I also went to the launch last night, there wasn't a "Pop" on show but the start at £7900, the "lounge" starts £9300-£10,700 as does the "Sport". All "On The Road Prices"
They were taking orders for delivery in April, although one lucky young lass managed to buy the "Lounge" 1.3 Multijet Diesel on show with delivery for tomorrow (Wednesday).
Very impressed with the car and particularily the build quality.
Lots of add on bits but the spec for the basic vehicles as above were pretty impressive.
One pain was that the launch started at 6.30pm but all Dealers weren't allowed to unveil the cars (although there was 1 on show
) until 8 pm to coincide with the Launch at the London Eye and the rest of the UK Dealers. There was an official from Fiat who read out a blurb with the official line, pity he couldn't speak without looking at his notes, didn't exactly sound spontaneous.
Very nice car cover for it available for a mere £390 that looks like the old 500, very clever.
Brian
8227
Hi Brian
I actually went for a drive in a 1.3 mjet Lounge registered that day. Perrys in Aylesbury, where I went, were not selling off their launch cars as they'd have nothing to show people, well that's what they told me.
I put a deposit down on 5 Oct 2007 through Perrys Amersham an AR dealer, and they get their info via Aylesbury. It was good on the night as we went onto the computer and saw the status of my car. It's being built week 5 (next week) and will be here early March.
After chatting with the sales staff it seems to me that the dealers almost got what they were given on the launch cars, as the lounge I drove had upgraded 16" alloys, which I was told were not available at launch. Similarly, one of the other cars had an electric roof, again not an option at launch and the dealer wasn't expecting this.
First drive impressions? Well, the 1.3 m-jet didn't seem as pokey as the one I had in my Punto, but I am used to driving a 1.9 mjet 140 in my 156 SW. Having said that I didn't think we were going that fast but when I checked the speedo we were doing 55 mph, in a 60 zone I hasten to add. The seating position is pretty upright, but then it is a 500 and not a sports car, and my left knee felt a bit constrained. The wind and road noise was quite high but it did have the upgrade alloys. It was also pitch black and the car had not been PDI'd and I had the salesman chatting away in my left ear. We were out for a good half hour though.
The fit and finish was second to none and with the demand and hype there are bound to be issues when trying to get one of these cars, so I can't see why people would feel they have been badly treated and be cancelling their orders. Everyone's been as helpful as possible to me.
Looking forward to getting mine but I think it will take a few drives to get it right.
Cheers
Alan
Edited for date on deposit. Got my years wrong.
