Sitting behind the wheel of the new Fiat 124 Spider while blasting along one of the twisting canyon roads surrounding San Diego, California, one thing becomes crystal clear: All the comparisons to the Mazda MX-5 are somewhat beside the point, because whatever else it is or isn't, the Fiat 124 Spider is every bit as direct and fun to drive as its

Little tiny retro-styled cars are my weakness. Whether it’s a Mini or a Fiat if it’s a throwback to when Euro pocket-rockets first shocked the world, I’m in. Adorable, cute, tiny, funky: these are all adjectives that fit this program to a tee. “Oh! That’s what ESC does!” – I chuckled as I wrestled the little Fiat back under control. My othe

The all-new 500X model is based on a new global platform from Fiat – Jeep's new Renegade sits on the same one. Overall, the styling is well done. It certainly has some character and it's interesting to look at. It's not for everyone, but what Italian car is? While the 500X certainly stands out from its Cinquecento-derived 500 stablemates,

Fiat always has done things a little differently, and the North American–market 2016 Fiat 500 1957 Edition is a case in point. The original Fiat 500 was one of the world's first true "city cars", introduced in 1957 and continuing in production until 1975. Its stylish modern "Nuova 500" successor, which is based on the same platform as the Fiat Pand

Los Angeles, California - With sales of small crossovers expected to double in the next five years, Fiat’s new 500X compact crossover seems well-timed to take advantage of the segment’s burgeoning popularity. Ranging in price from $21,495 to $32,690 and built on a platform it shares with the new Jeep Renegade and a few other FCA vehicles in Europe,

The mission was simple. Fiat-Chrysler’s Jeep division had a car we needed for a massive compact-crossover comparison test – the Jeep Cherokee. It was the only non-Trailhawk version in the fleet, and the only one that fit within our $35,000 price bracket. One catch: It was in Montreal. We are in Toronto. Never fear! I had a plan. I was already b

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. The 2017 Fiat 124 Spider is not a Mazda MX-5 Miata. Well, it is. But it really isn’t. If you need a compact roadster, and you need it now, go to the mother lode. Glad we got that cleared up. Any questions? Why did Fiat bring this car to market? That’s an easy one. FCA needs more product

Day 1 Thankfuly my tester this week is all-wheel drive and has a snowmode/traction+ mode because 50 centimetres of snow in one day was a little bit extreme. My tester is the 2016 Fiat 500X in Trekking Plus trim. The 500x is built on the same platform as the Jeep Renegade, so it is a capable platform although perhaps not yet proven. I've drive

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has discontinued the Fiat 500 city car in North America. In 2012, the Fiat 500 marked the return of a mainstream Italian automaker to North America after a roughly 30-year hiatus. It set its sights on the Mercedes-built Smart Fortwo with its tidy dimensions, used its retro styling to target BMW's Mini Cooper, an

Fiat Canada has just announced pricing of the all new 124 Spider. The Mazda MX-5 platform sharing 124 Spider will come in three trim levels, starting with the Classica for $33,495. The Classica will come with 16-inch wheels, dual exhaust, a black roll bar, cloth seats, a six-speed manual transmission, halogen headlights and LED tails. It will be

If you liked the Fiat 500X subcompact CUV for its cool quirkiness but found that it needed to be even quirkier, the 2019 version has you covered. New for 2019 is the “Urbana Edition” trim. For $995 over the cost of a $32,995 500X Trekking model, it provides black-painted mirror caps, door handles, taillamp surrounds, liftgate trim and sills as we

On this, the cusp of robot-driven cars, hybrid-this and active-safety-that, it’s refreshing to fold oneself into a tiny roadster, drop the top and drive off, with dinosaur juice powering only the rear wheels, and gears being manually selected with a stubby shifter. One of the greatest joys of driving the Abarth roadster is moving the shifter th

I’ll admit it, the main reason I’ve been wanting to drive the 2017 Fiat 500X is the advert. You know the one: the Fiat 500 blue pill Superbowl ad from 2015. It’s rife with innuendo, and well worth the watch. It meant that each and every time I walked up to my own blue (HA!) 500X tester I was chuckling like a teenager who just typed “eight,

One of the most memorable cars I’ve driven was a Fiat, if you can believe it. I’m not even talking about the quirky 500 microcar; that was interesting, but when I tested it, I knew somewhat to expect. I’m not talking about the diesel-powered Punto I drove in Italy, either; that was memorable, if not so much for the car. It’s not a bad car, by any m

The original rear-engine Fiat 500, also known as the Cinquecento, was built from 1957–75 and racked up over four million sales. The word icon may be much overused in these times, but the Bambino surely deserves that status, rubbing shoulders with other diminutive mega-selling people movers like the BMC Mini, Citroen 2CV, and VW Beetle. The 50