Searching for a Fiat 500 manual/stick 'Plague' car (1 Viewer)

[Francois Caron]

I'm still looking for a "plague" car, and I might be close to my goal: a yellow 2016 Fiat 500 Sport Turbo with 27,158 km (16,875 mi). Asking price is $12,700 CAD ($9,070 USD).

I think I can get the price down considerably. The car has been on the lot for over three months, and it's a FIAT! "Fix It Again Tony!" This car has already lost more than half its original retail sticker price, and the 2013 versions are already selling for less than half the price of this one!

But it's definitely a car that I like a lot. I've rented it before, and I've always found it to be the most fun to drive.

The biggest challenge is finding out if I can drive a manual on a regular basis. I only have two hours of total experience! But one of those hours was during a driving course so I can find out if I could handle it. The instructor told me I'd be fine.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'm still looking for a "plague" car, and I might be close to my goal: a yellow 2016 Fiat 500 Sport Turbo with 27,158 km (16,875 mi). Asking price is $12,700 CAD ($9,070 USD).

I think I can get the price down considerably. The car has been on the lot for over three months, and it's a FIAT! "Fix It Again Tony!" This car has already lost more than half its original retail sticker price, and the 2013 versions are already selling for less than half the price of this one!

But it's definitely a car that I like a lot. I've rented it before, and I've always found it to be the most fun to drive.

The biggest challenge is finding out if I can drive a manual on a regular basis. I only have two hours of total experience! But one of those hours was during a driving course so I can find out if I could handle it. The instructor told me I'd be fine.

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FYI, a close friend of ours had a Fiat 500 (can't remember which year), and ended up getting rid of it a year or two ago after only a couple of years of ownership. It spent more time in the shop than in his driveway.

 

[Mike2001]

My wife bought a Mini Cooper back when they were new. She bought a stick at my urging, even though she hadn’t driven sticks before. It took her about a week to get comfortable.

 

[Francois Caron]

FYI, a close friend of ours had a Fiat 500 (can't remember which year), and ended up getting rid of it a year or two ago after only a couple of years of ownership. It spent more time in the shop than in his driveway.

It's important to know how many miles it had. After 50,000, it will start to do wonky things. For example, the bearings will start to fail. Yeah. At HALF its expected lifespan!

This won't become a daily drive. It'll be a weekender and occasional long trip car just so I can get out of town and visit places that are inaccessible via public transit. In Ottawa, that's a heck of a lot of places!

When it does break down, I'll work out how to fix it, then take it to a DIY garage that started up just recently. I've always wanted to work on a vehicle, but never had the facilities or the tools to do it. This place has tools and hoists! I can easily do my own oil changes.

It'll be an interesting experience owning my first car.

 

[Francois Caron]

My wife bought a Mini Cooper back when they were new. She bought a stick at my urging, even though she hadn’t driven sticks before. It took her about a week to get comfortable.

It's the one thing I haven't done consistently in my driving history. I've rented a lot of cars over the years, and I've become pretty adept at driving a vehicle I've never driven before and picking up quickly on how it behaves. Subcompacts, minivans, Jeep Sahara... But they were all automatics because that's all the rental places will carry.

If you value your life, don't ever drive a Kia. Trust me on this.

My dad had a brown (later rust) manual Toyota Corolla during the late Seventies and early Eighties. I was always fascinated by how effortless he made it look driving a stick. It now makes me wish I had learned how to drive on that car instead of the Dodge Dart Swinger with the automatic transmission and the unstable steering.

I want to go with a stick now because it might not be long before they all disappear, replaced with automatics or CVT transmissions.

 

[John Dirk]

The biggest challenge is finding out if I can drive a manual on a regular basis. I only have two hours of total experience! But one of those hours was during a driving course so I can find out if I could handle it. The instructor told me I'd be fine.

I remember the good old days when you could rent a stick and use it to learn. Rental companies finally got wise to it.

