I realize that this is one of those situations where I’m likely going to find myself very alone. I’m okay with that. Sometimes in life you just need to draw a line in the sand, take a stand, put yourself out there to defend something unpopular, and, even more significantly, unimportant. Sometimes you have to pick a hill that’s so far from the battlefield, so useless and insignificant and generally blissfully forgotten by nearly everyone else, and you have to pick that hill to die on. Or at least get maybe a little nauseous on. This is my hill, and there’s a Fiat 500L parked on it.
From what I can tell, almost nobody seems to like the 500L, at least not openly, and that never sat right with me. I know it’s not a great car, sure, I’m not completely delusional. But it’s also not a bad car, especially when you consider its whole reasons for existing, and I think it even manages to have a good bit of unexpected character, too, and some surprises. It’s just not as miserable as everyone seems to think, and I’m not even sure what the hell people are thinking it was supposed to be, anyway, and maybe everyone should just shut their big yaps already and drive off in their fucking CR-Vs or Outlanders or whatever other forgettable bullshit they thought was so much better, even when they could have picked up an unwanted 500L for a bag of pimples and and and okay, take it easy, Jayjay. Breathe.
Did you know these were built at the Serbian factory that used to make Yugos? Does that improve your opinion of them? I like that. You can be snob if you want, though. I won’t judge, audibly.
Not many people bought 500Ls, especially in America. According to these numbers, all of, lets see, eight have been sold in America this year. I mean, they went out of production in 2020, so it’s amazing they sold any really. The biggest year was 2014, with 12,413 sold, but by 2020 they only moved 475 of these things. Oof.
And, this is the first production car with a factory espresso-maker option! That didn’t sway some people? It seems to have worked like this:
So, what’s the problem with these cars? You know what I think the problem really is? The 500L was a car that had some very specific, perhaps idiosyncratic, but practical goals, and didn’t bother playing the expected game of the time, which was to be a pretend-rugged or aggressive SUV or crossover.
The whole point of the 500L was telegraphed into the use of the most right-anglest of letters, L, which stood for Large, Light, or Loft, and I think generally those Ls make sense. It was all about interior room and packaging. It had a tall greenhouse with lots of glass in an era when beltlines were getting higher and cars were feeling more and more claustrophobic.
Fiat designer Andreas Wuppinger explained it all quite well in Fiat’s book about the 500L’s design, called Fiat 500L: A Design Approach:
The 500L is characterized by a continuous glazing, large apertures towards the outside and a highly liveable internal space. The design of bodywork inspires a sensation of safety obtained through a high belt line, the accentuated shape of the wheel arches and a raised driving position. As a point of reference we did not, however, consider the SUV, which often has a negative connotation: grandeur, high consumption and almost shielding one from the outside. Here the process is the opposite; I feel protected inside the car but have a great view of the exterior; the clutter of the bodywork is reduced but the space available inside is maximized.
They deliberately weren’t just trying to make another me-too SUV, they had a plan. A plan based on the humble yet important root question of what the 500L would be for: moving people and their shit from place to place, usually over paved roads. That’s it! It’s designing a car from first principles! And what the hell is wrong with that?
This book also has some visuals I don’t quite get:
So.., the Topolino is like an old camera, and the original 500 is like a newer camera? Because of how it goes out instead of in? Okay.
Are the people who bought RAV4s so much better, choosing bigger wheels and less interior space and more limited visibility and a less-friendly look because, what, they’re gonna take the RAV4 out into the desert and fight for water against the People Of The Last Oil Derrick? No, they’re not. They’re going to drive to Trader Joe’s with one eye on their phone like the rest of us dipshits. At least the 500L had the dignity to be designed for the job it would actually do.
It was tall overall, with a high seating position and a cargo area with a divider to make multiple stories, and the interior was a sort of pleasant and open place to be. Here, look:
The designers said their inspiration for the interior was Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye!
Europe even got an extended-wheelbase version with three rows that could seat seven. Seven people.
Also, Look at this novel double-A-pillar design! Almost every other car has a fat, beefy A-pillar right there, and it gets in your view and makes you long for the days of tiny, thin, elegant pillars, when life was cheap and a car wreck meant you’d spend the rest of your days as a voice emanating from a burlap sack.
