped for the money.
As for the rental comments: I can't imagine driving one with an automatic, so I probably would've hated that too.
I had a Turbo model and rented a plain automatic through Turo. Mine had no issues in the time I owned it. I was actually very impressed with the Turo one. For a used car, maintained by an individual and rented out, it was still in good shape and drove really well. The A/C was amazing. I had forgotten how quickly it cooled that little car down in Texas in July.
I'll second the statements about making sure he fits. The drivers seat for the early models sat really tall. I think they lowered the seat a bit after the first two years or so that supposedly made a difference. I've never driven one with the new seat. At 5'10", I came close to scraping my head on the ceiling. Then again, I generally sit more upright when driving as opposed to a more laid back style.
Dealership support seemed to be the most lacking. I'd make sure there were independent shops around that can work on it.
-Rob
Is "Fix IT Again Tony" still true?
For ya'll complaining about the size of the 500 the original Cinquecento you see around Italy is smaller and apparently holds more people from what I saw...
