Fiat 500: Mini Package, Max Charisma

A sexy and economical European delight that's fun to drive and cheap to operate
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 9, 2008 11:59 AM CDT
Fiat 500: Mini Package, Max Charisma
A picture made available by the Fiat Auto Press, showing the new Fiat 500 .   (AP Photo/Fiat Auto Press)

Add adorable to 40-plus miles per gallon and you get the Fiat 500, an Italian compact that, despite taking a while to go from 0 to 60, brings a new sweetness to the term eye candy, Dan Neil writes in the Los Angeles Times: "It's fun to look at, fun to drive, fun to point out to the valet."

Not yet available in the US, the turbodiesel is a hot seller in Europe. Despite its miniature proportions—it weighs just 2,150 pounds and is just a tad over 11 feet long—its 68-horsepower engine provides enough torque to make it peppy and fun to drive. And, at $16,500 it’s a deal waiting to happen, Neil writes—"the car Los Angeles has been panting for." (More Fiat stories.)

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