 

[Malcolm R]

I never drove a stick until I bought my second car. Learned on automatics and my first vehicle was auto. Took a bit of getting used to, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Drove three stick vehicles in a row before switching back to auto.

The biggest challenge is starting from a stop, to figure out the sweet spot between over-revving the engine and stalling.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It's important to know how many miles it had. After 50,000, it will start to do wonky things. For example, the bearings will start to fail. Yeah. At HALF its expected lifespan!

This won't become a daily drive. It'll be a weekender and occasional long trip car just so I can get out of town and visit places that are inaccessible via public transit. In Ottawa, that's a heck of a lot of places!

When it does break down, I'll work out how to fix it, then take it to a DIY garage that started up just recently. I've always wanted to work on a vehicle, but never had the facilities or the tools to do it. This place has tools and hoists! I can easily do my own oil changes.

It'll be an interesting experience owning my first car.

He didn't have the car more than two years, so there's no way he had anywhere near 50,000 miles on it. I was surprised that he got rid of it, but didn't know about all the mechanical failures until we met him and his wife for dinner one night. As we were leaving, he was getting into a tiny Honda. I asked him where his Fiat was, and he told me about the issues. His wife wasn't happy about the financial bath they took to get rid of it.

It's your money, but it seems an odd choice to pick a vehicle you know is going to give you problems. But, I remember my first car -- a used '73 Plymouth Duster (the Plymouth version of Al Bundy's car, even in the same red color with the black vinyl roof). There were several evenings where my dad and I were required to fix the car so I could get to college the next morning. I should have been studying when I was instead fixing my car. After that experience, and a bout with an '85 Chrysler Laser that was a piece of crap,reliability is a primary concern for any vehicle I purchase.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I never drove a stick until I bought my second car. Learned on automatics and my first vehicle was auto. Took a bit of getting used to, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Drove three stick vehicles in a row before switching back to auto.

The biggest challenge is starting from a stop, to figure out the sweet spot between over-revving the engine and stalling.

My wife taught me how to drive stick in her Mitsubishi Eclipse when we were dating. I would have to say the biggest challenge is starting from a stop on a steep hill when some jerk is pulled right up on your bumper.

 

[Nigel P]

I always wondered why manual is the norm over here with automatic being extremely rare and yet over there you all tend to drive automatics with stick shift being the rarity. I have only ever driven an automatic car twice in my life and that was a hire car for work.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I always wondered why manual is the norm over here with automatic being extremely rare and yet over there you all tend to drive automatics with stick shift being the rarity. I have only ever driven an automatic car twice in my life and that was a hire car for work.

Just lazy ass Americans. That's all it is. (I'm American so I can say that, right? )

I'm saying that in jest, but I believe that it is a convenience factor, particularly for those who primarily use their cars for commuting. Just one less thing to deal with during that painful slog to and from work.

- Walter.

 

[DaveF]

I'm still looking for a "plague" car, and I might be close to my goal: a yellow 2016 Fiat 500 Sport Turbo with 27,158 km (16,875 mi). Asking price is $12,700 CAD ($9,070 USD).

I think I can get the price down considerably. The car has been on the lot for over three months, and it's a FIAT! "Fix It Again Tony!" This car has already lost more than half its original retail sticker price, and the 2013 versions are already selling for less than half the price of this one!

But it's definitely a car that I like a lot. I've rented it before, and I've always found it to be the most fun to drive.

The biggest challenge is finding out if I can drive a manual on a regular basis. I only have two hours of total experience! But one of those hours was during a driving course so I can find out if I could handle it. The instructor told me I'd be fine.

A friend had the Fiat 500 Abarth for a couple years. It came with a track-course training package. He really liked it. His wife got a standard 500 a year later. They sold them when they moved cross country last year. My one regret is I never got a chance to take a ride with him in his Abarth. Ah well.

