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Friday, March 4, 2011

First 2012 Fiat 500 Prima Edizione delivered in North America

First Fiat 500 in North America
Preliminary reports indicate yesterday, March 3, the first retail delivery of a new 2012 Fiat 500 in North America happened at a Canadian Fiat Studio. The car, a Bianco Fiat 500 Prima Edizione with production number 237, belongs to rbrf2, a member of the Fiat500USA blog forum. The Fiat Studio was Downsview Chrysler in Toronto.



To read more, go to the forum thread (here).

Congratulations rbrf2 on your new Fiat! Thank you for sharing your photos with Fiat fans world-wide.
New Fiat 500s are arriving every day at Fiat Studios throughout North America. To get yours, go to this posting for a preliminary list of Fiat Studios (here). Also, check out FiatUSA's Facebook page (here) and Fiat USA's website (here) for more information.

















Photo Source: member rbrf2, Fiat500USA forum

10 comments:

EmilGH said...

No painted dash panel? :-(

TK said...

New owner, please step forward and identify yourself!

Anonymous said...

Sweet! Can't wait to get one here in Florida. Thank you Fiat!

gloom said...

Can't wait to get mine! I'm in Canada too so I guess it won't be too long... Mine is exactly like rbrf2's one.

Anonymous said...

Well done, rbrf2! It is a great looking car.

Johnny Flosser said...

I ordered a Bianca Prima Edizione. This is making me so happy with my choice of color.

Anonymous said...

Just like mine except I don't care for sunroofs. I love the dash and the red stitching. VERY classy IMHO.

Dave
Prima #241
Bianco

Spektor said...

I just drove two 500s -- a pre-production demo at Fields FIAT in Northfield, Illinois (actually it's garaged at their Volvo dealership, because the FIAT bldg is not even started yet), and an actual production model available at the new FIAT dealership open in Milwaukee (the only car on their lot...). Both 500s drove ok and the manual transmission was a great shifter. The suspension/Continental tires, however, were somewhat overly harsh for my city driving taste. There were no major glitches except: in both cars there was some serious wind noise around the edges of driver's side door plus there was a left side blind spot behind the driver. Highway noise was likewise somewhat harsh. Also, under the hood, the fill openings for the windshield washer bottle and the brake/clutch resivoir were very small and very difficult to access. I could not tell if the hood was lighted (doubtful), although the trunk is. The engineers used every inch of space under the hood. Hopefully heat buildup will not be an issue, especially for the battery. FIAT should definitely address the door wind noise issue for the production car. Otherwise there will likely be a TSB soon needed for eventual owner complaints. The 500 has a special blind spot convex(?) portion at the tip of the driver's side mirror to deal with the blind spot, but I had difficulty using it. It will take some getting used to but it's better than nothing. What else -- the steering wheel controls are nice and the sunroof is well sized. The 'sport' button is supposed to tighten the steering, but I had trouble noticing it on our short test drives. The sun visors are small and unlighted, and the glove box has no lock (I'd definitely prefer a lock). There is a small pocket bin on each door, a small pocket on each seatback, and a small mesh pouch on the passenger's side lower console, The armrest is only for the driver's seat and lacks storage underneath. The driver's seat has height adjustment but the seat cushion does not tilt or whatnot. The passengers seat does not have height adjustments. The four cupholders are convenient, and the radio works well. (Both 500s had the Bose system.) The door locks are very unique -- you push the door handle itself inward to lock them. There is no separate lock lever or knob. We were able to fit two smaller sized people in the back seat relatively comfortably. I'm 5'7, 165 lbs, and my head was not touching the headliner. (One of my, um, larger friends said he felt cramped in the front seats). Alas, no base Pop models were available to test, only the Sport models. I think I would actually prefer a Pop if the tires and shocks are more forgiving of potholes and a bit quiter. One odd thing we noticed was a tire patch kit and pump under the driver's seat in the Illinois test car, and a spare under the back of the Wisconsin car. (I should have looked under the Illinois car to see if it had both the pump and the spare or just the pump.) The gas cap is unlocked, although I'm sure it's an option. Overall, the car looks great, drove relatively well and is something I am still definitely looking at purchasing. It may not be practical for all people's needs, but especially for city parking, it seems like an excellent option.

rbrf2 said...

Well today was the day. I finally picked up my PE #237 and drove it home. Yes I'm in Toronto, Canada.
I must tell you heads were turning as I drove by. Smiles, thumbs up what all I saw. The car is better then what I would have ever imagined. My wife purchased this car for herself and it looks like I've now taken ownership of it.
Reno

Anonymous said...

Prima Edizione #371 has a home...