Portland International Auto Show

[Bert]

I just happened to be near Portland on Saturday and lucky for me heard about the show.

I was very impressed by the fit and finish of the two lounge models on display, but disappointed that the gal there only knew what someone had told her to say.  While seeming very intelligent and a very capable speaker, she was only eye candy (no disrespect meant to her).  No handouts of any type available.  A person asked when the cars would be available and she replied towards the end of this year.  Much more info available here!

Also the rear hatch latching mechanism (the part mounted on the hatch door) was loose on one of the cars and thus the hatch wouldn’t shut properly.  No so good for making first impressions.  I hope it was just a loose screw!  The engine hood was missing its little support rod.  I could see where it should be and its storage clip, but it was AWOL.

The seats are very comfortable (these had the leather covers) with much more lateral support than the old spider seats.  I saw a pretty big guy push the seat to the full rear position and sit down.  Lots of room for the driver-not so true for the poor guy in the back.

I found there is a USB port in the glove box (decent amount of storage) along with a very small mesh pocket.

Overall I am very pleased with the car and getting more excited about it!

It appears to be just as good a car as any other everyday one out there.

[CaliberSRT4]

I wouldn't put it past some hoodlum to steal the hood prop rod. They probably had a good laugh about it, lol.

[ciddyguy]

Bert wrote

I just happened to be near Portland on Saturday and lucky for me heard about the show.

I was very impressed by the fit and finish of the two lounge models on display, but disappointed that the gal there only knew what someone had told her to say.  While seeming very intelligent and a very capable speaker, she was only eye candy (no disrespect meant to her).  No handouts of any type available.  A person asked when the cars would be available and she replied towards the end of this year.  Much more info available here!

Also the rear hatch latching mechanism (the part mounted on the hatch door) was loose on one of the cars and thus the hatch wouldn’t shut properly.  No so good for making first impressions.  I hope it was just a loose screw!  The engine hood was missing its little support rod.  I could see where it should be and its storage clip, but it was AWOL.

The seats are very comfortable (these had the leather covers) with much more lateral support than the old spider seats.  I saw a pretty big guy push the seat to the full rear position and sit down.  Lots of room for the driver-not so true for the poor guy in the back.

I found there is a USB port in the glove box (decent amount of storage) along with a very small mesh pocket.

Overall I am very pleased with the car and getting more excited about it!

It appears to be just as good a car as any other everyday one out there.

Very interesting, sadly, Seattle's Int'l Auto Show was too early for the cars to be shown as LA was the following week so no Fiats there that I saw. :-( and that was back in Nov.

Remember, these were most likely pre-production cars and are going around to shows so things may not be quite all there as of yet when these were built.

I'm sure production cars will have these little niggles taken care of.

[Fiat500USA]

Exactly, these are all pre-production cars (ours will be the first production cars!).  Interestingly, we were all told at the press event about that and you normally give allowances for certain things, but the cars really looked good, save for a couple of things. One online review slammed Fiat for something that didn't look right and also mentioned they couldn't maintain 65mph on a hill in 3rd gear(!) I posted a comment to remember they were pre-production, etc. and the site deleted my post!

If you read that, my car did 65mph and better!! ;)

[Bert]

Darn, I think about spare parts!

I could have loaded up!

[jvsgabriel]

Speaking of not being able to close the hatch, sometimes they put tape on the latch so it doesn't close.  I think just cause most of the time people are opening and closing the hatch anyways, perhaps it saves them from having to unlock the hatch all the time.  I remember seeing it when they had the car show here in San Diego.  

And the cars are really nice.  I think the only thing that was broken was the rear parcel shelf (if you could call it that), as it was slightly bowing in the middle.  Someone probably rested their hand there  and pushed down a bit too firmly.  I can remember a lot of people coming and playing with the car.  And I also do remember the nice young lady was also pretty clueless to any news or information about the car.  I am sure they were just told what to say, and know just a few basic common facts about the car.  In fact I remember giving my information to her so they could send me more information about the car.  They said that they would mail out the info in two weeks, that was way back on Jan. 1st.  Oh well, still waiting.  

Joel

[sketch]

That's funny, another publication said they had no trouble maintaining 70mph on a 6% grade in 5th!

Could have been an unusual hill :P

I'm sad to hear that the USB port is in the glovebox, though.  Currently, my iPod is my iPhone, and I often use navigation apps on my phone while driving.  IIRC, the European car has the USB port on the floor between the sheets.

[Mike S]

While looking for a reason to buy an iphone, nav was one of the extra reasons to do so. The bluetooth controls on the Tomtom are interesting and I wonder if the steering wheel controls would work for the iphone. Any thoughts?

[spindoc]

sketch wrote

 IIRC, the European car has the USB port on the floor between the sheets.

Ha!  Great Freudian slip!

[sketch]

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!  Oh, dear...

[sam500]

I was actually thinking about this! I kind of like that the USB is in the glovebox, since it's out of the way and I usually keep my iPod in the car (an that would be entirely controlled by the blue & me), and the iPhone would work via blue tooth. I can totally see how it would be a pain if you use your iPhone only, particularly with navigation apps.

[sketch]

Yup.  The idea of keeping an iPod in the glovebox is nice, if I ever decide to replace my iPod classic.  Then again, scrolling through 125 gigs of music on the dashboard sounds a little painful!

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, is the glovebox large enough for, say, an iPad?  I wouldn't mind using it that way.