James’s Blog: Fiat 500 comes to town!
Me test driving the new Fiat 500 TwinAir atour Concordia Street bay, Leeds
We are keen to keep driving down the carbon emissions of our fleet, that’s why over the last couple of weeks we’ve been replacing some of our older cars with the brand new and extremely economical Fiat 500 TwinAir’s. Not only do these cars boast the lowest emission petrol engine in the world, they are excellent to drive, look fantastic and have some great gadgets too! So much so I couldn’t resist taking one for a spin myself when visiting our head office in Leeds last week! I have to say that I was very impressed with the Bluetooth hands free system and particularly the fact I could use it to play the music I have stored on my iPhone. Another gadget to note is the stop/start technology; this is designed to reduce emissions. When you come to a stop, put the gearbox in neutral and take your foot off the clutch, the engine stops. Don’t panic as it will start up again as soon as you engage the clutch – it’s a clever piece of technology. I think the glass roof deserves a mention too; it’s perfect for letting in those summer rays, or more than likely to tell whether or not you need to get your brolly out!
We’ve already had lots of positive feedback from members which is great to see. I’ve been reading through the latest Tweets on our Twitter page, and it seems lots of you are having good fun getting out and about in them (and showing off to your friends).
You’ll be pleased to know that by the end of September there will be 100 of these great little cars available for you to book up and down the country. If you’d like one nearer to you, do let us know by emailing home@citycarclub.co.uk and we will see what we can do.
In the meantime I hope you continue to enjoy driving these new City Cars, and don’t forget to keep an eye out for many more new cars to come over the next few months.
Tags: Blog
They look and sound like fantastic cars. Haven’t had a chance to drive one yet though. Any idea if or when they’ll be coming to Cardiff?
Thanks for your comment James – they certainly are fantastic cars, I’m sure you’ll agree once you’ve taken one for a spin.
We’re due to receive our next batch in the Autumn and plan to place at least one in Cardiff then.
We’ll keep you posted.
James
Are there any in Edinburgh yet? If not, will we be getting some in Autumn?
Hi Stuart
Yes, there are currently four Fiat 500′s in Edinburgh and we hope to add more in the Autumn too. You can book one now from Brandon Street, George Street, Parsons Green Terrace or Simpsons Loan (Quartermile Development).
Do let me know what you think once you’ve been out in one.
James
Glasgow, too, please. Specifically Dennistoun!
Thanks Paul, we’ll bare this in mind when planning locations for the next batch which are arriving in the autumn.
Would love to see CCC reduce fuel price per mile for Fiat 500s, otherwise why bother with fuel efficient cars if customers won’t benefit?
James
They may be great for short trips by people travelling on their own or with one other person, but they’re not if you need to have adults or teenagers in the back. My 5 year old – in a car seat – hardly has enough room and ends up kicking my back.
Can you please make sure that there will still be a choice of smaller cars. The Fiestas are fine, as were the Kias which you no longer have.
I’d also have doubts about longer trips by the Fiats given that I’m 6 foot tall!
Hi Glen
To keep pricing as simple as possible, we charge a flat rate mileage charge to cover the cost of fuel and wear and tear. The higher ratio of more fuel efficient cars has meant we have been able to hold increasing our mileage charge for a number of months which otherwise would have seen us have to implement an increase. We are, however, reviewing this policy to consider variable mileage pricing depending on vehicle type but clarity of what we are charging, as simply as possible, is an overriding factor for us and members as a whole. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for your feedback Mark.
We appreciate that the Fiat 500 is only a 4 seat car, with less room than most of our current vehicles but dont worry, we won’t be changing all the fleet to Fiat 500. We intend mixing these in clusters near to 5 seat cars with a bit more room for the type of reasons you mention. But your height shouldn’t matter as a driver in these as our operations manager is pushing 6’5″ and he says he can drive them without any problems.
James
I’d like to support Glen’s idea of passing on to the customer the fuel savings offered by the Fiat 500. When I choose a car to book I always try to select the smallest car near me which suits my needs, and I think there should be an incentive for others to do so, as well as encourage use of these new cars.
I also drove one the club’s Prius cars for the first time recently, and was very impressed. I wished that a lower mileage rate could offset the higher hourly charge for these cars, due also to their lower fuel consumption. I welcome others to join this debate, any thoughts?
Just found out the FIAT 500 is not too far from me.. we are utilising it for our wknd in the Country… any chance of these being located near London NW8 or NW3?
Love CCC…Great idea!- Great Locations.. although Zipcar seems to dominate my area.. we will have to change that! more CCC in NW8!
Hello Nina
It’s great to hear that you are making use of the new Fiat 500′s, do let me know what you think. Unfortunately the City of Westminster issued a car club contract to a sole operator and that is Zip, that’s why we don’t have any vehicles there at the moment. If this changes we will let you know straight away.
Many thanks for your comment, and enjoy your weekend in the country.
James
Hi James!
Great cars!!! I have an original one from the 70′s. They are so much fun to drive. And the new version is heeps more reliable than mire. Good choice!
I would love to see some 500′s in Cardiff. Especially around the Uni.
Hi Jack.
Thanks for letting us know that you would like a Fiat 500 in Cardiff. We have another batch of cars coming this month and you will be pleased to hear that one of them is earmarked for Cardiff. Likely to be in Windsor Place which isn’t too far away from the uni.
Enjoy!
James
These smart little cars are charming. They look really cute while rallying in New York, and they would be perfect rides for girls
I love the look of these cars and was quite excited when one was available near me. I found it great to drive except for one problem – the accelerator pedal is so far off the floor that I could only get the toe of my size 5 foot on it, which didn’t feel very secure. It proves the point that one size car doesn’t fit all.