Auto Show? Spare? "Auto Trans"? Heated Seats?

[FiatGal]

"Auto Trans"
Does the option package "Auto Trans" stand for "Automatic Transmission"? Does this mean that if one wants either heated seats, compact spare, alarm, or auto temperature control, one is forced to select a car with automatic transmission?

Spare Tire/Compact Spare
A compact spare seems to be an option on both the Sport and Lounge version, but not the Pop version.
Does this mean that the Pop trim comes with no spare tire?

Heated Seats
Any chance heated seats can be added to the Prima? If not, is there any plan in place with dealers to coordinate installation of aftermarket heated seat kits? (I see in the UK there are Fiat500 aftermarket heated seat kits)

Auto Show
West Coast has seen the car in LA and SF. Any chance Fiat will show off the car on the East Coast, and come to the New England Auto show in Boston?


... that's all I can think of for now...

[Fiat500USA]

LauraInME wrote

"Auto Trans"
Does the option package "Auto Trans" stand for "Automatic Transmission"? Does this mean that if one wants either heated seats, compact spare, alarm, or auto temperature control, one is forced to select a car with automatic transmission?

Spare Tire/Compact Spare
A compact spare seems to be an option on both the Sport and Lounge version, but not the Pop version.
Does this mean that the Pop trim comes with no spare tire?

Heated Seats
Any chance heated seats can be added to the Prima? If not, is there any plan in place with dealers to coordinate installation of aftermarket heated seat kits? (I see in the UK there are Fiat500 aftermarket heated seat kits)

Auto Show
West Coast has seen the car in LA and SF. Any chance Fiat will show off the car on the East Coast, and come to the New England Auto show in Boston?


... that's all I can think of for now...

Hi LauraInME,

So far here's what I know...

Spare Tire/Compact Spare
A compact spare seems to be an option on both the Sport and Lounge version, but not the Pop version.
Does this mean that the Pop trim comes with no spare tire?

No, the cars all come with spares*  I need to double check this...OK scratch that:
The 500 comes with a Tire Repair Kit as standard equipment on all models. A compact spare tire is available

Auto Show West Coast has seen the car in LA and SF. Any chance Fiat will show off the car on the East Coast, and come to the New England Auto show in Boston?

Auto Shows will be announced soon.

Still working on the others ;)

Thanks,
Chris

[FiatGal]

Well... here's the answer I just received:

Compact Spare:
A compact spare will be an option on all three trims.
A tire inflator kit comes standard in all three trim levels.

Heated Seats.
The person who called was the same woman who took down my questions a few weeks ago. So she specifically asked about Pop and Sport. This was her answer.
Heated seats will be available with manual transmission on both the Pop and the Sport (and obviously the Lounge).

CAVEAT: There still appears to be some conflicting information coming out of the call station. I called a few weeks ago, my questions were "escalated," and these were the responses. Chris (see below) got different answers. So who knows? Remember that the call center operators are just fielding questions and don't have the latest info around. Let's hope that by next week, answers will be more definitive. And consistent.


She suggested that once Fiat Studios are set up, customers will be able to customize much more than what the current configurator seems to suggest: ie. we/the dealer will be able to unbundle some of these options. (Get the heated seats, but not the Automatic Temperature, for instance). Fiat Studios will help customize the car to an individual's specification.

Fiat Studios start date
Sometime January-February

[cinquecento]

Wow! Thanks for calling!

Sounds like very good news, I for one, would greatly prefer manual HVAC and various other permutations that aren't currently listed.

Here's hoping the news starts really rolling in soon!

[ciddyguy]

LauraInME wrote

Well... here's the answer I just received:

Compact Spare:
A compact spare will be an option on all three trims.
A tire inflator kit comes standard in all three trim levels.

Heated Seats.
The person who called was the same woman who took down my questions a few weeks ago. So she specifically asked about Pop and Sport. This was her answer.
Heated seats will be available with manual transmission on both the Pop and the Sport (and obviously the Lounge).

She also suggested that once Fiat Studios are set up, customers will be able to customize much more than what the current configurator seems to suggest: ie. we/the dealer will be able to unbundle some of these options. (Get the heated seats, but not the Automatic Temperature, for instance). Fiat Studios will help customize the car to an individual's specification.

Fiat Studios start date
Sometime January-February

Indeed, this is good news. I had suspected that more options would be made available and I'm not sure about wanting the automatic climate control, although if its like the system in Europe, it counts for body temperature and ambient mass through sensors to help keep the cabin comfortable even if the the heat outside gets cold or hot.