The 500L solves this problem with that split A-pillar, giving you great corner visibility! I liked it, when I drove one! Who else does that?
I think a lot of what I respect about he 500L is that it takes inspiration from one of the first bigger-on-the-inside wonders of packaging, the Fiat Multipla. Both the original and the re-born one:
I think they’re brilliant inspirations, though I do really wish they stuck to their guns more when it came to the updated design. Look at those first sketches!
Would it have sold better if they were more daring and stuck to a true one-box design? Maybe not, but it’d have been cool as hell, I think.
Look, I’m just going to come out and say it: the failure of the 500L is not its fault, it’s yours. Well, I guess ours, because I didn’t buy one either. But I respect what it was trying to do, which was just its fucking job. It was honest and earnest, not some goofy poser in brand-new hiking boots and a camo vest like every other SUV or crossover on the market.
The 500L was an affable, smiling goofball that brought everything you forgot to bring on your camping trip. It wasn’t cool because it didn’t give a shit about being cool – and it still doesn’t. Maybe you felt a little silly being seen with it, but it did everything you asked of it, easily.
And, you could get it in a stick shift and in fun, bright, real colors. Yellow, red, even a real brown. Yes, a brown manual wagon was possible.
When I drove a manual 500L way back, I thought it reminded me of my Scion xB: useful, practical, airy, open, comfortable, and surprisingly fun. Humble, unpretentious, non-judgemental. The 500L was not a dickhead. And I think that’s not something you can say about many, many cars on the market today. [Editor’s Note: I thought the shifter felt like a toy — slidey, with little notchiness/feedback. But I didn’t hate the car. -DT].
So, sure, go ahead and laugh at the 500L. Call it names, roll your eyes, whatever makes you feel better. The truth is the 500L is secure with who it is, and if you have enough security of your own to drive one, and really understand the point of the thing, I bet you’d like it. I mean, how much more invigorating is driving a Nissan Rogue, anyway? It’s not.
The 500L got a raw deal. It’s just not as bad as everyone says. So there.
The espresso maker is cool, everything else is uncool
I drive a 05 Element.. with blue painted hood, roof, doors and upper 3qtr, rest is dark grey plastic (with my French Doors, oddly shaped dash, sub and rubber interior.)
I… drive a C U B E.
The 500L.. err Cinqocento is a bulbous odd creation. They started with the regular Cinqocento, jacked it and stretched it. Its as if the new “Mini” Cooper came out with its new version.. and subsequently every other possible variation on it.. immediately. Too much, too fast.. and without some thought.
It was the most practical and sensible new car sold in America in many years and the fact that it was a dismal seller says a lot.
I don’t like it merely because they didn’t call it the 600.
The 500 was ugly, but it was Pug ugly. So I can understand why people might still fall in love with the looks. The 500L was ugly, full stop. No quirky puggishness to draw people’s affections. Just flat-out bad design. Why don’t you ask for the resident designers to weigh in, I think they will set you straight.
They are crap. Total crap and what’s amazing is that Fiat has sold cars twice in the US and the first time they did the cars were such pieces of shit they earned the silly slogan of: “Fix It Again Tony”. Well 40 years later apparently they haven’t made much improvement and the cars are still pieces of shit.
My partner in crime and I did a tour of northern Italy for the great car museums there and rented a Fiat 500L for the week. Perfectly adequate, and, after five days of extensive driving, we agreed that the best feature of the car was that the seats were supportive and had no bad qualities. Also, touched 180 kph on the autostrada…
It’s ugly, but functional. Much like myself.
I like the 500L. It makes me smile to see one, and I salute anyone who drives what they like, without regard to what Consumer Reports approves of.
Do I hate it? Do I think it was bad? Not really, I just don’t think of it at all.
What I do think about is a buddy that bought a 2018 or 2019 Fiata, a Fiat 124? He got it used with 25K on the clock. It had had the water pump replaced before he received it. He found that out well after he bought the car.
In the ~4000 miles and less than one year he had it, it had the water pump replaced twice more and the problem (overheating and loss of coolant) still wasn’t solved. At that point he jumped ship and bought himself a real Miata.
