Fiat 500 - A tuition vehicle review

After teaching in two Fiat 500s for almost a decade, I feel like I'm in a unique position to review it as a learner driver vehicle.  Earlier in July I had to say goodbye to my beloved Roxy, my beautiful electric blue, 1.2 litre sports edition baby.  The reason for switching to a younger model was mostly a selfish one.  I need to preserve my spinal column for another few decades of spending large portions of my life inside a cramped space.  Something a little more mundane, soft on the backside and practical was needed.  The Renault Captur ticks those boxes.

How good is the Fiat 500?

I can't fault it really.  I don't think I once had a student say anything negative about the car.  Quite a few, after passing, went onto buying one.  When Roxy was sold to We Buy Any Car, she departed with an incredible track record of not having a single fail in over 2 years!  The pass rate in the UK is under 45% currently.

The reason for everyone loving it isn't just based on how it looks.  Which is obviously sublime.  From the first moment learners get in and experience that slightly upright seating position, it installs confidence as they can see clearly.  Any vehicle with a low seating position and high door frames feels slightly claustrophobic and reduces visibility.  The simple yet elegant styling and clever layout of the controls also makes it a winner.

Best features for learners

• Easy to drive.
• A digital display for how fast their going. It's much easier to read and tends to be more accurate. 
• Great seating position.
• Amazing visibility around the car.
• Manouevres are super easy in this vehicle.
• Gear stick is really close to the wheel for minimal hand movements.
• Seat and steering wheel can be adjusted in all sorts of ways to suit all sizes (I've had students under 5 feet tall and some enourmous 6 foot plus rugby types).
• All mod cons like ABS, power steering, Air Con etc.
• Cheap to run, insure and tax.
• Built in touch screen sat nav (not all models have this).
  

The negatives

Dealerships.  Fiat in Bristol were unbelievably bad at sorting and fixing any issue that ever popped up.  They were so bad that they've actually been closed down.  Other local garages might be a better option if you buy one if you need anything fixed.

My first Fait 500 was the 0.9 litre Twin Air.  Supposedly the greenest petrol engine ever put into production.  The MPG figures were astonishing.  So much so that no one was ever able to get anything close to the official numbers Fiat claimed.  The other problem with this car was it's speed.  It's so fast.  Too fast for learners.  I spent the vast majority of my day repeating myself "slow down, slow down, slow down..."  over and over.  Thankfully it does have a speed beep in the menu to alert the driver when they've reached a certain speed. 

Oil for the Twin Air was also a negative.  More expensive than premium, top of the range BMW engine oil I was once told. 

In almost ten years I went through a few clutches, hand brake wires and brake discs.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  The electrics all held up in Roxy, but the Twin Air did seem to lose an eye brow raising amount of day time running bulbs.  Something I've noticed seems to be a common fault with the slightly older models.

My 66 plate S edition had to have it' touch screen media centre replaced under warranty after a year or so of having her, but that's the only issue it ever had.  Not being able to update it's built in TomTom sat nav is a complete joke.  However, it is the exact same model used by the DVSA on students driving tests, so that must be nice for them come test day.

Overall

I've used quite a few cars over the years for teaching and the Fiat 500 will be at the top of the favourite list for quite some time.  It's combination of style, cost and drivability for learners is amazing.  It's no wonder over 2 million have been sold since 2007 and the new electric version looks set to be an even bigger success.  Perhaps I'll switch back for my first electric car in 5 years time..?