One thing I know I don't want is Sirris Sat radio, another subscription to shell out for and I'm glad they showed 2 bundles, one with just alarm and sat radio and I think auto climate, the other had the alarm, heated seats, spare and automate climate.

I know that at least here in the US, and elsewhere, immobilizers are now standard equipment as even Fiat uses coded keys these days.

What this means is if the key does not match the codes within the electronic control unit, it'll disable the fuel system, thereby shutting down the car, making it more difficult to steal as once that occurs, it takes about 4 minutes before you are allowed to try restarting the car again, unless you find a correct  key.

Another difference is in Europe, the 500 only had Electronic Stability Control offered as standard equipment on I think the sport trim, but optional on the others, and since this car is coming to us as a 2012, it's now a requirement here for ALL 2012 and later cars, along with ABS and traction control since they use the same sensors pretty much.

[Fiat500USA]

LauraInME wrote

Well... here's the answer I just received:

Compact Spare:
A compact spare will be an option on all three trims.
A tire inflator kit comes standard in all three trim levels.

Heated Seats.
The person who called was the same woman who took down my questions a few weeks ago. So she specifically asked about Pop and Sport. This was her answer.
Heated seats will be available with manual transmission on both the Pop and the Sport (and obviously the Lounge).

She also suggested that once Fiat Studios are set up, customers will be able to customize much more than what the current configurator seems to suggest: ie. we/the dealer will be able to unbundle some of these options. (Get the heated seats, but not the Automatic Temperature, for instance). Fiat Studios will help customize the car to an individual's specification.

Fiat Studios start date
Sometime January-February

Great job, LauraInMe

You must have more persuasive powers than I do!  The answers I received just confirmed what was on the configurator and no more.

Once the dealers are set up, getting answers will be a lot easier!

[FiatGal]

hm... I was afraid of this. I added a caveat to my post above.

When I called a few weeks ago, my questions were "escalated," (I liked how that sounded!). The woman who called me yesterday was the same woman to whom I spoke a few weeks ago. I had her repeat her responses, and she emphasized that she remembered my call from a few weeks ago and had asked specifically about the Pop and Sport. But Chris's experience contradicts what she said. Maybe the woman who called me confused Pop with Lounge? Maybe the person who spoke to Chris was just going by what's on the configurator without digging deeper? Who knows? Remember that the call center operators are just fielding questions and don't have the latest info. Let's hope that by next week, answers will be more definitive. And consistent! The suspense is frustrating!

[Fiat500USA]

Good news!

It looks like the heated seats and ambient lighting will be available as an added dealer installed option. I'm posting a video tomorrow that goes over some of the dealer installed options for the car.

[Minuszka]

Are we talking about the PEs as well, or just the ordering possibilities of the "regular" production vehicles later in the spring?
Is heated seat or ambient lighting going to be a possibility for PE owners? So far I was told, no on the heated seats, since it is not one of the 2-3 options with the Primas.

[Fiat500USA]

Minuszka wrote

Are we talking about the PEs as well, or just the ordering possibilities of the "regular" production vehicles later in the spring?
Is heated seat or ambient lighting going to be a possibility for PE owners? So far I was told, no on the heated seats, since it is not one of the 2-3 options with the Primas.

Heated seats can be added as a dealer installed option. The leather seats are supplied by Katzkin, are dealer installed but I don't have info on whether they will be available with the PE red stitching. My post will be up a little after midnight. It shows some of the dealer installed options that can be had. For the folks that want the heated seats and ambient lighting this should be good news.  I wonder if Katzkin can do a custom set for the PE?

[FiatGal]

That is good news!

I'm still so undecided about everything though... sigh.

[Minuszka]

That would be good news indeed, many were longing for the heated seats. Can you tell me what "dealer installed option" means? - in case of the PE, would it be the same seat, black with the red stitching? What happens with the seats that Fiat ships from the factory? I don't think we can order that way, so is the dealer removing those seats to replace them with the heated ones?
I can see the addition of the ambient lighting.
Thanks for clarifying.

[Fiat500USA]

Minuszka wrote

That would be good news indeed, many were longing for the heated seats. Can you tell me what "dealer installed option" means? - in case of the PE, would it be the same seat, black with the red stitching? What happens with the seats that Fiat ships from the factory? I don't think we can order that way, so is the dealer removing those seats to replace them with the heated ones?
I can see the addition of the ambient lighting.
Thanks for clarifying.

Dealer installed means just that, the dealer installs them as opposed to having it a factory installed option. They just insert the heating pads under the upholstery.  For the leather seat option, what they do is remove the old cloth seat covers and install the leather covers.

Check out the Katzkin website