You should have seen the smile on my face when the dealer brought out the loan car as I handed over the keys to my Punto, in for its first service and to look at a few small mass production Italian issues.
You should have seen the smile on my face as I drove out of the dealership.
You should have seen the smile on my face as I drove up the street, around the corner, down the road, and 2 hours later, arriving home, about an hour and a half after I was due home.
The 500 really put a smile on my dial. It isn't powerful, but it does accelerate quickly. The engine is smooth. So smooth that you don't notice how fast you are going. Not only that, but the engine induction howl, the mechanicals and the exhaust note all make me weak at the knees every time I pass the 5000 RPM line on the tacho, and take it to 6, with the rev limiter cutting in on the fun which I think would continue to 10,000RPM then explode.
Then you'd just go buy another one and do it again. The car is a hoot to drive. It's fun. It's sitting in my driveway right now, and if I wasn't waiting for a courier coming over and pick up some warranty jobs to send back to the manufacturer, I'd be in it right now. Though I have already driven in it from Parramatta to Revesby via Cronulla. If there was no courier booked, you'd be reading this a few days later.
What surprises me most, and this will sound cliché, is that the car has a lot of room. I have more head room in there than in my Punto. The seats have no height adjustment. But once you're use to the dials and the rather high seat making you feel as if you're on top of it rather than in it. You soon forget, and pretty much accept and appreciate the high seating position, the great view all around the car, the tinyness of it all that allows you to dart through traffic like, well.... a dart. :)
$20 fills up a half tank from nearly empty. I got it that way from the dealer, and it wasn't until I made it to Bankstown Airport when the warning came up saying "Fuel Too Low" and my range meter went to 0. I figured I won't push it, since I had to be somewhere at midday. The fuel light was already on when I got the car, and I did receive a low fuel warning when I started it at the workshop.
The dealer was even nice enough to waiver the loan car rental fee. BONUS! Great dealer. I'll be reviewing them soon, as I think they deserve it.
Lets get stuck into a review.
First thing I noticed is the above mentioned seat height. A little too high for my liking. It is something I am getting use to already, but it doesn't have an option to lower it. The headroom isn't affecting me in any way. I still have a good 5-6 inches of room left. So that's not a problem. But with this particular models sporty insignia, look and feel, I thought the interior would give me the same feeling I got when looking at it from the outside.
The dashboard is beautiful. A lot of small cars these days have really quirky dash designs in the vein hope of being 'moda'. A lot of the times you can tell they're trying so hard, they got tunnel vision and ruining the whole thing. Everything is set in the right spot. If I want to be ultra-anal I can say that the volume control on the dash was a little confusing "Was it the left button or the right button... I'll just use the steering wheel mounted buttons" My first guess made me change radio stations. I left my CD's in the Punto. :( Then I pressed the opposing button to go back to that station and decided I'll use the other buttons, they worked. But I kept using the steering wheel buttons while driving anyway. This isn't a big deal. I'm just being anal.
The gear lever is also mounted in that Honda Jazz position. It feels like you're about to punch the windscreen every time you change to 1st, 3rd or 5th. 2nd, 4th and 6th are fine. And the gearbox is as slick as butter on Jessica Alba's backside, without the sizzle. Gear changes are positive in the first three gears. 4th feels vague, 5th and 6th are very vague. As if added on later in production. The gear level feels great in the lower gears, good, positive feel. "It's in gear" with a reassuring notch. Into 5th, hmm, rubber bands? Into 6th, bucket of smashed bricks. Shame really.
But I didn't get out of 4th that often to worry about it too much. And as much as I thrashed the little Bambino, the fuel economy baulked at me by displaying the highest I could achieve 7.7L/100kms. Impressive. A figure I can overcome in my turbo diesel Punto. So, not bad for a petrol engine. Though I probably have twice as much pulling power. A premium I happily pay to know I can accelerate as quick as a WRX off the line with a car worth half as much and no Subaru boy stigma attached, minus the insurance premium thrashing.
The foot well was large enough for my 'petite' feet. The pedals were spaced out well enough not to cause any emergency emergency scenarios (not a typo).
The instrument cluster was neat, better looking than a Mini's and told me what I needed to know. Took me 5 minutes to get use to the rev counter and the speedo in the same dial. But unlike my Punto's almost sticker like decal paint job instrument panel. The 500's dials look like they were actually manufactured, not sprayed on after the thing was assembled. The difference is very noticeable.
There is no glove box. That's taken up big an air bag. Which I counted 6 of. The dash is actually just a storage slot below the passenger air bag. Unlike the Punto, the cup holders in the 500 actually make sense, and as a bonus are useful. They can fit a regular 600ml water bottle and don't hit anything like the air con buttons or get in the way of shifting gears.
I personally don't have food or drink in the car, but on hot days I usually have a bottle of water when I'm driving to clients offices. The cup holder would be great in the Punto, if it were half as good as the ones in the 500. Well done on that one.
Once I had my seat in the right position, I looked back to notice that you could get someone about 5ft 6inches or shorter in the back, they could wedge themselves in there and be comfy on a short journey. That's not to say it was roomy. But if you look at the cars dimensions, you'd be surprised that there is even that much room at all in the back. Especially when the wheelbase is more akin to my mountain bicycle than an automobile.
This being the sportier model, the handling was brilliant. It had a bit of body roll but when I went around a corner, I didn't feel as though I was going to tip over. The ride was a little more harsh than I'm use to. With the stiffer springs, lower profile tyres on bigger rims. It all added up to a bumpier ride.
One thing that popped up on a few roads in Sydney was that I felt the front compression dampening was a little too hard and wasn't well matched for the rebound dampening or the car's lack of weight for that matter. Going over some ripples in the road made the front end judder and feel as if I was aquaplaning. It wasn't dangerous and I wouldn't expect your average driver to pick up on it. I would assume this car is aimed at two types of drivers. Eccentric enthusiasts and daddy's girls. The latter might wrap it around a pole. The former might find it interesting, tug on the wheel, tug on the handbrake and start a 4 wheel drift. It's not out of control, but it's there. The rear suspension on the other hand was fantastic.
Getting back to the engine. It is smooth. It sounds better the more you rev it. It just wants more. Like all good Italian cars, it gives you more as it asks for more. You keep feeding it. Then the rev limiter comes in, like your mum breaking up your birthday party just as you're about to pash the hot chick. Then you wake up.
The good part about the 500 is, you change gear and get to do that again. No mums pestering you out of that dream.
The engine doesn't lack any grunt at all. It does feel slow in comparison to my turbo diesel. But that's not really a fair comparison. The petrol engine needs a good rev, though nothing hinders you while driving around town at everyone else's pace. There is enough power there to satisfy the boy racer in you. You just have to remember that it's Italian, and works best on the boil. And you are rewarded with ample acceleration, plenty of noise without attracting any attention from the fuzz, and keeping your hip pocket full, both with lack of fines and great fuel economy.
What a fantastic, fun car to drive.
I pulled up in my drive way 2 hours after picking up the car. The dream was over. And here I am wasting a beautiful day sitting indoors waiting for a courier to arrive. I won't have the ability to drive the 500 until I have to return it to the dealer this afternoon and pick up my Punto with fresh oils and bits.
At least I'll have my torque back. Though I will miss the looks I got from the opposite sex. First it was "Whoa, cute." Then it was "Err, you drive that?" then "Now there's a man who doesn't have a small pinky". Then they smile at you. False economy. It's the car, not you!
pips
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