The car is way cool, the kbb.com editors say, especially with a starting price of just $15,500 (plus $500 freight).
“Regardless of what the Hello Kitty mafia would like to believe, cute isn’t cool. Not usually, anyway,” the kbb.com editors wrote.
“But that’s because cute is rarely backed up by substance, as it is in the 2012 Fiat 500. It’s 7 inches shorter than a Mini Cooper and positively adorable, but spend a day driving Fiat’s first U.S. offering in 28 years, and you’ll discover a comfortable, livable, well-built subcompact car that just happens to have 10 times the personality of some of its cookie-cutter competitors,” the report said.
In the past, Kelley offered its list of coolest cars without ranking them.
But this year, the winners are listed from first to last in their order of coolness, and the little Fiat 500 is No. 1. But I haven’t been given the opportunity to drive one yet, so my personal opinion will have to wait.
Still, I have been fond of small cars of this sort for as long as I can remember. I’ve owned two Fiats over the years, along with several Renaults and more than a few Volkswagen Beetles (and other VW models as well).
The recent crop of small cars hasn’t been quite as cool as the ones I owned in the past, such as my Renault R10 models (three of them, two bought brand-new). But the Fiat 500 could be a contender for a spot in my garage.
Chrysler says the Fiat 500 is cool because of its “Italian styling, timeless functionality, fuel efficiency and innovative technology,” along with the “more than a half-million ways to stylize and personalize” it.
As for the Top 10 Coolest list in general, kbb.com’s top executive, Jack Nerad, said: “There are great deals to be had on many new cars under $18,000, but only a handful of them really possess that cool, difficult-to-describe ‘it’ factor. Each year the competition keeps getting tougher in this affordable segment, with more personality-filled, amenity-laden, versatile vehicles entering the marketplace.”
What’s significant is that there really are cool cars that also are quite affordable. That’s a switch from the past, when a low price usually brought just a cheap, unimpressive “econobox,” such as the Ford Pinto, Ford Escort, Chevy Chevette and Dodge Omni, to mention a few.
With the government pushing for all of us to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, the effort will be much easier if consumers can find small cars that are cool-looking, fun to drive and fuel-efficient at the same time (while also being very affordable).
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