Hmmm, no not really. Are they the most reliable of brands? Nope Are they much much better than they were 30 years ago? For sure Are they as reliable as Japanese cars? No way They don't rust anywhere near as bad as they once did. Probably much better than Mercedes of the early 2000's. Probably got better electrical reliability than French cars too. I think they're about evens with VW (make of that what you wish!)
The convertible Fiat 500 is incredibly expensive for what it is. I sure wouldn't buy a car from a brand with hardly any presence and such a bad history in the uS that is now in bed with Chrysler.
A couple of additional observations: The advertising for Fiat's America re-entry is all about style, ambience and nostalgia—not about what the car itself offers for the money. That's a bad sign. The little Fiat's mpgs are inferior to various more substantial conventionally powered cars, such as Civic, Elantra and Focus. Why brave the unknowns of a newly set-up dealer and distribution network for this?
My first brand new car was a 1976 Fiat 128. For a relatively inexpensive car, with a somewhat bad ("Fix It Again, Tony") reputation, it put up with whatever I asked of it, including several cross country journeys, sitting idle for six months while I cruised the Pacific (courtesy of the U. S. Navy - Ended up just needing a new battery), a small engine fire (gas hose popped off of the carburetor), along with some standard abuse. In hindsight I really can't say it was a horrible car, but I guess it needed a little more TLC (I did all of my own maintenance) than the average car of its era. Would I buy or recommend the new 500? I think I would wait a couple of years to see how they hold up before making that call.
The Mini's also expensive and they sell more of them than the Fiat 500 (not by so much last month though). Unfortunately, there are an awful lot of people who care about the look of a car.
The Mini has, though I've not driven one, some reputation as being an extremely tight car with a good driver experience. The Fiat is an Italian econobox isn't it? Would prefer the Scion iQ
