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Friday, April 5, 2013

Fiat 500 Voted Best Car Under $17,000!

Fiat 500c Cabrio


The Fiat 500 wins another award! This time it's About.com's 2013 Reader's Choice Awards. The category was Best Car Under $17,000 and the competition was stiff - The Ford Fiesta, Chevrolet Sonic and Spark and the Honda Fit. Readers were asked to vote for their favorite car and the Fiat 500 crushed the competition. The iconic Fiat 500 received twice as many votes as the second place car to take home another win.

  1. Fiat 500 38%
  2. Ford Fiesta 19%
  3. Chevrolet Sonic 17%
  4. Honda Fit 15%
  5. Chevrolet Spark 8%

Fiat 500c Abarth Cabrio

Two years after its formal introduction to the US, the Fiat 500 continues to delight the Automotive Press and the public. Why? Surely playing an important role is the quality of its design, drawing inspiration from an award winning design legacy stretching back over 113 years. An example is Fiat Group Automobiles have won more European Car of the Year Awards than any other manufacturer during the 50 year history of the award. It could also be that the charismatic Fiat 500 has the rare ability for an inanimate object to connect with people and generate warm emotions and positive feelings. One thing that is certain, the Fiat 500 is not your average car. More than 1 million Fiat 500 owners worldwide will agree on that!

Below is a list of some of the awards the US Fiat 500 has won since its North American introduction in 2011:

Fiat 500 Hatchback

  • About.com's 2013 Reader's Choice Awards - Best Car under $17,000
  • GQ Magazine Best Car 2011-GQ Best Stuff 2010
  • Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) Best New Design
  • Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) Best Value
  • Kelley Blue Book kbb.com-Top 10 Green Cars
  • Kelley Blue Book kbb.com-2011 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000
  • Kelley Blue Book kbb.com-2012 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000
  • Kelley Blue Book kbb.com-2013 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000
  • Kelley Blue Book kbb.com-2014 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000
  • Kelley Blue Book kbb.com-2015 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000
  • Ruedas ESPN- Best Economy Car
  • Consumer Digest Best Buy / Subcompact
  • eCityofStyle Auto Style Award
  • Texas Auto Media Association Readers Choice Award/Sub Compact Car
  • Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2012 Top Safety Pick (Built after July 20111)
  • Travel and Leisure Magazine 2012 - Design Award/Best Designed Car
  • Men's Journal Gear of the Year Award
  • TFLcar,com 2012 Ten Most Fun to Drive Car Award
  • Consumer Guide Recommended Pick
  • Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com 2011- Top 10 Back-to-School Cars
  • Travel and Leisure Magazine Design Awards/ 2012 Best Car
  • Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) Sub Compact Car of Texas
  • Consumer Guide Automotive - 10 Coolest Cars under $18,000
  • Strategic Vision Total Quality Index Award / Small Car Segment

Fiat 500 Cabrio

  • Southern Automotive Media Association - Best Small Convertible of the Year (2011)
  • Green Car Reports Best gas mileage 4-seat convertible
  • Southern Automotive Media Association - Fiat 500 by Gucci Best Small Convertible of the Year (2012)

Fiat 500 Abarth

  • MotorWeek's Driver's Choice Award for Best Sport Coupe
  • Hispanic Motor Press Association - 2012 Car of the Year Award/Compact Car

Fiat Brand

  • MultiAir System popular Science Magazine Best of What's New - 2012
  • 2012 Fiat 500 SEMA Hottest Sports Compact Car

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2 comments:

ttownbigbear said...

As a retired college instructor living on Social Security and teacher's retirement, I can tell you $17,000 is not a cheap car. I love my Fiat 500 Pop, but it ws at the top of my budget. The price increase on the 2013 was substantial. For those of us who appreciate quality and design, but have limited picketbook, I hope Fiat takes this into consideration and doesn't price themselves out of the market. Congratulations on all the awards. You certainly deserve them!

Daniël Mantione said...

The FIAT is indeed more expensive than other A-segment cars. There are good reasons for that: For the high amount of customizations you can do makes it hard to produce in advance: Every car must be assembled specically for you. Another is the technology: A Multi-Air engine has more complex mechanics than a tradional camshaft engine and is therefore more expensive to assemble. Same is true for other features, like the high number of airbags which help to give the car its high safety score.

FIAT does produce an excellent low-cost A-segment car: The Panda. Unfortunately you won't be able to buy it unless you import it yourself as it is intended for Europe only.