Price+Spec News for SA – Fiat 500 facelift with TwinAir 2-cylinder turbo

As reported in the earlier article “The iconic Fiat 500 receives new style… but how much?” the question was about how much style was added. 

Now we look at the South African Fiat 500 facelift line-up: price+spec news for SA.

Fiat 500 facelift – style change recap

The Fiat 500 is pronouned Sinquecento in Italian, which in itself sounds stylish and continental.

The design of Fiat 500 and Fiat 500C is so simple and so perfectly styled, it would be tantamount to sin to mess with its internationally-recognised look of compact car style.

To recap, the main visual differentiators are the taillights which are now in a rectangular “border”.  These lamps get an inset painted in the factory paint shop in the same body paint colour, clearly visible on this white Fiat 500C rear view image.  In the front, the headlights are now in the same multi-faceted tapered-inners look as seen on bigger brother Fiat 500X cross-over.

On the Lounge spec, the front “diamond-tipped” rods (Mercedes-style) in the lower front grille add sparkle and visual interest.

TwinAir 2-cylinder turbo engine?

The big news is the small engine.  TwinAir is indeed what it says on the tin – a 2-cylinder engine.  With bigger cars now having 3-cylinder turbo engines, Fiat 500 comes in bold bu having a 2-cylinder – if 3 is enough for bigger heavier cars, then 2 is enough for the 500.  Actually, a 2-cyl is perfectly in touch with the Fiat 500 charisma.

Fiat 500 TwinAir is the only 2-cylinder car on the new-car market.  The little engine displaces just 875cc, making it the smallest engine, too.  It is turbo-charged, and offered in 2 output levels:  a 63kW output is for the Pop and Pop Star spec, while the more luxurious gets 77kW.  Both have torque of 145Nm.  Remember the Fiat 500 is light, ranging between 930 for the Pop manual to 990kg for the 500C auto.

The 0.9T TwinAir is now the only engine available in South Africa.  It is super-efficient, ranging from a miserly 3.8 to 4.2 l/100km in the combined cycle, or just 3.4/3.5 on the open road, and enviro-kind emissions-tax-beating 88-99 g/km.

How much for this Fiat 500 city car style?

Now the question is how much the new Fiat 500 facelift (already at Fiat dealers countrywide in South Africa) costs?

Spec levels are Pop, Pop Star (both available now) and Lounge (to arrive around mid-year) while the new version of the 500S Sport shown recently, likely to be here in SA later this year.

Both the Fiat 500 tintop and Fiat 500C semi-cabriolet are available new, or pre-cuddled Fiat 500 and Fiat 500C options are spread on Auto Trader SA website, mobi site and app.

Fiat 500 prices as at April 2016

Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Pop	R 180 500
Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Pop auto	R 190 400
Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Pop Star	R 199 500
Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Pop Star auto	R 209 400
Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Lounge	R 225 500
Fiat 500 0.9 TwinAir Lounge auto	R 235 400
Fiat 500C 0.9 TwinAir Pop Star	R 232 500
Fiat 500C 0.9 TwinAir Pop Star auto	R 242 400
Fiat 500C 0.9 TwinAir Lounge	R 258 500
Fiat 500C 0.9 TwinAir Lounge auto	R 268 400