Never figured out the actual issue because Fiat refused to honor the warranty, but based on oil and coolant samples, as well as him tracking the leak when visible the only thing we were able to come up with was the possibility of a porous block due to bad casting.
That’s what I think of when I think of Fiat. I’m sure they’re great little cars when they work, but… how often do they work?
Probably nothing wrong with it physically. It’s just a normal car.
But the name! A Fiat 500 is a cute small car in the 1950ies version, and Fiat managed to pull off the reboot to perfection 15 years ago with the new, also cute and smallish version.
But since then the soup just has gotten too thin, still cooked on that old bone (that’s a saying around here at least..). And that can be a good reason for not liking it.
– It’s just like the Mustang Mach E: Why the hell is a car with no noise or smoke and four doors and a hatchback called a Mustang? Nothing wrong with the car. Just the name. Wonderful and good looking car, but many old men really hate it.
– Or the new (Citroën) DS’es. Just don’t… Citroën proved they could invent something new with the rugged Cactus models a few years ago. Why not try that with the bling bling models also? And Fiat should have done just that with the 500L. Or called it something Fiat’y with an O, like Punto, Bravo or Ritmo.
– Or turbo on an electric Porsche without a turbo. There’s probably a lot more examples of old car naming heritage that has just been stretched too thin.
I think with the many new EV brands, people have started caring a little less about names. And can live with driving a Maxxus, BYD, Ora Funky Cat, where there’s absolutely no name heritage. Maybe the 100 year old brands can learn from that?
If you dont have a decent company, with a decent name thats of a proven and decent vehicle… then what do you have?
Who wants to learn to throw away what theyve established as a respectable, decent and or proven vehicle… for some letters with no meaning? Who would throw out years of people coming in to buy a Mustang, Porsche, Ferrari, Challenger… and just buying $&#^@*!?
Then what is a Porsche?
Then what is a Mustang?
Then what is a Ferrari?
If it doesnt bring a positive feeling representing something unique and or fun.. then what is a 4dr Laptop called “Mustang”? Why bother buying that particular vehicle??
Also…
Anything thats a year before the laptop car was introduced… isnt old. There are also a LOT of bottom feeding garbage vehicles walking around.
IMHO it’s a poster-child for taking a perfectly good small car and bloating it out of all reasonable proportion to shoe-horn into a new segment rather than design something new properly.
See also: Almost every Mini product since ~2005.
I don’t know about anyone else, but the first time I saw a 500L the thought that came unbidden into my head was, “Americans: you are fat and ugly, so here’s a fat, ugly version of our pretty little city car that you are too stupid to appreciate. Do you think your fat, stupid asses will fit now? Ciao, Fiat.”
Basically it read to me as the automotive embodiment of an insulting stereotype, and I immediately despised it for that reason alone. Just me?
I feel something similar to that. The 500 was a small city car for young, fashionable, Italians that smoke a lot. Then they just tacked an L on the end of the name for their chunky people-hauler. I am ok with the existence of the 500L but it should have had a different name. It is like how I despise the Mustang Mach E because it is a cynical use of a sports coupe’s name for a big, chunky crossover.
I will agree, Jason, to a point. It’s not terrible. Understanding the traditional Fiat unreliability, accepting it frees you to enjoy Fiat’s sense of style. I don’t need to drive one or buy one to enjoy the look. It doesn’t look like everything else.
To quote Sit Percival Blakeney, Baronette, “ There is nothing so bad as something that is not so bad”.
At least it’s a real car you can drive on street and highway, unlike some Red Chinese clown car GARBAGE we could mention( but won’t).
Hard disagree. It’s not honest, it’s a caricature. FIAT wanted to build a mini mpv but rather than be honest and build a box, they forced styling of the cute 500 onto it, creating a hideous, Ren & Stimpy type cartoon character.
I had one as a courtesy car and I was embarrassed to drive it. For context, my car at the time was a mk1 Ford Ka.
The Renegade actually shares a platform with the 500X, not the 500L. They both use the “Small Wide 4×4” platform.
The 500L is still related (Small Wide LWB platform), but not nearly as closely as the 500X.
And I’ve replied to the wrong comment!
