Mini One's engine just as sluggish. 500's interior is light and refreshing. One's seats would be in sombre dark cloth.
Fiat's rear seats are tight and flat.
ICONIC CARS
vs
The twice reborn British icon _ second generation new Mini _ is king of cute and fun driving, but the Italian contender _ Fiat 500 _ looks set to dethrone it. Can it?
Why are they here?
vLet's get one thing straight: we are comparing the Fiat 500 to a Mini One. But since we couldn't get hold of a One, we got the Cooper to fill in just for the photo shoot.
The quest is quite simple: which car is just as fun to drive and ride as it is cute to look at. What started as small, affordable city cars forty years ago became iconic cars of their time.
The British Mini had more commercial success worldwide and hence a huge following which formed a good part of the new Mini customer base.
The Italian Fiat's popularity in the 20th century was more confined to Europe, but its modern interpretation could go somewhat further this time.
This 500 is brought in by independent distributor, SEC Group, with a going price of B2.19m.
We pitch it against the Mini One, priced at B2m, for both have 1.4-litre engines, seat four, occupy similar road space and are rivals from a marketing perspective.
Prospective buyers of these two in Thailand would be bloody rich, of course, to drive on a daily basis a tiny import costing even more than a locally assembled mid-size saloon.
What do our hearts say?
vIf this second generation new Mini looks too much like the first gen, then it is for the better _ how else can you sell a retro-styled product if it deviates so much from the original?
For Fiat, their first attempt at cloning its old pop car is not bad at all although the dashboard reminds us more of a Daihatsu or Suzuki small car with European retro styling.
The new 500 says this about the owner ''bon journo, I'm fun loving, easy-going and wear Armani Exchange shirt and striped sailor's trousers''.
The Mini, on the other hand, would say, ''how do you do? Don't I look sexy in this Union Jack T-shirt and Diesel jeans?''.
Yes, they are both extroverts. But the English one is instantly recognisable since it's been around for some time, while the Italian conjures up more questions like ''what is it?'' and ''is that an old Honda?''
If you have never owned a new Mini, you probably hate the fussy unergonormic array of switches on the centre console and instead you might prefer the Fiat's simple, bright and clean dash layout.
The 500's panoramic glassroof enhances the light ambience further, while the One actually has no such option, unlike the Cooper shown.
The One's dark cloth upholstery make it even more sombre compared to the 500.
Performance wise, it's virtually a dead heat with both being on the sluggish side, but the Fiat's robotised manual is noticeably jerky and thus strange to a driver unfamiliar with this kind of technology.
What do our heads tell?
vIf practicality was a priority, you would never have looked either of these in the first place. But we can't help wonder where we could safely place a cup of Capuccino or water bottle in the Fiat.
The seats that look easy on the eye are not as easy for your posteriere as they're awfully flat, and the plasticky headrests feel a touch hard on the skull.
So long as you don't have to give a ride to three friends standing over six feet tall all the time, then you won't care to see them crouching at the back _ it's part of the riding fun, actually.
The Mini's rear seats are a little more accommodating with slightly better legroom, headroom and cushion shape. But again, it's never meant for a long ride either.
Despite the One being less sharp to drive than its Cooper cousin, it is still significantly sharper than the 500.
The Italian drives more like a Japanese kei car with pronounced roll. The Mini, on the contrary, has good body control and ride for its class over ruts and bumps, while the Fiat's rear suffers from hopping over bumps.
But we are more disappointed with the 500's robotised manual that often stays in gear for too long when you're slowing down and too tardy to kickdown when you want to speed up.
The One's auto is more fluent and predictable.
What do we really care for?
vThe 500 is a car you can instantly fall in love with its cute retro-styling inside and out.
But when parked beside a Mini, you would stop and query as to which is actually cuter.
You would have to compare bit by bit as to which you really prefer.
For those of you tired of finding a thousand other new Minis on the road, the Fiat 500 is so rare you would be forgiven for buying it even if it does not look any better.
For us, we find the Mini One still has more niceties to complement its finer driving dynamics and ride comfort _ never the lower price tag. We pick the Mini _ still the icon of icons.
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