Driving a 2012 Fiat 500 guarantees stares, questions, and thumbs-up pretty much wherever you go. Perhaps no new car since the arrival of the MINI in 2001 has caused such a stir.
Powered by a 101-horsepower, 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine--built in Dundee, Michigan--the Fiat 500 minicar is the first of several Fiat and Alfa-Romeo models to arrive in the States, courtesy of Fiat's takeover of the bankrupt Chrysler Corporation in a government-sponsored marriage in 2009.
The little Fiat comes as a three-door hatchback, a two-door 500C Cabriolet with a roll-back cloth roof, and soon a 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth hot-hatch model with 170 hp (launched last week at the Los Angeles Auto Show).
Ratings for the Abarth haven't yet been released, but the EPA rates the 500 hatchback at 30 mpg city, 38 mpg highway with the five-speed manual transmission, and 27 city, 34 highway with the six-speed automatic. The 500C Cabrio model, offered only with the automatic, comes in at 27 mpg city, 32 mpg highway.
Read More: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1069802_2012-fiat-500-greencarreports-best-car-to-buy-2012-nominee