I think the site is doing something weird about that. I keep noticing random responses that don’t seem to have anything to do with anything on some of my posts as well.
You are wrong – it is a bad Jeep Renegade. The same car underneath, but the 500L loses lots of practical cargo space because it wants to slope toe back of the roof dramatically. The Renegade version is not ashamed to be box like – it’s a Jeep – so it is MUCH more roomy, practical, and otherwise identical. I love my Manual Renegade- 97,000 miles and counting- and laugh at the stupid styling of the 500L that is 98% the same but has so much less interior just because it was afraid of being too box like.
I found out they shared the platform when I watched Dirt Every Day take the Jeep on the Rubicon. Filed that away thinking it would be fun to pick up a battered one in 10 years, put some aftermarket Renegade bits on, and take it places it shouldn’t rightly go. The hunters in their 250 Super Duty’s already give me the stink-eye when I jounce by in my shitty Subaru up in the mountains: a Fiat would really piss them off.
Dunno what their problem is: I always throw up a hand friendly like 😉
The Renegade actually shares a platform with the 500X, not the 500L. They both use the “Small Wide 4×4” platform.
The 500L is still related (Small Wide LWB platform), but not nearly as closely as the 500X.
500L interior volume: 121 cubic feet
Renegade: 119 cubic feet
500L cargo capacity: 22.4
Renegade: 18.5
500L cargo capacity, seats folded: 68
Renegade: 50.8.
Huge difference!
Both vehicles are 167 inches long.
So mock the 500L as much as you want while others mock your Renegade for being some sort of fake Jeep! Both are interesting vehicles compared to all the run of the mill look-alikes sold by the competition.
You are thinking of the 500X (which is still being sold in the US). It is the twin of the Renegade.
As pointed out in another reply, the 500L had much more room and capacity than the Renegade.
The Fiat 500l, when your mini countryman is just too damn reliable.
The 500 is charming as heck. I’m surprised they didn’t sell better but then I never drove one. The 500L took all that charm and erased it with two more doors. Certainly more practical but it looked too generic, and generic people want comfortable brands.
The 500 is OK if you have no knees.
If you have knees the only possible justification for buying one new would have been to make a fashion statement.
It’s probably a great car, it’s just ugly, much like an Aztek.
As you stated it doesnt do everything it just does whar is was designed to do.
So kind of like my booger eating cousin who cant count past ten without taking his shoes off but can rebuild a carbuerator?
I’ll be honest on this one.. I didn’t read the whole article. I didn’t need to. Because you’re right. Is the Fiat 500L going to be a future classic? Probably not. Is it going to be remembered as a pinnacle of design? Nope. Is it perfectly acceptable as a vehicle for the purposes it was designed? Sure is!
Personally, I’d rock one of those before any appliance that Toyota or Nissan churned out. But I also liked my 2013 Dart with the 1.4/6 speed and everyone said I was mad sooo.. maybe I’m not helping the argument.
I always thought that the Darts were fine looking small cars. Very handsome, especially the rear 3/4 angle.
We had a 500L as a rental when we went to Italy in 2014. It was fine. It was much nicer than the Punto they gave me for the first half of our trip. We had four people with four big suitcases and we all fit comfortably. It would cruise all day at 120kph with no complaints, from the car or the occupants.
I didn’t like the split A pillar, I found it distracting. But it did make for nice visibility around corners, I guess. And I agree with David about the numb shifter.
tl;dr I agree with Jason. It’s a perfectly good car. Nobody bought it because it wasn’t a perfectly good SUV.
It looks cool, comes in cool colors, and has a big sunroof 😀
It’s fine as long as you don’t have the shitty DCT, which they only used for the first year. After that, they switched to a real automatic. And of course, manual was available too.
I hate it’s clown-face rear end.
I can’t seem to post a pic, so here’s a link
https://archive.izmostock.com/img-get/I0000teqqCyEnJ5U/s/1000/2016-fiat-500l-trekking-mini-mpv-rear-view.jpg
Torch, I agree with your take and in a sea of silver suvs cuvs this puppy stands out. Sort of like my Shar Pei stood out. So lets all buy one and celebrate the unusual!