Mike, that's Made-in-Thailand for you

 

Not really for me. Although I'd prefer a Mirage to walking (I do my regular excercise-walking on a treadmill), it's still not a car that I'd care to own and drive very day. Reviewing it is one thing. A daily-driver is something else.

 

Would anyone pay a $4000 premium for a Fiat 500?

 

only if someone had a gun to my head.

 

Sells well in the D.C. area (but then, of course,almost everything sells relatively well around here). Nationally, though, I'd agree...not just price, but the Fiat name turns off some people. They still remember the Fix It Again Tony days of 30 years ago.

 

I'd say Fiat's quality(and everybody else's quality) is light years beyond the dark days of the 70's/80's. Besides that was a LONG time ago, a lot of people driving today were in diapers when old Fiats were on the road.

That being said, I lump Fiat into the same bin as BMW, Nissan, VW, Audi, Jaguar, Range Rover, ie its going to be reliable(or reliable enough) for the first 3-4 years of ownership, ie keep it until the warranty runs out and dump it. Its not a car I invest any confidence for holding up in the long term.

 

I think i'd rather have a 1996 Toyota Camry and save the cash for a better vehicle...

 

I totally agree. Almost everything today is more reliable than 30 years ago, I'm not the one that's claiming that Fiats are junk, though by today's standards they do rank low on Consumer Report's reliability scale. I reviewed a 500 when it first hit the American market a few years ago. Fiats are just different, that's all. They have a unique personality that many Americans are just not used to in this age of what are basically cookie-cutter appliance vehicles.

 

I think you can say that about Cadillac too. Way too many new and unreliable technologies on board.

 

The only technologies in new Cadillacs getting significant complaints are the CUE video-screen and the finger-slide sensor-controls for some stereo and climate functions. Lincoln, BTW, also made the same finger-slide error on some of its recent models, but at least partly reversed it on the MKC and new MKX.

(I myself agree with those complaints.....I'm a firm believer in rotary-*****).