Once Upon a Time - an Ode to our 2014 Fiat 500L

[chan]

In late 2013, the Mrs made a very oddball choice of this 2014 Fiat 500L to be our first family car. We would end up returning it prematurely due to some weird and un-fixable ESC issues, but until then it was a good little runabout and at just $23k out the door, quite a value at the time considering its smaller and less equipped competition.

Turning back the clocks to 2013, this car was impressively kitted out for its price:

• 6.5" uConnect BT with reverse cam, BT Audio and Nav
• Upgraded Beats speakers
• Rear parking sensors
• Deviated red seat cushions (rare in US models)
• Rear seat fold-down arm rest with cup holder (yes, this was in an option package and yes, cup holder, singular)
• Optional two-tone steering wheel
• Optional wheel design
• Auto-dimming rear view mirror
• No blind spot monitoring, but there is a standard convex section on each wing mirror to cover it decently (I think Ford also has this feature on some models)
• Nearly as much rear seat and cargo space as a Honda CR-V
• Privacy glass tint
• Chrome door handles and tailgate kick plate
• 2-zone automatic climate control
• Standard cargo cover
• Two-tone black roof

Our car's mid-grade "Easy" trim came with accents and colour pairings that lent the car a much more upscale vibe than it really deserved.

North American models only offered one engine--the 1.4L MultiAir turbo also used in the North American Abarth 500. Pedal to the metal, the torque is adequate, but the turbo lag does take effort to get around.

All 500Ls were built in Fiat’s Serbian Kragujevac plant—the former site of Zastava’s Yugo factory until it was damaged in the war and restored and modernised for Fiat. We didn’t really have any build quality issues—it felt as well-built as any Italian car could hope to be.

That said, no Italian car is done justice without its ergonomic and feature oddities, so here goes. Many of them can also be found in the following photos.

• The most obvious one can be seen from outside; the extra "A-pillars" to move the windshield far forward and give an airy cabin while preserving sightlines
• Oddly complicated rear seat folding mechanism to maximise cargo space
• Extra closing storage compartment above the glovebox, plus an open storage shelf between them
• Extra convex "conversation mirror" giving the front row a full view of the rear seats
• Awkward DCT auto-creep programming that left many American drivers burning their clutches. This was feebly marketed as the "Euro Twin Clutch" which is basically Fiat's in-house C635 dual dry clutch unit. It was finally banished with a new torque converter AT in 2015.
• The steering wheel is an odd "squircle" shape but has great button controls
• Parking brake is a funny "squircle" thing that is difficult to grab and even worse to pull and release
• The front cup holders are hilariously low and somewhat blocked by the shifter
• Squircle door handles
• Two-level rear parcel shelf
• Strange door lock programming makes it possible to lock yourself out
• Lane-change blinker blinks 5 times, not 3
• One-touch power windows are insanely frustrating due to having no physical detente for the "all the way" command
• Fun, interesting door panel cushion insert visually breaks up the hard black plastic door card
• "Fake felt" dashboard material has just enough give to not be dismissed as hard plastic
• Incredibly comfortable seat cushions, almost like memory foam. Never felt anything like it in any other car
• Tall cabin height with what felt like a foot of headroom
• The wind noise was incredible; turn up that Beats audio! It was frustratingly bass-heavy.

I most fondly remember the incredibly airy cabin and sightlines, the cheery vibe and the agricultural roar of pushing that little engine. And countless happy and awful memories of schlepping a newborn baby around.

[tophercrowder]

@chan shades of the Jeep Renegade

[chan]

@tophercrowder That's the 500X, a smaller car!

[RallyDarkstrike]

@chan I'm a FIAT fan, but I'll admit that I've never been a fan of the 500L because it just looks a bit crap, lol. That being said, I've heard they can be more reliable than people make them out to be, and I did always like that red that yours came in!

Fun fact, in Europe they also got an EXTENDED version of the 500L called the 500L Living that was a 3-row, 7-seater!

[Urambo Tauro]

@chan said in Once Upon a Time - an Ode to our 2014 Fiat 500L:

• Lane-change blinker blinks 5 times, not 3

3 doesn't feel like enough IMO. I feel the need to give at least 2 or 3 blinks of warning before leaving my lane, plus another 2 or 3 while performing the merge. A total of 5 is just about perfect.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@chan That really is a lovely color scheme. I was never much of a fan of the 500L's aesthetics but it does wear it well.

That window auto up/down sounds infuriating. So unnecessarily difficult to partially roll it down?

[chan]

This post is deleted!

[chan]

@RallyDarkstrike and to think that the more powerful North American engine wasn’t even available for the 500L Living.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@chan said in Once Upon a Time - an Ode to our 2014 Fiat 500L:

@RallyDarkstrike and to think that the more powerful North American engine wasn’t even available for the 500L Living.

I still personally think we were too much about power here in North America....most of Europe makes due perfectly fine with smaller engines and power figures and it's not an issue there....

[chan]

@RallyDarkstrike yeah I mean we survived with a 138 hp Previa that weighed 4000 lbs. No big deal!