Euro-Chic or Euro-Chick

It has become a pretty consistent debate since the introduction of the Fiat 500, by Chrysler in Canada, as to whether or not it can be considered Euro-chic or Euro-chick.  I have actually found making this decision a bit of a struggle, as I see more and more of these little Euro cars spotted all over the city here they catch my eye.  Maybe it is their bug eyed head lights, or slight chrome grin, but more likely it is the fact that most of the people who drive these cars seem to struggle to parallel park them - Shocking.

Who are the people I see in these cars though you ask?  Well basically a wide variety of people, but typically it is either young professional looking types or middle aged women, strange group.  I guess it kind of makes sense though, unique styling, fuel efficiency, high quality interior, a very reasonable price range and edgy. It might be simplistic to do so but I think it pragmatic to qualify this vehicle as Euro-Chic, it satisfies my criterion.

I do enjoy the unique retro styling of the Fiat, both inside and out.  I somehow can't see myself investing in a vehicle that I would be terrified to drive on the highway (as a tractor trailer could shift lanes and the next thing I know I am caught under a trailer) or in any other season than summer.  So that eliminates the 'rational buyer', and this only adds to my confusion about this car.  For that matter this only adds to my confusion  about the increase in these miniature cars for Canada.  It just doesn't seem to make sense, originally spurred on in recent years by the Smart Car and Yaris (Toyota Echo) followed by the new Mazda 2 a re-badged version of the Ford Fiesta accompanied by Chevrolet's Spark.

I guess that this is less a discussion of the Fiat 500 and rather more an analysis of whether or not these small cars really make sense for Canada.  Fuel efficiency is obviously a serious concern for most buyers these days, but in these price ranges, clearly the focus is not just those concerned about sipping fuel.  So I guess at this point we can confirm these are entry level vehicles.

They are all well designed, compared to their predecessors in the 90's.  I still remember shivering when I walked onto a GM lot and saw the Pontiac Firefly.  I just can't imagine the designer who sat down and thought, "You know what this is really going to turn someone's crank!" (pun intended). Even more disturbing were the negotiations between GM and Suzuki to  badge it as a new Pontiac product.  Many Firebird tear was shed.

Is it us young drivers that are supposed to purchase these small little cars?  The ads I see would have us believe this.  I would personally rather invest 15,000 plus dollars on a low mileage used vehicle.  I admittedly appreciate a little more horsepower under the hood but you can pick up a more powerful vehicle with mileage pushing over 30mpg used. Best of all you can drive them in all seasons and merge onto the highway at highway speeds.

(As an aside I remember a particularly terrifying moment when first learning to drive attempting to merge onto the highway my foot to the floor the engine pushing 4500 rpms and all four cylinders of that Hyundai Elantra screaming as the speedometre lethargically fluttered up to 60 km/h.)

Alright let's try and pull this all back together for the big finale:

THE FIAT 500:

• Euro-Chic

SUB-SUB COMPACTS

• Well, if you are an irrational buyer...go nuts, and hopefully your new Ford Fiesta can't be started with a fondue fork as rumored to be the case in the 90's

Moral of the story; buy something you love, but make sure you can drive it in every season because remember we do live in Canada. (Fiat 500 comes in a soft top version just in case you were wondering, you know for all those warm January days.)

Later days, 

J.R.