Candy was thrilled to get her car earlier than expected, since I got home on Saturday night instead of Sunday. (Sure, she claimed that she was happy to see me but I know the truth.) We waited until daylight to take this picture and you can still see that “FIAT Grin.”
I had been calling her frequently during my drive, updating her on cool stuff that I discovered, including:
Blue & Me hooked up to my Android phone via Bluetooth, letting me dial the phone and talk to Candy without taking my hands off the steering wheel. I needed only touch one button with my left thumb and say, “Call Candy Zemon.” The car would inquire, “Call Candy Zemon on cell?” I would respond, “Yes” and my phone would then dial. As I chatted merrily with no else in the car, I hearkened back to my early days wearing a Bluetooth headset for my phone, when I would have conversations with thin air as I walked across parking lots. Blue & Me works with Candy’s Palm Pre, too.
The beautiful pairing of the MultiAir 1.4L engine with the six speed automatic transmission provided plenty of power up through (and past) 90 MPH, even when climbing steep grades in the Rocky Mountains east of Salt Lake City. Since this is Candy’s car, we got it with the automatic transmission instead of the manual. I had worried that the automatic would destroy much of the car’s spunkiness but I was wrong. The FIAT 500 is every bit as zippy and fun to drive with the automatic as with the stick.
This MultiAir engine, by the way, controls power by managing the amount that the intake valves open and not with a throttle plate. FIAT claims that this improves both power and fuel economy by about 10%. I think it is magic to have an engine without cam shafts in which the valve timing and the amount that the valves open can both be varied under computer control.
Pressing the “Sport” button on the dash turns the FIAT 500 into a whole different car. The automatic transmission upshifts at the merest hint of pressure on the throttle pedal, the steering stiffens, and the suspension firms up. Sport mode would be perfect for cranking through twisty roads or an autocross but it was not right for an interstate road trip so I left it off most of the time.
The car felt rock solid and steady even at highway speeds and with strong, gusty winds (38 MPH gusting 46 MPH in North Platte, NE, for example). Most of the time, the wind did not even make the car shift around on the road. Occasionally, I could feel the car rock a bit but I never had to make those nervous steering corrections that I expected would be required.
If the windshield wipers are on and you shift into reverse, the FIAT 500 automatically activates the rear wiper when you take your foot off the gas.
Using the menu system on the dashboard, I was able to turn on the daytime running lights any time the car is started. Europeans and Canadians have had this feature for years and it has proven to improve safety. I have always been surprised that all American cars don’t have this feature.
Switching from my MGB to my Miata gave me all of the fun with the ease-of-use and reliability that I had come to expect from modern cars. The FIAT 500 keeps the fun (it drives almost exactly like the Miata) while adding the convenience of an automatic transmission and the electronic doo-dads of the 21st century.
