Fiat 500C (2009 – 2015)

By Jonathan Crouch

Models Covered

3dr citycar (0.9, 1.2, 1.4 petrol, 1.3 MultiJet diesel [Pop, Lounge, Colour Therapy, Abarth])

Introduction

Fiat's lovable 500 citycar is even harder to resist in 500 C convertible form. One of the most affordable routes to open-topped motoring is also one of the very best. Let’s check it out as a used buy.

The History

New born kittens, baby seals, a panda licking a big lollipop, little kids dressed up as teddy bears with big fluffy ears and bow ties….. All the things that make you go aww…… If you like everything with a double-dose of saccharine sweetness, you’ll be going all gooey and weak at the knees just from the thought of all that cuteness bundled up together. And when it comes to cars, you’ll be just the sort of person that will take next to no time to fall in love with the little convertible we’re looking at here, Fiat’s 500C. This car is cute made metal.

Good things very often come in small packages and there’s little doubt that the little 500 has been a ‘good thing’ for Fiat, rejuvenating the Italian brand from America to Andalucía. So when the Turin maker offered fixed-top buyers the option of this open-roof version in 2009, further success looked certain, even though the cabriolet premium was a hefty one. As it turned out, British buyers didn’t mind paying a little extra. Though our land sees less of the sun than almost any other nation in Europe, our love of convertible cars remains undiminished, with demand unmatched across the continent.

In any case, this Fiat still offered its customers pretty much the most affordable route to open-topped motoring it was possible to take and in its later guises, fresher air from the exhaust complimented that available from opening the roof, thanks to the adoption of clever Twinair engine technology.

The result sounds tempting as a used buy, but will it also appeal to those with tastes beyond the sickly sweet?

What To Look For

The 500C has earned a decent reliability record, helped in no small part by its reliable engines. The biggest reported issue to date has been premature ball joint wear and pressure plate issues – but this manly applies only to early models. Check for upholstery damage caused by child seats in the back, typical supermarket dints and scrapes, slipping clutches on the manual cars and ensure all the electrical functions – which can get surprisingly sophisticated on up-spec models – work as advertised as these can be expensive to fix. The 500C isn't bad on consumables like brake pads and most people should be able to park it without nerfing the extremities.

On The Road

Step into the 500C and, as you might expect, it’s very similar to the hard-topped hatchback. The driving position is quite upright but not uncomfortable, and the large, thin-rimmed steering wheel and billiard ball-type gearknob both add to the retro flavour. The controls are simple and easy to use, while the large door mirrors compensate for the fairly dramatic loss of rearward vision when the roof is fully folded. To be fair, this aspect isn’t as bad as you’d find with cabriolet versions of the MINI or the VW Beetle but you’d still ideally want to make sure that you find yourself an example of this car fitted with the parking sensors that were optional on most variants from new.

On the open road, this car reveals itself as one of the very few open-tops able to better the dynamic prowess of the fixed-roof version it’s based upon. The addition of a rear anti-roll bar and softer springs make this a much pleasanter car to hustle along over point-to-point journeys you can actually complete very quickly due to the perky performance common to all variants bar the entry-level petrol 1.2. This TwinAir unit gets you from rest to sixty in 11s on the way to 108mph – and feels faster. The diesel version’s useful 200Nm of torque makes it feel similarly feisty, while the fiery Abarth model rockets to sixty in just 8.1s on the way to nearly 130mph. At that sort of speed, roof-retracted, hairpieces will need to be firmly glued on, though to be fair, one of the many advantages in going with what amounts to a giant sunroof rather than a full convertible is that al-fresco roof buffeting is reduced. It’s also worth mentioning that when closed, the two-layer fabric top does a fine job of sealing out road and wind noise. Urban-friendly through and through you see.

Overall

We're used to the idea of paying through the nose for items deemed to be on the cutting edge of fashion but Fiat's 500C provides a welcome break from all that. Though the premium this soft-top model demands over its hatchback counterpart seems quite high, the overall package still represents pretty much the most affordable route into soft-top motoring. And the car that comes with it remains one of the trendiest on the road, just as liable to turn heads whether you've plumped for the entry-level 1.2-litre version or shelled out for something much plusher.

Here’s a carefree car that’s free, sunny and open in its outlook – and very difficult to dislike with a sheer joie de vivre that’s central to its charming appeal, turning even the most mundane of commutes into something far more attractive: a journey to be savoured, rather than endured.