 

[jayembee]

Just lazy ass Americans. That's all it is. (I'm American so I can say that, right? )

I'm saying that in jest, but I believe that it is a convenience factor, particularly for those who primarily use their cars for commuting. Just one less thing to deal with during that painful slog to and from work.

- Walter.

I've gone back and forth between stick and auto over the course of my life. I've mostly had used cars, so whatever I could get for a decent price was what I went for. I adapt pretty easily and quickly from one to the other. My wife has preferred sticks all her life. But about five years ago, we found ourselves in a situation where we need a new car stat, and what we could get for what we could afford was an automatic, and my wife lived with it. We've bought three cars since then, and all have been automatics off the lot.

We laugh because back in the day, when automatics weren't prevalent, stick-shifts were referred to as "standard". These days, it's almost impossible to find a stick-shift on a car dealer's lot. It's no longer "standard". If you want a stick-shift, you have to special-order it from the dealer.

I'm sure it's a synergistic thing. The more people who want automatics, the few sticks are sold, which make the dealers less inclined to have a lot of inventory of sticks on the lot. Which makes more people buy automatics if they can't or don't want to wait for a special order. And around and around.

 

[Mysto]

A friend had the Fiat 500 Abarth for a couple years. It came with a track-course training package. He really liked it. His wife got a standard 500 a year later. They sold them when they moved cross country last year. My one regret is I never got a chance to take a ride with him in his Abarth. Ah well.

An Abarth is to a Fiat like a Shelby is to a Ford. The Abarth was a sweet machine.

I wish everyone in America was required to buy a stick. It would stop a lot of accidents. Hard to text when you're down shifting.

 

[TJPC]

I have never really understand why stick shift cars still exist at all. Automatic cars are an invention which have obvious benefits. It’s like saying “no, I’m going to continue to go down to the stream and wash my clothes on a rock. No of that new fan dangled washing machines for me!”

 

[Carlo_M]

Grew up driving stick. My current car is my first automatic. Given how LA freeways have become parking lots (pre-covid) it was an easy decision. No one likes playing the N, 1, 2, back to neutral game for an hour. At least my car has paddle shifters though so when I need to override the AI gearing decision, I can.

 

[jayembee]

I have never really understand why stick shift cars still exist at all. Automatic cars are an invention which have obvious benefits. It’s like saying “no, I’m going to continue to go down to the stream and wash my clothes on a rock. No of that new fan dangled washing machines for me!”

People who prefer driving stick feel that they have better control over engine performance than relying on what the car thinks is a good time to change gears. My wife, who as I said, prefers stick, admits that automatics are better at that these days than they use to be. But still, there have been times driving our last few cars when I feel that the car waits longer than I would to shift, and that bugs me.

All things being equal, I'd rather drive a stick. But in my experience things aren't often equal. I was talking about this little sidebar discussion to my wife, and mentioned what I said about having to special-order stick from the dealer. She mentioned that in the last car with stick she bought (before we got together, but she was still driving for quite a while after), she had to special-order it, and it took three months to get it. Most people would not be willing to wait that long, I think.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I think this thread has been side-tracked as "stick vs. auto" will make an interesting thread to itself. If you like I can move those posts and established such a thread to continue this discussion? Let me know!

 

[TonyD]

I think this thread has been side-tracked as "stick vs. auto" will make an interesting thread to itself. If you like I can move those posts and established such a thread to continue this discussion? Let me know!

I was just thinking this too.

 

[Malcolm R]

Grew up driving stick. My current car is my first automatic. Given how LA freeways have become parking lots (pre-covid) it was an easy decision. No one likes playing the N, 1, 2, back to neutral game for an hour. At least my car has paddle shifters though so when I need to override the AI gearing decision, I can.

That was a big reason I made a switch, when I moved to a more urban area and found myself driving more in the city than highway. Way too much shifting with stop-and-go traffic, crosswalks, and many traffic lights.