Who would have dreamed that the car company
responsible for such machismo metal as the Challenger and the Barracuda would one
day be rescued by a little Italian? These days, FIAT definitely doesn’t stand
for Fix It Again Tony!
But La Contessa knows that life – vita mia - is full of irony, and
relishes it. Almost as much as I adore the new Fiat 500, which in the old days
we called Cinquecento. Ti adoro! My
tail wags just to think of that August I spent with Cousin Giuseppe in Cassino,
Frosinone. Giuseppe was the love child of a liaison between his maman and the local firehall’s Dalmation,
and he has the lovely spots to prove it! A proud member of Italy’s Vigili del
Fuco (The Firewatchers), he lives
with a fireman who collects the Cinquecento in all its charming derivatives.
Our favourite is the Ferves Ranger, a 4WD Fiat used – yes - in fighting fires.
Enough reminiscing! Back to our new Fiat
500, which pays homage to its cherished ancestor in many styling cues, from the
wide-eyed headlights to the friendly silhouette. Inside, everything is compact
and thoughtfully placed – although it took us a bit to get used to the centre dial, where speedometer, gas gauge, temperature gauge, clock, speed, odometer,
tachometer, radio station, gear and the outside temperature are contained in a six-inch diameter
readout. Anima mia, a model of
efficiency.
Where Fiat plans to install the espresso machine, we can’t imagine. Not the trunk, which is too tiny to fit more than a
weekend’s luggage for a single pup like myself. Was that perhaps the
inspiration for JLo’s commercial? Was there a hidden message equating JLo’s
ample booty to the teeny Fiat trunk? Oh wait, that whole commercial was a fake, right ...
As we cruised along Little Italy, we slid
back the sunroof to breathe in the summer breeze, loving the screen that kept
our fur in place. We stopped for a gelato, and took a few minutes to check out
our little tesoro. Red is our
favourite colour, and it sprang up in devilish little details, from the FIAT
badge to the calipers in the natty 15-inch wheels, and even inside the engine.
Tootling along busy College Street, we loved squeezing between the 506 College streetcar and a silly Purolator truck, nipping in and out of traffic, and
pulling u-turns in front of Escalades. Che
divertimento!
And we loved the 101 HP engine – how those
Italian engineers must have sweated out that one extra HP. Perfecto for city
traffic and the urban lifestyle – that’s how La Contessa rolls. Call us a
chick, call us a girly girl, but don’t call before noon because we’re busy
being fabulous.
